Becoming a Chauffeur - Part 4

The Dreaded Five Hour Course
I was going to sit inside a windowless room for five hours on a sunny Saturday.  As upsetting as that idea was, I was happy to be getting it over with.  I picked a course at Shoppingtown in the third floor of a JC Penney's.  The room was normally used to do JC Penney training but was rented out by the Branch Driving School for the occasion.  I was first to arrive at ten am sharp and had to turn on the lights.  It looked like a place where old furniture went to die.  The same could be said for the air, it smelled tired as if it had been recycled over and over, trapped for years.  Soon I was joined by the octogenarian teacher and about 8 students.  They ranged in age from about 16 to 28.  The class started off like a funeral and slowed down from there. 

Probably to keep costs down, the teacher gave out one set of workbooks per two people. I had to share with an immigrant from Africa by way of London. He had an English accent when he spoke the ten English words he knew.  The teacher sat in front of us and droned on about how dangerous driving a car can be - probably the most dangerous thing we would do that day.  By the time he was done with us I didn't even want to get in a car, much less drive one.  I figured it would be safer to walk home.  At 3pm he finally handed across my certificate.  With that and my temporary permit I was free to schedule a road test, the last and final step of this odyssey.