Matchbox Cars
Ryan was five when he switched speeds the first time. He had always been slower than everybody else, but he knew it was because they were all bigger than him. It wasn't fair, cause it meant that Trey could outrun him, leave him behind to play with his own friends. Ryan already knew he was different from the other kids at school too. Bobby Lipton had made fun of the brown bag his lunch was in and his cheap white sneakers. All the other guys had super-hero lunchboxes and Transformers shoes that lit up when they walked. Even then though, he knew not to complain about those things. All it did was make his Daddy yell, which made his Momma cry and drink her 'magic' potion.
Ryan knew the way things were. Sometimes if his Daddy yelled enough they might not get to eat dinner, because Momma forgot to feed them. The only time Ryan didn't feel littler than Trey and not important was when they went for rides in the car. Daddy had a car that the top went down and made the wind blow IN THE CAR! Even Bobby Lipton's family didn't have that! It was his one pride when everyone made fun of him and left him behind because of what he DIDN'T have.
Then one Sunday after a fast and furious drive with the wind gusting through his hair, making him feel like he was in one of the planes he'd seen like ants up high, Daddy left. Ryan thought he was just going to buy Momma some more 'magic' potion like he did sometimes, and would be back real soon. So he went to his and Trey's room and played with his matchbox cars. He vroomed and wheeled as fast as he could, trying to make the cars feel the way he felt. He wished he had one with a top gone like his Daddy's car. Trey had one, but he wouldn't share cause he said Ryan was a baby and he'd just wreck it.
Ryan started to get hungry and a little uneasy about things. It was way past spaghetti time and Daddy still wasn't home yet. He ran to the window when he saw the red-blue lights flashing outside. Curious, cause that was a real-live COP CAR, Ryan ran to the living room to ask Momma what was going on. Momma was standing with the door open, talking to the uniform guy and crying really hard.
Later on Ryan was told by Trey that Daddy was never coming home again. He had to stay in a place where all the bad people in the world lived, because he'd done something mean. It wasn't until a lot later in life that Ryan would find out about the gunshot that killed the liquor store owner, and the failed get-away with the money from the register. When he asked Trey what Daddy had done that was bad, all Trey would say was, "He was driving too fast. They don't like it when you do that."
"But Trey," Ryan cut in wonderingly, "don't they know that's how you can fly? I bet those ugly birds at the market just drive their legs real fast and that's how they fly. They don't ever got to go to a bad people's home." Confused and tired, he looked over at Trey with a question in his eyes. He was desperate to know why.
"I already told you why. And the birds fly with their wings, not their feet you dummy." With those angry last words, Trey turned over on his bed and fell asleep. Ryan stayed awake thinking for awhile. Maybe Trey was right, the uniform guys could take you away for driving really fast. Ryan didn't want to go to the bad people place, even if Daddy would be there too.
That was the night Ryan made a promise to himself that he would never drive again till he was big, and even then he'd drive real slow so he wouldn't get 'rested with handcuffs. No more fast and furious cause police ALWAYS knew about bad guys and caught 'em. After that, five year old Ryan quit playing with matchbox cars and getting into trouble for a long time. But the older he got, the further from his promise he strayed. Only when Sandy Cohen sprung him from the juvenile detention center did he begin to think about trying for something better. When he went back to pack his things after his mother abandoned him and the house, he felt around under the bed for his backpack. Instead he grabbed onto a dusty wooden box. It had been a cigar box at a time when Transformers were cool and inside was a single, blue matchbox car with no top. In that moment he remembered the night he learned that cars don't fly and going too fast leads to bad things. Ryan renewed the promise to himself that he would try not to live too fast and furious, because losing control was a dangerous thing for a guy like him.