After Pete drove his car up to our testing area his old lady exited the vehicle and took off across the parking lot for the nearby mall, leaving Pete looking up at me, a real friendly smile that shone through his scraggly hair, unkempt beard and crooked, yellowed teeth. His arm below the cut off shirt sleeve was completely covered with a vary scary tattoo of some type of court jester.
I noticed from his permit that Pete was born in 1972 so I asked if he had a previous driver's license. "No" he said. "I did go to the DMV when I turned 18, went out driving with the woman and passed my test, except that I hit a parked car when pulling in at the end."
"That's never good" I remarked. "No it's not" confirmed Pete.
Seems that Pete got a bit nervous back then, mostly about telling his father that he banged up the dad's car, and he decided to forgo the formality of actually having a driver's license. This didn't stop him from driving. I could tell 50 yards into the test that he probably been driving since about age 12, but would have found out that information from Pete in about 5 minutes anyway. Guys like Pete are what I've always called "real people". They look like there are a lot of miles on their face and body, they don't put up a false front or carry any pretense, and invariably they tell me their life story, even if I don't ask.
So in a nutshell - Pete's father kicked him out. He has been living in shelters most of his life. He finally got off of drugs which enable him to get a good job. He just got a deal on a trailer and is living there with his girl friend, his 16 year old son and that son's baby (He was kind of fuzzy about where the baby's mother was). Now that everything is rosy he can take the next step and get his driver's license.
Pete drove well and when we returned I told him to park next to the other cars over at our area. "On second thought, maybe you should park over there where no one else is." Pete gets his certificate and waits for his old lady to return to his car.
My next client, Kathy, is waiting for me as I get out of Pete's car. I ask her if we will be using her vehicle or if she is renting one from us for the test. Kathy's uncle, who looks like a rather short mountain man with his full beard and wild hair grins at me and says that Kathy will be renting because there is no way his car would pass the vehicle inspection. (FYI - this also usually means the vehicle is not insured). Kathy likes the 2006 Malibu she is renting and tells me that she has never been in a car this new. "My Cavalier is a 93'."
After she asks me about what kind of gas millage the Malibu gets I repeat a joke I just read in Readers Digest while in a hospital waiting room with my wife and sister for an operation my sister's son was having.
"Speaking of gas, did you hear about the elderly man who went to the doctor. He told the doctor that after breakfast he had silent gas, after lunch he had silent gas, and after dinner he had silent gas. 'And just now talking to you I had silent gas. What should we do about it?' The doctor replies; 'First thing we need to do is get your hearing fixed.'" Kathy doesn't laugh.
Unlike her uncle Kathy is tall, but looks like "real people". She is 22, smiles constantly, and keeps talking to herself in a quiet but high pitch voice. When I give her instructions she replies "Yes Sir!" or for example when I ask her to turn right at the next intersection, "I'm on it Sir!" We are at a red light and it turns green, Kathy looks around, doesn't see any traffic and exclaims "Ah Ha!" while accelerating. We need to make a lane change, Kathy looks around and sees nothing but clear lanes and hoots "God bless this traffic!"
The story Kathy tells me is that she loves to read but is currently writing 4 books. One is called "Nation of Dolls" which is about the world in 2060 where only the dolls have survived. They "shed their plastic" and form plans to rebuild the country. I tell Kathy that it sounds really interesting and she tells me that I can be proud to have heard about it 3 years before it is published.
Kathy passes the test and when we get back to our location I see that Pete is still standing by his car. I leave for lunch and an hour later need to stop in our office which is located in the mall. While I am there Pete's old lady comes in and asks if I have seen Pete. "He was waiting for you by his car the last time I saw him a couple of hours ago" I said. "Well, I was in the mall. Why didn't he come and get me?"
Why indeed.
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