Driving in my dad’s prized black Mercedes that he thought was the coolest car in the world wasn’t my favorite thing to do. I was seven so I didn’t exactly choose which car we drove in. It was just us three, my dad, my cousin Sami and me. We had stopped at Wendy’s earlier and we were munching on weaved fries. My dad was humming quietly to himself. I didn’t know where we were going and I never found out.
Suddenly smoke poured out of the heater. We looked at each other confused and scared. My Dad pulled into a gas station and screeched to a stop. We jumped out of the car. Great, we were bringing a burning car next to a gas fumed area. We were all in shock and everything was happening so quickly. My dad walked to the front of the car and he lifted the hot hood. Underneath fire was festering in the engine. It was spreading everywhere. The fire shot up into the air and my dad quickly shut the hood.
“Move away from the car.” He said almost yelling. Sami didn’t seem to hear him, and walked right next to the smoke filled window. I yelled for him to move back. Before he could react, the air bag exploded and glass shattered everywhere. He quickly ran away from the car. We looked around unsure of what to do so we just stood there and watched my dad weep over his stupid prized car.
Sami was still eating his French fries. I frowned and shook my head in disapproval. “You’re eating at a time like this. I can’t believe you, always thinking about your stomach.”He shrugged and continued eating. My dad unsure of what to do started removing his belongings from the trunk. He piled it up into a fort and told me and Sami to stay behind it. We listened. He walked back to his car. I thought he would start crying but he just stood there watching it.
Then an old, rusted green Grand Prix pulled up with a screech and a short brown haired man jumped out. He hurriedly came over to my dad.
“What do you want me to do?” he said in a panicked voice.
“Go get water while I call for help.” my dad said trying to stay calm. Sami and I sat quietly and just watched the whole thing happen as if it was on television. The man came back a few minutes later empty handed.
“The store keeper… wouldn’t… give me… any water.” He panted, out of breath from the run. In the distance we heard sirens as another ugly 1990’s Grand Prix pulled dup to the curb. He got out and asked how he could help. He looked scary to me with long dread locks down his back. My dad told him to take us to the store owner down the street and that he was a family friend.
Thanks dad, now me and Sami got into the car. Crumpled sweaters and fast food bags lay all over the stranger’s car. We didn’t say anything, because the store wasn’t that far away. It was called Blue Devil and didn’t look like a great place for kids to hang out. I hoped we didn’t have to stay there long.We walked out and the stranger explained what happened. The store owner said that he was a friend of my dad’s. I thanked the man quickly and turned to store keeper and he asked us a thousand questions. We answered them the best we could. He wasn’t surprised and had a smile on his face.
We sat down and the store owner offered us treats. We politely refused. The store was cold and had orange floor tiles. It smelled like tobacco and black coffee. We sat there and said nothing, still trying to process what happened. The store owner forgot about us and went back to his work. I couldn’t wait anymore. It had been almost a half hour. I got up and started for the door. Sami called after me, but I didn’t listen to him. I walked outside and started toward what had turned into a large smoke plume. I started to run. I ran down the sidewalk, jumped over the broken glass, and leaped onto the bench at the side of the road. There was no one outside. The store owner realized I was gone and came outside and called after me. I didn’t care. I kept running.
I reached the gas station where sirens blared and about a hundred firemen tried to put out the fire. There was a news crew too. I ran past them all, but police tape blocked my way. I saw my dad inside of it and watched him answer the police officer’s questions. Then the fire started to roar and everyone backed away from it as quickly as they could. Some firemen threw themselves on the ground.
The car exploded into a million pieces and the world turned red.You could see heat waves in the air. The sound was so loud I couldn’t hear for a few minutes. I wondered if I had gone deaf, but my ears started to ring and I could hear again. Smoke filled the air everywhere and it was hard to breath. Everyone was in shock and it felt like the world stopped moving. Everyone came back to reality as they slowly processed what happened. The firemen managed to put the car out, because most of the energy was gone from the fire after the explosion. My dad spotted me and ran over. He asked how I got there. I said nothing and we started to walk up to the store.
We walked up to see the worried store owner and he tried explaining how I got loose. My dad thanked him of everything he had done.
My dad pulled out his phone. I sat down next to Sami. “What are you doing?”
“I’m calling your uncle,” he said and turned away from us. Sami and I just sat there. A few minutes later he hung up.
“When is he coming?” Sami asked.
“He’ll be here in about a half hour.” My dad said tiredly. About forty five minutes later my uncle came. We got in his car and drove home. When we got home we took turns telling my mom and aunt what happened. It had been a long day and I was readyto relax. I went to the living room, turned on SpongeBob. The TV flickered to life with a cartoon explosion. Great, so much for relaxing.