When my Grandpa Drives

My Grandfather was in and out of nursing homes during the latter years of his life. He hated every moment inside of them. Despite kneading the help, he constantly fought to be free of his expensive prisons. It was shortly after one of his releases that my Mom and I found ourselves at his apartment. He had achieved freedom mere hours ago when we had checked him out. Now nicely settled in his second story apartment we came to a realisation.We had forgotten to pick up his medicine.

Now my Grandpa had a silver tongue. He used to sell t-shirts during his summer vacations, and could convince anyone of anything. In hindsight it wasn’t shocking that he convinced my Mom that it was a great idea to let him drive. We got into his cobalt blue convertible, his prized possession. It was spring though you wouldn’t have seen the bright, lively green trees through the thick darkens. He likely sped as I see most people do, despite this we arrived at the drugstore without incident.

My mom ran in to pick up his prescription, and returned soon after. Once she entered the convertible my Grandpa started up the engine, moved the gearshift and “goosed it” his words not mine. What exactly that means still remains unclear to me but the result was startling. We jolted forward with a sudden acceleration that propelled us right towards the massive glass windows of the drug store.

Thankfully, some engineer or architect had the foresight to install large metal poles in front of the eatch parking space. The barriers spared the window but not our nerves. My Grandfather silver tongue momentarily dulled as he released a string of curses before inspecting the vehicle for damage. The car was fine, an older model, it had lasted longer than it should have, and this wasn’t going to stop it. Now this incident may seem minor, and it was but it sets the tone as my Grandpa took us back to his apartment.

Now we almost made it back without incident. If it weren’t for a pesky left turn. This particular left turn was the last of our journey, medicine secured, nerves shot we attempted to pull into the parking lot. We were so incredibly close, but there was a biker. It was dark, and This young biker was adorned in a quite fashionable leather jacket and matching gloves, this made him blend in with the night despite the bikes shining headlights. He came down the road right as my Grandpa began the turn. I think my mom yelled something, we hit the curb and the biker flew from his bike, sliding across the pavement. My mom bursted from the car begrudgingly followed by my grandpa. The bikers gloves had been torn to shreds, if it weren’t for them he would have wrecked his hands, but thankfully he was relatively ok. After my mom verified his safety he left, took off, we never saw him again. There was no exchange of information, no verification of his condition he just left.

We have no way of knowing whether or not he sustained any injuries, but if things had gone even slightly differently he very likely would have died. This prompted my mom to report him to the DMV. It was a source of heated discord between my Mom and her sister for quite some months. My aunt thought it was wrong to strip my Grandfather of his freedom to drive. My Mom saw what happened, she knew what could have happened. So she submitted the report. The response took weeks. The DMV would make my Grandpa retake his driving test. He somehow passed with “room for improvement”. This allowed him to run about town for another 6 months, when he was tested again, this time his license was suspended.

These accidents didn’t kill anyone, they almost killed someone. My grandpa was eighty five at the time. Like I said earlier he was in and out of nursing homes all the time. He was forgetful and inconsistent. He was allowed to drive. Despite his inability he passed the test. And even though we can’t prove it we suspect that he continued to drive even after the suspension. Who goes on the road cannot be perfectly controlled, there will always be someone behind a wheel that should be in a passenger seat. It is of the utmost importance that you be extra careful while driving, because there are those who will not be.