No. 023 · Relationships, pressure and unwanted help · 2 min read
Thank You for the Suggestion. I Didn’t Ask You to Be a Passenger Driver.
The person who was not driving somehow turned every turn into a group project.
“Watch the car.”
“I see it.”
“Brake.”
“I am braking.”
“BRAKE.”
Claire tightened her grip on the steering wheel.
Daniel was sitting in the passenger seat performing a job nobody had given him: assistant driver.
“Stay in this lane.”
“Yes.”
“You’re getting close to that truck.”
“It is literally in another lane.”
“I’m just helping.”
At the next red light, Daniel pointed at it.
“It’s red.”
Claire stared ahead. “Thank God you’re here.”
He somehow missed the sarcasm.
A few minutes later, he told her where to turn at the exact moment the GPS said the same thing.
Claire finally pulled into a parking lot.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Thank you for the suggestions. I didn’t ask you to become the passenger driver.”
“The what?”
“The person who isn’t driving but somehow experiences every turn as a group project.”
Daniel laughed.
Claire did not.
Then he stopped laughing.
“Oh.”
“Yes. Oh.”
On the way home, he lasted eleven minutes before starting, “Watch the…”
Claire looked at him.
He closed his mouth.
Progress.
Grounding Thought
Sometimes pressure arrives disguised as help.