It was the first summer holiday I’d had at my school and I was 5. We were listening to a tape in the car when Dad pulled into the garage for petrol. He took a tube out of the machine. It looked like a vacuum cleaner. I thought it was going to suck me in! I gulped and ducked down in my seat. He inserted the look-alike vacuum cleaner into the car. The tube started to whirr and numbers span on the machine. It lasted for about five minutes and I was shivering with fright. Dad put the tube back into the machine and walked into the garage. I re-appeared on the back seat sweating. My insides were burning as we were still next to the machine.

Dad came back with a disk and drove round the building. There, was a monster (carwash) that had bristles for teeth. He put the disk into another machine and drove on. He stopped the car. The red and yellow sides started to spin. The top started to move. They engulfed us in fur. I screamed. We were being eaten by a red and yellow monster. When it was behind us, I stopped screaming. But it was coming fr us again! I started to scream again. I saw it flying past the windows and sunroof. They stopped in front of us. Spinning wheels of bristles came low at us. They whizzed on the car wheels, round and round. I started to get dizzy so I shut my eyes. When they stopped I saw green. Dad drove out and parked next to 1 pipe. I told Dad why I was screaming so he reassured me.

He found a circular instrument and put it in a valve on the tyres. It showed how much air was in. He took the pipe from yet another machine and inserted it into the valve. It hissed. I asked Mum why he was putting a snake into the tyres. She told me not to be silly. One side of the car started to lift. Dad stopped it and put a cap on the valve. The other back wheel let out a lot before Dad put the pipe in. I felt as though we were leaning forward. He did the two front wheels to level it.

Now I’m never scared by it. In fact I enjoy it. I like the smell of petrol because it’s got a spicy smell. The carwash is fun because it goes dark. The air refill makes the car wobble. So when Dad says, “I’m going to the carwash” I always go!