Get In The Back!

When I was twelve, I began to spend a lot of time with my sister and her significant other. For this blog, we will call him “T”. He was a young business man who, for most every practical sense had “made it” legitimately: Young money, new money and still hungry. We had so much fun together. He was like a big kid, so silly and absolutely hilarious. Although he was young and wealthy, he wasn’t tainted. He was always giving me tidbits of information and having teaching moments. On a few occasions, when my sister was on pickup duty but had to work, T would pick me up from school. I remember telling him “Drive a simple car to get me… and don’t get out…and pull in the back.” I walked out of the building, and there he was, parked near the back fence like I’d asked… in a Bentley. It was all black with windows so dark that you couldn’t see in. I took a deep breath and walked hurriedly to avoid being noticed by the other kids. When I got to the car, he wouldn’t let me get in the front seat. I fussed asking “Why did you drive this!?” He insisted that he made a good choice, that I was now the coolest kid in my school AND that I needed to sit in the back (I was between 13 and 15). His reasoning?

Rewind a few weeks back. This was in the early 2000’s. We were watching new music videos. A new model mint green Jaguar was in one of videos and I just fell in love with it. I thought it was the most beautiful thing. I told my sister and T, “I want to buy THAT car! When I grow up I’m going to get it” T asked “You really like that car?” I answered assuring him “yes!”
The next day, T called and told us to get dressed and come out side. I opened the door and in the driveway was the mint green Jaguar. I screamed! My sister was not happy, yelling “T!! What!?! Why did you buy this!?” I didn’t care. I ran to get my Mom to come see. T hurried us along. When I approached the car he made me get in the back, as usual. My sister sat in the front. But this time when he got in and shut his door he turned around and asked if I was happy with the car. My sisters eyes were probably about to boil out of her head. But, I was of course ecstatic. It was as perfect as I’d imagined, brand new with light colored leather interior. We never rode with clear windows and these hadn’t even been tinted yet. He told me “This is your car and it doesn’t matter that you can’t drive yet. You know, a lot of people think that when they have the money to go buy the car they want, that they’ve made it…But when you’ve really made it, you don’t drive your own car, you have a driver. That’s why you have to sit in the back.” We rode all through the city on that chilly rainy day listening to new music we’d seen on the videos. My sister only fussed a little more and then we all just gave into the peace that the calm sky was offering. It was perfect.
I’m still working to “make it”.