I practiced driving stick on Ronnie’s car. Ronnie owned a shop and had a beater he loaned out. His wife could take it out when she was drinking. Or was it when she wasn’t. No—

The first time we made a plan for me to drive the car, she’d driven it the night before, but drank too much and left it at her friend’s, responsibly—

There was no rule between them.

I could drive, had driven stick in high school. I was practicing so I could drive in Italy. I could drive— it’s just that Chris was better and he liked it more, so it was often Chris who drove, but Chris wouldn’t be with me in Italy.

Chris was better, I believed, than anyone, but couldn’t be with me, eventually. I want to take