Some people find they have odd abilities, and sometimes those really come in handy. David could really back up a vehicle well. He did it fast and smooth and never had to adjust. Pick-ups, vans, SUVs, manuals, automatics, power-steering, you name it, he could back it up where it needed to go.
He discovered his talent when his father took him for his second driving lesson. The first had been doing starts and shifting the old Honda around the stadium lot. At the end of the second lesson, he had done well so his dad showed him reverse. It was like he was born in that gear. Even using two hands on the wheel, he backed it right in the center of the spots four straight times. His father was not an easy man to impress, but this seemed to get to him, and when they got home David heard him whispering to his mom about it. From there it was only a matter of time until he was palm-steering while throwing his right arm casually over the back of the seat and looking through the rear window, backing the whole length of the half mile cinder driveway with never a deviation.
Of course, when you have a special talent, no one believes you when you tell them, so he had to prove it again and again. After his first three days of work at Arnold’s Ford, all the old guys and mechanics stopped giggling and watched slack-jawed as he moved the cars around the lot like they were on tracks. Bill Arnold himself watched him for an hour on a slow day and couldn’t help but notice a 17% increase in sales once David started designing his own parking displays – he even did a four leaf clover with all green vehicles for St. Patrick’s Day.
As anyone with a special talent can also tell you, it starts to take on a life of its own, and sometimes it can get to be a burden. David started to neglect his studies, filling his notebooks with angles and tangents, designs for four-wheel steering and even forward view mirrors to put on the back window. He got into trouble when another boy wrecked his dad’s Subaru while racing David backwards through the school lot on an obstacle course David had designed. His father took no mercy and grounded David for a month. “This backward driving stuff has got to stop! What are you going to do with your life? Drive backwards everywhere? I got news for you – everyone drives forward in this country, son! It’s the American way! You can’t make a living driving backwards! Driving is just a way to get somewhere, not a career! You got to apply yourself, get your focus back on classes and get into college!”
Uninspired, David only went through the motions until he graduated, but then he went out into the world to fulfill his dreams, and now he drives some of the world’s most expensive cars six days a week as the only valet at Zaybars. The owner was able to put off a lot expansion project because now 20% more cars could be parked there than when he had those Scungi boys handling it for him. David thought about using all his tips to buy a new SUV, but when he saw it had a back-up camera, he balked. "Might as well wear an estrogen patch," he thought.