By: Jim Bates

His father loved sports cars driving fast
In the end he had a white Porsche spider
Like James Dean was driving when he died
His dad liked to take his son up into the mountains
Driving the twisting roads of the Cascades
Closer to the sun with every winding switchback
Sometimes they’d go to the Pacific
Speeding through pine forests on the way to the ocean.

That last trip they stopped at a tiny seaside town
His dad bought a bag of Oreo cookies and grinned
“I love these,” he said
He munched on them all day long
So did his son
Speeding along the coast
Top down
Wind in their hair
Scent of salt in the air
The engine of that car purring like a cat
Father and son side by side
Chatting and talking
Through sunlight and shadow
Lush evergreen forests
A sea stretching to forever
Cookie crumbs flying in the swirling wind.