Another Childhood Memory

A recent trip to the dentist triggered a childhood memory. Mom and Dad did not have much money when I was growing up. My less than straight teeth, today, attest to the fact that braces were financially out of the question.

There was no paying a dentist to pull baby teeth, so Dad made a game of the extraction process. He tied one end of some string around the loose tooth and the other end to the door knob. I do not remember the game, but somehow he would get Mom and I chanting, Slam the Door! When the tooth popped out we laughed and celebrated the grand event.

Later, at bedtime, the tooth went under my pillow. As best I can remember, my reward went from nickels to dimes to quarters and finally 50 cents before I ran out of trading teeth.

I figured out what was going on at the quarter stage, but did not want to ruin a good gig. Now, I wonder what dates and mint marks might have been on those coins.

Nickels- possibly war nickels, and an outside chance of some late-date buffaloes.

Dimes- mercs and silver roosies.

Quarters- silver washingtons; maybe a 1932- D or S. (Nah, no such luck).

Halves- walkers and franklins, no doubt.

Oh well, just another childhood memory.