Kenny's Driving Lesson

By Ken Covey

       Kenny had watched people drive for all of his young life.  It didn't look very hard.  There were just a few simple controls, he thought, but more than the Hootenanny that he and his friend, Larry, had built.  Certainly the brakes worked better.  Kenny thought he could drive and ached to try.  He had been allowed to sit on his dad's lap and steer down the dirt road from time to time and that didn't seem very difficult.  He wasn't always on his side of the road but had not run into anybody or gone into the ditch.  Kenny was a "doer" and he knew he could do it by himself if he just had the chance                                                                                                                          

       One day his chance came.  His dad was home for the weekend and went fishing with a friend.  His mom had been picked up by one of her friends to go shopping.  Kenny was left alone and there was his dad's pick-up in the yard, calling for Kenny to drive it.

       He resisted the temptation for awhile, but every time he tried to do something, his thoughts turned to the old, green truck in the yard.

       "It wouldn't hurt to sit in it," thought Kenny.  "I could just pretend to drive."

       Kenny climbed up on the old, patched seat and grasped the steering wheel.  His feet wouldn't reach the pedals without scooting 'way down, almost off the front edge of the seat, but then he couldn't see out the windshield. He was able to hold on to the steering wheel and pull himself back up to where he could see

       "Vroom, Vroom," said Kenny, as he turned the wheel and pretended to drive while bouncing on the seat.

       Suddenly, from over the sun visor, some keys fell into his lap.  "A gift from heaven," thought Kenny.

       Never one to pass up an opportunity for adventure, Kenny inserted the key into the ignition and turned it on.  Nothing happened.

       In the old cars and trucks the starter was either a button on the floor to be stepped on or a button on the dashboard to be pushed with a finger.  Also, there was nothing to prevent the vehicle from being started "in gear".  Kenny's dad's truck was a "stick shift" on the floor, requiring the use of a clutch.  Kenny had watched his dad shift gears, but had no idea which gear was which.  He pushed in the clutch and moved the gear shift to one of the positions.  All he needed to do was push the starter and he would be able to drive!  Oh, the temptation!      Nobody was home; nobody would ever know!

       Kenny and temptation were good buddies.  He hardly ever resisted for very long.  Today was no exception.

He pushed the starter and the engine roared to life--and so did the wheels!  It was a good thing that the truck was pointed out of the yard and toward the road, because that's where Kenny went.  Gripping the steering wheel and straining his neck to see over the hood, Kenny steered the truck out of the driveway and onto the road.

       Making a wide, sweeping turn to the right, he kept the truck on the road as it picked up speed.  The road sloped downhill slightly and the truck kept going faster and faster.  Kenny knew he had to slow down so he could keep the truck under control.  Without taking his eyes off the road, he scootched down in the seat so he could reach the pedals.  He either had to look at the road, or look to see which pedal to push.  He watched the road and pushed the gas.

       "O'migosh!" uttered Kenny, as the truck sped toward a turn in the road.  He was so busy steering that he couldn't be bothered with trying to push the brake pedal.

       Steering the best he could, he zoomed around the corner to meet a huge logging truck coming toward him.  There was enough room to pass each other, but Kenny thought the road was awfully narrow and pulled too far to the side.  One wheel caught the soft dirt at the edge of the road and pulled his truck over the edge and out into a field.

       Bouncing over the uneven ground with his bottom in the air more often than on the seat, he clung to the steering wheel for dear life.  There was no way to reach the pedals, so Kenny's mind kicked into overdrive.  Maybe he could turn around and return to the road.  He turned the wheels and began to head back the way he had just come.  Still bouncing like B-Bs dropped on a hard floor, he zoomed up the embankment onto the road, wildly twisting the steering wheel to aim toward home.   

       Approaching his driveway, Kenny planned to make a big circle in the yard so the truck was once again pointing toward the road, let go of the steering wheel and push the brake with all of his might.

       Around the yard he sped, cutting deep tire tracks into the soft ground.  Once headed toward the road, he pushed himself far down in the seat and jammed on the brakes.  The truck skidded and shuddered to a stop, throwing Kenny to the floor in a heap.  He feebly reached up and turned off the key.

       Crawling from the truck head first, he coughed at the dust filled air.  He looked where he had turned around and there, for all the world to see, was evidence of his adventure.  The tracks were deeply cut into the driveway and even a little of the lawn.  It would mean big trouble if his parents saw it this way.

       Kenny ran to the shed, grabbed the rake and a shovel and began to cover his tracks.  Feverishly he worked, hoping to get the evidence hidden before his parents came home.  So far there was no real damage done and he didn't want to be the first casualty.

       Finally, the yard looked normal and the skid marks on the road and driveway had been raked out and dusted over.  Kenny stood with his hands on his hips and proudly looked at his work. 

       He was sitting on the couch, reading his favorite comic book when his mom came home.      

       "Hi, Kenny," she said.  "What did you do all day?"

       "Nuthin' much," muttered Kenny, not daring to look into her eyes.

       When Kenny's dad came in, he asked Kenny if he had an exciting day.  He looked intently at Kenny with a twinkle in his eye and said, "I thought I left the truck keys over the visor, I must have been mistaken."

       Kenny felt a great sense of relief, and a bunch of admiration for his father at that moment.  He also thought, "If you only knew, Dad, maybe someday you will.  Maybe."