One of them knocked. They said that they had read that I had busted my most useful hand. They were out for a walk and wanted to know if I could use some help with anything. The kitchen belonging to a person reduced for a month to using the off hand looks more like a workroom than a place to eat. Twisting is out. Smashing is in. Bags that reseal aren't worth much after you have knifed your way into them. The most useful tool to a right-handed person with his right hand in a cast is his trusty hammer. The dogs have enjoyed food that flies. Bag it: Difficult tasks are anticipated. It's the simple things, like getting the garbage ready to go, that turn into wrestling matches. Here's how, with your least-used hand, you prepare a large heavy-duty contractor bag full of garbage for collection at the curb. First you attempt to tie the top in a secure knot with the off hand. Failing that, you kick a hole in one side of the bag, and slug a hole in the other side, then take the claw of the hammer to the middle. This creates a number of holes and loose ends that might be tied if you get lucky. When the couple showed up at my door, I had been sitting on the garbage bag full of holes, wondering what to do next. A few days earlier, somebody had stopped by to help, and I had her unscrew every lid in the refrigerator. So outside of the garbage, I was in decent shape this time. I had hacked and slashed so many holes in the garbage bag, coffee grounds had begun to spill. The garbage bag that had been attacked was placed in a second bag and taken to the curb by the people stopping by, saving me an hour and costing the dogs a trail of scraps. Friends indeed: The only bright side to breaking bones is getting to see how nice some people can be because it's their nature; virtual strangers, no less. Nobody wants to be a punk about an injury. But once you've selected the color for your cast, there's a tendency to open the front door and prop yourself up by the television and wait to see who hurries to help you the most. Sometimes after leaving a ladder prematurely, without a parachute, you feel like revising your master-list of friends -- elevate those three, drop two from the top ten. It's a simple act of kindness that you begin to recall more than a dislocation. It's the kind of thing you'd enjoy passing along.