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“Mayhem, where’s you’re tinker?” Amber asked, obviously trying to defuse the situation as the whole room had become transfixed by this child and any music that had been playing was now silent.
Red said, “Wait, I’m not sure—”
Amber held her hand up to silence the man with little to no fear of the line she’d crossed.
“Dis tinker,” Murphy said holding up her index finger with a lug nut pushed all the way down on.
Luckily, Murphy’s immediate response settled the room.
“Thank God,” Red mumbled and took her hand in his. Pressing on her fingernail for capillary refill, then attempting to remove the metal from her finger.
Cass had calmed down enough to move over by his daughter and lift her up on his knee. “You know Murphy, you can’t marry Beno.”
“Too late,” she informed her father like any good runaway bride.
“He’s your cousin and we don’t do that here,” Cass replied. “No matter how pretty he thinks you are.”
“Your daddy’s right, Mayhem,” Red said then called for soap. “Besides, he put it on the wrongfinger.” Red made sure to enunciate the word finger properly.
Murphy reached for Red’s left hand with both of hers and examined it.
Beno crouched at another table with just his innocent eyes peering over the top of the table.
How this room wasn’t bursting out in uncontrolled laughter was beyond comprehension.
“Beno, it’s dis tinker,” Murphy exclaimed holding Red’s left hand high in the air.
“Yous did it wrong too,” Beno said holding his now lug nut bearing hand only his was on his pinky.
“Das da one it fits on duh,” Murphy said and smacked her forehead to emphasize the comment.
“Come here Beno,” Red called and the kid ducked back down on his chair. “Don’t worry, Uncle Pete isn’t gonna hurt you.”
“Like hell I’m not,” Cass grumbled. “Dang boy didn’t ask my permission.”
“You no give mission.” Murphy giggled as Cass tickled her side.
“Dang right I won’t, not till your fifty.”
Red coated the girl’s finger in soap, but the lug nut wouldn’t come off. “Beno, does your finger hurt?”
“Kinda,” he admitted from his crouched position.
“Come here please. You know I’m not gonna hurt you.” Red sat back and twisted Murphy’s hand from side to side as if he’d find the magical angle to make steel pop off her finger.
“You had to get her that princess set didn’t you?” Cass said as Lil’ Mama pulled up a chair hoping to help work the wedding ring from Murphy’s finger.
“I don’t want to have to sedate her or him,” Red said once Beno was placed before him with a very similar tight grip on his finger.
“Got dental floss?” Amber asked. “Unless you have embroidery floss.”
“What are you thinking?” Red asked.
“You slide the string or floss under the ring, there is a little pocket if we can do it before their fingers swell too much,” Amber explained as she dropped to a knee and stroked Beno’s hand. “Twist it and tighten it on tip side, then the floss that you put through the ring you start spinning that around the finger. It moves the ring up as you wind it on the finger.”
“You’ve done this?” Red asked.
“I have a child with a Y chromosome, I’ve removed things from spots I don’t want to think about.”
