The Case of the Detachable Thumb...

Alternative title:  how not to entertain the Pastor's daughter. 

The photos on the right are a visual representation of the parlour trick in question. I had trouble accurately describing this story using only words. 

This is one of my earliest memories. My parents and I were sitting at a restaurant booth with another couple waiting for our food to arrive. I have a vague sense that they were either fellow pastors or members of our church, although I have long since forgotten the names of this couple or even what they looked like.  The other couple sat on one side of the booth and I sat beside Mom and Dad on the other side. The woman we were visiting with leaned over to me and asked me if I wanted to see something neat. "Ok," I said. She then showed me a hand trick in which it appears that one uses one hand to pull the thumb off of the other hand.  Most children probably loved this trick. I burst into tears, convinced that she had actually just removed a part of her body without leaking blood or showing any sign of pain or discomfort. In fact, she was smiling. None of the other grownups seemed to think there was anything wrong with this picture and it freaked the h-e-l-l out of me. 

Was I the only one who realized that body parts generally ought to stay where one found them? Were my fingers and toes going to begin sloughing off at the slightest provocation?

My sudden meltdown quickly convinced her that I misunderstood her parlour trick. Apologizing profusely, she uncurled her fingers to show me that all ten digits were still firmly attached to her palms. She then turned her hand around to show me how the trick was done, how one thumb curled into her fist while the thumb other hand was wedged between its ring and middle finger to create the illusion of a detachable thumb. It helped that Mom and Dad agreed with her explanation of those mysterious events. In time I believed them (although for years  I still secretly thought it was an awful trick to play on a little kid. Luckily I have since forgiven them. ;)  )