My Nickel’s Worth
Prom season is swirling around us, and I have seen several Prom-posals on social media. My own little sister is prom dress shopping, and I heard a kid the other day talking about ordering a tux for his big night.
This takes me back to my senior year in high school. My two best friends and I wanted to go together, so we all three asked dates for that night, ordered our tuxes, ordered the flowers, and I told everyone I would take care of the transportation.
As luck would have it, my dad had a friend who owned a 1958 classic, sporty Chevy Impala . The interior was a sharp, polka-dotted candy apple red and white, and I had cleaned, dried, and polished this car to take us to the prom in style.
We all met at my house, and the parents took a million pictures. We looked sharp with our new haircuts, clean-shaven faces, and carnations. Our dates had pretty hairstyles and dresses; I felt on top of the world. We took photos on the car, in the car, and in front of the car. We felt like we were really cool. Oh, we could have taken one of our trucks or sporty cars, but this was different. Forget the limos, corvettes, or hummers. We had a classic car, and we were riding in style. We finally waved goodbye, and I adjusted my shades one last time, and we headed to our destination, which unfortunately, this particular year, was taking place 20 minutes outside of town at the Wildcatter Ranch.
In Graham prom tradition, the students would to the front circle drive of the establishment, and a parent/guardian would jump in the driver’s seat, and let you get out. Then the parent would park the car.
As we were lining up to take our turn in the circle, the beautiful, classic, car DIED. It just died. Naturally, I was driving, and all of these vehicles were behind me, honking in frustration. It would not budge. I started screaming out of the window, “HELP!” Finally, someone saw us and found my parents. We helped push our car to the side, and we jumped in my mom’s black Ford Explorer, and my parents drove us up to the door. Not exactly the big moment we had hoped for, and the girls were certainly not impressed. Our big moment had been ruined.
I don’t recall much about that prom. We had chicken nuggets, dancing, and we ended up having a fun time. Things didn’t go as planned, but once we entered the prom, we forgot about our crazy car experience. I recall having so much fun with my friends, and we ended up at my house afterwards where we laughed all night. The owner came to pick up the car and said it started just fine—I am not sure why it died on us at that exact moment--thankfully we had made it to our destination and weren’t stranded on the side of the highway!