more. Except for a few widely scattered Irving School boys there would be nobody to remember what a jerk he’d been, and so the army might be the making of him; it might be the time of his life. Just before going overseas he would come home on furlough, wearing a uniform that could only make Evan Shepard weak with envy, and he’d say “Well, how’re things going at the plant, Evan?”
Or, to be fair, Evan might have found his way into some second-rate engineering school by then, years older than any of his classmates, with Rachel at some menial daily work to make ends meet. But even a line like “How’s college, Evan?” would be good enough, coming from a soldier in wartime. It would take care of the situation; it would do the job.
“This’ll be as good a place as any,” Evan said as he brought the car to a stop on a straight, empty blacktop road between a great many trees; then he got out and came walking solemnly around the hood.
Squirming and sliding over into the driver’s seat as uneasily as if he knew he would never belong there, Phil made a frowning, nodding little show of attentiveness while his brother-in-law hunched close beside him to explain the gear shift.
“Keep the letter H in your mind,” Evan said. “The gears are arranged in an H pattern, and it’s very easy to remember once you’ve learned: it gets to be second nature. Watch, now. First; second; third; reverse. Got it?”
“Well, I think so,” Phil said, “but I’ll have to go over it a few more times. I mean it’s not exactly second nature yet, if you see what I mean. Another thing: I don’t quite get what it is the different gears do. The three forward gears, I mean.”
“What they ‘do’?”
“Well, I didn’t say that right. What I mean is, I understandthey provide three different degrees of power, but I don’t quite—”
“Well, no; the power’s in the engine, Phil,” Evan said patiently.
“I know, I know; I mean of course I know the power’s in the engine; all I meant was, they provide for the transmission of power in three different—”
“No, the transmission is what turns the rear axle.”
“Yeah. Well, look, I don’t think I’m really as dumb about this as I may seem, Evan; I’m probably only asking a lot of questions because I’m nervous, is all.”
And Evan gave him a quizzical look. “What’re you nervous about?”
Later, when the car was carefully set in motion with Phil at the controls, things only got worse. “… No, easy; easy on the
clutch,
” Evan had to tell him, more than once, because Phil’s trembling left foot kept working the pedal heavily and in spastic haste. Then the car did accelerate nicely for a few hundred feet, and he felt the thrill of its gathering speed until Evan said “Jesus!” and wrested the wheel from him with one quick, strong hand—just in time, as it turned out, to keep them from veering into a roadside ditch that looked about four feet deep.
Another time, when Phil was trying again to find the knack of letting the clutch in and out, they lurched and stalled dead in an embarrassing smell of gasoline.
“You flooded it,” Evan told him.
“I what?”
“You flooded the fucking carburetor.”
That was how the lesson went until darkness began to fall—nothing really taught; nothing really learned—and when Evan drove them silently home he appeared to be sulking, as though he’d been offended by the afternoon. It was clear now that there would be no further driving lessons unless Rachel could find some agreeable way of encouragingthem; it seemed too, from the set of Evan’s handsome profile, that he might now be thinking of ways to let her know, tonight, what a hopeless fucking idiot her brother was.
And Phil knew there might not be much profit or future in hating your brother-in-law, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t figure him out and see him plain. This dumb bastard would never get into college. This ignorant, inarticulate, car-driving son
Or, to be fair, Evan might have found his way into some second-rate engineering school by then, years older than any of his classmates, with Rachel at some menial daily work to make ends meet. But even a line like “How’s college, Evan?” would be good enough, coming from a soldier in wartime. It would take care of the situation; it would do the job.
“This’ll be as good a place as any,” Evan said as he brought the car to a stop on a straight, empty blacktop road between a great many trees; then he got out and came walking solemnly around the hood.
Squirming and sliding over into the driver’s seat as uneasily as if he knew he would never belong there, Phil made a frowning, nodding little show of attentiveness while his brother-in-law hunched close beside him to explain the gear shift.
“Keep the letter H in your mind,” Evan said. “The gears are arranged in an H pattern, and it’s very easy to remember once you’ve learned: it gets to be second nature. Watch, now. First; second; third; reverse. Got it?”
“Well, I think so,” Phil said, “but I’ll have to go over it a few more times. I mean it’s not exactly second nature yet, if you see what I mean. Another thing: I don’t quite get what it is the different gears do. The three forward gears, I mean.”
“What they ‘do’?”
“Well, I didn’t say that right. What I mean is, I understandthey provide three different degrees of power, but I don’t quite—”
“Well, no; the power’s in the engine, Phil,” Evan said patiently.
“I know, I know; I mean of course I know the power’s in the engine; all I meant was, they provide for the transmission of power in three different—”
“No, the transmission is what turns the rear axle.”
“Yeah. Well, look, I don’t think I’m really as dumb about this as I may seem, Evan; I’m probably only asking a lot of questions because I’m nervous, is all.”
And Evan gave him a quizzical look. “What’re you nervous about?”
Later, when the car was carefully set in motion with Phil at the controls, things only got worse. “… No, easy; easy on the
clutch,
” Evan had to tell him, more than once, because Phil’s trembling left foot kept working the pedal heavily and in spastic haste. Then the car did accelerate nicely for a few hundred feet, and he felt the thrill of its gathering speed until Evan said “Jesus!” and wrested the wheel from him with one quick, strong hand—just in time, as it turned out, to keep them from veering into a roadside ditch that looked about four feet deep.
Another time, when Phil was trying again to find the knack of letting the clutch in and out, they lurched and stalled dead in an embarrassing smell of gasoline.
“You flooded it,” Evan told him.
“I what?”
“You flooded the fucking carburetor.”
That was how the lesson went until darkness began to fall—nothing really taught; nothing really learned—and when Evan drove them silently home he appeared to be sulking, as though he’d been offended by the afternoon. It was clear now that there would be no further driving lessons unless Rachel could find some agreeable way of encouragingthem; it seemed too, from the set of Evan’s handsome profile, that he might now be thinking of ways to let her know, tonight, what a hopeless fucking idiot her brother was.
And Phil knew there might not be much profit or future in hating your brother-in-law, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t figure him out and see him plain. This dumb bastard would never get into college. This ignorant, inarticulate, car-driving son
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