The three of them, Cora, Sybil and Matthew, stood there and stared at the car. It seemed like such a foreign object – almost alien. When Sybil and Matthew had finally convinced Cora to tag along, she never intended to be the first one to try it at the wheel. She swallowed. "You know what, I don't feel so good." she lied and retreated.
Both Matthew and Sybil grabbed each of her arms and said, "You're not getting out of this one."
Cora swallowed again. At least Sybil could start the thing but Cora had no clue what to do once she was inside the block on four wheels. And Matthew – at least he knew how to ride a bike. Cora didn't even know that!
"If I get in that...thing I'll end up not just killing myself but killing the rest of you." she stated strongly. "And did I mention that I don't feel very well?" she said again and headed back home where she was safe. She walked with her head still facing Matthew and Sybil, and before she knew it, she had two hands wrapped around wrists.
"Where do you think you're going?" Robert asked. "You don't think you'll get out of this one do you? It took Matthew and Sybil all day to convince you to even get in the thing without a proper chauffeur. We wouldn't want to disappoint them do we?" he said smiling at his wife of at least thirty years. "And you know how Sybil gets when she's in a bad mood. She was worse than you when you got mood-swings."
"I'll probably crash the thing." Cora replied, looking back at the car.
"Well, you're lucky we're not in London – there's too many things to crash into." a distant voice said. It was Mary. "Oh come now, I wasn't going to let my fiancée go through with this on his own. And besides, it'll be hilarious to see you and Sybil trying to drive the strange thing." she said to her mother, and then went over to Matthew and kissed him.
"See – Mary's excited. You should be, too." Robert whispered in his wife's ears, his hands moving away from her wrists to her waist. He kissed Cora on the forehead and ran to the car. "I know I am." he said waving his hat in the air. He got into the vehicle and closed the door.
Cora huffed, her shoulders dropping. She found the courage to open the front door of the car and sit at the wheel. Breath, she thought. This is going to be a long day...
Branson and Edith are teaching Cora how to drive. Things aren't going well.
She's not familiar with anything outside of Downton, Crawley House and Levinson House. Mary looks at her blankly and Robert just sticks up his thumbs and smiles with no confidence at all. But at least Cora is trying. So what if she bumped into a few trees, or accidentally reversed back into Downton, almost running Carson over, and so what if she's not very good. It wasn't her idea to learn how to drive anyway.
"Is it someone else's turn yet? I'm sick of this stupid car already. We've been driving for miles it seems." Cora groaned.
All the faces except from Cora's looked at each other. Robert looked at Edith and then at Matthew and then at Branson and Mary. "Darling, you do know we're not even out of Downton grounds yet."
Cora groaned again, and then hit her head off the wheel.
"Darling, I don't think you should—" Robert said worried about his beloved wife.
Cora hit her head off the wheel again.
"Mama, maybe you should stop—" Edith began to say.
Another hit off the wheel.
"Cora." Robert said. She ignored him and moaned some more. "Cora." he repeated. She continued to ignore her husband. "Cora!" Robert shouted for her attention.
Cora jumped and accidentally pushed down on the one of the paddles. They were moving forward now and they were moving incredibly fast – too fast for a beginner. The whole Crawley family screamed. Mary and Matthew held each other and hoped not to die, Edith began to say her goodbyes to everyone. And Branson was yelling something at Cora, but in too much of a panic and not knowing what to do, she pushed down harder. They were headed for a tree now. They screamed louder.
"We're going to die!" Edith said.
"The brakes, the brakes," Branson kept repeating. "Push on the BRAKES!" he yelled in her face.
Getting closer and closer to the tree, everyone believed they were going to die. And with Cora at the wheel, they were sure they were going to die.
