The Stolen Car

This incident happened when I was in 12<SUP>th</SUP> Grade, our school was all boys school until 10<SUP>th</SUP> Grade, after that it went co-ed. All the boys in our class were very looking forward to studying with the girls, teenage boys with raging hormones were waiting eagerly for the first day of school. The first year went in transition, initially there were conflicts and disappointments, we had seen too many love flicks and were expecting women to come running to us but that never happened. We came on too strong and the us versus them state of affairs prevailed the first year.

We buried the hatchet in the second year and there was peaceful co-existence, the die-hard romantics in us had not given up on the idea of falling in love and we did our best to impress the fairer sex. Looking back it was obvious that some of the girls used us and we probably knew it even then but did not care. All a girl had to do is to say I feel like having coffee during recess and we boys would climb the school wall and run a distance to bring her coffee from a restaurant.

Back then my family did not own a car but some of the boys in my class did, however they were too young to have a license and their parents would not let them take the car out alone. One exception was our friend Amish, he had devised a way of sneaking the car out of his house 2-3 times a week, his Dad had a habit of retiring to his room at 8 PM sharp. Around 9 we would push the small Fiat away from the house to safe distance before starting it and going for a joy ride. The arrangement worked well, we would go for a drive or movie, enjoy ice cream and late night snacks refuel the car and return it later that night.

Three girls from our class noticed that Amish had a car at his disposal and manipulated him in taking them for a movie twice a week, Amish was on cloud nine but we were sad, the car fit in 6 people, with three girls in the back and Amish as the driver it left room for two more boys. We started paying more attention to Amish’s needs than the girls and he too took full advantage of that, his homework was done by us, he extracted quite a bit of money from us for the favor. We could have joined them for movies later on but the fun was in riding with the girls and enjoying the drive after the movie.

Finally it was decided that he would rotate friends, the two friends that were left out would hang around the theatres and our arrangement worked out for a while. One evening my friend Sandip & I were the ones sitting out. We were at the ice cream shop waiting for our milkshakes completely ignorant of what was happening at Amish’s house.

Everyone knew about Amish’s Dad’s habit of retiring early and he never had visitors after 8 but that day out of the blue his friend from out of town paid him a visit around 9 and the first thing he did was inquire about his missing car. His Dad went in a panic mode, he knew high-ranking police officials quite well and informed them. Ours was a small town then and it did not take the police long to find the car. We saw police around the car and we panicked, well I panicked, Sandip the street smart, wise guy had a plan

Sandip “Hello”
Police “This car belongs to the owner of XX Steel”
Sandip “Yes, Mr. P is my father”
I was shocked, I did not expect Sandip to be so cool
Police “Where is your father?”
Sandip “He is watching a movie inside, I was not allowed in so I am waiting for him outside”

The Police had a strange look on his face but went away, we were laughing our head off and went back to enjoying snacks but in 10 minutes time the Police returned with another man, he was dressed in plain clothes
The man looked at the car and then looked at us, the police whispered something, the man looked at Sandip and asked “What is your name?”
“Amish, Is there a problem Inspector?”
The man appeared mad, he whispered something to the inspector
“Son go home, we are from the Tax Bureau and we need to have some words with your father, there is a chance he might be arrested for tax evasion, this could get nasty, in fact let the police jeep drop you home”
We were scared, on a cool night we were perspiring like we were in a desert, fortunately for us the police jeep dropped us at the corner of Amish’s house, we pretended to go in but ran to our house once the jeep left.

I couldn’t sleep that night thinking of Amish’s plight, I had not met his Dad but had heard that he had a short temper. The next morning Sandip and I went to school dying to get details from Amish, our friends or the girls. When we reached the assembly was about to start so we had to keep quiet but after the assembly we learned the truth about the previous night from Amish, the guy in plain clothes who we assumed to be the police was actually Amish’s father. Needless to say Amish got an earful for his actions and as a punishment he was made to sleep in his parents room for the rest of the year at 8PM.

We all breathed a sigh of relief when Amish informed us that his Dad had decided not to inform our parents about this. Initially we were scared and felt guilty and we sympathized with Amish’s condition but as time went by all of us, including Amish were able to laugh at this incident, the look on his Dad’s face when Sandip claimed to be his son was priceless. The year ended and we moved to bigger and better things, in the two years some of us did fall in love and one couple ended up getting married. Now we hardly are in touch but when we do meet we do talk about this incident.

 

Hi Mindi
Boys will push their luck to impress the girls and at that age there is no fear.

Yeah it would be funny to see a rebel all settled in life with wife and kids but I guess such is life