Outcast Smile by Nastasya Perekuta

Once upon a time there
was a small village in the lush forests by the Congo River. It was inhabited by nice people who led peaceful and moderate life and sincerely enjoyed every new day. All of them were healthy and wealthy. There was no greed or hunger. But the real highlight about this settlement was that every mouth in the village had perfectly white straight teeth and every face wore that special broad smile, usually affable and sincere.
One day many years ago the place was found by a group of tooth fairies who were tired of ungrateful American children and their bad teeth. At the time poor girls ran out of almost all their gold resources and lacked magic powers to restock them because of mentioned bad quality of teeth they got from their greedy protégé in the US. The life of the villagers also wasn’t that cloudless and serene yet in those days – incessant tropical rains, permanent floods, crop failures and so on and so forth. So these both were just like God’s blessing to each other. And the head of the village together with the Supreme Fairy immediately made up a win-win deal. Tooth fairies gained the lock on all milk teeth in the settlement, but simultaneously pledged to provide their young owners and their families of everything they needed for their comfort and safety. Since then the “smiling” village really began to prosper under the protection of tooth fairies and their magic dust which, by the way, became extremely powerful due to the incredible indefectibility of teeth it was now produced from.
Hundreds of years tooth fairies and men spent in such a harmony. But suddenly, during last weeks more and more fairies on the General Night Fairy Meetings (GNFM) started to mention the lack or even absence of the “material” on their workplaces. “What if small perfect mouths forgot about us?!” – concerned tooth fairies asked one another. So it was promptly decided to invite the village head on the current session of GNFM to clarify and hopefully manage the situation. When the head heard the news, he abruptly turned pale, then went red and finally muttered: “They’d come back…”
He talked about the neighborhood tribe of warrior squirrels. Those rodents long before invaded all the local peanut fields and were seemingly satisfied, but as it turned out, lately their crops were severely stroked by unknown disease. So unfortunately, they were again in the market for the resumption of their priceless nut reserves. Last time when something similar had happened, the “smiling” village became the main victim of the crushing raids of this voracious tribe. What is more, goods the squirrels were interested in the most here in the village during that lootings were anything else, but milk baby teeth. Supposedly, teeth were mistaken by the robbers for some kind of nut which they considered the most nutritious and even divine, but no one knew for sure.
The squirrels were fast, sly and stubborn. That’s why, villagers and fairies needed to make up the same rapid and slam plan of actions. But, as you could guess, neither of them were big strategists, so the best idea they came up with was simple negotiation. That night the Leader of the squirrels entered the GNFM hole. Three heads disappeared for three days and three nights. They disputed, they proved something, they screamed, tried to appease, begged – all in vain. The head squirrel was tough. He wanted all and he wanted it now. Fairies were disappointed. The village was deadly scared. But the meeting was coming to its unfavorable ending nevertheless. Unexpectedly there was heard a timid knock on the door of the conference room. The head of the village was surprised to open it and see Troy. Others met the boy for the first time and also didn’t understand anything.
Troy was 8 years old, and he’d already managed to become the village outcast. How? The boy was just crazy in love, in love with all sweet. Yes, he was the last sweet-tooth in the place and, of course, had the worst smile here. He was shamed by all village grannies, bulled at school. And the only shelter he had been the cellar in his house where his family kept dozens of jars with peanut butter – Troy’s favorite treat, his father who was the Atlantic sailor every time took home from Argentina. So Troy was growing up very shy, never smiled and always tried to avoid any company.
“I have the solution, Mr. Squirrel”, – said the boy quietly, but confidently. The Supreme Fairy instantly mentioned bad teeth and sighed with disapproval. The squirrel laughed out. And the head of the village was just shocked. “Please, taste”, – continued Troy. He got a jar with peanut butter from his bag and handed it to the squirrel king. The rodent immediately recognized the seductive flavor and literary flied at the jar. Several minutes later he was coming back to his tribe on the cart full of such peanut treasures (as he already named them) and promised to disappear for ages.
Troy’s mission was successfully completed. Amazed Fairy and the head of the village didn’t hide the tears of joy. “You’ve saved us!” – the head finally picked up a word. “You are my family. Could I stay away?” – Troy answered in the same calm manner. The Supreme Fairy came closer and gave a kiss to one of boy’s cheeks: “You got a big heart, dear… Be strong and remember that it’s your imperfections that make you special.” Boy pleasantly smiled, and it was the first time in the recent year.
Coming back to his shelter, the little hero expected to find it dark and empty. Instead, the cellar was full of grateful people who greeted him warmly. There were his parents, neighbors, fairies, all classmates and many-many other guests. Everyone was glad and cheerful and it seemed that nobody mentioned his drawbacks anymore. Such attention was strange and new to Troy, but he coped somehow and indeed enjoyed the atmosphere. That night he lost one more baby tooth and despite its imperfection, dared to leave it for his tooth fairy. “I am who I am,” – at last he released and felt free… 
Never be afraid of good deeds. And no matter how cruel the world, destiny and your surrounding could be, stay yourself, be open and treat others the way you want to be treated.