On Monday, Mummy said, “Shall I drive Natasha to school this morning?”
Daddy said, “No, thank you. I’ll do it. We’ll go in the car. It won’t take long.”
Daddy drove very carefully but the road was full of people driving very big cars. Some of the cars were almost as big as vans. They saw the Montgomery twins in front of them in a car as big as their garden shed. They saw the Morris brothers behind them in a van the size of a speedboat.
As they got nearer to the school, the cars and vans were parked all over the place. Big cars were taking up two spaces. Bigger cars were double-parked next to them. In the end, Daddy had to drive so far away to get a parking space that they ended up further away than when they were at home. Daddy walked with Natasha to the school gate, shaking his head.
“We’ll go on our bicycles tomorrow,” he said to Natasha, then he gave her a kiss and she went into school. Daddy had a long walk back to his little car.
~~~
On Tuesday, Mummy said, “Would you like me to drive Natasha to school this morning?”
Daddy said, “No thank you. The sun is shining. We can go on our bicycles.”
Natasha and Daddy cycled carefully along the road. Natasha had a pink cycling helmet and a coat with reflecting bits that sparkled in the sunlight. As they got nearer to the school, there were so many parked cars that they had to cycle in the middle of the road. There were lots of big cars, some almost as big as vans, and there were buses too and they felt quite scared in the middle of the road.
Daddy said they should move onto the pavement. He saw a policeman and cycled up to him.
“Excuse me,” said Daddy, “could you ask some of these people to move their cars? It makes it very difficult for Natasha and me to cycle along the road. The double-parked cars are the worst of all.”
But all the policeman said was, “I’m sorry, sir, I’m going to have to ask you not to cycle on the pavement.”
Daddy and Natasha pushed their bicycles the rest of the way to school.
“We’ll try going on our scooters tomorrow,” said Daddy to Natasha, then he gave her a kiss and she went into school. Daddy pushed both bicycles back home.
~~~
On Wednesday, Mummy said, “I could drive Natasha to school this morning, if you like.”
“No thank you,” said Daddy. “Today is a perfect day to go on our scooters.”
It was mostly downhill to get to school. “Wheee!” shouted Natasha as she scootered along the pavement, with Daddy trying to keep up on his scooter.
As they came nearer to the school, they could see even more big cars than the previous day. The road was completely blocked by cars, some as big as vans. Since the road was full, someone had parked along the pavement.
“Look”, said Natasha. “There’s a car on the pavement! What’s it doing there? Isn’t the pavement for people, not for cars?”
“Yes,” said Daddy. “The driver must have been too lazy to find a proper place to park a little further away. Maybe they don’t like walking. And look how long it is!”
The car on the pavement was all stretched out, like a limousine.
“Never mind,” said Daddy. He opened the back door of the long car. He and Natasha got in. They scootered all the way along it, then opened the front door and got out by the school gates.
“Did you just get out of my car?” said another daddy.
“Yes,” said Daddy. “It was in the way. We either had to go through your car or climb through a hedge.”
“Well next time you’ll have to climb through a hedge,” said the other daddy. “I don’t want anyone other than my little boy in the back of my car.”
“But it’s big enough for the whole school!” said Daddy. “Why do you have such a big car?”
“Because I want to,” said the other daddy. He got into his car and drove away. He drove along along the pavement until he got to a gap in the hedge and then he moved onto the road.
“We should walk here tomorrow,” said Daddy to Natasha, then he gave her a kiss and she went into school. Daddy walked back home, carrying one scooter in each hand.
~~~
On Thursday, Mummy said, “How about if I drive Natasha to school today? It’s on my way.”
“No thank you,” said Daddy. “I promised Natasha we’d walk to school this morning. There’s a lovely breeze. It’ll make her feel bright and awake in time for lessons.”
Natasha and Daddy walked along the pavement to school. When they got close to the school, they again found that there were big cars parked and double parked across the road. Some of the cars were almost as big as vans. A few of them were even parked across the pavement. They had to walk around them, and walk into the road, and clamber through hedges to get back to the pavement.
When they arrived at the school gate, there was a big car, almost like a van, parked across the gates! They had to climb into the car, slide across it, and get out the other side to get into school.
There were some mummies and daddies by the school gate and Daddy asked them why they drove such big cars and parked them in such silly places that made it so hard for everyone else to get through.
“There’s no law against it,” said one daddy.
“I need the big car – I’ve got a child,” said a mummy.
“But I’ve got a little girl and I drive a little car,” said Daddy. “We get her bicycle and scooter in the boot. Why do you need such a big car?”
“I need it because it’s safer,” she answered.
“But it’s only safer for you,” said Daddy. “You’re making it more dangerous for everyone else by driving such a big car.”
“I’ve got it because I want it,” she said, finally, harrumphing. “And I like it and…”
“There’s no law against it,” said the first daddy again.
“And please don’t go through my car again,” said another daddy, “or I’ll ask the policeman to arrest you.”
“But you blocked the school gate!” said Daddy.
“Then you should have waited until I drove away,” said the other daddy.
~~~
On Friday, Mummy said, “Natasha told me what happened yesterday. And she told me what happened on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday too. I’m going to drive her to school this morning.”
Mummy and Daddy and Natasha put their seat belts on. They left early and when they arrived at school, they parked outside. Mummy and Natasha got out and went over to the school gates. Daddy got in the back.
Suddenly there was furious hooting from another car.
“You can’t park that thing there,” shouted an angry mummy from her car (which was the size of a van).
“Why not?” said Mummy. “That’s a good parking place.”
Mummy drives a really, really, really huge lorry for her job. She takes all sorts of big parcels very long distances up and down the country. She had parked her lorry outside the school and it had taken up all of the parking places.
“Why do you need such a big thing to drive your little girl to school?” shouted an angry daddy from a very big car.
“I’m on my way to work,” said Mummy, smiling at the man. “I need this lorry because I move lots of big things around the country for my job. Do you need such a big car for your job? Don’t you just park it outside your office until you go home?”
“But you didn’t need to drive it here,” shouted another angry mummy. “There’s nothing in the back of it.”
“Oh yes there is,” said Mummy. She lowered the ramp at the back of the lorry and Daddy drove his little car out of the back. “We saved petrol because I carried the little car here in the back of my lorry.”
Mummy took Natasha over to Daddy. Mummy and Daddy gave Natasha a kiss. Then Daddy drove away to work and Mummy took Natasha over to the school gates.
“I’ll come and pick you up after school,” said Mummy. “I think I’ll get a good parking place again.”
Peter Tarnofsky - Children's Author 