New beginnings (boyxboy)✔

N.B 13

My dad tried to be as traditional as he was modern. He definitely did not look like someone who could wield a hammer, but he tried to do things around the house. He said he wasn't a stereotype. He could fix a couple of things, and was really proud of himself. He called himself and all-rounder. According to me he was way better at his job at the gallery than he was at home changing light bulbs and fixing toasters. I usually laughed at his shenanigans, but I was sometimes called to join in.

That day after school, we found dad at home. He was trying to make a mailbox to replace the old one. He didn't really look like he knew what he was doing when we walked in. What was supposed to look like a box looked like 5 separate blocks of wood cut into shapes.

He looked up as we walked in. Julie dropped her schoolbag on the lawn after she got out of the car. She put her hands on her waist and looked at dad, who was working in the garage.

"What are you doing?" she shouted.

"What does it look like?" dad said.

"It looks like you don't know what you are doing", Julie said chuckling.

"I will get you for that missy", he said.

I walked up to dad.

"So...what am I looking at?"

"What is soon to become a masterpiece", he said as if he was referring to one of his paintings.

I picked up a rectangular block of wood and played with it in my hands. "How is it coming along?"

I saw Julie go into the house.

"Everything is in order. I just need to hammer in some nails to attach the pieces together. It will come out alright", he said.

I nodded, though I highly doubted it.

"Need some help?" I asked.

"Yeah, get me some nails", he said.

He told me where to get the nails but I couldn't find them. He accused me of not looking thoroughly, but even he came back empty. It looked like he hadn't planned his work properly.

"Look at that, we are out of nails", he said.

"Maybe you put them somewhere else", I said.

"No, we are out. I left the rest outside and they rust. I threw them out. I forgot", I said.

"Oh well, looks like we are stuck with the old mailbox", I said.

"No we are not", he said. This man never quit. "We'll go to a hardware store, now".

"You do know no one really expects..."

"Get in the car", he said.

"Me? Why am I going?"

"Do you want a spray gun or not?" he asked getting his car keys.

I was being bribed with a spray painting gun. Wow.

"You do know I use yours, right?" I asked.

"Yes. You do know I can hide it, right?" he said.

"I'll be in the car", I said quickly.

Dad got into the car and we drove into town. He parked before the hardware store and we went in. We'd been there before. Dad's traditional Mr-fix-it shenanigans ran deep. We even knew where the nails were, we'd bought a lot that got forgotten in the rain.

We got the nails, some screws and my spray gun. While we were standing in line to pay, dad turned to me.

"I really do not appreciate it when people eye my son while I'm around. Don't I look old enough to be your dad?" he said.