By the time Kai failed his second driving test, everyone in his class had their . His best friend, Marcus, drove to school in his father’s old car. Even his younger cousin had first time. Kai stopped talking about his test, and after a while, people stopped asking.
The problem wasn’t that he couldn’t drive. In lessons with his , he was fine. But as soon as an sat next to him with a clipboard, his hands started sweating and his mind went empty. The first time, he forgot to check his mirror. The second time, he stopped in the middle of a and couldn’t remember which exit to take.
“You’re just nervous,” his mother said. “Book another test.” But Kai didn’t want to. He felt every time he thought about it.
That summer, his grandmother, Mei, came to stay for a month. She was eighty years old, very small, and very direct. On her second evening, she asked him about his driving.
“I don’t drive,” Kai said. “I’ve failed twice.”
“Twice?” She laughed. “I failed five times.”
Kai stared at her. “You can drive?”
“I drove a taxi for thirty years,” she said. “In a city much busier than this one. Tomorrow, you will take me to the supermarket.”
The next morning, they got into his mother’s car. Kai’s heart was beating fast. But his grandmother didn’t hold a clipboard. She talked about the weather, complained about the price of rice and told him stories about the strange passengers she had driven: a man with a goat, a famous singer who never paid, a woman who gave birth in the back seat.
Kai was laughing so much that he forgot to be nervous. He drove to the supermarket and back without a single mistake.
“You see?” said Mei. “Your hands know how to drive. Your head just needs to be quiet.”
For the next three weeks, they drove somewhere every day: to the park, to the market, to visit her old friends on the other side of town. Every time Kai felt tense, she gave him the same : “Breathe out slowly, and look further down the road. Don’t look at the problem. Look at where you want to go.”
Before she left, he booked his third test. On the morning of the test, she phoned him. “Remember,” she said. “The examiner is just a passenger. Imagine he has a goat.”
Kai laughed. When the examiner got into the car, Kai said good morning, breathed out slowly and looked down the road. At the big roundabout, he stayed and took the right exit.
Forty minutes later, the examiner shook his hand. “Congratulations,” he said. “You’ve passed.”
The first person Kai called was his grandmother. “I knew it,” she said. “Now you can drive me to the airport next time. And don’t be late.”
Words from the Story
- licence noun A2
- an official document that says you are allowed to drive
- instructor noun B1
- a person whose job is to teach a practical skill, like driving
- examiner noun B1
- the person who watches you and decides if you pass a test
- embarrassed adjective B1
- feeling silly or ashamed because of what other people think
- advice noun A2
- an idea from someone about what you should do
- roundabout noun A2
- a round place where several roads meet and cars go round in a circle
- calm adjective B1
- not nervous, worried or excited
- pass verb A2
- to do well enough in a test or exam
Check Your Understanding
- What was Kai's real problem with driving?
- What surprised Kai about his grandmother?
- Why did Kai drive well on the trip to the supermarket?
- What was his grandmother's advice?
- Who did Kai call first after passing?