Breaking Free Short Story

Martha Dane, 16
Massachusetts

The sun filled the car in the dry August heat as I sat patiently in the backseat of our beat-up station wagon. Even at the age of two, I was turned off by the nauseating brown color of our 1988 station wagon and the putrid smells of rotten food and old shoes that diffused into all corners of the car. Stale cheerios, crackers, and candy wrappers filled the gaps between each seat, every once in a while poking through to the surface of the cushion to attach to the sweat on the back of your legs.

My sister Molly’s popsicle dripped on her hands as she took her last lick of the grape flavored dessert, revealing a very unnaturally purple tongue. She shoved the dripping popsicle stick into the seat in front of her, leaving a trail of purple dots across the car’s interior. Tempted to grab it, I reached out my arms but I was not long enough to grab the sticky rod that was already covered with a thin layer of dirt and grime from the dirty seat. The summer heat penetrated the closed windows of our car and the sun blinded me as we turned into our neighborhood. Although blinded momentarily, the familiar smell of magnolias and summer grass reassured me that we were almost home and briefly masked the unruly smell of my sisters’ wet bathing suits.

Sand scratched uncomfortably in my diaper as I shifted my weight to look out the window. We passed my neighbor’s house and my sister’s favorite climbing tree, which she had fallen out of just weeks earlier, leaving behind a large scar above her right eye. Although temporarily distracted and saddened by the memory of my sister’s fall, I found comfort in knowing that I was almost home and almost free from my dreaded car seat, the one thing that haunted my every car ride.

I not only hated my car seat, but I despised just about everything about it. It made every car ride feel as if it were twelve hours long. I loved to run, jump and play with my older sisters, not feel restrained and childish within jail-like straps that gave me itchy rashes on my arms. Thankfully the car pulled into our driveway and finally came to a stop ensuring freedom in the near future. The blooming garden and freshly painted white fence welcomed us home from a long, sun-drenched day at the lake. I breathed a sigh of relief to finally be able to run free in the backyard for the remainder of the afternoon.

With two quick slams of the car doors my sisters left me abandoned in the backseat, alone and helpless, still trapped by the imprisoning car seat. I was not exactly trapped, though, because like any good captive, I had mastered the escape route from the seat as early as possible by observing my mother as she unbuttoned my car seat every day. Unfortunately, I had also felt the punishment of practicing this skill myself and I felt it was best to wait for my mom to come to the back and unbutton the seat.

“Hold on, sweetie,” my mom called as she climbed out of the driver’s seat. Her long floral dress caught the side of the door and made an unusually loud click as the door closed tightly behind her. She waved to me through the closed window while she reached for the handle to open the back door. My mom pulled her hand back almost immediately with a confused look on her face. She walked slowly to the other side of the car and tried that handle but again she just frowned and placed her face against the side of the window, cupping her hands around the edges of her eyes. I smiled at her and clapped my hands. I loved this game. I covered my eyes with my hands and quickly pulled them away.

“A-boo!” I cooed through the window, mimicking the sounds my mom always made when she played this game. My mom didn’t respond but just continued to frown.

“A-boo!” I echoed even louder, demanding a response, but my mom just shook her head and walked towards the backyard. She returned moments later with my two sisters who stood and stared at me in shock. The looked into the car and pointed at the dangly things that hung from the big circle thing my mom used when she drove.

My mom hushed my sister’s laugh while she put her hands to her head, obviously distressed. I knew what would cheer her up. I stuck out my tongue and waved my arms around. I was confused because she didn’t even notice my funny face, something that almost always made her laugh. I hit my feet against the edge of my car seat, growing impatient and wondering why my mom wasn’t letting me out to play. Was I in trouble?

Al, the old man who lived next door, walked into our driveway and questioned my mom. He walked up to the car and tapped on the window. He pulled a large wire hanger out and began to dig it into the window. He jiggled the hanger around, scratching against the car’s hard surface, his tongue hanging out of his mouth just a little. He stepped back, frustrated, and scratched his head. My mom nodded at him and walked over to the small crack in the back window.

“Martha,” my mom called through the crack, “you have to listen to me.” I turned my head around as far as I could and waved to her from my sear. “Undo your car seat, Martha, and get out of it,” she ordered. She pointed to my seat to clarify what she ordered me to do.

I was in shock. My mom knew I was capable of doing this myself but she always seemed to yell at me when I did, especially when she was not in the car with me. I followed her orders anyway, hoping that she meant what she said and I wouldn’t get in trouble. Like I had done thousands of times before, I carefully found the red button and pressed it hard to release the shoulder straps. I felt free already. Then, very gracefully, I pulled apart the clip that held my legs in place. After kicking free of the final straps I congratulated myself on such flawless work and smiled to my mom. She finally smiled back.

“Now, Martha, crawl to the front seat and get the keys.”
Right, the keys. I began to crawl over the front seat and stopped. I stared back blankly at my mom. My mom realized her mistake and came to the front window where she pointed to the dangly things I had noticed before. So those were keys. I continued my slow crawl towards the front of the car and landed in the passenger seat. There I hoisted my body up towards the keys, still unable to reach.

Determined to finish the task, I stepped into a big box in the center of the seats and placed my hands on the big circle thing. When I was balanced, I grabbed for the keys with full force, pulling them out of some type of weird slot. The mission was finally completed and the keys were in my hand. I smiled and waved the keys at my mom, proud of what I had accomplished. The keys made such a pretty noise as they waved high above my head and I became distracted for a few minutes before my mom’s voice brought me back to reality.

“Martha, Martha, listen! Come here!” I heard her voice but her face had disappeared from the front window. I followed her voice and found her back at the window that was cracked open, but she was not alone. I stood up in the front seat and looked at the mob of people that had formed around my car. I was immediately excited by the audience and I waved to all of my neighbors, keys in hand.

“Martha, Martha! Listen!” I heard my mom’s voice but I was having too much fun in the front seat to go all the way back to her. As I turned to tell her that I was going to stay in the front for a while, something suddenly caught my eye. Al’s wife came to the back window of the car and held a huge chocolate bunny in front of the window. Mesmerized by the pretty blue plastic and ribbons that surrounded the decadent chocolate, I slowly crawled to the back of the car and up to the window. When I reached my hand out of the crack to grab the chocolate, my mom took the keys from me and replaced them with the beautiful chocolate bunny. I heard the neighbors cheer and my mom gave a loud sigh of relief as she finally opened the back door to let me out.

The chocolate melted between my hands as my mom scooped me up and gave me a kiss. I questioned the attention but finally gave into the many hugs I was receiving from all the neighbors. As I enjoyed the last bites of my bunny and licked the final drops of chocolate from my fingers, I pushed away from my mom’s grasp and waddled into the backyard. The cool breeze ran through my blond hair and the sun was setting above the trees in my backyard. I smiled and took a deep breath, finally enjoying the freedom I had waited for all day.