2014 Ingenium April 2014 | Page 24

Don’t Hit the Puppy (Based on a true story) Aimee Sinks Class of 2014 Finally the day had arrived, the day my dad had promised me for fifteen years. He was teaching me to drive. Driving isn’t just a method of transportation or a way to get from point A to point B; it’s really much more. It marks a special time in a teenager’s life. It marks freedom. I grabbed the keys to my dad’s silver Honda Civic, unlocked the doors to my future, and hopped into the driver’s seat when my dad said, “Katie, get out. You’re not just going to jump into driving like that. I told you I would teach you how to drive, and that means step by step.” “But Daaaaad!” I whined defiantly. “Katie, get out. You’ll get to drive eventually,” He sternly replied. I slowly dragged myself out of the driver’s seat and stomped over to the other side. I crawled into the seat sullenly and pouted as my dad started the engine. My dad peered over at me and sighed while saying, “Don’t be so down. If all goes well today you’ll be driving in no time.” As he finished comforting me, he started off towards our local church. The church sits in the middle of a vast expanse of asphalt. Parking spots are marked by bright yellow paint and barriers that sit on either end of a set of ten spaces. Lampposts are scattered in between, but other than that, no other obstacles remain. Surely this is the perfect place to teach a teenager how to drive. As we pulled into the lot, my mood didn’t improve. “Dad, why are we in a parking lot?” I asked impatiently. “Katie, I told you I would teach you step by step. The first step is learning your car and learning how it works. Let’s get to it!” This was not what I had in mind at all, but I decided that I was never going to