The Family Hammer

Bert Rock
1 min readApr 13, 2021

--

by Bert Rock

In the garage of my sixth childhood home, there was the green tackle box Grandpa Johnny gave me before he died. Countless times I opened it, looking through the little compartments, using my small fingers to fish for a lure, a weight, or one more memory of him.

There was the compound bow my father never used, a barbell thick with dust, and his unopened toolbox. Mother’s station wagon sagged, homely and tired. My father’s Porsche, with its perpetual shine, hid a bottle of bourbon under the hood.

A naked Barbie doll lay motionless. In a corner, my brother’s GI Joe was trapped in cobwebs, resigned to his fate. The axe and the orange lawnmower had handles worn smooth by my eight-year-old hands. Next to them, the empty space where my stolen bike should have been.

In my hand, there was a blue-handled hammer. I used it to strike the walls late at night when the cars were gone, as if I could bring the whole house down on us all.

--

--

Bert Rock
Bert Rock

Written by Bert Rock

Arizona writer of fantasy fiction, children’s literature, poetry, and more. Black Lives Matter! Mental Health matters! www.bertrock.com, follow @BertRock1