Outside, he called Thabo. "I passed."
His grandmother, Gogo, who was peeling oranges in the corner, laughed. "So the little book is winning?"
Question after question, he didn't recite the PDF. He drove the PDF in his mind. He saw Gogo crossing the street. He saw the red "No Entry" sign outside the mall. He saw his own two hands at ten-and-two on the steering wheel.
But Jabu couldn’t read it. Every time he opened the PDF, his eyes glazed over by page three. Page three was always the "Definitions" section. "Carriageway… Median… Axle…" It felt like learning to speak lawyer before learning to walk.
Jabu closed his eyes. He saw the imaginary Church Street intersection. He saw the blue car arriving first.
When the screen flashed , Jabu didn't cheer. He just smiled and whispered, "Thanks, Gogo."
She pointed to a triangle with an exclamation mark. "That?"
He clicked: "The vehicle that first came to a complete stop."
Gogo took his phone. She couldn't read the tiny text, but she pointed at a picture of a red circle with a white bar. "What’s that?"
"How? Did you finally read the PDF?"
On the fifth night, with the test looming, Jabu gave up on the PDF. He lay on his bed, stared at the ceiling, and sighed. "I’m going to fail. I’ll be the only 24-year-old in town still taking the bus."
The computer screen at the licensing department was cold and grey. Question 1: "At a four-way stop, who has right of way?"