https://pixabay.com/photos/auto-automobile-automotive-amg-2179220/
Dad sat at the wheels and the ash-brown Mercedes was covering the distances at a good speed. Now dad isn't a speedy driver, he was just taking his time for we were in no great hurry to make it back to town. The afternoon sun was already high up in the sky, and the roads was crawling with considerable traffic. Heavy trucks rolled past us as we drove, making a crushing lumbering sound on the solid black tarmac.
I and Dad were returning from our countryside home, some 20 kilometers from town. It was the planting season, the middle of the year. We had attended to our vast farms and gardens. We secured the services of hired labourers to help us. Now these our countryside farms are immensely beneficial to us. They provide us with staple food crops and also cash when we sell. There are several foodstuffs we never buy from the market because these farms and gardens have supplied them to us for decades now. And we have been cultivating these lands for as far as I can remember.
So after a brief stay at our countryside residence we were gratefully heading home. We were engaged in a little conversation, dad and I.
"Those papers you failed, has to be retaken, and this year probably, so you can enter the tertiary institution as soon as possible."
Dad rotated the steering wheel as he spoke, eyes straight ahead.
I kept silence for a few moments. Then said:
"I feel I'm not ready for that now. Maybe next year would be a more ideal time. Plus I have other meaningful engagements I want to wrap up before the end of the year."
I was indirectly asking for trouble and I knew. Dad is the type that values academics above everything. He often told us the troubles and hassles he went through before acquiring up to 4 degrees he has including a law degree. He absolutely hated catching anyone of us at the television or our smartphones when we had important examinations ahead. But he also knew how to reward good academic performances.
"That can wait," he was saying presently and I felt ill at ease. "It has to be this year. I will help with the sponsorship if that's going to be a problem."
Silence from me as I didn't want to reply. Thereafter we talked about many other things while he drove: Troubles at home and from the extended family. The news, current affairs in the country and many others.
We were now driving along a double lane highway. We had been on the road for up to an hour or so. The heavy trucks were lumbering along Incessantly and we had to brake and wait so as to cross to the other lane. And here a tragedy almost occurred.
As we waited to cross to the other lane, dad said to me:
"See if the traffic is clear on the other side."
Obviously from his side he couldn't see the rear view mirror clearly.
"OK dad." I said as I looked.
A heavy truck was not far away. But in a stupid fit of indiscreet calculation I told dad all was clear. I thought the truck was still far enough and that we would make it before it came near.
https://pixabay.com/photos/highway-road-trucks-vehicles-3392100/
Fortunately, dad sat still at the controls and didn't even move a limb. In a few moments the truck zoomed past and I felt very bad with myself. I obviously didn't know that the truck was on high speed and would reach us that fast.
I imagined what would have happened had dad turned the car into the lane at that moment. The gory pictures were particularly horrifying to me. I felt really bad with myself. We had just avoided what would have been a great tragedy obviously due to dad's discretion. Maybe he too heard the truck and judged that it was too close for us to cross and maybe that's why he kept still.
He flung a reprimand to me in a cool but serious voice.
"Never make that kind of mistake again. Always be careful and mindful when on the road especially when trying to cross. Many people have lost their lives because of that."
I took the reprimand calmly and with an agitated conscience. I had always known dad to be a meticulous, careful person, something of a perfectionist. And our careless attitude as his children always upset him. I had thought the reprimand would have taken a more serious dimension.
We made the remaining part of the journey in peace and amidst discussions. But the fact that we were almost caught in a serious accident which would have been my fault was haunting me oppressively.
We reached our urban residence some hours after midday. Thereafter I paid a visit to a good friend of mine. I was telling him of that experience that afternoon.
"I can't bear imagining what would have happened had dad followed my directions. I feel very bad about it and the mental image haunts me."
And till today they still do. Anyway it's an experience I don't wish to relive but at least I learnt a important lesson from it, though it doesn't prevent it from haunting me still.
Thanks for reading.