Vera and I waited patiently. I stood by the side of the car while Vera climbed inside and sat in the driver’s seat. She started playing with the steering wheel. She did all the usual things to the car. She pushed all the buttons of the car radio, pressed in the cigarette lighter and watched it pop out, turned the lights on and off, and made the turn signals blink. Then Vera did something that I didn’t even know how to do. I didn’t see her, but I knew she had done it--she put the car into neutral. I knew by the way the car moved about an inch that the little thing in the transmission that keeps the car motionless was no longer in place.
I was feeling devious, but I didn’t show it. I just pretended to be bored, and I walked to the front of the car and leaned against the bumper. Nothing happened. But I could tell that something could happen. I leaned a little harder. That did it. The car started to slide down the driveway, picking up speed.
Even though we lived on a dead end and the traffic was not that heavy on our street, it was still dangerous for a car to back onto the street, especially when the driver was five-year-old Vera. She really couldn’t steer the car, especially when she started screaming and yelling as she realized she was moving. I just stood there watching as my sister backed out of the driveway in the car. My dream of driving a car was happening before my eyes, but this time it was a nightmare for my sister Vera. I soon realized that the car might crash into something, so I tried to stop it. I ran up to the moving car and grabbed the front bumper but it was no use. I couldn’t stop it.
No comments:
Post a Comment