My wife doesn't drive. She's 25 and has never been behind the wheel for more than about 15 minutes, and has never held a license. She FREAKS OUT anytime other cars come towards her because (she's insane) she thinks they are going to hit her. I've been trying to get her out of her comfort zone and behind the wheel because it's very inconvenient for me that she can't go pick up milk while I'm at work.
Okay, so late last year I had her drive the mile and a half to the thrift store in town. She was visibly shaken when we arrived, but she did well. We shopped for a few minutes, paid for our stuff, and left. As we piled our son into the car, a couple got into a car next to us and drove away, then a few seconds later a police officer pulled into the spot and walked quickly inside. We thought little of it and my wife pulled out of the parking lot and drove away.
Not 20 seconds later, that same cop is behind us with lights and sirens on (the quieter 'beeping' kind). My wife looks at me, hyperventilating and nearly crying, and says, "what do I DO?!?"
I look at her like she's from Mars and say, "um, pull over??"
She drives for another block while she decides whether or not she should be using her turn signal when she pulls over, then she finally maneuvers the car toward the curb with all the grace of a stampeding wildebeest...coming to a stop 3 inches from an intersection. Before I can tell her she's parked illegally, the officer is at her window. He looks into the car angrily, looks back at our son in his car seat, and suddenly a visible wave of confusion floods his face. He looks at me and asks, "you don't happen to have a cowboy hat, do you?" No. No I do not.
As it turns out, he was called about the couple whose spot he took when he arrived, because the man (who was wearing a cowboy hat) was drunk and swearing loudly and threatening to pee on everything in the store. When he saw our son, he knew it probably wasn't us because no child was mentioned in the phone call to him. So we advised him what kind of car he was looking for and what direction it left in and he thanked us and went on his way.
Then my wife turned to me, pale, sweating and shaking, and said, "YOU'RE DRIVING US HOME."
