Ouch! My Finger ...

The middle finger didn't seem to have much use to me - except to show rude gestures - until yesterday afternoon. I was clumsy enough to have it slammed by my car door! Usually these things happen when you're in a hurry. But I wasn't. In fact, I arrived half an hour earlier at the kids' school to pick them up before the school bell went off.

Anyway, I opened the door to get out and slammed it before my left middle finger managed to get away. At first, it was just pure shock and no pain. Three seconds later, the pain shot through the finger and spread all over the hand. It started to throb badly. My heart too started pounding. And I started sweating. I took a look at the injured finger. Blood clot started to form under the nail. Luckily, the nail was not broken.

Gosh, it hurt like hell! It was just one freaking finger and it hurt like hell! I wanted to shout obscenities but there were other parents waiting nearby. So cursing was out. So I gritted my teeth and got back into the car, hoping the pain would subside as I sat still on the seat. It didn't. In fact, it seemed to be getting worse. The finger was so swollen and red it looked really ugly and vulgar.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture nice, soothing images. Didn't work either. When I opened them, everything looked ultra bright - like extremely overexposed pictures. It was weird really. The pain must have affected my optic nerves too. I was seeing stars! By then, my ears were burning too. And the pain still clawed on tenaciously. I'd always prided myself for being tough and thought I had a high threshold for pain. Now I know better. I'm just wimp. I can't imagine, nay, I don't want to imagine what it's like being bashed up or hurt in an accident. It would've been so much worse.

After about half an hour, I had to leave the car to get the kids. My vision had gone back to normal by then but the throbbing on the finger was still there. Somehow, I managed to carry some of the kids' stuff and get everyone in the car and drove back safely. But it was difficult doing house chores with one finger disabled. It was hard to think how one finger could slow you down so much. I managed (still a little tough, I guess) to clean up the kids and have dinner ready, though at much slower pace.

I didn't get to properly tend to my injured finger until the kids had gone to sleep. By then, the pain had subsided considerably. But looking at it, it would be quite some time before I can have my old finger back. No, the middle finger's task certainly is not only to show rude signs.