“Yeah, but they make food in this factory. Come on.” I had been leading him back to the truck, planning on taking a break for some food, so it was only a few feet away. “They have a parking lot too, which is like gold in Portland. I'll pick them over other restaurants just because I don't have to hunt for street parking or try to fit my truck in some underground lot.” I glanced at him, saw that he only understood half of what I said, and shook my head. “Sorry, I'm exhausted. I'd been working two hours when you arrived and after the drive and all the walking we've been doing, I'm spent, man. I gotta eat something and then we're going home before I pass out.”
“I understand. Perhaps I should drive back.”
I snorted a laugh. “Not happening.”
“I've observed you operating this machine.” He waved at the truck as I unlocked the passenger door for him. “It seems simple enough.”
“Yeah, but operating it is just the start.” I went around to my side and got in. After we were both strapped in, I started the truck and pulled out onto the street. When we got to a light, I motioned at it. “What do the lights mean?”
“Red means to stop. Green means to go. Yellow means to speed up because it's about to turn red.”
I snorted a laugh. “Yellow is a warning that you should stop or go faster if you're going too fast to stop. Now, the light is red.” I waved at it.
“Yes. Stop.”
“Uh-huh. So, why can I do this?” I put on my blinker and drove the car around the corner.
Kas looked back at the intersection, then at me. “I'm not sure.”
“Because you can turn on a red in certain situations.”
“Certain situations?”
“Yeah, sometimes you can't. It depends. You gotta read the signs posted at the intersections. Driving is the easy part. But you gotta know the rules of driving so you don't crash into other people. And you have to be aware of other people too. Look at this idiot.” I waved a hand at a guy who had turned into a bus lane and got stuck.
“Why are there poles separating that lane from ours?”
“Because it's for buses only. You see that huge vehicle?” I nodded at the bus that was approaching the little car. “That's a bus. It's public transportation.”
“Public transportation?”
“People who don't have a car can pay a small amount to ride a bus that goes through the city on a predetermined route. The bus has scheduled places where it stops. People get on at those places, ride the bus to another place that closer to their destination, then get off. You understand?”
“Yes, I think so.” Kaspian frowned at the people sitting on the bus. His frown deepened when the bus driver honked at the guy in the bus lane.
“You see? That lane is reserved for buses only and that guy turned into it. Now, he has to turn somewhere he probably didn't want to, just to get out of that lane.”
“This is very confusing.”
“Exactly. It takes more than a day to learn how to drive. We teach our kids around the age of sixteen, then they have to take a test just to get permission from the state to drive as they learn. After they take another written and driving test, they get a license that makes it legal for them to drive. Here.” I pulled out my wallet and handed it to him. “Open that and pull out the plastic card with my face on it.”
“Your face is on one of these hard panels?” Kaspian pulled out my credit cards, debit card, and license. “There you are!” He held it up triumphantly. “This is your permission to drive?”
“Yes, it proves that I have shown competency at driving. It also proves who I am.”
“This thing proves who you are?”
“That card there. Remember it? I bought the pastries with it.”
“Yes.”
“It doesn't have my picture on it. Only my name. If I need to verify that the name on the card is my name, I show the card with my face on it. It's called an identification card. An ID for short. If I do something bad, the authorities can arrest me. They use that card to note who I am and keep track of me in prison.”
Kaspian just stared at me.
“I'm rambling and not making sense to you,” I muttered. “Never mind. Just know that with the billions of people in our world, it becomes important to verify who you are. The government issues that card and so it's acceptable proof.”
“I don't understand why you have to prove what your name is. Why would anyone doubt your name? Why does it matter?”
