Hard Lesson

Sharon's

A Hard Lesson Learned

By Francesca Fiorentino

Everybody has experienced that teasingly bad sensation called temptation. I mean come on. There are some urges in life that are irresistible. The secret that you promised you wouldn't tell, wearing that sweater of your sisters that you swore you would never touch, even searching your parents closet for that CD that you knew you got for your birthday. Come on guys , we've all been there. These are the things that there is just no getting around; And I'm sure that we have all experienced one extra-ordinary temptation that got us in just a little more trouble than we expected. Mine came to me one day when my parents informed me that they would be taking a day trip to the White Mountains.....

For a thirteen year old with a wild imagination, I managed to handle the news pretty well (at least until my parents rolled out of the driveway). My first normal teen instinct was to call my best friend Katie and give her the good news. She could barely understand what I was saying (because I was talking so fast) but she managed to pick out the words: parents gone and something about a car. Of course she was at my door in about three microseconds. After she arrived we sat at the kitchen table staring at my parents one small mistake. There they were glimmering before my eyes, staring back at me , calling my name . My anticipation was so great I could hardly keep myself from laughing out loud. After about five minutes(OK maybe it was only 2) of contemplating my options, Katie grabbed the keys to my dad's Ford Aerostar and took off for the garage. We stood in awe of the magnificent beast of a car that lay before us. Trying to be responsible in our decision making process, we decided to look at each of our individual driving records. Katie had been behind the wheel once before,however , she crashed into her garage. I on the other hand had a clean driving record(probably because I had no record at all.) . Therefore, I would back it out of the garage. I jumped in the front seat and Katie took shot gun. We turned to each other,grinning ear to ear, and simultaneously slid on our shades. We buckled our seat belts and prepared for a wild ride down my driveway. I slid the keys into the ignition and started the engine. When we heard the glorious roar of her engine, we could not help but give a little yelp of excitement. It took me a few minutes but I found reverse and somehow managed to back out of my driveway. As Katie fiddled with the tunes, I unrolled all the windows for the full effect. Off we went down the driveway(in reverse of course, turning around required more skill than I was capable of) . Once we got to the end , we switched drivers and it was Katie's turn. After a couple of trips back and forth , we got a little more daring and whoever was riding shotgun sat on the window edge waving at passing cars. Just picture it, the radio blasting, screaming at the top of our lungs , one of us hanging out of the window, oh don't forget the shades! cruising up and down the driveway.

Well, after about an hour, we soon tired of this and decided to take a lunch break. While eating we discussed whether or not we should venture out of the driveway, just down the road a little. Of course we had to . How often does this opportunity arise? Again we elected that I drive because I was more familiar with the area. This time we turned the radio down a bit for more concentration. My stomach was swimming with butterflies by the time I had put on my blinker to turn outof my driveway. I checked about five times to make sure no cars were coming, and entered the road . Maybe the phrase "entered the road" does'nt mean as much to the average Joe as it did to two girls who had never had so much control in all their thirteen years of life. I took a left onto a back road and with Katie 's encouragement actually passed twenty miles per hour. When we felt that we had experienced enough excitement (we could see the end of the road ) I dangerously made a sixteen point turn in the middle of the road.

Now that we were in the home stretch , our nerves begn to settle down and we began to realize the feat that we had accomplished . Yelling and hollering we approached my driveway. Let me set the scene: My yard is bordered by a stone wall, and on the right of the entrance to my driveway is a giant million year old pine tree. Katie started to yell and I went to slam on the breaks, accidentally hit the gas pedal instead, launched over the stonewall , and into the tree.

We both sat there in amazement. Katie started to giggle. I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot. After a few moments , I shook my head and manaaged to ask Katie if she was all right. She managed to nod between giggles. I dragged myself out of the car, and Katie followed. I was scared, but I managed to make myself look at the damage. My mouth , which was strangely stuck hanging open, let out a small yelp. Katie peered around and looked herself.

"Oh my God" she exclaimed, as she burst out laughing. I couldn't reply. The front left tire was completely flat. In addition , the headlight was smashed in and there were scratches from the branches running down the side of the van. I dropped to my knees in the middle of my front lawn, realizing the horror of what I had done. Katie was no help at all. While I was completely in shock, laying on my front lawn,Katie also fell to the ground......laughing! I tried to explain to her that this was not at all funny, but I found myself just letting out a blood curdling scream. This sent Katie into stitches. To make matters even worse, I looked up to see the neighborhood kids lined across the street pointing and laughing. I don't really remember how, I was still in a shocked state, of daze, I managed to back down off the stonewall and pull the car back into the garage. Of course it was lopsided because of the flat tire, but my parents wouldn't notice right off, right? Wrong. The first thing I heard as they were pulling into the driveway was:

"Hey Bob, did you know you had a flat tire?"

I won't give the gory details of the rest of my day, but I will end with this: If ever you are faced with one of those awful temptations, please,PLEASE, make sure you know the difference between the brake , and the gas.