And Then She Passed!

 

We pulled up to the waiting area

so that Chelsea could take her driver's test.

We expected the very nice man

who had registered us.

Sure enough, 

there he came....

and got into the car in front of us.

Uh-oh!

Then came another man.

This one all bundled up against the 

cold and unsmiling.

He demanded our paperwork.

He got in the car and away they went.

To the parallel 

parking area.

This was the area most dreaded.

I, having been booted from the car, 

was shivering as I stood against 

the building.... watching.

You have to understand that 

this particular part of the test course is

 the stuff of legends around here.

In fact, on any given Sunday you can 

go to the testing area and find parents and 

prospective licensed drivers

circling the building in order to 

practice their parallel parking.

You get just one shot at it.

Touch that curb and it is over.

The waiting list is long and you'll have 

another month or more to wait 

before you can take the test again.

We had not come here to practice.

Not even once.

Warren had taken her out one evening

and they did some practicing in our area....

then she had set up a trash can and I'd 

parked the Buick at my mother's driveway 

where she had practiced a while one

day that week.

This was it...

I did not have high expectations for her 

to pass this part of the test.

So, I watched.

She backed in and parked that car

like a pro.

They moved on to the next part of the course.

Before long they returned.

The proctor (for lack of a better word at the moment)

got out of the car and passed me silently as he 

headed back to the building.
I got into the car and Chelsea looked at 

me with tears in her eyes.

She said, "I passed!".

I asked what we were to do 

next and she didn't know.

Now I began to get worried.

Wouldn't he have told her what to 

do next if she had passed?

I asked exactly what the man had said.

"You made it."

That was it.

We looked at each other.

What if he meant she had survived the 

test and not that she had passed?

We decided that the only thing to do was 

to go inside and ask.

So...that is exactly what we did.

The same kind man who had registered

us was back at the desk.

He seemed surprised that she didn't know 

if she had passed and asked for her permit.

Sure enough, neither the pass nor fail were

marked.  There were, however, some numbers

written there.

He began chuckling and mumbling something 

about no one being bullet proof then told us 

to sit down and stay there.

After a while a familiar figure came from the 

back and went to a spot behind a desk along 

a wall.  I asked Chelsea if that was the man who 

had given her the test.

She wasn't sure...since now he had no 

coat, hat and scarf.

He did not even glance in our direction.

After another "eternity" he gruffly called her name.

We tentatively went to his desk.

He held up her permit and requested that 

she confirm everything was correct on it.

She did.

He persisted...was she sure?

She was...but becoming more unsure all of the time.

He had her sign a paper.

Finally I told him that she still didn't know 

if she had passed the test.

Now it was his turn to look incredulous.

He said, "I told you that you made it.

What did you think that meant?"

I'm pretty sure Chuck is not an ogre.

But he surely enjoyed torturing my girl.

He asked her why she was so nervous.

It reminded me of my middle school gym

teacher who delighted in toughening up 

my tenderness.

While it may not have been as straightforward

as we would have liked it was definitely the 

desired result and one which we will not 

soon forget.

Calling her Daddy to tell him the good news.

Chelsea's first solo drive was 

to .....

Starbucks, of course!