Chirping of the Birds

Chirping of the Birds

            A warm may day embraces Suffolk County Long Island.  Joe and his Dad are driving in the Smithtown, Commack, Northport area.  Each and every time Joe always feels anxious when driving.  His Dad repeatedly told him to relax , drive with one hand, look around, lean back etc…  It didn’t seem to work.  There was always this fear persistent in Joe’s mind about driving.  Always playing it safe as a kid, he became overly cautious; yielding to drivers when he had the right-of-way.  There were also times when he wasn’t as observant as he should have been; not noticing objects in the road or signs.  It was on their way to World Gym when things really went south.  To begin, Joe didn’t know the way.  He got in the wrong lane and his dad’s yelling flooded his mind.  The decision go left, right or straight weighed on him like a child who just got their wind knocked out of them.  And so the trip continued.  Dad’s angry mutterings “Get over!  What are you doing, moron, you just cut that person off!”  This overflowed the confusion in Joe’s head.  He knew with his brother and Dad in the car, that he had to be safe.  However, the stress eroded this hope. 

            His father’s complaints about driving became complaints about Joe’s failure at numerous other things in life.  His friends had their licenses and jobs, and here he was with his learner’s permit, unemployed despite many attempts at landing a job.  The anger dwindled away his already diminished confidence.  It made Joe feel like a broken piece in the great puzzle of life.  Maybe there’d be a car accident, maybe not; but the great crash of effortlessly molding into society already happened.  At home he listened to the familiar chirping of birds outside.  The sound comforted him and he longed to hear more of it.  The family of birds nestled among the trees; chirping amidst an entirely different world beneath them.