Test Runs

They gathered at the same bar that he had known but never entered since his secondary school days. He recall passing that route daily thirty-two or three years ago while in secondary school far from there. Recall seeing frequent fracas there while passing there. Concluded then that the bar must be for unrefined creatures. Now, he is sitting inside the same bar as member of newly registered driving school student that opened beside that bar. The gathering is meant to be theoritical class but it sounds as if it was designed for a month acquaintance to be for life or something to be loyal to for life, not a route millions will pass if there is life, all sound suspicious to Sunny. 

But bad economy and bad regulations have made some common things like attending driving instruction from a particular company to look as if one is joining a cult group that needs initiations or something all for you to market them when through. Well, Sunny doesn't see anything wrong in drinking some of the money he paid for a month of training that is only twenty days practical with a day theory weekends, Saturdays and Sundays are off, and today is Wednesday.

Chandy driving school is not all that bad. The cars are not all that bad and their theoretical aspect is not that bad either, familiarization is more like it. To think that fifteen students as they are being called came the same week, whether that had been the trend there or not, Sunny was to find out later.

The instructor who was a field driver was saying something about manual and automatic gears. The way he presented that lecture and demonstrated the gear levers, road signs, and hand lights pasted on the wall was informative and Sunny believed it was a well designed lecture.

    If practical isn't practical, if he hasn't paid in full, he would have gone home and sworn he has learned all that needed learning. That's how good that driving school is theoretical call is. Chandy they call themselves. Sunny smirked at the name. It sounds like that foreign drink that is in between a soft drink and an alcoholic one that Sunny would swear they had inmates and women in mind while mixing the formula.

   There are battalion of drivers in that school and the owner at times joined the six drivers am not sure how their salaries were paid. But it must be on a contractual basis type of business, it is not what you employ a driver and retain him on a monthly salary basis. Nay, how would you be sure of enough students each month to cover the salary?

   " I said anyone who gets this this question would drink extra chilled malt from my pocket. Who can tell me in detail why this is called automatic and the other manual drive and what noticeable differences are?" the owner of the driving school Mr Charles Chinonso asked.

 Sunny brought himself back again to the present. Once again, he was lost in thought about the owner of the place, the place and, all it takes to run it. 

   Chandy. That name must have been coined from his real name which seems to have too many Cs in them. Whatever his surname is, he believes it must starts with C too. He saw hands going up and heard sounds but what was being said wasn't penetrating well. He is in the body there but lost in thought in spirit. The business 'him' has taken over the student 'him' once again. He was busy calculating how much the man made each week alone from the students and how much it takes to run the place in a month. He was still on the month rate calculation when he heard a loud shout from students and was jolted back to reality. He saw people eyeing and talking about a guy who was beaming from ear to ear by his right and asked.

    "What happened?"

People were surprised and all turned towards him, eyeing him with amazement written all over them. The owner heard his question and was eyeing him with all seriousness, the type of worried understanding fathers usually direct to the son he knew exactly what his problems were. The room had turned into a different kind of laughter, smirking and sighs and, all eyes were on Sunny who became aware of why this sudden turn of focus was on him now.

    " A driver needs to make sure his mind is where his body is at any given time once on the wheel or there's no need to be on the wheel in the first place unless he has extra money he ear-marked for court cases and police cases. Even at that, he needs to be going out 24 hours with security men Not all cares about money when their love one's health or life is involved.

They go for Dividic laws

There was another round of laughter from people and another round of eyes casting towards Sunny. He is not enjoying this image of himself in the minds of people. It's always the hardest part of any written word or images to erase from people's minds once it etched itself in there. He kicked himself hard for asking a loud stupid question he would have silently found out within minutes without even moving his lips.

  He forced himself to be present like others there and where surprised to learn that just like in other places he had found himself in public, his business self always overrides his social self. Within minutes, business, business self would enthrone itself over his social self and he would start seeing business as part of the place he is in, or the people around him and his business mind would take over and calculation ensures, he will be lost to the events happenings and those around him. He got transported deeply away from events around him into a fifinancial aspect of the place. 

 He sighed loudly when he realized that, while trying to be present he has traveled once again. He heard and saw others eyeing a girl sitting with his mother near the electric fan the mother was trying to get away from while her daughter seemed to be burying herself into it. This time around, he joined in clapping as if he was aware of why they are clapping. But he wasn't fooling the mentor even if he succeeded in fooling others.

The man is behaving like an animal that reads people more than they read themselves. The man knew he was lost once again within three minutes of each other and shook his head. In his five years of running the school, he has met hundreds of Sunny's kind and knows that he has extra work to do with them if they were to help to help themselves to remain alive once they start getting behind the wheel. They are special cases that need special attention and education to be salvaged from whatever demons that are troubling them. 

I believe that we have covered a lot today. Next class, please try to be early for we have outside instructors that will come to teach us about engine and tyres. Tomorrow if you no longer learn in the field, please be early in the morning and if you are still a novice like most of us, come around 1:30 pm. The pupils of the school we use their field would have been through then we could use their field. Mr. Sunny, please give me a few minutes of your time. 

 Sunny smiled to himself. He knew that being picked on this early wasn't good news. And the man knowing his name within a day only isn't good news either. But he had picked up yet another trait needed to start this kind of business. Detachment from those that pass through the route with a minimum of attachment to few that stick out. And Sunny knew that he belonged to the 'stuck out' group and shook his head.

" Yeah, Mr. Sunny, I just want to tell you that we will be seeing each other every day for 26 days, or therefore wouldn't we start now to do that" the man started while eyeing him like Snake. "You saw the list posted there on the board? That name your name appeared under is mine. It was written with pencil, I cancelled the typed one and relocated you to my group. yeah, I believe you would get what you came here for best through my mentorship. I am not the best of the instructors here but I think I can handle certain things better than others. You would come around one-thirty in the afternoon tomorrow and we see how we go about your first day here. Is that okay by you?"

"Am I to be your only student?"

" You read the form you filled out yesterday, right? Good, each student has the attention of their teacher for thirty minutes each day for twenty days not more unless you are doing double training for the day because of one reason or the other. Maybe your trainer won't be around tomorrow or you won't be around. Some excuses like that. So, you are my student for only thirty minutes tomorrow and any other day for twenty days practical. Then others follow you afterwards Mr. Sunny each training days"

Mr. Sunny smirked, knowing fully well why it was like that. Since the man is reluctant to voice it out, why not pretend to be ignorant too.?

" Okay. You said around one-thirty?"

  " Yeah. The field we use is school field, pupils need to be through with their studies before we take over to avoid distracting them"

 "Okay bye"

 " Yeah, bye"

He kept eyes on him trying to know if there were any noticeable distinguishing fixtures in the way they carry themselves, anything he might have missed on the five he had countered over the years and found nothing. Why they get easily distracted in public beats him hands down. Only one out of the previous five had had an accident that was blamed on break fluid, but then two had changed state. This one looks as if he would be better than others but you never know till they start moving. Last week one that showed no sign nearly smashed the car's back lights on the wall while learning how to reverse.

"We will see the depth of the work tomorrow" he concluded.