Totally Driving This Conversation

(It’s my second driving lesson, and I have a different instructor this time: a woman in her forties who seems very nice and motherly. At the start of the lesson, I’m rather happy and smiling because I’ve finally gotten some feeling for the gear shift. This happens after we’ve been driving around for maybe fifteen minutes, all the while making small-talk. This is a bit stressful for me, since it’s rather distracting, but I figure she knows better than I do.)

Instructor: “Yes, I like driving around with you young folk; I always meet new people with new perspectives. It’s really refreshing.”

Me: *trying not to be too distracted* “That sounds nice.”

Instructor: “You know, people tell me all sorts of things.”

(She waits for an answer, but I’m too busy entering a roundabout.)

Instructor: “Especially the girls. I like having a girl-to-girl talk, you know? Most girls know they can trust me, and we get along immediately.”

Me: “Oh, yes?”

Instructor: “Yeah, just like with you. Most girls tell me all about their problems. You know, if you have any problems, you can talk to me.”

(I break for a jaywalker, HARD, and the car dies, but she doesn’t react at all.)

Instructor: “You can tell me anything you like. A few girls told me about how they were abused at home or by friends.”

Me: “Oh, wow.”

Instructor: “You can tell me if you were abused, okay? If there is anyone doing things to you you don’t like, you can tell me. Did something happen to you?”

Me: “No.”

Instructor: “Well, if you want to talk about it, you can always come to me.”

(The rest of the lesson went in a similar vein. At the end, I was barely holding it together from the stress of driving for the second time ever, looking out for people crossing the street, and trying to hold up this uncomfortable conversation, and I felt worse than after the first lesson. I don’t think she was trying to be as creepy as she was, implying and probing about bad things happening to me, and she didn’t do it during later lessons, but I never felt at ease around her.)