Alice Bliss - Laura Harrington [41]
“Everything all right, Henry?” his mom asks the top of his head.
“Uh huh,” he answers her shoes.
“Alice seemed like she was in a big hurry to get out of here.”
“Uh huh.”
“Do you need to talk about it?”
“Uh uh.” And he shakes his head for emphasis.
“You sure?”
“Uh huh.”
“How’s the homework coming along?”
“Fine.”
“You want a snack?”
“We ate the Oreos.”
“All righty, then.”
Mrs. Grover heads back inside, the laundry basket resting on her ample hip.
Henry dares to look up only after the front door has closed with its solid thump. And then he throws himself on the grass, the cool, damp, early-spring grass. He can feel the wet already seeping into him, but he doesn’t care. What if, he’s thinking, what if that really was a kiss?
The orange Dodge has one of those bench seats in the front. Alice has never seen one of those before. The whole car smells like wax it’s so spic and span.
“Nice car, Uncle Eddie.”
“Isn’t she a beauty? Who knew an old Dodge could have so much style?”
“What’s that thing on the steering wheel?”
“Necker’s knob.”
“What?”
He puts his arm around her and pulls her across the seat until she’s snugged right in beside him.
“So you can drive with one hand.”
“And . . .”
“Find a country road, open the windows, drive real slow, and give your girl a kiss.”
“You ever have a car like this when you were a kid?” she asks as she slides over to her side of the seat and rolls the window down.
“I wish! I had to drive my old man’s Ford. Stripped down, strictly utilitarian. Boring, boring car. How are you doing?”
She thought they were talking about cars, now he wants to know how she’s doing?
“Where are we headed?”
“I thought we’d go up to the high school parking lot and just get a feel for things.”
Alice is thinking that might be a better idea much, much later in the day or in the middle of the night or some weekend when there’s no game and no practice going on and really absolutely no people around to watch and make her want to hyperventilate.
“You know how there’s that faculty parking lot out by the maintenance shed? I thought we’d head over there.”
Uncle Eddie can read her mind.
Next thing she knows she’s behind the wheel. When they adjust the bench seat so she can comfortably reach the gas and brake pedals, Eddie is left with both knees jammed against the dash.
“No problem,” he reassures her. “Plenty of room.”
She puts on her seat belt.
“Okay. You know the difference between the gas and the brake?”
“Gas is right, brake is left.”
“Which foot do you use for the brake?”
“Trick question! Right foot for both.”
“Smart-ass.”
She smiles at him.
“Put your foot on the brake.”
He talks her through the gears. The Dodge is automatic but the shift is on the steering column. She’s never seen that before. It’s cool, though, the way you grab the handle, pull it toward you, and slide the lever to “D” for drive.
“So let’s just start real slow in a nice big circle around the parking lot.”
“Okay.”
“You ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Put her in drive and then release the brake nice and slow.”
Alice does as she’s told and they’re moving! She’s driving! Okay, so she could walk faster than this, but she’s driving!
“Can I give it a little gas?”
“Not yet. Let’s just focus on steering.”
She misjudges the first turn.
“Straighten out your wheels. You feel that now? You’ve gotta get a feel for how she handles. Every car is different, different turning radius, different responsiveness to the steering wheel.”
The second turn she drives right off the asphalt onto the stony shoulder, but pulls the car back in line a little more smoothly.
“A little more to the left.”
The third and the fourth turns are pretty easy. She’s proud of herself, but she doesn’t dare take her eyes off the macadam in front of her to look at Uncle Eddie and judge his response. By the third time around she’s starting to feel pretty good. She actually sits back in the seat a bit and relaxes