The little girl stuck her finger in mouth. Something felt different. When she touched her bottom teeth, one of them moved. Cali looked at her face in the bathroom mirror. Her teeth were all there, but that front one on the bottom looked funny. “Aunt Lisa!” she called. Cali lived with her aunt and uncle. “My tooth looks strange!”

Her aunt joined her and looked in her mouth. “Don’t worry,” said Aunt Lisa. “You have a loose tooth. That means you are growing up!”

“I don’t know if I like that,” said Cali. She loved the idea of growing up, but thinking about one of her teeth coming out make her feel a little anxious. “Then I will have a hole in my head.” That seemed strange.

Cali’s uncle walked by and stopped when he saw them. “Cali, my dear, you already have a few of those! Think about your ears and your nose and your mouth. One tiny baby tooth won’t make much difference. Do you want me to pull it out for you?” laughed Uncle George. “Then it would be gone in a flash! Maybe I should tie a string (细线) around it, tie the other end to the door and slam it?” he asked.

“That’s a terrible idea, Uncle George!” Cali yelled.

“What if we get our dog to play tug-of-war (拔河) with you, but you use your mouth like he does? Then your tooth would pop out!” suggested her uncle.

“Maybe I’ll just leave it in for a while,” decided Cali. Having enough of her uncle’s crazy plans, she felt a little anxious about her loose tooth and she immediately ran to Aunt Lisa who was cutting up an apple into slices in the kitchen. The little girl picked up an apple slice and bit into it. It was sweet and juicy.

As she crunched (嚼) into it, Cali felt something strange.