On the White Line Backstory

Each time I reached for the keys to Big Red, our family’s 1976 Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight, my father would call out, “Keep the eagle on the white line!”

The phrase was familiar in our house. As far as I knew, he and my uncles invented the phrase in the 1930s… a personal farewell to be exchanged when one brother made the trip home from the dance hall without the other. As long as the hood ornament was kept in line with the stripe on the highway, the driver was sure to make it home safely.

Later, my uncles uttered the words to mark my father’s trip to the mines in Ajo, Arizona, then to the battlefields of World War II. Dad never stopped using the phrase, and he took a private delight in hearing hear it slip from the mouths of his children.

Just as my every journey began with “Keep the eagle on the white line,” every return home had its own ritual. I’d stand in the doorway and ask my father, “Did you miss me?”

He’d raise his eyebrows and snap back, “With every shot so far.”

“I love you too, dad.” Then, I’d head to the kitchen to sample the fresh scones, chocolate fudge cake, oatmeal cookies, currant cookies and safron bread he made especially for my arrival.