Now everyone knows that driving a stick shift car isn't something that's entirely easy, especially if you haven't done it before, but how often do we actually talk about the process of learning to drive a manual.
Really? Think about it, we usually hide those stories, and for good reason. Believe me.
Like anyone who reaches the ripe old age of sixteen, I began to grow an interest in driving last year. Being the reckless person I was, my parents rightfully blocked me off from my license until I'm eighteen. Which means that yes, I still don't have it. (I think they also didn't want the insurance going up.)
However, I ended up learning to drive a manual because of the Horseplace. You see, out there we have a large, orange Kabota tractor that could easily take out a building if we wanted it to. So of course this is the first vehicle I learned to drive. A fellow volunteer, Ivan, taught me because no one else could reach the pedals.
After almost running over Taylor, flattening a fence, and taking out the hay barn because I forgot to set the emergency break and it started rolling down the hill, Ivan decided my tractor days were over. For awhile at least.
Nate however, thought differently. The minute he found out I could drive a stick shift, he belted me into his VW Bug and told me to let her rip. In terror I sat behind the wheel, my hands in a two-in-ten position, eyes fixed placidly on the road. I tried to push the clutch down and gently ease into the gas, nice and steady, but my foot wasn't obeying and I sent us lurching forward, right up till I planted both feet on the brake at the stop sign. We stopped then.
"Easy," Nate said, laughing nervously, probably regretting the whole idea just about then. "Now gently push the gas down and switch over to two."
So of course I stalled. In the middle of the main street. With traffic headed in my direction. Yeah.
"Okay," He laughed even more nervously. "Go now."
I tried getting it to move forward and it wasn't. "Rachael......Go!"
Shoving it into third, I floored the gas pedal and shot across the street, spinning the wheel to make a U-ey while still doing thirty.
"WHOA!" Nate screamed as I felt the back tires skidding behind us, his face now totally pale.
The minute I was realigned with my street, I shot back towards home, forgetting to down shift as I slowed to a stop in front of my house. I opened the door and slammed it, even as he was still trying to catch his breath. Then throwing the keys over at him, I said, "I'm never doing that again."
A smile broke out on his face. "You almost killed us."
I rolled my eyes. "Did not."
"Oh my God, that was crazy! Hey Mom! Dad!"
So yes, I guess my parents had very good reasons to keep me as far away from a drivers license as humanly possible. Though I am a little better now. I don't hit the gas quite so hard anymore.
Aren't screams just the best though? Especially since they always sound different and never like you'd expect. Boys sound like girls and girls like boys a lot. Sometimes they're out of sheer terror, others just to get attention. Screaming is definitely something to avoid doing if you are: 1. In a echoey room. (The ricochet is ear piercing.) 2. In front of a "respectable" group of people (You will never see so many stern faces in your life.) and 3. If you're trying to get people to quite down. (You're just adding to the noise.)
However, my counselor Ryan proved to me that screaming can not only be necessary in some cases, but crucial for survival in others. It can also make a strenuous backpacking trip a lot funnier.
Ryan, Sara, Heather, and I were hiking in the Rocky Mountains, on our decent from the last mountain we'd peaked, when we came across a waterfall caused by glacier run off. It was pretty big and so beautiful that we sat down to take pictures and my two counselors got the wonderful idea that they wanted to sit under it. Because of course, this is naturally your first inclination when its freezing cold, you have no change of clothes, and there's a waterfall made from ice in front of you.
So as Sara and I got our cameras ready to take pictures, they crawled out under the water and stood there, gasping and yelling from the cold, while we laughed.
However it wasn't until after this that the screaming comes into play. Sara and I had decided to hike ahead of the two and were around two hundred feet from the waterfall, when we heard the ear piercing, shrill scream. Followed by Heather screaming, "Snake!"
Sara and I froze, staring at one another, unsure of whether to run or go back and help. We didn't know what to do if one of our counselors was bit. Then we saw Heather calmly walking towards us, with a shaky Ryan behind her, and we couldn't understand it. Why the false alarm? Who'd screamed?
"Why'd you yell snake?" Sara asked when they caught up to us.
"Snake?" Heather said. "I said wait."
"OH..."
"Then why the scream?" I looked at Ryan when I asked this and got the feeling he was spooked over something. Heather started laughing.
"That was Ryan."
"Why'd you scream?" I asked him. Ryan looked down at his feet with an ashamed smile and said, "'Cause I fell through a spider web when I was climbing down the boulders."
Looking at one another, Sara and I burst out laughing. "So?"
"SO?" Ryan was obviously distressed. "SO, I couldn't find the spider afterwards!"
And that just about sent us over the edge and into hysteric land. There was no coming back. We were laughing the entire rest of the trail until we reached camp and even then, I kept picturing Ryan's scream in my head and it just made me giggle more.
There were many funny stories with that group, but this simple one is one that I remember the most and laugh the hardest over. The scream, the spider, and the response were all perfect.
Today's quotes are from my Dad, since he says so many things I thought I should give him his own section. My dad and I are constantly at war with one another sarcastically and more than once have nearly destroyed the other. So in memory of all our best "debates", I quote:
"You're like the energizer bunny and I'm constantly looking for the off switch." - Dad
"You know, you should take up martial arts, because with a mouth likes yours you'll need to know how to defend yourself." - Dad
And last but not least:
Dad: "Well, thanks for hanging with me for three hours."
Me: "I was bored out of my brain."
Dad: "Me too, let's NOT do it again soon."
Thanks Dad, for making my arguments so much more fun to have.
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