Ahmed was very intelligent but extremely naughty. He was ill-mannered and thought that he could get away with anything and everything.

His teachers tried to teach him manners and so did his parents, but Ahmed always turned a deaf ear to everyone’s advice. He believed that it was his life and he could live it in any way he pleased. The latest addition to his list of misconduct was forcing his driver to teach him how to drive the car. The driver duly informed Ahmed’s parents about this and they warned the driver sternly against it or else he would lose his job.

That didn’t deter Ahmed. When the driver came to pick him up after school, Ahmed asked the driver politely to teach him to drive. Ahmed promised that he would not tell anyone about it so that there was no danger of the driver being fired. Ahmed went on to say that he would learn it anyway, so it was better that the driver taught him how to drive properly. Ahmed could see that the old driver was getting convinced. With a smirk on his face, Ahmed also promised that he would not drive fast, ever!

Ahmed started his driving classes everyday on his way to and back from school. He learnt it very quickly. When his car stopped at the school gate each day and he got out of the driving seat, a lot of people would be impressed.

His teacher once saw him and was dumbstruck! How could Ahmed’s parents allow underage driving? She thought for a moment and felt that the parents were probably not aware of this. She went to the office to get Ahmed’s residence number and informed Ahmed’s parents about it.

Ahmed’s driver got fired and Ahmed was grounded for a couple of weeks but that did not solve the problem. Ahmed became more stubborn and he insisted that as now he knew how to drive so he should be allowed to do so. His parents started hiding the car keys from him.

Once when his parents were not around, he found the car keys and decided to go for a ride on his own. He took the car out of his porch and reached the signal near his home, waiting for the light to turn green. He was busy tuning the radio when he heard a loud bang!

Ahmed looked up and was paralysed with shock. Two cars had collided right in front of him. The driver from one car came out of the car to examine the damage. The driver from the second car jumped out too! Ahmed was surprised to see that the driver was a young boy just like him. The lady passenger in the second car started screaming out very loud. She pointed towards the back seat. People ran towards the car.

Ahmed parked his car on the side and went towards the damaged car too. He saw a child on the backseat covered in blood.

The child had banged his head on the window due to the force of the collision and was hardly conscious. There was complete chaos. Ahmed could see the young driver was very nervous and was talking to someone on the phone, and it was his aunt and her son in the car with him. Ahmed told the lady passenger that he had a car and could take the child to the nearby hospital as the ambulance would take time to come. The lady agreed while leaving the young driver with the now damaged car.

Ahmed’s parents’ call came on his cellphone when he reached the hospital. He rejected the call as he was more concerned about helping the child. Ahmed’s parents became worried and kept on calling him. Finally, when the child was taken for treatment, Ahmed attended the call and told his parents that he brought a child to the hospital who was injured in a car accident.

Ahmed’s parents did not understand what Ahmed said as they were already worried and all they could register was the hospital’s name and thought that Ahmed had met with an accident. They rushed to the hospital and saw Ahmed drenched in sweat and his face white with fear. His father quickly asked, “Did you have an accident?”

Ahmed replied, “No…” and pointed towards the lady sitting on the bench with her head in her hand. In a frightened voice Ahmed explained everything to his parents. Everyone waited silently for the doctor. After two hours, the doctor came and told them that the child had to be operated upon at once and it was too early to know if he would suffer any permanent damage or not.

Ahmed was shocked beyond words. He learnt his lesson — actions can have serious consequences, no one can possibly get away with everything. The irresponsible actions of the underage driver had endangered the life of his young cousin — something that he would regret all his life!