Benny Jay: Turning Left At Fullerton

(authored Saturday, January 17, 2009)

We're going to the health club to run around the track, and my 17-year-old daughter says: "Can I drive?"

I start to say no. She's just learning to drive. The streets are icy and snowy. There's a ton of Saturday morning traffic....

But, then I think: C'mon, man, don't be so cautious. She's got to learn sometime.

So I flip her the keys and hop in on the passenger side and she turns right on Ashland and left at Henderson and right onto Southport.

I stop being nervous and turn up the radio. And she says, "no, I need to concentrate."

But they're playing "Apples, Peaches Pumpkin Pie" -- and as everyone knows, that remains one of my favorites.

"Nah, you got to learn how to drive with a good song on the radio...."

And I crank that sucker louder. Can't help myself cause I really, really like this song.

And I turn it even louder when they say: "Marry you so you won't roam, baby, marry you so you won't roam...."

With the radio blasting, and me singing, my daughter inches out into Fullerton, waits for the oncoming traffic to pass, and turns left, just as the light goes from yellow to red.

"I did it!" she says.

"You sure did," I say. "You a bad mutha...."

"I did it....."

"Bad to the bone...."