Angus’ story:
My mother [Robin Hunt McCorquodale] said there were a few pin hole scars on one of Dal’s fingers.
In his mother’s fingertips
As a child Dal was playing with a meat cleaver.
He cut off one of his fingers, clean off, not a deep gouge, not a partial tear; right through.
Below the nail, bone and all.
Before, one boy; then a boy and fingertip.
Dal’s mother. That would not do.
… Dal’s mother had decided that Dal was going to be a surgeon.
Don’t ask the child, ask the mother. (Aunt Heather has told me that over and over).
Surgeon – ten intact digits required.
Child, finger, needle, and thread.
Large stiches with thick thread first.
Small stiches with thin thread next.
Following in her fingertips, not her footsteps;
Dal became a surgeon.