A Talk in a Travel Car

 A little while ago, I went back to my hometown with a travel car to attend the presidential election. The car I was in was a Toyota 1300cc car and the driver was going 80-100 km/h.

The other passenger was a middle aged woman who told us that this was her first time using this travel service.  She kept complaining about how fast the driver drove the car and asked him to slow down. It confused me as I felt it was an okay-speed. In fact, it is around the speed limit of the free way.

After she complained two times, the driver finally said, “Well ma’am, my car is used for public transport. We can’t compare it with your private car” and I nodded in agreement. Although my father always drives this way with our private car, I agree that a public transportation car maybe would feel worse than her privately owned. It’s used everyday, maybe there are litters, she doesn’t like the smell of the perfume, etc.

“Well, I am just saying sir, because I was also a driver. I usually drive past the speed limit but this felt so fast” she said as a closing.

I heard it and wondered how much is the “speed limit” she is passing because the free way speed limit is 60-80 km/h.

We didn’t say anything until the driver stopped at a rest area to refill his card. I was left alone with the lady. I had always been dreaded of being left alone with another passenger, so I held my breath and wished the driver would come back soon.

“Hey, do you know what car this is?”

I looked at her and looked at the wheel, “It’s Toyota, ma’am”

“How much is the cc?”

Oh, she is trying to find what’s bothering her.

“I am afraid I am not well versed in that matter, ma’am”

In my head I wonder what’s the ‘okay’ cc. But I didn’t ask.

“Well, I am just wondering because I am a driver too. I usually drive myself but yesterday I need to go fast to the city because my sister has passed away”

“Oh? How did you get there then, ma’am?”

“I booked an airplane ticket and flew immediately the next day”

I nodded. I guess she loves her sister so much she is willing to pay that much money.

She went back talking about how she drives. “I used to work at Mercedes and I usually drove their car while they were test driving, so I know what’s considered fast. I have driven almost every car they had. Even their pick up cars and buses”

Oh. I didn’t know Mercedes had a pick up car. But I think I have seen their buses. You learn new things everyday I guess.

I wanted to reply, but I didn’t know much about driving nor Mercedes to come up with a reply. I made a mental note to research more about cars so that I can say something during a small talk with a car enthusiast.

She then came back with another topic, coming back to the fact that I mentioned I study architecture earlier. “My niece also studied architecture” I cursed myself. I always shorten the fact that I went to architecture faculty but intend to go to city planning later because I feel like architecture is more well-known. I swear to God if she asked me about architecture—

“but she didn’t study here. She went to Germany” she continued.

Oh, so her niece is smart. I wonder if she got a scholarship.

Then she mentioned her niece’s name several times, but I am sucks at registering names to save my life.

She told me that her niece worked for BMW designing their factory or what-not. She also got married to another person who works for BMW.

Something clicked in my head.

“Oh, I guess your family loves cars!”

I mean, if she worked for Mercedes, a car brand, and her niece worked for BMW, another car brand, and married another person who worked for BMW, I guess her family is tied with one red string; cars.

She stared at me in silence for a couple of seconds before saying, “...............uh, yeah. I guess so”

I praised myself. Cool! I made someone realize something they didn’t know about themselves!

She then talked a bit about how she probably feels uncomfortable because she is in the passenger seat. And I was like, oh right, I also felt uncomfortable and out of control when my brother drove the motorcycle for me and it just felt unsafe. So I told her, “Yeah, probably because you are out of control you don’t feel secure”

As I said that, the driver came back and we continued driving to our destination. The lady decided to sleep on the way until we got to her house’s complex.

I looked at it in awe, how it was more green than the outside. It registered to me that she is rich, but it also made me wonder if it’s possible to create a housing complex like this that’s not limited to rich people. The place kind of felt like Brya Aima—my fictional city—that I envisioned, lots of trees, big roads, minus the fact that cars are freely driving here—Brya Aima blocked out cars so they are a fully pedestrian city.

We dropped her off and the driver went back to the car. It’s only the two of us now that the lady had dropped off.

“What did you two talk about earlier?”

I looked at the driver and remembered the most important thing in our conversation, “She asked me for the cc of this car but I didn’t know. How much is the cc, sir?”

“This car is 1300cc” he answered.

I don’t understand, so I just said “I see”

He doesn’t seem to believe that we only talked about the car cc, so he asked again, “What else?”

I sorted my mind. Is there any more important topic we talked about earlier?

“Oh, she said she used to drive Mercedes”

I said bluntly. I think saying that her family is a car enthusiast is not appropriate because I would need to add how her niece and her niece’s husband worked for BMW. Besides, I don’t really want to talk about it since I don’t know much about cars.

“Oh, that make sense that she felt I was driving unsafely”

What? How?

“She is used to drive fancy cars, of course this car feels uncomfortable”

I looked at the driver. Another thing clicked in my mind.

Ooh… so she was flexing.

The driver talked about how a 1300cc car would feel different from a 1500cc car, of course she would feel uncomfortable if she is used to Mercedes (which I found out is almost today is 2000cc). And a lot of stuff like Soeharto, and the New Order, and his daughter. I responded accordingly but in my mind I wonder how such an obvious flex flew out of my mind.

I know Mercedes is a fancy car brand, and so is BMW. Her niece studied in Germany and even their conversation she acted out was typical of a rich family’s conversation. How is my mind looking at Mercedes and BMW and the only connection it drew is that both are car brands? The driver figured it out with a simple sentence I said. She had an entire conversation with me about how rich she was and I was like, “Yeah. Cars. There is no other connection” and only realizing it when someone pointed out how snobby she was being.

It’s been several days since it happened. And I still wonder if there are a lot of instances where people being boastful about their life have flown out of my mind because there’s no one else to listen to the conversation. I retold the story to my parents and they immediately realized that she was being pompous. It amazed me how fast humans could read between the lines. And to say I thought I excelled in small talk with her yesterday…

Welp.