At Sixteen

At sixteen years old, an ephiphany is quite unusual for many reasons. First of all, everyone knows that sixteen years olds are clueless to the world around them. Second of all, sixteen year olds are unaware of the wake they make cruising in the waters of life. The fact that sixteen year olds are oblivious makes self-realization near impossible.

This was true of James Bailey Thomas more than anyone. He was the usual mix of surfer dude, cool studly guy, jock, high school student, and confident about his place in his world. He got hungry, he ate. He got horny, he found a girl. He did what he was told by his mom so that he could have a cool car and the freedom he enjoyed. Life was simple. Thought was not necessary.

Right now, JB�s place was riding along in his punch buggy, Volkswagen convertible. The surf board was dripping wet and hanging over the back seat. His girlfriend, Penny, was sitting sideways talking over the music coming from the tape deck. James was finishing up a cherry Popsicle as they cruised along Highway One after one bitchin� after school wave riding surfing experience. With the bright California sun shining on his face, pretty girl by his side, a cold Popsicle cooling his lips, and a future that couldn�t have been better, the teen was feeling pretty good about his life in general.

Life was �awesome, dude�, until the four ply, steel belted tire on the right rear wheel of his white convertible decided to give up the ghost and pop with a loud bang. While the car sagged in the rear and slowed down considerably, JB still felt everything was under control. While James Baily Thomas reached any cosmic change in the young man�s ability to see his true place in the world, he did sense something was terribly wrong when the steering wheel began to shake uncontrollably in his hands. The first thing he did was utter a small curse and turn the radio down. Too much noise made it difficult for him to think.

As he safely steered the car onto the generous gravel shoulder then turned the key off, James, or JB as he was known to his friends, got out of the car and inspected the damage. Since he had only been driving for less than six months, it was his first flat tire experience. He looked around surveying the empty road and wondering what to do.

His girlfriend, Penny, without missing a beat while chewing her gum, made a bold statement. �You gotta change it. I�ve seen my dad do this before. It�s pretty cool, like using the jack and taking off the tire.�

JB had never seen a tire changed. Sure, he knew that they did this at gas stations and sure, he knew kinda how it went, but this was a first and he was worn out from school and surfing and was looking forward to some after school loving with Penny before her parents got home from work. Now, all that was going to change while he had to work this whole flat tire thing out. He surveyed the road again hoping some adult would come along and solve all this for him like the teachers did at school.

He opened the front of the car, lifting out the spare tire and discovered there was a little jack and some tools stored below the tire. He was puzzled over what they all did and was spacing out on how it was going to work. He thought for a minute and realised that there was a book in the glove box that had all sorts of stuff about his car in it.

His car, his pride and joy. It was the coolest punch buggy around. Shiny white, tan seats, and a stereo radio made his convertible pretty cool. He and his mom had picked it out on a car lot only six months ago when he got his license. The five year old Volkswagen was all his and so cool. He felt pretty special driving to school each day, parking it in the lot, watching as his girlfriend carefully adjusted her skirt each time she got out.

And now, Penny was watching him to see how he handled this tire thing. She had even stopped talking which was quite unusual.

JB paged through the owner�s manual until he came to the pictures of the spare, the jack, and the little tools. He looked at the pages of instructions and started to match the pictures to the real car. As he was trying to deal with all this new stuff, he heard another car pulling off the road behind him, tires crunching the gravel shoulder as it slowed.

He looked up to see a California Highway Patrol Car pulling behind him and turning on its lights. The sunglassed trooper was huge and smiling as he walked over to the JB and his girlfriend.

JB smiled back and got a shock as the trooper spoke.

�Looks like you two girls have a problem. How about if I help you two young ladies by changing this tire and getting you back on the road?�

JB looked at Penny and they smiled at one another. Penny was the first to speak. �Oh, officer, that would be so nice of you to help us.�

Before JB could utter a word, Penny pulled him aside and whispered in his ear. �Don�t say a word and let the nice policeman change our tire. After all, us girls need all the help we can get.�

Ten minutes later, after the State Police car was driving down the road, JB looked at Penny in amazement. �I can�t believe that just happened. He thought we were both girls and changed the tire for me.�

Penny looked at him and kissed him hard on the lips. �Look at your face, silly. You�ve got cherry popsicle lips that look like lip stick and after all, you do need a haircut and all.�

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