Automobile and Aunt S House

An ordinary morning, that’s all it was. At 7:00 I began my short walk, just two doors down, to my aunt’s house. She was a teacher and her son and I would drive in early with her before school began, as we had done all year. The sun was shining bright and my unadjusted eyes had to squint to see. It was a fairly warm day but with a chilly breeze. I could smell the dew from the grass and hear the constant call and answer of the bird’s chirps. I could still taste my breakfast of cereal and chocolate milk. It was January of my second grade year. I was young, happy, and foolish. Around me only the bright green of the grass and trees, and life was as it should be, good.

As I neared my aunt’s house I noticed her car slowly moving back a few feet, then forward the same distance. Confused I walked up the short but steep hill that her driveway was on. When I was next to the car I saw it wasn’t my aunt driving, but my cousin who was only 4 years older than myself. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and was very intelligent. Yet, I couldn’t understand why he was driving.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“My mom told me to warm up the car” he replied.

I was too young to realize he had avoided the question entirely. He got out of the car and asked if I wanted to try. I said I didn’t, but he told me it was very easy and started making fun of me. Feeling very nervous I got into the driver’s seat and closed the door. He leaned through the window to control the wheel and put the car in reverse. The car began to roll backwards and I felt more and more anxious. As it got close to the hill he told me to hit the brakes. Absolute terror gripped me then because I was unable to reach them and the car had reached the hill. He began to yell louder for me to hit the brakes but couldn’t. Suddenly my feet found a peddle, and I pressed it down as hard as I could, but the car didn’t slow down. It seemed to speed up. I heard a scream and a loud BANG, then nothing. Silence? What had happened?