I heard him scream before I reached the front door.
“HOW DARE YOU? Mom, no, not that. PLEASE!”
I stepped onto the porch with Sophie on my shoulder and froze.
“Come outside, sweetheart. I have something for you.”
Brandon stood in the driveway beside his beloved sports car, which Linda and his father had given him two months earlier to celebrate Sophie’s arrival, and looked as if he had slipped on a banana peel.
Linda had put a huge steering wheel lock on it that could be seen through the windshield, a breathalyzer ignition device, and two huge bright yellow magnets on both doors that said BABY DRIVER in letters so large they could be seen from space.
The neighborhood kids were already pointing at it. One little boy laughed so hard that he had to hold onto his bicycle.
Brandon turned to me. “Tell her to take it off.”
Linda crossed her arms. “Since we are controlling adults now, I thought I would join in.”
“Mom!”
“Tell her to take it off.”
She continued calmly. “You will get your keys twice a day, after you explain where you are going, why, and how long you will be gone. I will personally monitor your driving decisions.”
He looked as if he wanted to sink into the ground.
Then Linda said the sentence that should be engraved somewhere.