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“Is today the day we die?” she asked nicely as she adjusted her seat closer to the dashboard.
He snorted. “Not hardly. You’ve been driving for two days straight. You’re tired and cranky. I thought I would give you a break.”
She reached for her seat belt and fastened it. “Like I said, is today the day we die?”
He chuckled as he adjusted the many mirrors. “If I can learn to fly a spaceship, I can learn to drive an Earth vehicle.”
She glanced out her side window. “We’ll practice in the back parking lot first.”
He stared at the controls. They seemed rudimentary at best. He pressed his foot down on the break as he’d read and seen her do and pressed the “Start” button. The engine purred to life. He laughed to himself. Step one complete.
“So glad you’re easily amused when our lives could be on the line,” she said dryly. “Now keep your foot on the break and put it in drive. The ‘D’.”
He did as instructed.
“Now take your foot off the break and put it gently on the gas.”
He stepped on the gas. The vehicle lurched forward.
Nisha slammed both hands on the dashboard. “Slowly!”
He let his foot up and the car eased forward. “Slowly. I got it.”
He steered behind the hotel where there was plenty of open space. They practiced driving straight, stopping and going. Then he accidently slammed his foot on the gas pedal when he was trying to break and ran into a big metal trash receptacle.
Nisha gripped her seatbelt and didn’t say a word. Her eyes were fixed ahead.
“As you humans would say,oops.”
Nisha stared, unblinking. She watched steam billow from the engine compartment. Or she could’ve been looking at the hood of her truck that was now bent severely to one side.
Kien put the vehicle in park. “I guess our lesson is over?”
“You crashed my truck,” she said slowly, still not looking at him.
“I did.”
She finally blinked. “I love this truck.”
“As you should. It’s a very nice truck.”
“Now it’s all smashed up.”
“I’m sorry. I thought I could help you.”
“What are we supposed to do now? I’ll have to find a repair shop. By the looks of the hood, my frame is damaged. Driving this to your ship is a bust. I’ll need to get us a rental.” She sounded dazed.
“A rental? Why can’t you just buy another truck?”
At last, she turned to him. There was a wild look of disbelief in her eyes. “Just buy anotherRange Rover? I don’t have that kind of money. What the hell did I get myself into? I’ll have to pretend it was me driving so my insurance company will pay for it.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and threw up her hands. “Good lord, I’ll have to call the cops to make a report and what about you? You don’t have ID.”
Kien frowned. “How much does a new Range Rover cost? And I do have an ID. Phate made all of us one.”
She chuckled low and deep. “This is a one-hundred-thousand-dollar truck. And I’m not even going to go there with you about the ID. My brain can only handle so much right now.”
“Is that all?” He’d thought he’d have to call Phate and have him put more money in the bank account they shared. Kien reached into his wallet, pulled out his bank card and handed it to her. “There should be enough on this to cover a new Range Rover.”
