Because Sharav had been living on the street and had apparently endured run-ins with motor scooters, he started out terrified of anything with wheels – bicycles, motorcycles, skateboards, even wheeled trash cans – and it was years before he was comfortable riding in a car.
We always lived in cities, so I always had to guard him against people riding their scooters and even motorcycles illegally on the sidewalk.
I socialized him well to understand that cars were not (necessarily) a threat, and he grew to find car rides thrilling. A few times, he jumped into the backseats of strangers’ cars when they opened the doors as we passed by.
In the back of my father’s car. New York, February 2017. Click any photo to see more.