There once was a road around a small fairy-tale town. Big and small cars drove on it. Some trucks delivered goods and other smaller cars took people to work. In this fairy-tale town, people and cars were friends. They helped each other. The cars took people where they needed to go and the people took good care of the cars. They washed them, they filled them up with gas, they fixed them. In return, the cars tried to drive according to the rules. It was the most peaceful town. Until the Hothead came to town.
One morning, when the sun hadn’t even risen, someone drove quickly through the fairy-tale town. Several times. It disrupted the morning peace and quiet of this town. The car was noisy, dirty and muddy, honking its horn and skidding all over the place. It wasn’t driving according to the rules at all.
Everybody in town started to wake up. People were looking out their windows and cars were opening their garages to see what was going on. The police cars were not lazy and quickly went after the new car, which was destroying everything it could. By the time they arrived to the car, they were blaring their sirens from afar. But the new car didn’t mind at all. It was even shouting at them: “What’s the matter, what’s the matter? Are you coming to arrest me? No chance. I’m the Hothead. A car that no one can stop! And that does what it wants.”
The police cars accelerated and tried to surround the Hothead. But when he saw that the police cars weren’t afraid of him, he immediately took off in the opposite direction. And the chase was on. The Hothead drove through the city, knocking over all the garbage cans, driving onto the sidewalk and squealing his brakes in the bends. Police cars were trying to stop him as fast as they could. Everyone in the city was ducking and hiding in their houses.
But then something happened that no one in town will ever forget. As the Hothead was making a fast turn, he skidded and couldn’t keep his direction. He was spinning all over the place. Then he flipped over on his hood and rode on the road for a long time. With his tin roof grinding against the road for so long, sparks started jumping around him and in an instant he was on fire. That’s when the police cars caught up with him. They immediately called the fire department. People came running. The firefighters put out the flames and people brought water. The whole town rescued the Hothead. Then the tow trucks took him to a repair shop.
People spent days fixing Hothead and trying to help him. After a few days, Hothead woke up. He was surprised when he found out what everyone had done for him and that they hadn’t let him burn and had fixed him. But mostly he was ashamed. He humbly asked, “Why didn’t you leave me destroy myself and scrap me? I hurt you. And I didn’t listen to you.” The mechanic who kept him in his garage looked at him and said: “We wanted to give you a second chance. It’s never too late to change and start being a nice car. And you’re going to suffer for your disobedience anyway. You’ve been badly damaged, so you’ll never be able to go that fast again. And you’ve got some scratches on the hood, too.”
The Hothead just smiled. He didn’t mind. He knew he could have ended up worse because of how he behaved. To this day, Hothead still lives in this town. He drives by the rules and shows the naughty kids the scars on his hood and tells them how bad he was, and how he’s changed.
