Photo by Jenny Venturo
Dad is in the passenger seat. It is funny to see him there because he usually drives. And he does not look very comfortable here. His lips are pressed in a firm line, and his hand tightly grips the arm of the seat. I have seen him like this before. He had looked this tense when it was my older brother first taking the wheel. And now it’s my turn. I am in the driver's seat. And I am driving!
This month I learned to drive. Okay so maybe that sounds a little too confident. This month I am learning to drive. It’s not that difficult, except when I mix up the gas pedal with the brakes—I think Dad aged about ten years when I first did that. Why are the gas pedal and the brake pedal controlled by the same foot?
Another slight inconvenience about driving is that our van is big. Really big. And I am short. Every time I get into the seat, I must pull it forward several inches. Then I must lower the steering wheel as far as it will go and adjust the mirrors until I can see something other than sky through them.
Even when I am driving, the van is still huge. It’s way too wide for the lane, and it looks like I’m overlapping into the adjacent lane. I quickly adjust.
“Stop!” Dad cries out.
I’ve never heard him shout like that.
“You came way too close to that sign,” he says. “And now you’re riding the curb!”
He seems a bit jumpy today.
“Sorry,” I say.
We’re moving excruciatingly slowly. I step on the gas. The car begins to accelerate.
“Yeah!” I say.
Mom and Dad exchange a look of apprehension.
We come to a curve. Whoa! Way too fast. The curb is right there. Screeeech! I slam on the brakes. The car lurches to a stop as everyone jerks forward in their seats.
“Sorry, guys.”
But with each mistake I am learning. With every practice session, the Ferrari (which is what we call our van) and I get to know each other a little better. We’re figuring each other out. And I am enjoying it. It is fun to feel the power of the van through the wheel and maneuver through a parking lot. It is fun to glide smoothly around a curve and to let the wheel fall back neatly into place. It feels good to fit the car nicely into a parking space, nice and semi-straight, after a full 5 minutes of frantic back-and-forth wheelwork.
Yes, I am driving now. And by the end of this month, I should be ruling the road! I just hope Dad has some black hair left by then!
