Goines On: Handiness

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On his morning walk, Goines encountered a neighbor’s pruned cypress tree lying across the sidewalk, entirely blocking it. With hardly a thought, he easily kneed it onto the strip of grass between the sidewalk and the curb.
    When he did have a thought about it, it was to observe that he had used his left knee, which reminded him that, though he was right-handed, he would often use his left leg and his left arm for tasks that needed a bit more strength or force. Had he suffered a tiny stroke or something that had impaired the strength of his right limbs? Such a stroke would have been in his brain’s left hemisphere, the generally acknowledged home of a person’s analytical and methodical thinking. Goines was nothing if not analytical and methodical. He had been reminded of that earlier, when he quickly, efficiently (and exultantly) laid out the implements for preparing breakfast.
    But he had used his left knee to push the cypress aside, and done so quickly and efficiently (and, again, even exultantly). The right hemisphere of his brain was pretty good too, giving Goines a generous helping of creativity and artistry. He had long believed, with good reason he thought, that the two hemispheres of his brain were fairly balanced, perhaps even evidenced by his being capable of extroversion as well as of introversion, and of communicating articulately in both spoken and written language.
    But what struck Goines now was that his son was left-handed. Goines had always thought (he acknowledged that he didn’t really know) that his son had inherited left-handedness from some ancestor other than himself (or Mrs. Goines, who was also right-handed). But maybe Goines was left-handed as well as right-handed?
    It pleased him to think that his gifted son might have his left-handedness from his father after all.

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