My Father Gave Me a New Big Brother, and the Only Man I Could Run To Was the One Who Put Him There novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: My Door
The garage behind the Ostatua smelled of sawdust and paint.
My father switched on the one bulb and pulled a canvas tarp off something leaning against the wall.
I stood with my hands in my coat pockets.
It was a sign, carved in dark wood, four feet across.
The letters were cut deep and filled with gold leaf, and they said ETXEBERRIA OSTATUA.
Underneath, smaller, they said: Amaia and Maialen.
I read it three times.
"I had it made in December," my father said, gruff. "I wasn't sure I'd have the nerve to show you. I thought, she'll say it's too late for signs."
"Aita."
"Your mother's name goes first. That's right. But it's your name, too. The house is yours, and the books, and the front. I'll cook till they carry me out, and you will tell me where to stand."
He wiped his nose on his sleeve.
I crossed the garage and put my arms around him, and he held on hard.
"I'm sorry," he said into my hair. "I will say it again every year."
"I know."
"Is it enough?"
"No," I said. "But it's a start. Hang the sign."
We hung it on a cold bright Saturday at the end of January.
Mateo went up the ladder with a drill, and my father steadied it.
I stood in the street with my arms folded and told them to move it left.
It took six tries.
Half the Block came out to watch from their doorsteps and offer opinions.
When it was straight, the woman from the bakery on Idaho Street put two fingers in her mouth and whistled.
She was the first of my three forbidden friends.
Mateo came down the ladder with his hair full of sawdust.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of My Father Gave Me a New Big Brother, and the Only Man I Could Run To Was the One Who Put Him There are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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