I sat there at the top, looking down the long steep embankment. My heart pounding as I visualized a jagged slope of Mt. Everest---and this was my own driveway! Why was I so terrified of the familiar angle of our driveway? Don't be too judgmental just yet; let me back up a bit and add to the beginning of this story.
My husband and I had just come from the Honda dealer just a couple of miles from our home. We were now the proud owners of his and hers matching Yamaha Zumas. His, black with a red flame design on each fender---mine blue with a more floral design on each side; were the only distinguishing marks.
The reason for my case of nerves was the fact that I had not been (alone) astride a two-wheeler since the early seventies and that was a small Honda 350. Time and health took our cycling-days and cast them to the wind many years ago. This idea of scooters to gad about town in our mid-seventies was my husband's brilliant idea. Had he given me a choice, I'm sure the powerchair' would have gained my vote!
Be that as it may; here I sat, trying to work up the nerve to let off the brake and put the power to this two-wheeled monster that some facetiously have named a crotch rocket'!
Not really. I may feel that way, but my little scooter is a far cry from the crotch rocket on which the youngsters tear around the streets. My husband sits grinning at me---to give me encouragement? I'm not sure--I really think he is laughing at me.
Well, I don't have to sit there and take that! I let go of the brake and start down the hill to the street. With a quick glance both ways, I turn the gas up and roar off down our driveway and bounce joyfully onto the street. A quick turn to the right and I'm off at the breakneck speed of ten, then twenty, and before the end of the block, I have reached a whopping thirty mph! The wind in my hair, my heart pounding, my mouth stretched into a grin by the wind, a wonderful excitement fills me head to toe!
So, put that powerchair in the attic for another ten years and look out Jonesboro, Grannie and Papa are on the street with a vengeance! And if traffic lines up behind us, so be it; we pay our taxes, too, and as long as we can do the speed limit, we have the right of way.
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