Driver's Education
They sat in the parked Nissan, in an empty shopping centre parking lot. The driver was an excited, nervous warlock, and his teacher was the vehicle's owner.
"…And what's that?" Kelly pointed to a point to the left of the steering wheel.
"Signals and high beams," the boy answered, obviously proud of himself. She pointed to a button at the centre of the dash. "Hazards." She pointed to the gear box. "Gear shifts!" This kept on until Kelly had run out of questions, and the warlock looked about ready to explode! He had read the manual over again, and he even knew how to perform the vehicle safety check. He just Desperately. Wanted. to DRIVE!
"Okay, now, put on your seat belt." Kelly demonstrated by pulling on her own, showing Merlin how to adjust the tension. She nodded when he appeared to have it right. "Okay. Turn the key in the ignition." Merlin looked confused. Kelly pointed to where the keys dangled from. "That thing right there. Full turn, only once, and DO NOT touch the gas peddle or you'll flood the engine—and then I'd have to hurt you," she said with an exaggerated smile, making the warlock laugh.
The engine roared to life, and Merlin pressed back against his seat, momentarily freaked out, his hands flying straight off of the steering column. He relaxed when the Lady Anderson appeared completely nonplussed, simply nodding. So…he must have done the right thing. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Kelly watched her friend with growing unease. "You sure you want to drive?" she asked gently.
"I-I can do this. It's just…just so odd." Merlin's eyes danced across the dashboard to the myriad of controls. "No horse to kick. How do you know what all of this means? And why do you need to see all of this if you're just driving somewhere?" His tone held a note of disbelief.
Kelly smiled. "You don't want to be aware that you're running on empty? Or if the engine's overheating? Or if you're low on oil?" She got a confused set of blinks. "It's all part of driving, Merlin. I have to be looking at all of this as I go, or I'm an accident waiting to happen."
A bit put off by how much work was required of the standard motorist, Merlin announced, "Horses are so much less work."
Kelly grinned. "Yeah—but I love my air conditioning." She sat back, tapping the warlock's shoulder. "Okay! Ready?" This was a crash course, she reminded herself. He would learn some basics. "Now…You're moving the gear from 'Park' to 'Drive'. If you read the box, it goes: Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, and these are Overdrive 1 and Overdrive 2. You won't use them much unless you're stuck in a rut. But then, the four-by-four will automatically kick in and provide a little extra power in that event, so…Yeah. Anyway! Move it to 'Drive' and keep your foot on the brake." She subconsciously reached for the handle over the passenger door, trying to appear as cool and collected as any confident passenger.
Kelly gave Merlin a moment to sit with the feel of the brake beneath his foot, and then she spoke slowly, concisely. "Now, take your foot off the brake, and GENTLY touch the gas pedal."
The Pathfinder lurched when, after rolling forward a few feet, Merlin got scared and shifted his foot back to the brake. He sat there with a wide gaze, and he finally nodded, both hands gripping the steering wheel at the ten-and-two-o'clock position. Okay, he was white-knuckling, actually, but at least his hands were in the right places!
On Kelly's encouraging nod and words, Merlin put his foot back on the gas pedal. His foot settled on the gas a little too heavily, as the vehicle suddenly sped forward. It barrelled toward a light pole standing at the end of the lot, straight ahead!
"Merlin, BRAKES!" Kelly yelled, half tempted to cover her eyes—but common sense won out. She instead grappled at her seat with one hand, as if that would save her life. Visions of twisted metal made the young doctor reach for the steering wheel and steer it away from the light standard. The Nissan swerved sharply and she shrieked, "Brakes NOW!"
The vehicle screeched to a stop, and Kelly shifted the thing into Park. She sat back, her eyes staring forward as her heart found its way back down into her chest.
It was so quiet one could hear a pin drop.
"H-How was that?" The warlock's question was quite timid, and his heart still beat frantically inside his ribcage. He chanced a look over at his teacher. Kelly was visibly rattled, not even willing to meet his gaze for the longest time.
Kelly swallowed with difficulty and nodded. "Uh...Good start,"she squeaked.
Merlin sighed with obvious relief, rolling his eyes skyward before looking at Kelly. "Gods! I swear I'll do better next time," he promised solemnly.
"...Next time?"
"Hey, I didn't flood the engine," the servant chirped. Accentuate the positive, he reminded himself.
Kelly would have face-palmed if it wasn't so insulting a gesture. Honestly, he didn't know any better. More importantly, what the hell had she been on to think that she could teach a medieval man how to drive a twenty-first century vehicle?
A/N:
Sorry for the wait, guys! I hope you enjoyed this little blurb! Read, review and offer up scenarios you'd like to see written up! Thanks again for following/reviewing/reading my work!
TheImpossiblePen