I was getting too old to be a boy, and driving meant you were a man.
Joey wanted to grow up, he wanted to be “a man.” He didn’t know any way to make time go faster, so he came up with another idea. “Driving lessons” were his way out, a perfect solution of a problem. Joey believed that he “was getting too old to be a boy,” and “driving meant you were a man.” He “couldn’t explain” it to either his Grandma or Mary Alice, but, luckily for him, driving lessons transformed from a dream into his reality. He wasn’t too happy that Grandma and his sister were also present in the car, but they were wanted to share that special moment with him.
The years went by, and Mary Alice and I grew up, slower than we wanted, faster than we realized.
Both Joey and Mary Alice dreamed of growing up and being able to do whatever they want. It wasn’t fun to ask permissions, follow parents’ advice, numerous rules, attending school and to be bossed around in general. “The years went by” and their dream came true. They “grew up,” though “slower” than they wanted, but “faster” than they expected. Then “another war” came and took away the remains of their childhood. Joey was going “to get in it” and there was no guarantee that we would come out of the war alive and intact.
I waved long after the window filled with darkness and long distance.
Joey knew that they “were getting to Granma’s town.” It was “sound asleep in the hour before dawn.” He wished that he could let her know that he was there, so that they could see each other before his departure. When they were “rolling past,” “there was Grandma herself.” She was “large as life.” In spite of the fact that she couldn’t know what car he “was in,” her hand “was up, and she was waving.” And Joey “waved back.” He waved “long after the window filled with darkness and long distance.” It comforted him to see his Grandma before getting in the war.
