my mom drove a yellow volkswagen bug. it had a tiny storage compartment behind the back seat, made to hold a small suitcase or a bag of groceries. i rode back there. not only did i squeeze in this space alone, i sat in this trunk area cross-legged, sharing the space with my friend jessica. it was before the days of seatbelts and child seats.
when i wasn't playing houdini, i sat in front. once i was in the front passenger seat, at age seven, holding six-month-old samantha on my lap. when she started to cry, mom looked over and drove our car off the gravel road, over the bank and into the grassy trench on the side. i screamed, and mom, pulling back onto the road, said "shannon, calm down, i'm just driving in the ditch."
Comments