hands

The fingers are pale, long and slender, with thick wrinkled knuckles and nails dipped in a pinkish orange; painted the color of freshly boiled shrimp. Three rings garnish these hands; two on the left, one on the right with a composition to include a heart, a crown, two hands, three rubies, and three diamonds. Slight age spots illuminate the right hand, while the left has none. The top knuckles of the middle fingers have worn scars, as if something had closed on these hands. While the left pointer finger has a new cut, a small crater of missing skin, alluding to a new abrasion. Below, the palms are a mess – skin is missing and healing at the same time. Small scrapes and puncture wounds pierce the meaty part of the palm, as if they were pressed too hard while doing pushups. The skin is clean and healing. The right scar looks like the state of Texas with three small islands to the north and one lost island in the direction of Hawaii. These are all new fresh intrusions, but looking down the right edge of the palm there is an older healed wound. It is completely integrated in color so that you hardly notice it, except that it is a raised ridge of flesh. A rigid strip, like a thin line of paint stroked toward the base of the hand, leading the observer to the root cause.