'Twins'
Hello, my name is 'Left Hand' and my sister's is 'Right Hand' but some people always mistake us - I may become 'Right Hand' while my sister 'Left Hand'. We were born in Hong Kong and we are twins, a pair of good hands that are essential parts of a body. Since March 2003 we've been considered the most dangerous and identified as an indirect/hidden murderer in the outbreak of SARS since it is said that the SARS virus, known as Atypical Pneumonia, can be transmitted through us. We're discriminated and isolated not only by our master but also by our so-called friends such as 'Left Eye', 'Right Eye', 'Nose', 'Left Ear' and 'Right Ear' (like those SARS patients being isolated by some people in the community). We are not allowed to have contact with them until our master take us to a shower. We have to take a 'shower' thousands of times every day by our master who uses different sorts of things like alcoholic tissue and shower cream to help us get rid of any kind of bacteria and virus that we have when our master touches anything. Some of the masters of our friends even put on gloves when they go out and that makes my friends who are also hands feel suffocated.
How can people and other parts of our master's body forget how good we are and isolate us? You know,
1) Without us, people can't answer questions raised by their teachers in classes;
2) Without us, they can't make a bid for something they want or like in an auction;
3) Without us, they can't get into taxi or bus by waving to the driver to get him stop and opening the door or putting the coins into the money box of the bus;
4) Without us, they can't eat food easily because they can't get the food with chopsticks, forks or spoons through us;
5) Without us, they can't get into a room or their home by using us to get the key out of their pockets or bags and then using the key to open and close the door;
6) Without us, they can't play TV or computer games easily;
7) Without us, they can't dry their eyes with cloth through us after crying;
8) Without us, they can't distribute 'lei see' to children during the Chinese New Year or money to beggars on the street;
9) Without us, they can't wash dishes after meals;
10) Without us, they can't take a shower or bath, brush their teeth and wash their face because they need us to open the tap;
11) Without us, they can't make a phone call (although some mobile phones have the function of automatic dialling by you shouting aloud a person's name but ultimately it's us who help people to press the buttons and input some people's telephone numbers);
12) Without us, they can't carry small and big shopping bags home;
13) Without us, they can't express their ideas in their mind by writing or typing them on the paper or computer (then you wouldn't be able to read this article written by our master), or by using sign or/and body language (unless you're as smart and talented as some people who can use their feet to draw pictures);
15) Without us, they can't retain those beautiful moments with family, friends and lovers by taking photos;
16) Without us, they can't play musical instruments;
17) Without us, they can't touch others, which is an important part of a relationship, e.g. shaking hands, squeezing a child's lovely face or pulling his/her ears as a punishment;
18) Without us, they can't have hair cut by a hairdresser;
19) Without us, many sports activities can't be done, e.g. boxing, American football (sometimes players in the English soccer need us to protect themselves from being hurt by other players, although using us to touch the ball will lead them to lose a goal through penalty shot), wrestling, tennis, badminton, table-tennis, basketball, snooker, cricket, etc;
20) Without us, it'll be inconvenient for them to go to the toilet;
21) Without us, handicraft products can't be produced;
22) Without us, they can't show their admiration, appreciation or anger by clapping us, hitting one's face or fighting;
23) Without us, fashion will not be perfect as one may look more beautiful with us and by putting on a pair of gloves;
24) Without us, they can't withdraw money from the ATMs;
25) Without us, they can't put on the wedding rings;
26) Without us, they can't have an idea of what their future will be like by showing their hands to the Chinese fortune-tellers who can interpret the lines on us;
27) Without us, they can't surrender when people point the gun to them!...
So, no entertainment, no food... there's nothing they can do without us!
Yes, other parts of our master like her feet can be asked to perform some of our duties such as using chopsticks to get the food or playing TV games with the feet pressing the buttons (and her feet must be very skilful!) but I don't think they can become our substitutes.
We both are actually very vulnerable - we may become sick by being a pair of 'housewife' hands; my sister 'Right Hand' got injured when our master tried to jump over a long horse in her P.E. class and we'll be the first few who show our master's age with the wrinkles on us.
People have been so panic on those days that it was as if every air particle they breathed in were virus and I remember a Filipino maid said on TV that she would feel safer in Iraq than in HK! Of course we're not the only victims of the SARS. 'Mouth' is no better than us as our master and many people put on face masks to prevent breathing in any virus.
My sister and I have become more united with our master crossing us to make a pray, hoping that there'll be no more SARS!!
This part was last updated on Tuesday, 07 October 2003..
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