The Cones

Ages 15-18

Fradel hits the cone on the second turn, and the examiner makes a mark on his sheet.

She had checked the mirror and the other mirror, and gone into the gap with the wheel hand over hand. Then the back bumper went into the cone, and it rolled over and lay on its side.

She stops. She puts the car in park. The engine is still running.

"Park it and turn it off," says the examiner.

She does, and turns the key. The cone is on the road behind them. He gets out and sets it upright, and comes back with a slip of paper and puts it on the dash.

At the desk inside, the woman looks at the slip and then at her screen.

"You can have a second try. Same as the first, no charge."

"When?" says Fradel.

"Thursday, at nine. Or next week, Tuesday."

Thursday is the school trip. Fradel looks at the screen, at the little grid of dates.

"Tuesday," she says.

On Tuesday, the same examiner is waiting by the same car. She goes out of the lot and around the block, and comes to the cones. She checks both mirrors. She goes in slowly, with the wheel going round in her hands, and stops with the front wheel level with the first cone.

She puts the car in park, and turns the key off. The cones stand where they were.