The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2010

“Well, my dad got the car for me to practice on, so I’m just kind of messing around.” “But you can’t have a license. Don’t you get arrested?” Dutch, maybe. “Not yet.” As Mike sat motionless, trying to blend with the uphol- stery, the girl looked in and asked, “Is he a good driver, or should I stay off ze street?” “Oh, Todd?” Mike said with a flick of his hand. “Yeah, he can drive fine. No problem. I just have to ride along, you know, to talk our way out in case the police stop us.” “So, Todd, do you start driving to school soon?” she teased. “No, all the teachers would totally get jealous of my cool car.” Anna laughed. “Yeah, it’s really … incredible.” “Hey, I think your dog wants to go for a ride. Right, puppy?” “Oh yes, she loves cars.” Todd scratched the dog behind the ears. “Todd, did you finish Mr. McKnight’s assignment yet?” “Yeah, it wasn’t as hard as it looked.” “Maybe for you. I still have to do it.” “Well, um, let me know if you have a question.” “Okay, if I get stuck I might call you.” “Yeah, sure.” The truck that delivered the bricks rum- bled away. The dog went on sampling every vapor Todd and the Lada had to offer. “Anyway, we gotta go,” Todd said. “All right, see youMonday,” Anna said, dragging her dog away from the car. Todd drove in silence, retreating fromMillionaires’ Row to the regular potholed roads. As they jolted along, he fid- dled with the knobs on the car’s crappy little radio. Every station seemed to be the same: Disco. In Russian. Todd turned it off. He followed a lane winding along a river back toward the farms. “Hey, Dad?” “Yeah?” “You think we could hook my iPod up to this thing?” ■ J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 37 F S F I C T I O N