First Gear...It's Alright....Second Gear...

Stick shift....the very thought sends shivers up my spine! Clutch down, gas up... clutch up... gas down.... but GENTLY!!!! Let up on the clutch too soon and step on the gas too hard?? You jump! Not fast enough?... you stall! With all this going on who has time to pay attention to anything else going on around you or even on the road ahead?

Imagine this scene.......................

A stoplight lazily sways in the wind over a small intersection in downtown Mt. Airy. An old rusty Chevy drives through. Other than that, the scene is quiet. Heat rises from the cement baking under the noonday sun. The light changes from yellow to red. A diesel Dodge Ram 3500 pickup roars to a stop at the white line. Suddenly, creeping up the hill slower than you thought possible is a small white Audi. The lack of speed is a result of the driver's hope that the light will change before she must come to a complete stop - wishful thinking. After a smooth stop, a quick check in the rear view mirror shows that there are no cars coming. A flash of hope brightens her countenance but it fades quickly. A brand new, conconvertible Mustang GT pulls up and stops behind poor old little white Audi. The roof is pulled back, revealing a cocky guy with his sweetheart in the seat next to him. His radio is cranked and he keeps revving his engine in hopes of impressing his girlfriend. All it succeeds in doing is scaring the whits out of poor little Audi. Three more cars have now pulled up behind the GT. Her dad calmly tells her not to panic - PANIC!?!?!

The light turns green. The Dodge pulls away in a cloud of dust. With a deep breath, she slowly lifts the clutch until it "feels right" and quickly moves her other foot from the brake to the gas. The gears grind and lurch as they desperately spin to engage. The engine makes that funny noise like it always does before it stalls or jumps. She bites her lip, hoping that it will decide to jump. Unfortunately it is not engaging and not stalling, just rolling backwards... backwards... closer... closer to the GT's shiny bumper. Mr. GT's hands clutch the wheel tightly, his knuckles turn white, and he sucks in his breath. Miss Audi is sweating too. She jams the gas pedal down farther and releases the clutch. Cars honk. GT sweats. With a huge hop and clunk, the car stalls out and Super Dad pulls up the emergency brake just before the bumpers touch. With a routine that looks sort of like a Chinese Fire Drill (but not quite because who has ever heard of the driver playing also?), Super Dad switches seats with Miss Audi. In order to do this, he has to get out of the car and make an explanation to GT as he runs by. "I'm sorry, she's just learning how to drive a stick shift!" He quickly starts the car and as they are about to pull away, the light turns red again, though not quite as red as poor little miss Audi's face. She slides down as low as possible under the window as the they pull away. Needless to say, GT and his girl head in the opposite direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~THE END~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I drive down the road in my little white Audi (or you could define it as lunging in a series of jerky movements that more or less get you closer to your destination), I am still awed at those who have come before me. They make it look so easy to drive those little green Honda Civics, not so little green Ford Focuses, really little white Ford Rangers and even funny looking black Volkswagen Beetles without wheels.

This story is dedicated to my amazing big brother, Ben, who made it look so easy to drive a stick shift. Ben, by the time that you come back from Africa, I am going to be driving like a pro! It's really amazing how easy it is to drive the automatic now! :P