Manual Lessons
“It’ll be okay,” he assured her.
“You’re sure?”
He nodded so she got into the driver’s seat of his car. He shut the door behind her and she felt her breath leave her lungs as it slammed. She drew in her breath as he got into the passenger seat and began to teach her.
He taught her the different gears and the funky way his car was placed in reverse, he added an addendum with how most cars are placed in reverse. He explained the clutch and why it was important and what it had to do with the different gears. He then told her to push the clutch all the way in with her left foot and apply pressure to the breaks with her right foot as she started the car.
Her heart skipped a beat when the car roared to life and her left foot slipped off the clutch. The car jolted forward and then jerked backwards before promptly dying. She grumbled in frustration, tears coming to her eyes. He reassured her that it was going to be alright and convinced her to try again. She did, paying extra attention to her left foot. She was rewarded by not stalling out. He instructed her to keep the car in first and take it for a test drive around the empty parking lot. He told her how to shift to second and then to third when she picked up with pace. He taught her how to downshift. Once she got going, she was a natural.
He convinced her to take the car onto the actual road where there were other vehicles. She was unsure but he prompted her enough that she finally agreed and pulled out of the parking lot. He took care of the directions so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything except driving the car and keeping it from stalling.
They came across a train crossing the road and she pulled them to a gentle stop. He instructed her to place the car in neutral and pull the emergency brake so they wouldn’t have to worry about going anywhere until the train was done crossing.
Their talking turned to laughing, turned to kissing, turned to a honk from the car behind them. The train was gone and they hadn’t even noticed.
