IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Little girl, angry at being ignored by Tooth Fairy, sank her teeth into now-viral letter

At age 9, little Jennifer may have been losing her teeth on a regular basis, but she turned out to be anything but toothless in an angry letter she once wrote to the Tooth Fairy.See, Jennifer (who is now full-grown and posted the letter she wrote long-ago on Imgur this week, where it's gone viral) was actually a detective in the making. She'd reached an age where she was pretty positive the Tooth
Jennifer Rist
Courtesy of Jenny Rist

At age 9, little Jennifer may have been losing her teeth on a regular basis, but she turned out to be anything but toothless in an angry letter she once wrote to the Tooth Fairy.

See, Jennifer (who is now full-grown and posted the letter she wrote long-ago on Imgur this week, where it's gone viral) was actually a detective in the making. She'd reached an age where she was pretty positive the Tooth Fairy wasn't real, so to test the theory after losing a tooth, she didn't tell anyone, and waited for the magic to happen.

Jennifer Rist
Jennifer in her teeth-losing days.Today

"When I woke the next morning, and nothing was there, I was bummed, but gave her the benefit of the doubt," Jenny Rist told TODAY.com. "Maybe I lost it too late in the day? ... So, I gave it another night. The following morning, when nothing was there, I was pissed."

Her anger led to this letter — which even years later steams with innocence lost:

Jennifer Rist's childhood letter
Today

She got a letter back, despite her P.P.S., which read: "I couldn't get to you because your room was such a mess. Maybe if you want me to get to you in a timely manner, you'll clean your room."

That is one demanding Tooth Fairy.

"After that letter, it was kind of a silent acknowledgement that mom was the Tooth Fairy," Rist said. 

The letter had been kept all these years by Rist's dad, who like any proud parent has a treasure trove of his children's greatest hits. She said she and her father were laughing about how snarky and spunky she was as a kid, and he pulled the letter out of a notebook. "It was better than I remembered," she said.

Jennifer Rist
Jennifer Rist has two children of her own now, and sometimes has to play Tooth Fairy.Today

But who is this much-favored Mike referred to in the letter? The one who regularly heard from the Tooth Fairy, who never had to be told to clean up his room first? 

He's Rist's younger brother. Thing is, he never tried to hide his tooth loss from his parents. "They only didn't pay me for my tooth because they didn't know it was there," chuckles Rist. "I don't know when he stopped believing, but I do know that [when] he lost his last baby tooth he told my mom and she gave him money for gas."

Today, Rist has a 7-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter, and an occasional recurring role as the Tooth Fairy. "They both still believe in everything," she said. "She is so much like me, attitude-wise. She is very smart and questions everything."

And that irony puts a big smile on our face.

Follow Randee Dawn on Google+ and Twitter.