FILL6189_Rules of the Road_Transcript

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- Danny Bell: I used to take your mother for driving practice.

- Sydia Bell: Mm-hmm, because she did not know how to drive!

- And I remember one day, we was in this park, and your mother had said to me, "I'm nervous. Y'all get out the car."

- What car was this?

- Oh, that was my black Maxima.

- Sydia: Talk about it!

- Danny: Oh, Man. That was like my love child.

- Sydia: Hello! Was it paid off too?

- Danny: It was paid off. [both laughing]

- All right, so she's driving, and, to my recollection, she was doing a really good job.

- She was. Until I told her, "I want you to park the car." I stood in front of the car to guide her, and I kept pulling my hands towards me and said, "Come on, come on." And for some reason, she stepped on the gas, and the car flew.  I had to jump out of the way!

- Mm-hmm.

- And the car went over the embankment into the water, flipped upside down.

- And me, and you, and the dog.

- The dog.

- Sydia: Roxanna.

- Danny: Yeah.

- Looking down.

- I could not believe this happened.

- What just happened?

- I ran down the hill, and I went into the water, and I couldn't see nothing.

- Mm-hmm.

- But I knew she was in there.

- Sydia: And I remember these two women came up and they called 911 and stuff. Do you remember that?

- Danny: I remember the ambulance and the police.

- And I want to say even a helicopter!

- Yeah. The feeling was, "It's too late. She's gone." Until I pushed her up to the top of the car, they thought she was dead.

- I'm left with this memory of my dad coming out of the water, like, literally holding my mom. And saving her-- against all odds.

- Mm-hmm.

- That moment was love embodied to me. But what I also remember is you going, "Oh, I saved her, but Lord, my car."

- Yeah... [laughing]

- My car!"

- I had just shined my car up. It was-- it was beautiful. And she said, "I ain't never going to touch a car again." Until this day, she just sits in the passenger seat and complains about, "Turn over there, slow down."

- Truth, truth, truth.

- Everything.

- That's a Bell family story.

- Yes, it is.

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