Martin Mirc: Toy Mishap

Last night, there was a commotion at the other house - Langging's house. Because I heard my name being shouted for the third time, I went over there. I came upon this scene: Martin (7 years old), was yelling and crying his lungs out, his right hand extended and held by his mom for my view. There was an orange plastic toy with a hole in the middle fixed on Martin's right middle finger which has turned a little shade of blue inside.

What to do? I didn't really panic, I was thinking of something more morbid than this though, like Martin cutting his finger or a stapler attached to one of his fingers.

Langging held out an old cutter which she already used in clipping at some of the plastic toy's edges. Upon inspection, the toy was really fixed in placed, it was a little bit smaller than the circumference of the middle finger, and it wouldn't budge when I tried to pull it off. The crying only got louder and the finger got a shade bluer.


So Daddy and I took turns in clipping away at the edges of the plastic toy, going from the outside to the inside ring that was almost suffocating the finger. Ten minutes later, after a lot of crying and yelling from Martin, after a lot of maneuver with the old cutter, and with the whole member of the clan gathered in their house, the finger went free, gradually regaining its natural color.

It seemed that Martin inserted his middle finger inside the toy and when he couldn't get it out, he hid it at first. Then he went to the sink, took soap and lathered it on his finger, apparently without success. Carl saw him did that, and told his mother about it. When his Mom found out, that's when he started to cry, fearing that his finger might be cut-off for sure.

A little bit later, Carl, his first cousin, said jokingly, "Martin would be afraid of wedding rings in the future."

That might not be true, but for sure, Martin has learned his lesson.

(A pity I wasn't able to take a picture of the scene. I wasn't really panicky, you know, just busy with the cutter. I tried to look for the toy the next morning but Martin threw it away together with the memory.)