When I was a little every now and then
my folks would say
you're staying with Ollie tonight, okay?
and we'd get in the car and drive way far away
like taking the dog for a ride in the country I guess
except I'm pretty sure you can’t do that with kids
or more people would
but anyway—
I stayed with Ollie
whenever my folks wanted time to themselves,
we’d drive and we'd drive,
the houses would get bigger and the yards would get wider
gettin' close, gettin' close, my folks would say
and we'd drive by cows and silos and barns
'til we got to the place where Ollie stood
and my dad would say, big fella ain't he,
like no one had ever said it before
and my mom would say, now you be good,
we'll be back in the morning,
my dad would throw me his jacket and say,
here, take this, in case it gets cold
and sometimes it did and I wore the jacket,
or sometimes I rolled it up for a pillow
and Ollie was tall
Jolly Ollie they called him
his apron was white and he wore a bowtie
he had bags in each arm
full of celery stalks and loaves of bread
when the Food Giant closed he was all that was left
and I curled up between his big giant boots
and hoped my folks would be there in the morning
just me and Ollie and the wind on my face
and now that I'm older I drive and I drive and the road is wider
the wind is colder
and every night is a ride in the country.