(9)
As Jennie and Jack walk through the foyer at the bottom of the stairwell, Jack glances into their mail box. “It’s probably all bills,” he quips. “They can wait till tomorrow. I don’t want anything to dampen my mood for the surprise I've planned for you, tonight.” Then, sharing a smile with his best girl, Jack opens the front door and follows his sweetheart outside.
Though the weather is damp and cloudy, it’s a glorious moment for a young man to pause on the cement stoop and inhale his joyful anticipation of celebrating, later, with his favorite girl. Since Jennie shies from showing public affection, while Jack exposes a kaleidoscope of emotions, he’s likely to grab her round the waist, pull her close and laugh aloud, as she attempts to charm him into revealing the surprise that he’s planned for this evening.
Ah yes! The air is crisp. Love fills the air. And the sun shines so brightly within my parents’ hearts that clouds, looming darkly overhead, seemingly disappear. All in all, LIFE is beautiful when the pair jump into their car.
While turning onto a major thoroughfare, Jack glances at Jennie and says, “Honey, someday soon, I’m going to teach you to drive.” Jennie answers with a sweet, silent smile—which Jack accepts as acquiescence.
Mortals aren’t equipped with x-ray vision. So Jack misses Jennie’s silent resistance to his declaration to teach her to drive.
Though we think of instincts as innate, many are experientially acquired. As Jennie has learned that her impassioned Jack is not a patient teacher, she intuitively senses the probability of challenge arising.
When instinct alerts Jennie to probable conflict, she, having learned to fear direct confrontation, protects herself by way of resorting to woman’s wiles. And in this case, Jennie’s instinct NOT to be taught to drive by Jack is right on the mark. (I can attest to Jennie's instinct being on target for this reason: When you watch me walk into our house, waving my learner's permit proudly above my head—guess who's going to teach me!)
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