Driving While Driving

It’s a gorgeous sunny day, not too hot. I get in my car, roll the windows down and back out of the driveway.

I make it almost four houses up the street when a boy on a bike zips out into the road from between two cars.

This isn’t going to be one of those dramatic “I managed to stand on the brakes and squeal to a stop with a centimeter left to spare” stories, just so you know. 

I saw him in plenty of time, mainly because I was paying attention.  I wasn’t on my cell phone, or texting anyone, or checking Facebook.  I wasn’t doing my nails or reading a book or ironing my clothes or playing the trombone, which are all evidently perfectly acceptable things to do while driving as long as you don’t get caught.

I also go pretty slowly on our street, because of Exhibit A above.  So I stop, and I watch him peddle away, totally oblivious in his Helmet of Indestructibility.

I wait.

A tiny head peeks around the end of one of the cars.  I can see one eyeball and part of a what I have to assume is the Helmet of Much-Smarter-than-the-Other-Kid, because this one isn’t taking any chances.  A little hand extends in the universal sign of “Go ahead.”   I motion back, “No, you.”

He wobbles out, gaining confidence with each pedal stroke.  He carefully raises one hand to wave his thanks and shoots me a grin, turning his attention back to the road just in time to narrowly avoid crashing into a mailbox.

I still think the odds are in his favor.

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Flickr Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Stephen Mitchell.