I am attending a driving school now. In the second class, the teacher asks that in which mode should you start a car? I give out the answer in my mind quickly; it’s parking mode, if not, I might not even be sitting here. The question reminds me of a summer 9 years ago when I was still in China. I was 10 years old, the age for boys to be naughty. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, we were about to leave our apartment for my grandparents’ place. In five minutes, I finished changing my clothes waiting them at the door, but they were really slow.
My parents never left the house faster than I do, they always checked if all the lights were turned off and if they had their wallets and cell phones with them. Sometimes, my mom also fixed her hair before leaving. As a child, I never understood why they repeated the same routine every time when we went somewhere. They knew that I am impatient with them checking around, so my father gave me his car key as always and said to me, ” ChengCheng(my family calls me this way) take the key and wait for us in the car and don’t forget to turn on the air conditioner, it’s such a hot day”.
He knew I prefer to sit in the car alone, rather than waiting for them at the door. Gladly I took the key, an idea coming out of nowhere after I got the key, why don’t I try to drive the car out of the parking lot and wait for them at the road side. I always wanted to try to drive. I admited I play car-racing games a lot during that period of time and I felt absolutely confident about my driving skills. So I asked, ” Dad, I wanna drive your car. ” It was not exactly asking a permission, I simply told him what I wanted and waited for objections.
By the time I asked, he was already in the living room, I am not sure if he noticed what I said, because I just heard the TV was turned off, one thing for sure though was that I heard no objections. I then left the floor for the parking lot. I look around, many cars left and the spots next to our car were both empty. What a lucky day! I walked to the car, the black Passat, I pressed the unlock button on the key, after the beep-beep, I open the driver’s door and sit in the car without a hesitation, I looked back at the seat where I always sit and I giggled. Finally I can drive, I think.
I then adjusted the seat so that I can step on the gas peddle, next, I started the engine, turned on the air conditioner and switched the fan level to three. After a minute or two, I checked the left then the right and prepared to drive just in the same manner as how my father would have done it. I hold the steering wheel tight and step on the gas peddle gently as I remember mom and dad had discussed it before. However, it was the first time I stepped and still it was too heavy. I heard a wongggg sound and I saw that the RPM indicator needle went to 5000 but the car did not move at all.
I felt confused but I was terrified by the sound and too afraid to try it again. Suddenly I felt what I did was really dangerous, I could really have bumped to another car. After the realization of how serious the mistake I had made, I quickly adjusted back the seat and sit back to where I belong and pretended nothing had happened when my parents came. Luckily they didn’t notice anything. I pretended to be calm and watched carefully how my father drove the car out of the parking lot. He put the gear stick in driving mode first and then he stepped the gas peddle.
Now I understood where my silly mistake was. After that question, I pay no attention to the class anymore, all I think about are the mistakes I made. Thanks to the silly mistake, a possible tragedy is prevented and I am still alive. But there is another bigger mistake. I shouldn’t have tried to drive in the first place. I should not feel so confident about myself. Things that appear to be easy to do aren’t really that easy. I should have thought twice before, and the chance is I would probably not have done that if I thought twice.
