Stephanie, you have worked long and hard for all of us and Inspiration Monday X prompts this week are wonderful as usual, no exception. I can’t thank you enough for the time you spend doing this! Here is my submisssion this week.
A Man With No Fingerprints
Joe moved carefully and slowly to the window and managed to stiffly turn his body to the right to get a better view. He watched his almost four year old daughter Josie skip up the walkway while her mom, his wife, Ann, was following close behind.
“Daddy, Daddy, I got my pwints today!”
“Good for you, sweetie! Let me see them.”
“My pwints are spesh-al. The nice man tole me that”.
“Yes they are. No one else has fingerprints like yours. Your fingers have special curved lines. Quick, let me kiss those pretty fingers!”
Josie giggled and climbed into her daddy’s lap, her favorite place to be. She was more comfortable on his lap than any other place in the house. She pointed out each fingerprint, showing him how different they were, the whole time chattering up a storm and filling him in on her exciting trip to the police station.
Joe looked down at his hands, at all the finger tips grafted to the point of smooth, and watched his right hand move with great effort toward her. Slowly, painstakingly, he covered her little hand with his somewhat knotted, deformed, nail-free, shorter-than-normal fingers, warmly caressing hers. He loved the look of life in these little hands. With difficulty he brought her tiny fingers to his lips and kissed each of them, beautiful, perfectly formed fingers, soft and flesh-pink, a color so different from his, so full of life. Josie was used to his slow half kisses. She knew he couldn’t move his mouth like she could and she loved his special kisses, the kind that no one else could give quite like he could.
As Joe lifted his head he noticed Ann’s reflection in the wall mirror, watching, smiling at what she was seeing. His eyes somewhat smiled back at her, as much as they could, since movement, even eye movement, was such a struggle for him. He thought back to the day over three years ago that changed everything.
He had a great job working on the oil rig and was earning the bucks. Life was good. The Gulf Coast was beautiful, water as far as the eye could see. He had grown up in the area. There was no place he would rather be.
April twentieth was the luckiest day of his life. Others might think differently but not Joe. He often thought back to the explosion and to that day. He felt it odd he remembered nothing. What he did know was that eleven of his co-workers no longer could look into their wives and children’s eyes. He could. Like he always told everyone, he was lucky.
When he woke from his coma a month later, he felt pain from burns all over his body but even worse on his torso and face. He remembered seeing his beautiful Ann for the first time after waking up and had no doubt he was the luckiest man alive. Little Josie was just a baby and didn’t understand much, but he knew, even then, he would endure all the torture, pain, suffering and endless operations required to live. They were worth every bit of pain because he could then be there at her graduation and her wedding.
There had been days he begged to die because the pain was so excruciating but he hadn’t really meant it. It was the nerve endings screaming, live nerves shooting pain, like a sharp knife digging everywhere, scraping each side, every part, over and over again, torturing him. The pain often took on a life of its own.
He laughed at the thought of a time years ago when an abscessed tooth had kept him home from work for two days because of what he thought at the time was pain. He scoffed and thought how trivial that pain had been compared to what he felt from this ordeal. Peanuts! How could he explain what this had been like? Maybe if someone cut a two inch deep, two inch long and two inch wide gash in their arm or leg and put acid on it they would feel some of what his pain had been. If they did that everywhere, then they would probably have a good idea.
He remembered the first day he had been given a mirror. It was after his third facial surgery was beginning to heal, months into his rehabilitation at the burn center. He had cried, but no one knew because his tear ducts didn’t function, they were gone. He saw a grotesque figure staring at him. His face was scarred, huge white patches on his forehead from skin grafts still not healed. His nose was disfigured, huge nostrils flared up toward the ceiling. Half his nose was white and the other half a dull ugly brown, each side a different shape. His left eye drooped severely and huge pouches hung underneath. Raw redness surrounded his right eye. His lips looked no different from his cheeks, raised and inflamed. Deep ridges and indented areas worse than pock marks covered his skin.
But that was then and this is now. Even though the mirror shows the same image, he feels that he looks different. His daughter sees love in his face and his wife sees contentment.
“Daddy, Daddy, listen to me!”
“Sorry, honey, daddy was dreaming again.”
Ann walks close to his chair, kisses his patchwork forehead, rubs her smooth cheek against his disfigured cheek and then plants a solid kiss on the lips that no longer resemble lips. She kisses Josie, picks her up from her Dad’s lap reminding them it is time to get ready for dinner.
“But, Mommy, I need to get pwints of Daddy’s fingers, too!”
Joe smiles at her, so glad he has this moment in his life, so grateful there will be many more. It matters naught to him that he is the man with no fingerprints. After all, he is one lucky guy!
WOW. I’m stunned. Speechless. Amazed.
This is so perfect!
Thank you, Jinx. What you just described is how I feel when I read your works. Like I said before, someday I will be buying your book!
That thought makes me very happy. =]
I loved the way you presented Joe in the story. It was like stepping into his head. Maybe another installment of this character someday?
Joe was lucky to live, but he was also lucky to have a loving family.
Thank you, Sandy. Joe certainly is more brave than I ever could be. Wonder how his life will go with time? Maybe…I will revisit him again. Not sure. I am so new to all this writing. But that would be interesting!
You are right, having a loving family is SO important!
Beautiful. Really, really beautiful. I loved it.
Thank you, Stephanie. I appreciate your support and always finding something positive to say.
Attitude is everything in life.
Amen to that! Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Wow Char. He could have killed himself, or his wife could have left him. That is reality, and would have made a very depressing story, and it’s been done many times. But this story beautifully demonstrates the power that humans can summon, and the pain that they can endure for something bigger than their misery. I think it goes much deeper than attitude, he is exceptional…as is his wife. Is he lucky? No, I don’t think so. But I guess luck is relative.
You are so right, Debra, it does go deeper than attitude and luck, but those two things do factor in it, I believe.
I tend to write stories that leave a string of hope and a ray of sunshine (just a bit) in them because real life is often cruel, unjust, painful and often so unfair.
It is a beautiful day here in Maine. Hopefully, it is for you in Arizona, too. Enjoy it!
Thank you for your visits and comments, too! Looking forward to more of your ‘word wizard’ posts!
This is so beautiful – I was really moved by the wonderfully strong characterisation and the “hope amongst ruins” turn of the story. Great stuff.
Looking forward to the next one.
Thank you so much for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the story. You are right, there is much ‘hope amongst ruins’ with Joe and his family. I think of how so many in real life don’t get the chance to even show that kind of hope.
Enjoyed hearing from you. Thank you!
I love stories of hope, strength, determination; and that true love conquers all. Very well written.
I love those kinds of stories, too, Patti, especially because I tend to write on the dark side. Hope and strength can carry folks through.
Thank you so much for stopping and commenting!
[…] Char […]
A gorgeous story! So heart rending but at the same time life affirming. You character is one courageous guy and you’re one courageous writer!
Thank you so much for the nice compliment. I really liked his character, too. It is hard to think about, but folks go through pain that that all the time.
Wow, Char, yet another amazing story. When I was in high school there was a boy a couple grades ahead of me who suffered terrible burns. His home burned and he ran back in for his little brother. This story made me think of him. Sadness but so much more as well.
Look at all the comments to this amazing story, and you always doubt your own writing abilities! I knew you were fabulous 🙂
You must have seen the ups and downs in his life, huh. People can suffer so much and, often, we are so unaware of all they go through. I hope the boy you knew was able to save his brother after all that suffering he went through.
And, THANKS for all your encouragement!
Yes, he saved his brother. He protected him so well bringing him through the fire that he was burned but his little brother wasn’t. I do remember the kids in school being cruel to him because of his disfigurements and I always felt bad. I didn’t know him very well, only spoke to him a few times, but I did know his little brother (same grade as me). Obviously they were very close.