From time to time, she offered helpful words of encouragement. “For someone who’s never drove a car before, you are doing fairly well.” When the lurching of the vehicle began to make her feel nauseous, she offered thoughtful instructions. “It isn’t actually necessary to pump the gas up and down to get the fuel to the motor. Just try and hold it steady.” By the time they were approaching the highway end of the miles-long ranch lane, Daisy’s confidence was increasing. I think I’m getting the hang of the thing. The speedometer indicated that she was going slightly in excess of twenty miles per hour. The intersection with the paved road was coming up fast. She turned her head to look at the white woman’s patched eye. “Now tell me again, how do you slow this thing down?” Louise-Marie shrieked: “Look out!” The driver turned her face back to the windshield, discovered that the sneaky machine had decided to head off in another direction. Directly in front of the hood was something like a tree.
