“Did your father intentionally hit you with the brick?”

“Yes.”

“Were there threats before this?”

I closed my good eye and thought about twenty-six years.

If Melanie wanted something of mine, it became hers. If she failed at something, I fixed it. When I won a scholarship, my father said I was conceited.

When Melanie dropped out of college, my mother said she was finding herself. When I bought my first car, they told me to give it to Melanie, because she needed the confidence.