Stories that land

Hamaron remembers his penny-pinching brother

Hamaron recalls the lengths one of his older brothers would go to avoid spending money.

Before the story

Comedian Hamaron (浜ロン) looks back on his older brother’s habits and a bicycle ride from their childhood.

My older brother

Hamaron here! I have two older brothers, and the younger of the two was really cheap.

When he put a bottle he’d bought in the fridge, he’d draw a line with a marker at the level he’d drunk it down to. That way, he could check whether either of us had helped ourselves.

And then there were the toothbrushes. Even cheaper.

You know how the bristles spread out when a toothbrush gets a lot of use? He’d cut off the bits that stuck out with scissors and keep using it.

But the thing that really got me happened when we were kids, out on a bike ride together.

The light was red. About fifty meters before it, he took his hands off the handlebars and spread his arms right out.

I asked him, “Why do you ride with no hands when the light’s red?”

He said, “I’m using air resistance so I don’t wear down the brake pads so much.”

I thought, this guy is seriously out there.

Oh, but trimming the toothbrush bristles? I did that too.

A short-haired man shown in profile, holding a blue toothbrush with splayed yellow bristles; black spiral marks appear beside him within a purple border.

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