Advice Column

Dear Abbey,

I am a silversmith. I was melting my silver when I noticed that the silver was spilling all over the annealing furnace. I stuck my hand in and took out the crucible in which I put the silver in. After that I fell and looked down at my hand and saw something very disturbing. I saw that my hand was glittered in molten silver! I couldn’t feel the pain at first but when I got to having a bandage, it started to sting. The day was to open the bandage and see the actual damage, I was very worried. I saw that my hand kind of turned in on itself. I knew from the moment I glimpsed my hand, I couldn’t do silversmith work anymore. A few days after that I was out in the yard, not doing any silversmith work because I couldn’t do anything with my hand anymore. My master called me in and told me that he couldn’t teach a cripple – handed person to be a silversmith. He told me he would keep me but he told me to find another job, one that won’t have any trouble with a cripple handed person. He told me to do the job until my hand was better again. Can you give me some advice on how I should get on with my life after that? Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,

Johnny Tremain                         

Dear Johnny,

What I think you should do is to work wherever you can find a job that will except you and work until your hand cures up. Then you can go back to your master after your hand is full healed and you can lead a normal life after that. I really appreciate that you came to me for advice.

With love,

Abbey