"Man from the South" and OT

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What a suspenseful read! We read a short story about a bet made between a peculiar old man and a prideful soldier. After the soldier offered to light the old man's cigar, the old man refused and bet him that his lighter could not light ten times in a row. If the old man lost and the lighter successfully lit ten times in a row, the old man would give the soldier his Cadillac, but if the old man won, the soldier would lose his pinky finger.

 The reason the soldier even took the bet in the first place was because he couldn't think of any use at all for his pinky finger, but he couldn't be more wrong! If the soldier had lost the bet, he would be missing more than just his pinky finger. He would be missing a lot of grip strength and control. His ability to light his cigarette with ease would decrease significantly due to not being able to grip it tightly before flicking it.

 By the end of the story, the soldier is saved by the man's wife bursting through the door. After laying her hand down on the table, it was clear that the wife had gambled one too many times with her husband, leaving her hand with only a finger and a thumb. This would greatly lower her ability to manipulate objects, let alone grip them. In the story, she had left the room to get her hair washed, since it is much harder to bathe and groom oneself with 3 less appendages to work with. Along with these ADL's, the wife would have difficulty with any tasks involving both hands. For example, imagine sweeping a dirty kitchen and sweeping the dirt into a dust pan without being able to firmly grip the broom with one hand and the pan with the other. One thing I would suggest is for her to use an adapted broom with a dust pan that can moved and held in place with her foot. This would provide the man's wife the ability to independently engage in the iADL of cleaning.

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