Once upon a time, I was
hanging out with my friends, lets call them joe and rick. The three of us were
at rick’s house, and we had some time to spare before going to meet some other
friends. We weren’t sure what to do, and we brainstormed some ideas. Finally,
rick had a great idea “I’m going to teach you two how to drive stick!” It
sounded like a fun idea but also somewhat dangerous, considering rick wasn’t an
expert stick driver. When I mean he isn’t an expert, I mean he has to stalls
out the engine in order to park it because “it’s easier”. That being said, he
was able to drive around the neighborhood smoothly and at no point did I fear
for my life. He took us to parking lot near his house for a nice place to
practice. Joe and I were nervous to try. Joe was recently licensed driver, who
had never tried stick, I hadn’t even taken drivers ed, and like I said before,
our teacher was pretty inexperienced.
I don’t know if you’ve ever driven
stick before, but its tricky. To start the car you have to keep your foot on
the clutch while you change from brake to gas. Then take your foot off the
clutch very slowly while still keeping your other foot on the gas, until
finally the car starts to move. Also, if you do anything wrong throughout this
process, the engine will stall out and you’ll have to start over again.
First one behind the wheel was Joe. He starts
the engine, begins the process and wham! The whole car shakes vigorously with
no sign of forward acceleration. “What the heck?” Joe yelled. “You hecking
idiot, I said take your foot off slowly” rick responded. Joe’s next few
attempts weren’t any better, but eventually he got the hang of it. He drove
around that parking lot beautifully. “Do you want to try?” Joe asked me. “Yeah
okay” I replied.
This wasn’t my first time behind the
wheel, but my no means was I accustomed to that feeling. With one foot on the
gas and one foot slowly lifting off the clutch, I breathed slowly and stayed
focus. It was the moment of truth. My foot was off the clutch completely and I
pressed harder on the gas. Vroom! The car zoomed off faster than I anticipated,
but I quickly took back control of the car. I was a stick prodigy. I was all-powerful,
nothing could stop me…for a whole minute, until the engine stalled out. I
shamefully turned off the car and got back in the passenger seat.
To this day, I don’t know what I did
wrong. That’s just how life goes, you never know what will stop you. If I want
you to take anything away from this story it’s that you’re never really in
control. SIKE just know that stick sucks.
Joe and Rick sound very familiar :) Rick was ambitious to try and teach you two to drive stick! Driving stick sounds difficult. I think I'll stick with automatic. Fun post to read!
ReplyDeleteI actually can (and prefer to) drive a manual, and I also had considerable trouble my first time. Feeling the car jerk about seemingly for no reason can be quite off-putting. You get used to it after a while, though it still takes a long time to get fully comfortable. Also, the reason you stalled out was probably because you stopped the car without disengaging the clutch.
ReplyDeleteI've done driver's ed, but I am not about to drive stick. I barely drive automatic. JK, I can drive a little. You had me there for a minute! See what I did there. You really wrote it well, besides the little typo at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteSorry, had to point that out! Great post!
Wonderful writing! As Jimmy Carrubba once said, "Driving automatic is so boring." To be honest, I'd have to agree with him. I drive automatic most of the time, and it is quite boring. The thrill of having full control over the car is something that is quite fun.
ReplyDeleteIncredible story hahah. My friend's automatic car broke down this summer, so she had to drive a rather old stick shift car until she left for college. She was driving me around an uphill corner once and we got stuck for a few hot seconds - the car shook forward and back several times before the engine revved one last time and pushed us onto the street we wanted to turn on. She said it was "normal". That's when I realized I didn't want to ever drive stick shift... so yes I agree stick sucks!
ReplyDeleteThe suspense in this story is incredible. I thought the build up to you finally pulling together the courage to ride stick was very well done. I also like that you kept in anonymous. Know I'm sitting here wondering who in the world joe and rick are! I also have no idea how to ride stick and i'm impressed you didn't crash the car! I hope that you are a better driver now than you were back then!
ReplyDeleteSuch an elegantly written blog post (the few typos aside). You were funny and entertaining, without forcing it. I appreciate the lack of cliche, and how you turned driving in a parking lot to a suspenseful journey of self-discovery. Driving stick in 2018 is kind of goofy anyhow, and we all know Rick was just trying to show off.
ReplyDelete