Chapter 30

Bud and one of his students, a slim boy named David, were washing the red Jeep in the driveway of the Martin home in Aspen Hill. The sun was bright and the air was warm.

"I sure appreciate you taking me out to Kensington for my driver's test," David said as he used a brush on a front wheel.

"You did real good. I thought you were going to hit that sign when you went to park, backing in there." Bud rinsed off the spare tire bolted to the car's tailgate.

"Yeah, me too. I was sure the guy could hear my heart."

"We're about finished with this thing," Bud said, turning off the hose. "Why don't you back your mother's car out."

"OK, I'll get the keys," the boy said, dropping the brush in a bucket of sudsy water.

Bud backed his Jeep out to the street and parked it in front on the Martin's small home. He had enjoyed several meals with the family, and he and Mrs. Martin had jointly chaperoned a dance at the school. Bud trotted back up the driveway as David got out of his mother's car. The car started slowly rolling down the sloping driveway toward Bud. He put his hands on the trunk, turned his back to it, dug in his heels and yelled, "Grab the handbrake!"

David stumbled as he tried to open the door and fell to his knees as the Oldsmobile became too much for Bud to hold back. He tried to slow its progress, but finally had to admit defeat and stepped aside. The gray car coasted across the narrow street, knocked down a mailbox and stopped with its back wheels in the drainage ditch.

"Gee, I'm sorry," David said. "You OK?"

The boy and the teacher walked to the car, found the back bumper buried in the side of the ditch but no obvious damage except for the flattened mailbox.

"Let's get it out of there," Bud said. "I've got a chain in the Jeep and sometimes I can get the four-wheel drive to work. Together they got the cars tied together, and on the third try Bud was able to pull the sedan out of the ditch and onto the street.

David drove his mother's car back up near the garage and set the brake. Then he crawled under the back of the car and rolled out smiling. "Just some dirt," he said. "That was close."