The man sits rubbing the
bumps on his fingers while
thinking about his grand-
father, home from his duties
as custodian at the church,
sitting in his kitchen drink-
ing his afternoon cup of
coffee, pouring the first,
hot drops from the cup into
the saucer and slurping the
then cooling coffee before
buttering a piece of fresh
homemade bread prepared
especially for his grand-
father by the man’s grand-
mother. The man remembers
noticing the big bump on
the thumb of his grand-
father’s right hand. He
remembers thinking that
it was a really big bump.
The man hadn’t thought
about that big bump until
he noticed the bumps on
his own fingers now that
he is about the age his
grandfather was when he
first noticed that big
bump on his grandfather’s
thumb.