It happened while Raymundo was cutting potatoes. Wet potatoes and a giant knife don't make a great combination. Especially when the ear piercing shriek of a baby causes you to flinch.
Chris shrieked, Raymundo flinched, the potato slipped, and the knife sliced. Then Raymundo screamed. The knife clattered to the floor in his haste to cover his bleeding finger. His severed finger. There, on the cutting board, was the piece of his finger with the nail bed.
This was one of those moments he regretted trying to help out, to make up for his earlier failures.
Raymundo had gone over to DJ's to give him a hand while Penny was visiting her sick mother. And now, he was missing a piece of his finger.
"What happened?" DJ stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. Raymundo had convinced him to try to take a nap. He regretted that too.
"I cut off part of my finger!" Raymundo yelled. DJ's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open. "Look!" Raymundo's sleeve caught on the corner of the cutting board as he gestured to his friend. The cutting board, bloody potatoes, and finger piece hit the floor.
Bozo, DJ's derpy brown Labrador, was at Raymundo's feet instantly, licking up the mess and eating his severed fingertip in the process.
"Your dog ate my finger!" Baby Chris screamed nonsense in response while his dad just stood there, staring at the scene in front of him. Both men ended up looking down at Bozo. He finished licking up the blood and sat in front of Raymundo, looking up with his tail wagging. "Bad dog." There wasn't as much oomph behind the scolding, partially as Raymundo was falling into shock.
Bozo jogged off to his water dish proceeded to drink.
"We should get you to a hospital." DJ grabbed Chris and came closer.
"But-" Raymundo's sigh was slow. So was his memory.
"Why are you wearing the glove? And why can't I feel your pinkie?" Raymundo was standing next to his father's desk, poking at the limp part of the glove where the pinkie should be.
"I'll show you, but you gotta promise not to tell your mother." Raymundo nodded quickly, watching as his father slowly peeled the glove off his hand.
Where his pinkie was supposed to be was a small nubbin of flesh. Raymundo stared at it as his father whispered.
“It’ll grow back. Watch.” Raymundo did. The pinkie stub started growing, slowly. The skin stretched, knuckles started to form, and the nail came last, sprouting from the tip. “You and me. The only ones in the world.”
Raymundo felt DJ tugging at him. “Man, Ray, keep the pressure dude.”
“Wait.” Raymundo shook himself. “I think I can fix it.” DJ blinked.
Raymundo took his hand away, concentrating. First the profuse bleeding stopped, and then, even more slowly than his father’s pinkie did, Raymundo watched his skin stretch and grow.
“No hospital then.” DJ bounced Chris on his hip. “Good.”
Word count: 495
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