April 16th,
1993
I
don't remember what I had for breakfast this day but I'll never
forget what I had for lunch. After you read this story, you'll never
forget either. Sorry.
I
don't really remember most parts of this Spring morning but it was
sometime before lunch at school that I met up with my older brother
and a friend from church. We made lunch plans. Maybe we made those
lunch plans during early morning seminary (The youth from my church
go to a scripture study class prior to the start of our school day.
We loved it! It seems crazy but it's fantastic and many friendships
are forged when you're half asleep learning about ancient
scripture.). I have zero recollection of making plans. Our friend was
newly licensed and had his parents car for the day. Like any newly licensed 16 year old, he has happy to show off his driving abilities
and new found freedom at any opportunity – even if it meant a simple drive home from school for lunch and back again. So I had
assumed.
A
non-eventful drive to my house ensued and then a non-eventful lunch.
Well, my Dad bothered us – as usual – wondering what we were
doing home from school and hurrying us back to school as quick as we
arrived. We ignored him as best as we could – just like any moody
teenager would do – as he was completely embarrassing – just like
any good, loving Father should be!
Important reflective pause:
At this time in my life, my relationship with my Father was rocky. We didn't understand each other AT ALL! I spent many of my teenage days rolling my eyes at him, avoiding him, being angry with him and disliking him. There seemed to be no hope for a good relationship with my Dad.
Lunch
wasn't really important at all. It was all about the car. I recall it being a really
nice car. Better than anything
my parents could ever afford. I'm clueless of the brand name but I do
know that it was a shiny white car. It was the ride there in a nice
car and then the ride back that was important to any teenager seduced
by shining-metal-objects-that-move. So, we jumped back in that car
trying to laugh off my embarrassing Dad and head back to school.
The
ride back started very much like the ride to my house. Unordinary and
uneventful. Just like any car ride should be. That all changed when
our friend didn't make his right turn that would take us back to
school. Did I miss something? I was sitting behind my driving friend
and my brother was in the passenger seat. I didn't think I missed a
spoken change of plans.
“Where
are we going?” I asked interested.
Our
friend slightly laughed off my worries and told me it was a
“surprise”. He then asked if we had our seat belts on – which
we did. I did a quick look around for cop cars – thinking he must
have seen a police officer and was being responsible by making sure
we had our seat belts on. There were no cops in sight.
I
don't recall any talking as he continued driving. I knew the area
well. I knew there was another street that we could turn down and it
would take us back to our school. It included a bit of a winding
hill, so, I wondered if our friend wanted to show off his driving
skills down this hill and then over to the school.
The
silence was stale. I tried to dig a little to lighten the air and get
more info. I guess I don't like surprises.
“Are
we going to the market up there?” It was a farmers fruit &
vegetable stand just on the edge of town. It had to be that, as we
didn't turn down the road with the winding hill. I got another laugh
from our friend. We then passed the farmers stand and I was convinced
that we were just taking the extra long way back to school as our
friend had one last opportunity to turn right and make our way back
to school – the now looooooong way back. But hey! The guy wanted to
drive, so, the loooooong way back made sense.
He
missed his turn.
Again.
________
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