The day I drove THE Porsche.

My daughter owns a Porsche.
It is her midnight blue ‘baby’.

Pixabay

She works hard and is a talented business woman and if owning her, ‘blows her hair back’ (pun intended) then she should own it.

I have often driven beside her in it, cap pulled on and a ‘blankie’ round my shoulders when it is chilly outside.

The canopy has to be down. That is the point of it.

Fortunately in my retirement I am still fit and nimble. One has to be to qualify to drive in a LOW slung sports car. Otherwise one would have to roll onto one’s knees beside the car and crank one’s elderly body up ….gradually!

The one thing I GET about this beautifully sleek car is the Grrrrowl of its engine. Oh my, it is a sweet sound. I even have experienced a minor thrill when she is at the robot and a similar sharklike vehicle drew up alongside and ‘vrrrmed’ a flirty invitation to see who can take off faster. With a sideways flicker of her eyes my daughter accepted the challenge.
When the light changed to green it was an adrenalin rush as I was flattened against the back of my seat and we roared off, to the ……..next robot. .... but ahead of the other car.

If my memory serves me correctly that is the way she met her first husband. That is food for thought.

Came the day when she was suddenly called away to an urgent business meeting. She felt awful as we had planned a lunch out in the country. As a consolation prize (I’m sure) she offered me her second most prized possession in all the world.
‘Take her mom,’ she said thrusting the key into my hand, ‘but do be careful.’ There was I’m certain a glimmer of a tear in her eyes.
In a flash she was gone and I stood there running my hand over the Porsche's sleek brilliant shining flank. The line was exquisite and I felt her beauty in a different way as that day I was going to be behind the wheel.

I put on my silk red scarf and my ‘devil may care’ attitude with purpose and climbed (down) into the leather driving seat.
I do not possess the long limbs of my daughter so adjusting the seat was sad but I soon got over that as I turned the embossed key in the ignition.

The growl as I pulled away from the safety of their property intensified my nausea of apprehension.
It soon dissipated however into a dangerous thrill of power, the lure of the open road and a million horses at my disposal.
I ducked through the dip at the bottom of their road and flipping my scarf so it trailed like a banner of freedom behind me I ‘put foot’, felt the surge in the core of my being and laughed out loud as I left the house behind.

I left my common sense behind too.

I roared off into the blue….symphony music rising to a crescendo in my mind.

It was the sight of flashing blue lights behind me as I was fleeing down the country road towards Hartebeestpoort dam that brought me back to my senses.

A deep seated feeling of DREAD took away my euphoria in a swipe and a pounding heart and terror took over instead.
I slowed down obediently literally sweating and seeing a safe place to draw off the tar up ahead, I put on the flicker.

I was not only counting the cost of breaking the speed limit and driving dangerously but the SHAME of facing my daughter and the family was even worse. ‘Can’t let Granny out on her own for a minute,’ was already ringing in my ears.

Imagine my shock, wonder and relief when the blue flashing traffic police car sped past me, acknowledging my responsible movement to the side to let him go past on his urgent business, with a small salute.

I sank my head on my clenched hands on the steering wheel and gradually came back to earth.
The nausea passed gradually and a feeling of absolute joy came unbidden from nowhere……..suddenly I was laughing……..at myself, at the cop, at the world!

I crept home well under the speed limit. I was extremely careful parking the car where she usually stood in her cool garage.

I ran my hand down the same sleek flank that I had touched in awe a mere hour before and gave thanks. Not only were we both unscathed but that yen for an adventure had diminished to the point of extinction.

I gave her a last farewell pat and went indoors to my knitting, a hot cup of tea and my soduko on the veranda with the dogs at my feet.

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