Thunderbird Road.

Chapter 6

President's Day arrived, and my parents and I had a nice breakfast at the kitchen table. We discussed what we were doing that day, including the driver's practice that Mr. Vinton and Dad had planned for me and Zack.

Dad told me that we would be driving around Vernon. He said it was alright if I felt like not driving around certain parts if I thought it was too much, but I told him it would be alright. He then added that after the lesson, we would pick up some food from the burger place nearby, which made me very happy as I had been craving a cheeseburger for a long time.

After breakfast, we prepared and soon left the house in Dad's truck. We quickly arrived at the Vintons' home and parked beside their small house.

I saw that Zack was already waiting for us, sitting on the porch stairs that led to his front gate. He quickly got up, clearly excited, and waved at us. My father shook his hand, and I saw him look at him suspiciously for a few seconds. He then let go of Zack and asked him where his dad was.

"He's inside, getting ready," Zack said, shifting his eyes from him to me and smiling.

I smiled back shyly, peeking a bit at my dad.

"So, what car are we going to use?" I asked, rubbing my hands.

"Cam's car," said Dad. "You kids need to learn how to drive a normal sedan."

"Why?" I asked, confused. It was strange as the truck had always been our practice car.

"Because that's probably the car you'll get when your mom and I have enough money to buy you one, and Zack here is getting access to Cam's car when he's of age."

"Yeah. It's pretty cool," said Zack, looking at his father's car, an early 2010s Nissan Sedan. It was a nice car with a shiny, dark red coat. I told Zack how nice the car looked, and he thanked me for the compliment.

"This is kinda cool, actually," I said. "I kinda wanna learn to drive something other than the pickup."

"You have never driven the Mustang?" Zack asked, baffled.

"Are you crazy!?" I said, laughing. "This one here would kill me!"

"No, I wouldn't!" Dad exclaimed, a bit offended, "You are just not ready to drive that car."

"You barely let Mom drive it!" I exclaimed.

"But I do, don't I?" He said, crossing his arms, "You'll get your chance, too, when you're older, and I trust you won't crash it."

I shook my head, chuckling at that idea, as I very much doubt it. At that moment, Mr. Vinton came out of the house, running up the sleeves of his long tee. He waved at us and then shook Dad's hand.

"Hey!" He told us. "So, are we ready to go?"

Dad and I nodded, and we walked to the car. Mr. Vinton told Zack to get in the driver's seat while he opened the door for me to the passenger seat. He then said to us that Dad and he would sit in the back.

"Don't worry, if you get nervous, just stop, and we'll change seats," Mr. Vinton said. And so we went.

I sat next to Zack, while in the back seat, Mr. Vinton got closer to his son and instructed him to take the car out of the driveway.

It took Zack a good five minutes to do so, as he was nervous. Still, with his father giving him instructions and me cheering him on, he finally began driving the car up East 55th Street. Zack's dad then instructed him to go up South Santa Fe until he reached East 52nd Street, telling him to be careful as it was pretty busy.

"Oh God," Zack groaned under his breath. "Why do I have to do this?"

"Well, boy, you need to learn how to drive in the streets along with other cars," his dad told him. "Just relax and take your time."