Chloe never wanted to hear the word “driving” ever since she mistakenly hit Baba Landlord’s fence on her numerous attempt of learning how to drive.
On Christmas eve, Chloe’s uncle, Uncle Stanley came from the village to celebrate Christmas with them.
Chloe, I hope you have perfected your driving skills?, Uncle Stanley asked his niece because he remembered vividly how she hit Baba Landlord’s fence while learning how to drive on the previous year’s Christmas eve.
Chloe was feeling reluctant to answer. She could neither nod nor shake her head. Uncle Stanley got the drill and understood that Chloe isn’t a perfect driver yet. He got into the house, took his brother’s Lexus jeep and took Chloe along with him.
Now, you’ll sit at the front of the steering because you’ll be the one to drive us and as long as you listen to my instruction, you won’t hit anything, Uncle Stanley said to Chloe.
Right there, Chloe’s hands became jittery. She has thought she was never going to drive not touch a car’s steering again but here in Uncle Stanley who is trying to help her and prompt her to do what she has always been scared of doing.
Chloe sat at the front of the steering, Uncle Stanley sat beside her while her little brother, Paul opened their gigantic black gate for her to drive outside the compound, locked up the gate and joined them in the car.
Before you switch the gear, always make sure that your leg is on the break and you should not forget the difference between the break and accelerator, Uncle Stanley said to Chloe who nods her head at everything her uncle says.
Chloe lives in Lekki, one of the biggest places and urban place in Lagos where every part of the road is tiled including inside the estate where she lives. As a result of that, Chloe was not able to learn how to drive on the field but just a major road where big cars, trailers and even tippers pass by.
While Uncle Stanley was still trying to rack his brain about the next instruction to give to Chloe, a huge trailer which contained about four hunderd bags of cement overtakes the common Lagos bus known as danfo.
This caused a lot of alarm and every other drivers by the road knew that the brake has failed so they tried to pave way for the trailer. The noise and sound of cars was what Chloe heard until she saw a trailer coming directly towards her car. The speed was three times faster than the regular speed that a trailer should have.
Suddenly, Chloe looked at her front mirror and saw the trailer coming close to her. In a second, she matched the brake pad, moved forward and stopped by the passenger’s lane hoping that the trailer will continue to move forward and other drivers will keep paving way for the trailer till the brake pad begins to work properly again.
Instantly, she sighted the trailer coming towards where she had parked the car while the trailer driver was trying to make sure that the brake pad works. Chloe started the car and while the trailer was coming towards her, she made a U-turn on that same spot which made her get behind the trailer.
What! Chloe, how did you do this? I thought you said you’re not good at this yet, Uncle Stanley asked his niece. He was so surprised to see his niece pull up such action because he had thought he was going to lose his life right there.
My adrenaline prompted me to make those moves and also because I didn’t want to die. I’m so glad that I did it, Chloe said while driving smoothly back to the house because that was enough to be a long day.
Chloe didn’t know where her panic for driving had traveled to. At that moment, all she had to do was try her possible best to save her life, her uncle’s and that of her innocent little brother.
Then, Chloe stopped being scared of driving. On Christmas day, Chloe also had a driving class with Uncle Stanley and this time, there was no experience with brake failure. Chloe had a smooth driving and she took turns with Uncle Stanley which made it more fun.
Instead of Chloe being at home to eat well and celebrate Christmas with her parents and other family members at home, she spent the day with Uncle Stanley while driving all through the whole of Lagos Island.
😩 First of all, shoutout to Uncle Stanley for not giving up on Chloe coz wow! That moment when the trailer lost its brakes?? I literally held my breath reading that part.
It’s wild how fear can live in us for so long until life forces us to face it head-on. And Chloe did that. What started as a Christmas filled with dread turned into one she’ll probably never forget.
This was such an intriguing read! 👏👏
Most times, situations make us to do the things we thought we could not do. Chloe wanted to save her uncle, brother and herself, so she had to do what was necessary at that time and this made her overcome her fear of driving.