Down Beat

The Marvelous Adventure of Driving

        Sixteen. Adelaide is sixteen. She already had her permit, and an old little vintage car. Now she could get her license. "A real license!" She eagerly said to her mom. "Yup! You've gotten through the classes, and now youre ready for the test!" Her mom told. "Lets go!". So there they were, in front of the DMV, soon she'd be taking that test and hopefully walk out of that place with a license! She looked at the trees around her. They were small, and beaten. She walked into the DMV, went to the room to take the test, and nauseous with excitement, she tried not to rush through it. 

"How far do you park from a rail road track?"

"How close can you park from a fire hydrant?"

"What does "YIELD" mean?"

        Easy. After all the studying she had done for this, she whizzed through this test with grace. Biting the eraser of her No.2 pencil, she walked up to the desk where you turn in the test and get it graded. "Correct... correct... correct.. false... correct." The teacher had droned on her results. She had only gotten two wrong. "Well, with results like these, it would be foolish not to give you your license. Go to the desk up front, and she will get you hooked up with your license."  "Thank You so much!!!!" Adelaide exclaimed, and then recollected her sophistication, and walked to the front desk. "I have this paper I give you for my license??" "Ah Yes, Ill take your picture. This will expire in 2025." 

"Smile!" 

        Then she left the DMV, and her mom let her drive home. "I cant believe I have my license! ITS BEEN SO LONG!" Adelaide said with a grin, and then excitedly chuckled. "Yep! My baby girls all grown up." Her mom said with a cheerful smile, but her tone of voice was a playful whine.  Adelaide reached over and nudged her mom's arm. "Cheer up, buttercup!" She insisted playfully. They were almost home, the green grass, and leaves on the road. The Cottonwood trees were beautiful, but were an allergy in a leaf.

        She pulled up into the driveway, and stopped the car. Her next gig was in five days, and she was back to using her arms and hands again. Her new guitar was still in the living room, just waiting to be used in a marvelous occasion, which to Adelaide, was the gig. "It will go great." She thought to herself. "The other one did." Then she picked up her new guitar, plugged it into her amp, and started to play her newest song, her band didnt even know it yet. She had called it "Crimson" and it was a ballad about her guitar.

She was so anxious for the gig in just a few days, I mean, how is it going to turn out?