The kid sank deeper into the back seat with worry. At the wheel, the father was making wild gestures with his face and the most rapid articulations with his arms. There was sincere pleading from the concerned tyke but they were being ignored. The other more experienced kid in the passenger seat sat in resolved silence. “This will pass like it always does” he muttered to himself. Finally at the drop off the younger kiddo fumbled fast to unlock the backdoor and escape to her campus and away from the mad-energy.
To outsiders, once the car door opened the deafening beat of Bruno Mar’s Locked Out of Heaven wailed out and the dad inside kept on Car-Dancing with Muppet like precision.
The child still within the vehicle and the one that had escaped exchanged glances…first a glare then pity.