James forgot as he stepped out of bed. Luckily Janine was in the kitchen making tea so he was spared her sarcastic sympathies. He pulled himself up on the bed and looked at the bandage. The wound ached after his fall but there were no signs of seepage or bleeding. He dressed carefully, leaving a polished right shoe behind in the wardrobe.
Janine dropped him at the station on her way to the school. She was going to visit her aunt outside the city afterwards. The Volvo gleamed as she drove away, catching the morning sunlight. It was worth it. Though his embarrassment about the club outing still hadn’t abated.
He passed a beggar by the station entrance. The man had one arm, one eye and was missing both legs beneath the knee. James shuddered; it was such an easy slope to slide down. In the last few months more and more disfigureds were taking to the street. Some were genuinely homeless but there were rumours others lived in mansions; losing their jobs after they became disfigured they began to beg for a living. James threw a few coins in the man’s plate, dropping them from the remaining two fingers and thumb of his left hand.
On the platform there were more bandages visible, they were increasing lately. Most of the disfigured people were in suits but there were a few young students. Initially it was to discourage borrowing beyond a person’s means but people adjust to anything in time. Some were missing toes, evident in the off-balance way they stood. James leaned on the crutch as he hopped to the end of the platform.
“Hi James.” Malcolm had two fingers removed the month previous. James warned him not to but he had insisted it was the only way. “How else will I get the kids into the private school.”
“But if you start now, what will you have left by the time they go to college?”
“Something will turn up by then. Besides look at you, you’re losing your toes, sorry your foot, next week. For what? A car.”
“Janine needs it. She can’t do the school run in the Fiesta.”
On the platform Malcolm grinned, “So what did she say?”
“Who?” James wished he could change the subject.
“Your wife. What did she say when she found out you weren’t just getting the toes off.”
“Oh, she was ok.”
“Really! My wife was dead against my getting the fingers off. Started ranting on about banks and butchers and what a loan meant in the old days.”
Janine had been delighted until she found out what James wanted to do with the extra money. Then she laughed. A lot. “James, what kind of idiot are you? You get your toes off to buy a car but your foot off to go on a club holiday. Not just any holiday either, a golfing holiday!”
