The gogyshoi prompt on a writing site was the inspiration of the following tale when my father needed to teach me to drive a stick shift car. The prompt was for a five line free verse gogyshoi poem at the beginning and end of the short story. The gogyshoi poems were to contain only a total of 20 syllables in each verse.
His daughter
Daddy, the teacher
Stick-shift to master
Closes his eyes
Oh, Gypsy
Gypsy was late learning to drive. During high school, boyfriends gave her a ride to activities or her dad tossed the family car keys to girlfriends with driver’s licenses. This must have been a precursor to today’s habits. Driving continues to be a necessary evil for her.
A chauffeur would be her first choice of a prize if she won the lottery. Difficult to win, however, since she never buys a ticket.
Back to the lesson of learning to drive a stick-shift vehicle.
Gypsy graduated from high school in June and planned to start her classes at the local junior college in the fall. The school was located on the other side of town so she required transportation.
Mother and Daddy found an ancient (in Gypsy’s eyes) car for her, a light blue English Austin. Compared to today’s miniature SMART car, this Austin looked like an old baby unwilling to grow up. Gypsy felt sure she’d seen this very car in a circus last year when twenty or more clowns erupted from it.
Driving a stick-shift car had not yet been added to her current bag of knowledge, so Mother nominated Daddy to be the professor. He was confident his girl would master the skill within the quarter-hour.
The car was parked in the single lane driveway outside the garage. Behind the car, a shell-paved side street waited anxiously for the driving lesson to begin. On the other side of the narrow street was a shallow drainage ditch, currently without water. Already, you’re wondering why this bit of information is necessary, aren’t you?
Daddy folded into the passenger seat with Gypsy at the controls. She started the engine and listened while he gave a speedy run-through of the ‘H’ configuration of the gears. He finished his lesson with the stick in the upper right position of the ‘H’, the reverse gear.
“Okay, Squirt, back out of the driveway.”
She lifted her foot from the brake and stepped on the gas. Flying backwards down the short driveway and across the street, the small vehicle landed with both back wheels in the drainage ditch before she transfered her foot back to the brake.
Daddy said a couple words he rarely used and quite loudly, I might add.
“Step on the gas, get out of the ditch and back up on the road.”
She followed directions perfectly, but remained in the ditch with rear wheels spinning.
“Change gears first.”
“Oh, okay. You didn’t tell me to do that.”
After changing gears with her father’s tutelage, once again she transferred her foot from the brake to the accelerator and began the speedy flight out of the ditch, across the street, up the driveway, stopping just short of removing the garage door before the brake came into play.
“Get out.” He reached over for the key and turned the motor off.
Daddy got out of the passenger side of the midget car, walked around to the driver’s side and waited while she exited. He sat down in the driver’s side and proceeded to back the car slowly into the street, turning to position it facing down the street. He turned off the motor, got out of the car, and flipped the keys to Gypsy who was watching from the driveway.
Shaking his head, but with a grin on his face, he said, “Just go practice, Squirt.”
And that’s how she learned to drive the stick-shift transmission. Practice never made perfect, by the way.
New driver
Never quite learning
Grinding the gears
Could hear her coming
Oh, Gypsy.
