Y – Your turn at the wheel.

Y – Your turn at the wheel

The Aunt was busy for the past couple of weeks with her driving lessons.

And ever since she began she was slowly but steadily getting the hang of driving the car on the road and the Instructor up the wall!

A couple of days before the Driving Test, The Uncle handed over the car keys to The Aunt.

“Its your turn at the wheel” he said. “You need the practice for the Test anyway.”

The Aunt took the keys. The boys piled excitedly into the car, all set for some fun.

She inserted the keys and turned the ignition. Everyone waited for the car to move forward. Nothing happened.

The Uncle gave her an encouraging look and said, “Try again.”

She did and the vehicle lurched forward suddenly. Raghu sitting excitedly on the edge of the back seat toppled over. Raju pulled him back up. The Aunt shifted gears and the car slowly moved forward in fits and bursts.

“This is like a camel ride!” declared Raju.

“Excuse me.” said The Uncle politely. “The hand brake is still on. Who’s going to release it?”

“Oops!” said a nervous and perspiring Aunt, releasing it.

The car lurched forward a bit more.

“Amma’s going to fail the test.” announced Raghu with the confidence of a future foreteller.

“Keep quiet both of you or I’ll throw you out of the car!” warned The Aunt.

At last the vehicle was under control and cruising along on the main road.

“Amma can we go faster?” asked Raju with an exaggerated yawn. “Everyone is overtaking us!”

“Let them!” declared the Aunt. “Haste is waste.”

A scooter came dangerously close, wobbling on its 2 wheels and almost scraped the side of the car.

The Aunt honked loudly and yelled at the rider. “Never seen a woman drive before or what!! Look in front you idiot!!”

“Arre baapre!” said The Uncle. “Calm down and concentrate on your driving!”

“I am.” retorted The Aunt. “He distracted me by staring like that.”

“And how do you know he was staring at you?” demanded The Uncle. “Unless…..”

A car honked loudly and persistently from behind drowning out the rest of his words.

“Tsk Tsk. Who is this mad man?” said The Aunt irritably, looking in the rear mirror. “What noise!”

“He wants to overtake Amma. Don’t let him!” said Raju excitedly.

“Yippee!!! What fun!!” said Raghu clapping his hands. “This is like my video game “Road Rage!”

The honking continued from behind.

“What does the idiot want me to do?” asked a flustered Aunt. “Where is the place in this traffic for him to overtake?”

“Slow down a bit.” advised the Uncle, “and let him go. Best not to argue with such people!”

The vehicle managed to overtake, much to the disappointment of the boys, and came level with them. The driver leaned out of his window and shouted, “Oy Slow passenger train!! Get off the road. This is not for you!!”

“Ignore him.” advised the Uncle and the Aunt looked steadily ahead. The vehicle overtook them with a blare of horns.

“I don’t think I want to drive.” said a visibly shaken Aunt. ” There are mad people on the road! My BP has gone up I’m sure!”

“Amma don’t give up.” said Raju.

“Yes Amma, you can do it!” added Raghu.

The car moved forward, The Aunt driving slowly and carefully.

“Oh look” said Raju suddenly pointing ahead. “The fellow who overtook us.”

Next to the curb a little ahead was the very same man arguing with a traffic cop.

‘Oh!!!!” exclaimed The Aunt. “Apna time aayega!”

She slowed down the car stopping next to his, lowered the window and called out loudly,“Oy Super-Fast Express! Who pulled the chain?? Don’t forget – your next station is Police Station!” She chuckled heartily. 

The Uncle looked at his wife. “Happy?” he asked.

The Aunt looked back at him and beamed. “Very!” she said, the sparkle back in her eyes.

x ———————————- x

This is the 25th in the series The Adventures of the JP Family as part of the A to Z Blog Challenge 2019.

Alphabet Illustration – Sudarshan Rao.

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