Out and Back
by Brian Berlin
Copyright © 2026 Brian Berlin. All rights reserved.
foggy morning
me and dad
coffee steam
filled the cab
in the truck
hitched to a trailer
cross-state trip
to get a tractor
four hours out
four hours back
and a couple of stops
for gas and snacks
for the first hour
familiar chat
we reminisced
about this and that
opened up
the second hour
shared our thoughts
through thundershowers
solved all the world’s problems
by hour three
then watched it roll by
silently
loaded the tractor
chained it down
checked the trailer
and turned around
talked about tractors
for a while—
fell quiet after
a dozen miles
settled in
we’d run out of lies
same old towns
a second time
hardly a word
driving back again
what a fine trip
it had been