It was a typical sunny day in June. The car carefully drove around the potholes on the primer, I’m driving. I knew the radio was on, but there was no music. Why? Because Lenochka was sitting next to me, she was 21 years old, and she was crying out loud, drowning out the radio. She was crying and screaming that all this is impossible, that this is the end of everything, that there is no point and demanded an answer “Why?!!..” She was furious. I thanked fate that there were no cutting objects next to her, otherwise I would have been unhappy … There was a sparkle of lightning in my eyes, my gaze pierced through and stopped somewhere in the depths of my soul. The lips were crimson, bloodshot, and the words flying out of there could pierce the armor: “I’m going to jump out of the car right now!”, “I don’t see the point in such a life anymore!”
And I have peace of mind. In response to her threats, I calmly stated that if she pulled the door handle again on the go, I would drop her right in this wilderness. She has the right to do whatever she wants with her life, but while she is in my car, I am responsible for both road safety and the lives of people who have trusted me. I don’t want criminal liability for her jumping out of the car. Love is love, and none of us needs to go to jail.
I did not want to interrupt her screams and did not consider it necessary. Everything has already been decided. Earlier there were discussions, but more turned into a monologue, and I made a decision: no sacrifices. There are only 24 hours in a day, and her desire that I be near her all 24 hours, causes me only bewilderment and sympathy. I ask her to understand that I am the master of my 24 hours, and where, how and with whom I will spend them, I also decide. This is not discussed.
Actually, after these words of mine, the wave of indignation rose even higher, to the level of a tsunami. Lena screamed excitedly and it seemed that nothing could stop her.
But…
Ahead, about 400 meters, around the corner on the country road on the right, a figure of a man appeared, who turned around and raised his hand. He voted asking us to let him down. I continued to drive, but suddenly, 3 meters before the voter, I turned on the right turn signal and began to slow down. This was done on purpose. I gave Lena exactly 3 seconds to interrupt this stormy flow of abuse, reproaches, crying and indignation. And you know what? She only had one second!
It was magic, I felt like a dumbfounded primitive who touched the tape recorder for the first time and turned the knob to turn the volume down from maximum to zero. I removed the roar of a wounded mammoth in a second! In the second that the voter opened the back door, there was complete silence in the car.
I turned back to the right door, asking with a soft smile: where are you going? The man asked to be taken to the village: well, it didn’t matter to me. When I turned to my fellow traveler, naturally I ran my eyes over Lenochka: she was no longer crying. Of course, her face was tear-stained, her mascara flowed and her eyes were inflamed, but she only looked ahead.
The car started off quietly, after about two minutes I casually asked my fellow traveler why I had climbed so far? He said that he works in the forest, and so on and so forth. It was no longer important, it was important that the radio station became audible in the car, and I left the uninteresting performance of one actor and one spectator.
Soon the passenger left, then it was another 15 minutes drive to customs, while only music and the rustle of wheels were heard. Customs — it’s time for us to part. The girl came out, turned around and calmly said: “I understand, thank you!” I smiled back.
I often think of this story as I analyze the momentary “magic” of stopping an emotional storm. Therefore, it is difficult for me to agree that the ability to manage emotions so quickly is lost by the end of school age. I think that at least for many of us this opportunity remains, but whether a person will use this ability of his own depends both on his own decisions and on the position of those around him. If the author of the emotion is sure that his emotion will work, then he will show it. If someone next to you and in your direction shows a manipulative emotion, then he does it exactly as much as you allow him to.