Driver's Education: Clutch and Radio Rights

"W-what do ya mean ya don't know how ta drive?" George was looking at Holly like she was some kind of alien lifeform.

"I mean, I get the concept. It's easy; press peddle on right to go, left to stop, turn wheel in desired direction. It's a clutch and shifter I don't know how to work." Her hand rested on the shifter and her foot was tapping the clutch as if testing to see how far it moved without the truck being on.

George wanted to get out of the vehicle after hearing that. He was going to die if she got on the freeway let alone drive down the street. He'd rather walk on his probably broken ankle to the hospital. He looked at his foot with a sour face, it hurt pretty bad just sitting there doing nothing, "Aight, listen carefully," he reached over and set his hand on hers on top of the shifter, "we're in neutral right now. No power to the wheel we ain't gonna go nowhere unless we're on a hill. After ya start the truck, ya push in the clutch," he waited for her to press down on the peddle, "then you pull the shifter here." He put it into first.

"Okay." She stared at the shifter like it was going to suddenly melt under her hand.

"Then ya take your foot off the clutch and press the accelerator to go."

"Then what?"

He moved her hand to point at the numbers on the shifter and the lines they followed, "Ya follow this pattern to shift into higher gears," he reached a bit to tap on the odometer, "ya see that green line on the thing that says R-P-M?"

"Yeah." She leaned in and looked at it then down to the shifter.

"You want to keep that little meter in the green, ya don't have to but don't run it into the red or you gonna turn my truck into a bonfire. If you start going lower than the One you need to downshift, if you go above that Two you should upshift."

"Does that mean I don't have to upshift if I don't go into the red?"

"Yeah, but ya should. You're only gonna go so fast if you don't get out of first. So to shift, you take your right foot off the accelerator and at the same time ya press on the clutch with your left, then you move this lever to the next gear up or down. Next release the clutch as ya put pressure back on the accelerator. Rinse repeat." That was the most basic explanation he could have given her.

"Can I do it all at once or just one at a time?"

For all that was holy, he hoped his transmission could handle this, "One. Only one." George took a deep breath, "Aight, back into neutral." He let her do this, "Now turn on the truck."

When Holly started it up the radio fizzed to life and she stared at it for a good minute. It was broadcast from the West Coast that was being replayed in the East. George twisted the dial, "Yeah, it was playin' some shit before that was kind of interestin.'"

She shooed his hand away from the dial, twisting it until she heard something familiar. It was a little crackly, but the twang of an unplugged guitar and banjo strumming came through. The tune was upbeat imploring the use of drums, accordion, tambourine, and likely some other instruments she could not hear. Even so, she thought she could hear the clack of spoons. The song was about the devil wearing a suit and implied a modern tale of the fiddler story.

Holly swatted George's hand as he reached for the dial, "What, you like this crap? No Gothamite listens to this station."

"I'm not from Gotham. Besides, I enjoy country music that isn't about dogs dying and wives leaving their men," Holly swatted his hand again giving him a pointed look, "And driver gets radio rights."

"Yeah, whatever," he took his hand away, "You know I keep forgettin' you ain't from Gotham until ya do somethin' weird. Where ya from again?"

Holly put the truck into first gear, peeling out of the parking lot a little too fast at first. George forgot all about his question as he worried about his baby, his truck's poor transmission was the most expensive thing to get repaired.