‘Why don’t you do it?’ Andrew pulled in to the side of the road and turned his hazards on.
‘Me?’
‘Yeah, why not?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever broken the speed limit.’
‘I didn’t break it either, just did a very quick acceleration and release. Or have you forgotten how to drive a manual?’
‘I know how to drive a manual,’ I said, looking down at the gear shift. ‘Um . . . clutch,’ I muttered, trying to refresh my memory, since the last time I’d driven a manual was for my driver’s test over ten years ago.
‘Yes, the clutch,’ Andrew echoed.
I undid my seatbelt, but stopped. ‘Wait, are you sure you trust me driving your car?’
‘I trust you to help land my plane.’ He smiled.
‘Good point.’
I walked over to Andrew’s side of the car and climbed in. The seat needed a lot of adjusting, considering Andrew’s substantial height and remarkably long limbs. When the seat was comfortable, I tapped my feet on the pedals, reminding myself of the manual set-up. Clutch in, clutch out, brake, accelerator.
‘Mmmm,’ I mumbled as I looked down at the gearstick and the numbers on it.
‘Pretty standard,’ Andrew assured me. ‘Six-speed gearbox. Clutch needs a bit of a heavy foot, but other than that, it drives very well.’
‘Okay, here I go.’ I lowered the handbrake and tried to manage the clutch-to-accelerator ratio as I pulled off. My ratio wasn’t good, too hard on the accelerator and not smooth enough on the clutch. We jerked forward uncomfortably, and repeated that a few more times as I climbed up the gears. But the car was like a wild beast beneath me; it seemed to want to run away from us. After a few minutes I got the hang of it though, and soon I was comfortably cruising down the road at sixty kilometers an hour. But the car wanted to go faster. It told me so with its low, rumbling growls.
‘Do it. Put your foot flat,’ Andrew said.
I studied him. He was cool, calm and clearly trusted me. I checked the road: it was clear, which was good. I would never do anything to endanger anyone’s safety.
‘Okay.’ I put my foot flat and the car surged forward with unrestrained energy. My head flew back, my spine melted into my seat and the speedometer flew up as the car rocketed forward.
‘Oh my God!’ I shouted as the rush hit me. When the speedometer hit 120 kilometers per hour, I eased off, not wanting to break the speed limit. The car slowed down and the noise of the engines subsided enough to hear another noise that I hadn’t been aware of until now. I was laughing.
‘That was so fun! Again!’
I did it again. I loved this feeling! Of being completely in my body and out of my head. There were only a few things that did this to me, and this was one of them. And in that moment, I got it. The need for speed. It was exhilarating, or perhaps another synonym described it better:breathtaking. Because that’s how it felt; my breath pushed out of my lungs and every single nerve ending in my body fully charged.Mind-blowing, heart-stopping, hair-raising. Never had synonyms been so right about anything before. This moment was all of those things all at once, and maybe even more.
‘You know what will make this even better?’ Andrew shouted over the rumbling engine.
‘What?’
‘Pull over.’
I edged the car onto the shoulder of the road and, when I did, Andrew pressed a button and the roof of the car lifted. I tilted my head back and looked straight up into the sky. Stars, some white clouds like ghostly figures and a sliver of a moon. Without the roof over our heads, I felt connected to the sky above me in some way. I raised my arms into the air, and a cool breeze blew through my fingers.
‘You ready?’ Andrew asked, with what was clearly a mischievous look plastered across his face. I nodded and pulled back onto the road again. This time I kept the car at a lower speed, so the flat-out acceleration would feel even faster. And when I did it this time, it felt so, so much better. With the roof down, the wind pulled at my face and hair and clothes, heightening the experience even more. It was as if the entire world and all the elements were involved in this moment: the stars and sky and clouds and wind and engine roar.
‘It’s amazing!’ I yelled over the sounds.
I began to slow down, and when I had I stuck my hand out the window and rode the wind, curving my hand up and down, as if surfing an invisible wave in the air that only I could see and feel. I was sad when the whole experience was over and Andrew pulled into the parking lot of the comic shop where I’d left my car.
‘You good to drive home?’ he asked.
‘I had three sips of wine,’ I replied.
‘No, I mean, you want me to follow you or something? Just until you’re out of this area; it’s not the most savoury, especially at night.’
