The Test

'I don't remember doing all the things the inspector marked down on my blank.'

Mrs Ericson watched her dark, competent hands and wondered for the thousandth time how the house had ever managed to get along without her, or how she had lived through those earlier years when her household had been presided over by a series of slatternl

'Oh, I don't think it's that,' Mrs Ericson began, and subsided after a glance at the girl's set profile.

Marian took them out of her bag: her learner's permit; the car registration, and her birth certificate.

The car turned right, at a traffic signal, into a side road and slid up to the curb at the rear of a short line of parked cars.

Marian drove the car slowly through the shady suburban streets.

'Return to the starting place, please,' he said, and made four very black crosses at random in the squares on Marian's application blank.

The inspectors leaped out, very brisk and military in their neat uniforms.

As she released the brake her foot slipped off the clutch pedal and the engine stalled.

Mrs Ericson watched her dark, competent hands and wondered for the thousandth time how the house had ever managed to get along without her, or how she had lived through those earlier years when her household had been presided over by a series of slatternly white girls who had considered housework demeaning and the care of children an added insult.

She put the car in neutral, pulled on the emergency, waited a moment, and then put the car into gear again.

They settled down to the dreary business of waiting.

'I got my college degree last year,' Marian said.

Marian looked up from the list of driving requirements she had been studying.

'There's the one who flunked me last time,' she whispered, pointing to a stocky, self-important man who had begun to shout directions at the driver at the head of the line.

As she released the brake her foot slipped off the clutch pedal and the engine stalled.

'"Proceed with caution.

As she released the brake her foot slipped off the clutch pedal and the engine stalled.

Anybody would slide on a steep hill on a wet day like that.'

'Oh, Marian,' Mrs Ericson exclaimed, 'if I could only pay you half of what you're worth!'

They followed a line of cars along Main Street for several blocks until they came in sight of a concrete bridge which arched high over the railroad tracks.

The inspectors leaped out, very brisk and military in their neat uniforms.

As Marian stopped the car the inspector jumped out and brushed past her, his face purple.

'Perhaps last time your Cousin Bill made you nervous, talking too much on the way.'

As the car crept up the slope of the bridge the inspector burst out laughing.

Her voice was not quite steady.

The car turned right, at a traffic signal, into a side road and slid up to the curb at the rear of a short line of parked cars.

The inspectors leaped out, very brisk and military in their neat uniforms.

'I don't remember doing all the things the inspector marked down on my blank.'

They looked at each other and smiled with affection.

They followed a line of cars along Main Street for several blocks until they came in sight of a concrete bridge which arched high over the railroad tracks.

Mrs Ericson asked, looking after him with alarm.

As the car crept up the slope of the bridge the inspector burst out laughing.

The inspector lost his joviality in an instant.

Dangerous in slippery weather,"' Marian said.

Marian took them out of her bag: her learner's permit; the car registration, and her birth certificate.

'There's the one who flunked me last time,' she whispered, pointing to a stocky, self-important man who had begun to shout directions at the driver at the head of the line.

Mrs Ericson watched her dark, competent hands and wondered for the thousandth time how the house had ever managed to get along without her, or how she had lived through those earlier years when her household had been presided over by a series of slatternly white girls who had considered housework demeaning and the care of children an added insult.

'"Proceed with caution.

It was one of the first hot days of June, and when they reached the boulevard they found it crowded with cars headed for the beaches.

They followed a line of cars along Main Street for several blocks until they came in sight of a concrete bridge which arched high over the railroad tracks.