#65 – Normal

Peter

Even if it meant that I was going to die, I was still glad to get a bit of my old son back.

I had been in my own funk for almost two years after the death of my wife, so I hadn't noticed much of what was going on with Marco. I was able to shake myself out of it eventually. One day, I woke up and realized that I was being selfish. My boy had lost his mom. He didn't need to lose his dad, too.

Once I got back into the swing of normal life, I'd started noticing things. Marco had always been one of those people who spread his good mood around. It seemed like that general cheer had left him while I was away. He hardly ever cracked jokes around the house anymore. He'd respond to kidding around, but he never initiated it. He spent a lot of time in his locked bedroom. His appetite wasn't the same. He was always tired and borderline jumpy.

After searching the internet for answers and asking my friends, my fear that it was a drug problem had seemed like the most likely explanation. I needed to know for sure, but I didn't want to jeopardize the precarious relationship I was building back up with my son. One day, I'd turned the water valve to the toilet off. After Marco had used it, I'd scooped a vial of urine out of it and tested it. It was negative for everything, but for some reason, that had just scared me more. If not drugs, then what? That was why I was so surprised and pleased when he asked me randomly if I'd take him to get his learner's permit.

My excitement was fading now as I sat in the passenger's seat with Marco behind the wheel. He hadn't even started the car, but he had a wild look in his eye. It worried me. I knew he was just excited, but it still worried me.

"Seatbelt," I told him. He buckled up. "Mirrors." He spent a moment adjusting the mirrors to the right height. "All right. Start it up."

He turned the key and the engine of my Mustang started up. I said a silent prayer as Marco cackled. "Press in the clutch and put it in reverse. Reverse. The one with the R, Marco," I said, tense, as he slammed the gear shift around.

He took a moment to give me a dirty look. "Will you relax? I've done this a million times."

I just stared. "When have you done this before?"

"Cruisin' USA."

I reached over, put the car in park, and turned the key off. "Hey!" he said indignantly. "What was that for?"

"I need you to understand something before we leave this parking lot. This is not a video game. This is a 26,000 dollar piece of machinery. If you crash, you don't put in another quarter…you die."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, starting the car again and finding reverse a little more smoothly this time. He stalled the engine once getting out of the parking lot, but he actually caught on to the workings of the gear shifting fairly quickly.

This, unfortunately, led to overconfidence. As we pulled onto a service road to the highway, Marco hit the gas way too hard and red lined the engine. Instead of letting off and trying again, he slammed it into second gear and jerked us forward even faster. "Slow down!" I yelled as he hit fifty MPH in second gear. "The damn speed limit is twenty-five!"

"I'm fine!" he yelled back. Instead of slowing down like I'd asked, he jerked the car up onto the freeway. Luckily, it was early and there wasn't any traffic. "See? Now the speed limit is seventy." He whammed into third gear and accelerated again, swerving around a slower-moving SUV. The driver honked and Marco laughed dementedly.

"Oh my dear God holy shit Marco slow this car down right now!" I was screaming now without pauses in between my words. He jumped two lanes over to avoid another car, and I swear I felt the car go up on two wheels. I glanced at the speedometer and saw we were doing eighty now. I never felt more mortal than I did in that exact moment. "Pull over! Pull over now or you'll never touch another car again!"

My threat worked. He reluctantly downshifted and pulled my car over to the shoulder. "Lighten up," he grumbled. My only response was to reach over him, pull the parking brake, and take the key out of the ignition. I got out, walked around to the driver's side, and resisted the urge to pull him out of the seat by his hair.

"Out. You're done for today." He rolled his eyes but did as I said.

On the way back to the house, he said, "That was awesome. Can we go to a car dealership and test drive a Camaro? I want to try a car that actually has some power."

"You're not going to be driving anything for a while. You almost killed us."

"Come on," he teased. "I missed that SUV by at least five feet. Wasn't even close."

As pissed as I was, I had to admit to myself that it was nice to get a glimpse of the old, normal Marco back.

Author's Note – Sorry for the sporadic updating. I know my output has been really weak in the last year…had a lot going on. Still do, but not so much that I can't update every so often. Thanks for being patient, and I'd love to hear from you so I know who's still lurking around this site! Thanks again, hope you enjoy!