“Egon, who the hell taught
you to drive stick?”
I sighed. It never
failed. Whenever I drove Peter’s car, as rare an occurrence as that was, he
always took affront at my driving. We were between busts, and during the last
one, Peter had taken an unfortunate fall, resulting in a dislocated shoulder.
Waiting for things to heal had never been his strong point.
When I asked to borrow his car to fetch a new piece of machinery from New
Jersey, he had leapt at the opportunity to leave the firehouse.
“My father, Peter.”
“Huh. He did a lousy job.
Why the hell haven’t I taught you properly?”
“Because with the exception
such as this, you never let me behind the wheel of your vehicular pride and
joy.” We were approaching the entry ramp onto the freeway as I spoke. Out of
the corner of my eye, I saw his lips curl with amusement.
“Possessive, aren’t I?
Tell you what, why don’t I give you some pointers on our way out to Jersey?
The way you’re grinding the gears, we’ll be lucky to make it there.”
His hand fell to cover mine
on the stick, and I almost jumped at the unexpected contact. He and I were still
at the new lovers stage of things, and while I had known him for years, it was
with great astonishment to think of him in this new fashion.
“Look, you’ll need to put
the car into fourth in a minute.” He turned in his seat, and his voice
lowered. The hand over mine squeezed lightly, then repositioned to mesh his
fingers with mine. I swallowed hard, and fought to keep my eyes on the road. His
soft tenor went husky and continued.
“Think of it like your
packs, you always know when something goes wrong with them.
There’s a rhythm to every car, Egon, each one unique. If you listen,
you can hear it. The car’s motor will hit a tone and vibration, and you’ll
know just when. It’s approaching it now, can’t you tell?”
Leaning closer to me, he
watched as I fumblingly checked the mirrors and began to ease his car into the
traffic-laden highway.
“Now, Egon. Slide the
clutch in smoothly, and change gears.” I followed the command, and pressed on
the clutch. His hands moved with mine, and for the first time ever I was able to
get the car into fourth gear with ease.
“See? No problem.” He
beamed at me, and his hand rubbed over mine. As distracted as I was for the rest
of the trip, it was a miracle that we made it to the factory intact. But I will
say one thing for this unexpected driving lesson. I did not stall out the engine
once.