Mirjana told her husband she spent Saturdays at work organizing the old archives. In fact she was learning to drive. She was forty eight and had enough savings of her own for lessons, but lacked courage for another conversation in which Vjeko explained she was too absentminded for a steering wheel. For years he had driven everywhere and reminded her how much time it took. Whenever she suggested a change, he turned her idea into a joke before friends.
During the first lesson she could barely coordinate hands and feet. The instructor did not pretend everything went brilliantly, but turned no mistake into a character trait. Mirjana began progressing. At home she talked about old filing binders and felt uneasy about the lie. She did not think secrecy improved a marriage. For the first time she simply had somewhere an attempt did not require her husband's prior approval or assessment of how much patience it would cost him.
Vjeko discovered the truth when he saw her leaving a driving school car. He claimed he was angry not about her learning but about being lied to. Mirjana admitted the lie without claiming it therefore made her good. Then she asked what would have happened had she told him before her first lesson. He began explaining how dangerous roads were and how she panicked over simple things. She waited until he finished, then said she had just heard the answer to her question.
She did not offer to quit to prove honesty. She told him when her next lessons were and said she would no longer invent extra work assignments. Vjeko was cold for several days. Mirjana continued attending, spoke with a friend, and considered other decisions she had left to him to avoid ridicule. She took the test alone and failed the first time. She returned home disappointed but did not hide the result. She did not want her independence to depend on pretending never to make mistakes.
The second time she passed. Vjeko congratulated her, then began preparing a speech about proper driving. Mirjana asked him to save it until she requested advice. That afternoon she drove to her aunt's with a cake on the back seat. She parked far from the entrance because it was easier there. When her aunt asked why she was glowing, she replied that she had come alone. She still did not know what her marriage would look like afterward, but for the first time she could go somewhere to think without asking for a ride.