Born a Crime

was the master of coasting. She
knew every downhill between work
and school, between school and
home. She knew exactly where the
gradient shifted to put it into
neutral. She could time the traffic
lights so we could coast through
intersections without using the
brakes or losing momentum.
There were times when we
would be in traffic and we had so
little money for petrol that I would
have to push the car. If we were
stuck in gridlock, my mom would
turn the car off and it was my job to
get out and push it forward six
inches at a time. People would
pitch up and offer to help.
“Are you stuck?”
“Nope. We’re fine.”