The daily drive

I'm the official driver that takes Ibrahim to and from school. Actually I don't mind this because it gives us time to be alone together. We talk about things and we argue a lot. For a while Ibrahim would pitch a huge fit every time we drove past a toy store. He had this idea that we should stop and buy him a remote controlled car. Many times I have to pull over and stop to avoid having an accident. Everyday is some kind of adventure.

Ibrahim rides in the front next to me because he can't be trusted to behave himself alone in the back seat. If left to himself in the back he would be opening the door and trying to get out, hanging out the windows, making faces and shooting birds at neighbouring cars and if he gets angry there is always the chance that he will bonk me over the back of my head with something or take a pencil out of his book bag and stab me with it.

So to keep him somewhat under control he sits up front next to me with the seatbelt tightly fastened. He is still able to reach over and turn the windshield wipers on, poke at the buttons on the radio, try to burn things with the cigarette lighter and play with things in the glove compartment. When he's angry he kicks the dashboard in front of him as hard as he possibly can and it's a wonder that the airbag has not blown up in his face yet. I suspect that there might not be an airbag in there.

When I pull up in front of Ibrahim's school I usually see the school bus driver with a bus full of kids. I've decided that man is either a saint or he's a stupid idiot. All the money in the world would not be able to convince me to take a job carting around a bus-load of special-ed kids. God love him.