With a Bang!

by Avery Sarrail

“After borrowing her father’s new car without a license, she ventures to town to visit a cute boy at the gas station.”

Avery: The epitome of elegance and grace, my great-grandmother, Anna Weathers, aged 105, sips her daily scotch as she recounts the whimsical adventures of her teenage years. After “borrowing” her father's new car, without a license, she ventures to town to visit a cute boy at the gas station.

Anna: So I thought, hmm, I can drive to town. I will have to stay on the country road. I drove to town. We had a pump where you could just back up and fill up your car with gas. And so I had plenty of gas, but there was a fellow there that I kinda liked, and I thought, I'll go up to the service station and say hello. Well, I misjudged. The brand new, gray color car, red paint, back tire was flat, and he said, well, he could change the tire. Of course, brand new tire in the back, but he couldn't take off the paint, tried wipe it, but it wouldn't come off. So anyway, that was that. I drove home.

Mom: Was the boy impressed that you drove the car up? Was it worth it? Did you go out on a date?

Anna: [laughter] We didn't talk about that. I was just, what was he going to do to help me after I got there. So anyway, I drove home. And I didn't park the car in the garage. I left it out there. Walter came later and got in the car. The damage was in the back on the other side, put it in the garage. A couple of days later, my dad got in the car, went to town, but didn't know anything was wrong, and, um… it was about a week before anybody discovered the damage. I never said a word, and my brother, my father automatically said, "Walter probably did that." But that was the extent. He just made up his mind, Walter had, and Walter got the blame for it. I never told him. That bothered me all my life. He took the blame.

Mom: He took the blame.

Anna: I never confessed that it was me that done that. So anyway, I went in with the bag…