My First Car

This is one of the stories I had to write for my writing aptitude test to get accepted into LongRidge Writers Group.


The year was 1974 and I wanted a 1967 candy-apple red mustang convertible. My dad told me to come outside and see what was sitting in the driveway for his baby girl. Oh my goodness, I can still remember the butterflies in my stomach because I knew I was going to see a mustang convertible. Sitting in the driveway was not a mustang. There was my dad, with keys dangling from his index finger, with a big grin spread across his face barely able to contain his excitement for his proud purchase he’d made from a co-worker. There before my eyes was what was to be my first car, Henry the tank. Henry was a white 1960 Bonneville with red leather interior and the biggest steering wheel ever! As I looked over at my dad I thought, how am I going to drive this tank to school and be able to show my face?

I heard my dad telling my mother and sister to get in and we’ll go for a ride. I slipped behind the huge steering wheel, played with the motorized seat until I had it set for my height, backed out of the driveway and headed away from town. But good ole dad wanted everyone to see what he’d gotten his baby girl, so I headed into our tiny town of 2500 people, praying all the way that none of my friends would see me driving this boat. “Oh, who wants ice cream?” Of course they all wanted ice cream! My mother, who hadn’t said a word at this point said, “Oh that sounds good. Let’s go to the Dairy Queen!” Ugh! Now people will surely see me because the DQ was the only place in town to eat. I stayed in the car, slumped down in the great big bench seat of my “new” car while my family went inside the DQ to enjoy an ice cream.

The next day I picked up my best friend, Pam, on the way to school. Bless her heart, she tried to tell me it was okay and no one was going to make fun of me for driving Henry. I nervously pulled into the school lot and all the popular guys were outside. As I was searching for a parking place Pam said, “Look all the guys are staring at your car.” I parked the tank and wanted to pound my head on the huge steering wheel, but before I could get out of the car I was surrounded by about twelve guys all wanting to know where I got the cool wheels!