Riding in the back of the Ferrari Lusso GTC4, James Deakin expected the worst. Instead, he was bowled over by “an unadulterated Ferrari experience for four”
Wanna ride with me? I’m taking a Ferrari,” my friend Marc Soong asked as we were planning how to get to a mutual friend’s wedding in Batangas. “How is that even a question?” I snapped back before he could even let the last vowel roll off his tongue. He tried to explain, but I was already putting on my coat and sending him a Waze location. That was my first mistake.
I learnt a lot about context after that phone call. I learnt that without it, two identical sentences can have two profoundly different meanings. For example, hearing the words “Jesus loves you” can be very comforting and fulfilling when uttered in a church. But it can mean something entirely different when whispered in your ear in the showers of a Mexican prison. Get what I’m saying?
So, lesson number one: context. Because, had I just listened, I would have known he was going up with his wife Loralie and his father Wellington. Which meant I would be riding in the back seat. All. The. Way. To. Batangas. But no. I heard Ferrari, Batangas, Cavitex, smooth winding roads. Everyone wants to be James. Funny how we only really hear what we want to, huh? Blame it on social media.
But reality started to bite when I saw him pull up. I saw shadows. Figures. Human-like figures. One was quite large and seemed to be occupying the front seat. It was Wellington Soong. Smiling, as he does at everyone. Now don’t get me wrong, I love seeing Wellington Soong. But just not in my seat. I was confused. “Where is he going to ride?” I thought to myself, as the smile faded from my face. At first, I thought I was being punked. Marc knows I’m 6’1” and I would be in a suit. Yet he didn’t flinch when he pulled the backrest forward and motioned toward this space behind the driver’s seat that, in my mind at least, was no bigger than a Tupperware—which is quite appropriate because I was already starting to feel like leftovers.