‘Well, not literally. But the vibe. The long, square bonnet, the lights. It’s badass. It’s you.’
‘I’m badass?’
‘Um . . . You navigated seven planes out of the way to avoid a disaster and guided a plane with one engine down for a safe landing. I would say that makes you pretty badass.’
‘How do you know about that?’ It had been before Andrew’s time.
‘Are you kidding? Everyone knows about that. All the pilots talk about it. They say that if they were ever in an emergency, they’d want you on the line.’
I smiled. A little flicker of warm pride moved through me. I liked being told I was good and competent at my job. It was one of my favorite compliments in the entire world.
I walked around the car. It had that eighties retro look that you either loved or hated. It was angular, pointy, boxy and so bloody long and low, and it screamed of Magnum P.I. and big moustaches and women with huge perms and leggings. It was a head-turner, in a good way, or a bad way, depending on how one looked at it. There was no way you could pull up to a stop in the street andnothave people look at you. It was impractical and old and would probably break down regularly. It was red, a color that showed the dirt, not to mention that it attracted heat and probably bees too – it was a known fact that bees were attracted to bright colors. Mind you, it was also a well-known fact that bright colors in the animal kingdom were synonymous with mating rituals, and the last thing I wanted was to drive this through a game reserve only to have an ostrich hump it! My brain was firing on all cylinders, my thoughts pulling me in all directions, all at once. This happened when I got nervous, and I was nervous now. Nervous, but exhilarated. The tyres also seemed excessively large. I bet they cost a fortune if you happened to get a nail in one or hit a pothole. I took a deep breath.
But the roof came down and I would be able to feel the wind in my face as I drove, the old V8 engine would roar and growl like Andrew’s car’s did, which made the driving experience so much better. And that’s what I wanted, because that night on the open road with Andrew, the wind in my hair, the gearstick in my hand, I’d felt so damn alive. I just had to get the image of an ostrich mounting the bonnet out of my head, and then I would—
‘I’ll take it!’ I shouted to no one in particular, throwing my hands in the air. And before I knew what I was doing my hands came out of the air and landed around Andrew’s shoulders, but only for a second.
‘You pugged me again,’ he said, amused.
‘That was more than a pug.’ I strode towards my new car, and that’s when it happened. My shoes, which lacked grip, began to slip on the highly polished surface of the floor.
‘Fuck!’ I flapped my arms in the air as my legs involuntarily began doing the splits.
‘Got you.’ Andrew grabbed me under my arms and pulled me up.
‘Thanks.’ I looked down at the floor; it was mirror-like. ‘They should really not polish it so much. Or they should have a warning sign, at least.’
He grinned.
‘What?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as clumsy as you. I mean, you fell into a cactus.’
‘I’ve also fallen into a koi pond. Do you have any idea how big and terrifying koi are close up? They are the only fish I don’t like – they tried to eat my toes.’ I pulled my skirt down, since it had crept up in my gymnastic floor routine. ‘I’ve fallen off a boat, I fell into a muddy pothole once, and I fell flat on my face while crossing a pedestrian crossing in peak-rush-hour traffic.’
‘My point exactly: you fall a lot.’
‘I have dyspraxia,’ I said, without meaning to. ‘It’s a developmental disorder that affects coordination, so . . .’ I stopped. Why was I telling him this? ‘Anyway, it makes me trip and fall and knock things over, a lot.’
He looked at me solemnly and nodded. ‘Leroy has that too. My moms were saying it’s pretty common in kids with an autism diagnosis.’
My body stiffened; it was an involuntary stiffen that I had no control over.
‘It’s more common than you think,’ I said quickly. ‘Some people think they’re just clumsy, but they’re not. That’s why I started karate; it really helps with that.’
‘Sorry, it must be hard,’ Andrew said, his voice low and soft.
I looked away quickly. ‘Indeed,’ I mumbled, and clapped my hands together awkwardly. ‘It’s more irritating than hard. I can stub the same toe ten times in a day. It’s very, very irritating, and sore.’
‘I’m sure.’
‘And what have we decided?’ The eager salesman with the very big white teeth was suddenly upon me and I startled. I grabbed my chest and let out a little gasp.
‘Sorry to creep up on you.’ He smiled a full mouth of veneers at me.
I hated it when people came out of nowhere. ‘It’s fine.’
‘Has the lovely lady decided on a car?’ he asked, and I looked at him blankly.
