Ready For The World: Driver’s
Education
Ready For The World: Driver’s
Education follows the story of Brandon Delacruz, a fifteen-year-old Filipino
American teenager trying to make his way through life during the late 1980s.
What Brandon wants out of life is simple: a cool car, a chance to be one of the
cool kids at school, and most of all, a cool girlfriend. But instead, all he
has are his loving family and his lifelong friends, Josh and Ally, to help him
get through the minefield of high school life.
As he looks for ways to get the car
and status, Brandon fails to realize that the girl he’s been searching for has
been there all along. But before he and Ally can explore a new relationship, a
tragedy changes their lives. And now Brandon will have to find a way to balance
his deep friendship with the excitement, trepidation, and complexity that young
love brings...all while trying to keep his grades up.
Ready For The World: Superstar
Things couldn’t be better for
Brandon Delacruz. After a long and winding road, he finally has the girl of his
dreams. To top it all off, he’s discovered his destiny. He’s going to write the
next great novel. Not bad for someone who is a few months shy of his sixteenth
birthday.
But after a tumultuous start to the
year, he finds himself stuck between two girls. On one side is Ally, his best
friend since kindergarten who’s suddenly become more of a mystery. And on the
other side is Rachel, a brilliant and strong-willed girl who isn’t afraid to
speak her mind. As he sorts his feelings out, he’ll find that the world isn’t
like the one he’s writing about in his book. Real-life is messy and perplexing,
especially in high school.
And Brandon will learn that life can
offer true beauty and grace...and heartbreak.
Excerpt
from Ready For The World: Driver’s Education
AND THERE IT WAS. THE BRASS RING
THAT HELD THE KEY TO MY FREEDOM, INCHES FROM MY GRASP. I grabbed Dad‘s keychain
out of his fingers and turned the key in the ignition. The engine rumbled to
life underneath my sweaty grip.
It was the summer of 1986 and I was
the proud owner of a driver‘s permit from the great state of California. Back
then, once you passed a driver‘s education class, you could get behind the
wheel. But in my life, there was a more powerful governing body that controlled
my ability to drive: my parents.
“Make sure that you keep both hands
in the ten and two positions at all times, “Dad said.
“But how am I supposed to hold my beer
if both of my hands are on the wheel? “ I asked with a smile.
Dad seared a hole into my head with
his stare. “Don‘t even joke about that. Do you understand me? “
“I was kidding! “
“I don’t care. “
I caught Mom’s reflection in the
rearview mirror. She stopped going over the grocery store receipt to give me
one of her looks. Eyebrows arched. Head tilted down. Chin to the left. It was a
look I knew all too well. It was the “don’t dig yourself any further into this
hole “look”.
My parents were pretty easy going
and fair, as parents go anyway. Mom and Dad were always cool with my friends,
let me go out at night within reason, and even let me have a telephone in my
room. They moved to the United States in 1964 and luckily for me, weren‘t like
the “typical” Filipino parents. They didn‘t make me practice the piano eight
hours a day, seven days a week. They didn‘t frown at an A-minus on my report
card and ask, “Why isn‘t it an A-plus? “ And they didn‘t demand that I only
study medicine or law in college. They merely suggested all those things. It
was a slight twist on the Asian parenting handbook.
When I pushed to get more time
behind the wheel, I knew what to expect. There would be lectures about how to
be super-duper safe on the road. I‘d hear how to be wary of the other drivers.
But more than anything else, they stressed that I was not to be an idiot in any
way, shape, or form.
“Watch your speed! “ Dad said.
“You‘re only supposed to go twenty-five around here!
“Around here were the suburbs of San
Diego. I grew up in a home like a lot of other homes with a yard like many
other yards. My neighborhood was like a lot of other neighborhoods. I graduated
from Pence Junior High School this past June. I would attend Howard McMillan
High School in a few days. It was a little more than a mile from our
house.
“Dad, you know I‘m allowed to drive
to school by myself with a permit, “I said. I kept my hands at ten and two in
hopes he‘d notice. I don’t know if he did. But I did hear him grunt.
“Why don‘t you ride your bike to
school? “ Mom asked. “It‘s about the same distance from home.
“To a guy without his own car, a
mile was the distance between San Diego and the moon. It was 5,280 feet of
rugged terrain with steep hills and deep valleys. But to my parents, it was a
short bike ride.
“I read the DMV manual and it
says I’m allowed to drive, “I said.
“We know the laws, “Dad said. “But
you’re not driving until we think you‘re ready.”
“But I‘ll be the only one in my
class not driving to school.”
“Then that makes you unique,
“he said. “Be ready to make a right at the light.”
I couldn‘t believe it. My parents
were oblivious to how ridiculous I’d look pulling up to school on a ten-speed
bike. Or worse, they knew and didn‘t care. I slumped in my seat and jerked the
wheel as I made the turn at the light.
Mom’s piercing scream rang in my
ears. “BRANDON JACOB DELACRUZ! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? “
I shook my head a bit and looked
around. Had I hit someone? I looked down at the dashboard and checked my speed.
Was I going too fast? “What happened?” I asked.
Purchase
Links:
Ready For The World: Driver’s Education
Ready For The World: Superstar
About
the Author:
Charmeljun Gallardo is a
former Radiologist and author. His first book is Ready For
The World - a young adult book series. He graduated from San Francisco State
University with a Creative Writing degree in 1996. He is a writer, photography
enthusiast, sports fan, movie geek, stroke survivor, and an adventurous foodie.
He lives in San Diego, California with his wife and son.
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up with Charmeljun Gallardo On:
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