Mum wrapped a beach towel around Katie. Then Katie sat in Mum’s lap for a long time.

She felt very, very sad. It was not a good day to go to the beach.

‘Maybe we could have a little look down where you were standing. We’ll see if we can spot it?’ said Mum.

‘We’ll never find it,’ said Katie, sniffing. ‘I’ve seen how the waves pull things back into the sea.’

‘Sometimes, waves bring things back up onto the beach too,’ said Mum. ‘That’s how all the shells got there.’

Katie looked up and down the beach. There was so much sand, and her tooth was so small.

‘I’m going to look for it anyway,’ said Katie with a sigh.

‘Good on you,’ said Mum. ‘I’ll come and help too.’

Katie went back to the spot where she ate the mango.

‘Maybe it came out here, where I was eating?’ she said, hopefully.

‘Good thinking!’ said Mum.

It was tricky looking for something as small as a tooth on a beach. The waves kept carrying new things up onto the shore, and dragging other things back in.

Katie got excited a few times. She would see tiny white objects shining in the sand, that looked like her tooth. But they always turned out to be little shells or pebbles.

Once, she bent down to grab a small, white round thing. She jumped back in fright when it popped back under the sand.

‘Aghh!’ she giggled, ‘I think I nearly grabbed a crab’s eye!’

Dad came over to where they were looking.

‘Oh, Katie,’ he said, giving her a hug. ‘At least it’s not hurting any more. Maybe there’s a big fish out there who really needs a new tooth! You never know!’