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Daddy and Shin
My father is a practical man. Don't mess with him. He won't forget. Yet, I remember well how, all of a sudden on a long car trip, he could turn absolutely silly. This usually happened on one of those stretches of road that ride like a roller coaster, where you press hard on the gas to get up the hill – and then ride all the way down. On our way down, my father would sometimes shift into neutral, to show how he and his buddy Shin used to save gas on their long drives. But I am even more practical than my father, and this always shocked me, to see him shift that way. |
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So I would nag at him – You're wrecking the car! – and then he'd ease into the story of how he and Shin used to go driving when they were teenagers, fresh out of Belmont High. Hop in the car and go, no idea where, just drive four or five hours until the gas money ran out or they had to get back to work.
When my father told these stories, driving became fun and full of mystery, and so did he. I almost could see the fog and mist and the white tail of the deer that jumped away at the last second. I could smell the seaweed rotting on the beach, and feel the heat doing a dance in the middle of the desert. He whispered and giggled about silly things like farting in the car and peeing in the snow, and I loved every minute of the ride. Here's "Daddy and Shin" from Behind the Wheel: Poems about Driving
me and Shin, I love the part where you roll roll down the hills in neutral, how could you drive? – When we make it and as the tide is coming in and as the sun is sinking fast, home.
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