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UNCLE EARL’S AUTOMOBILE
My uncle Earl got the first automobile in Earl’s Hollow. It was a Model T Ford. Uncle Earl sat in the driver’s seat and yelled, “Giddap,” but nothing happened. We had to get the salesman to come back and show Earl how to crank the engine and get the car started.
We would drive up and down the roads in Earl’s Hollow. Some of those roads were so tilted that I had to grab the fence posts on my side as we went by to keep the car from tipping over.
One day, we got up early so we could drive down the big hill before there was any traffic. Just as we started down the hill, Horace Jones appeared at the bottom of the hill, coming up with his one-horse wagon loaded with chickens for the market. He told us later he got up real early to get up the hill before Earl could get out on the road with his Model T.
Uncle Earl yelled, “Whoa,” but the car just went faster and faster. Earl started waving his arms and yelling louder. Horace was waving his arms and yelling, too.
I crawled down and got part of myself over to the driver’s side, past the gear stick. I put one hand on the brake pedal and pushed on the brake with all the force I could muster.
The car slowed down a little. A cloud of dust rose up behind us. Then the car started spinning around in the road. Earl was still yelling and waving his arms.
Half way down the hill was the tiny road that led to Mrs. Haney’s house. Somehow, when we got to this road, the car stopped spinning and shot down that road and onto the Haney place, through Mrs. Haney’s prize roses, through the gardenias and nasturtiums, and came to rest on top of the forget-me-nots.
Mrs. Haney came out on the porch with a shotgun and said some things to Uncle Earl.
“It’s all right, Mrs. Haney,” said Earl. “I was just teaching the little one here how to drive.”
“Well, that little one’s going to be spending every afternoon here until this mess is fixed.”
And that’s how I spent the rest of that summer.
UNCLE EARL’S AUTOMOBILE
My uncle Earl got the first automobile in Earl’s Hollow. It was a Model T Ford. Uncle Earl sat in the driver’s seat and yelled, “Giddap,” but nothing happened. We had to get the salesman to come back and show Earl how to crank the engine and get the car started.
We would drive up and down the roads in Earl’s Hollow. Some of those roads were so tilted that I had to grab the fence posts on my side as we went by to keep the car from tipping over.
One day, we got up early so we could drive down the big hill before there was any traffic. Just as we started down the hill, Horace Jones appeared at the bottom of the hill, coming up with his one-horse wagon loaded with chickens for the market. He told us later he got up real early to get up the hill before Earl could get out on the road with his Model T.
Uncle Earl yelled, “Whoa,” but the car just went faster and faster. Earl started waving his arms and yelling louder. Horace was waving his arms and yelling, too.
I crawled down and got part of myself over to the driver’s side, past the gear stick. I put one hand on the brake pedal and pushed on the brake with all the force I could muster.
The car slowed down a little. A cloud of dust rose up behind us. Then the car started spinning around in the road. Earl was still yelling and waving his arms.
Half way down the hill was the tiny road that led to Mrs. Haney’s house. Somehow, when we got to this road, the car stopped spinning and shot down that road and onto the Haney place, through Mrs. Haney’s prize roses, through the gardenias and nasturtiums, and came to rest on top of the forget-me-nots.
Mrs. Haney came out on the porch with a shotgun and said some things to Uncle Earl.
“It’s all right, Mrs. Haney,” said Earl. “I was just teaching the little one here how to drive.”
“Well, that little one’s going to be spending every afternoon here until this mess is fixed.”
And that’s how I spent the rest of that summer.