Page 03 - Car Games


Car Games by Edwin R. Ellis

 
Our oldest daughter Jackie lived with her husband Larry and their daughter Michelle. They lived about 150 miles west of our home in Toledo, Ohio. Helping a customer obtain his property from a business which closing required a rented Hertz truck, vehicle trailer and a long day on the road. The customer picked me up at our home near Akron and we obtained the rental truck and loaded the castings and patterns taking them to a warehouse in Lansing Michigan. The customer’s vehicle was placed on the trailer.

Instead of making the three hundred mile trip back to my house in Ohio, the customer dropped me at our daughter house where I spent the night playing with our 12 year old granddaughter, Michelle. The next morning we drove the hundred and fifty miles to our home. Jackie and Larry in front, Michelle and myself on the back seat. We all engaged in the normal car games of punch buggy and the pursuit of trivia. We started with questions like: name all the state capitols which start with the letter “A.” Not only are we required to get the number correct, we needed to name the capitols to avoid guessing. If you answered the question correctly, you could ask the next question.  

 This went on for about an hour or so, with a lot of fun and laughter. It was a clear demonstration of the differences between the generations.  Michelle, being the youngest had the hardest time. Feeling some amount of empathy I decided to send a real soft ball question to Michelle. I thought and searched my mind for a question anyone could answer. I blurted out, Michelle: “who is buried in Grant's tomb?”

Michelle sat next to me pondering and pondering the question searching her mind for the correct answer. She was eager to ask a question. Shifting back and forth under her seat belt searching her mind. She looked over at me in wondering stare. Why would I ask such a difficult question? When the answer came, it almost caused a traffic accident.

Michelle politely replied, "Grandpa they haven't taught us that in school yet."

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