The solitary figure of Casey was hunched on the wind-whipped summit, bent over his snowboard buckling his bindings. Beside him on the icy hardpack was the burial urn that Munsey Beck had given him. 

He straightened and faced the Steeps, that dropoff to doom that he’d survived. More than survived. He glanced up at the wide sky, letting his cheeks feel the biting wind. He reached down and picked up the urn, undid the cover and looked inside. Stared and thought about how he was holding all that was left of a man’s life – an offbeat man’s far-out life. He was thankful he’d been able to share a part of it. Realized he was probably one of the few kids, maybe the only one, to have bonded with his old man over a burning paper bag.  

He tipped the urn and gently started shaking the ashes out, letting the wind pick them up and carry them out over the Steeps. They blew skyward in the drafts gusting up the face, specks of the man who’d shown his son, his scared shitless son, his best stuff.    

When Casey had shaken out the last of the ashes, he set the urn down and got himself focused. Took a deep breath and held his arms out, caught the wind and let it slide him on his DBX board over to the edge. 

But he didn’t stop, he kept on going. And with a great coiled spring of a leap, he launched himself. 

Yelled out as loud as he could, “This one’s for us!” 

The wind carried him along with the ashes out over the face. He hung mid-air… and then he dropped – down and down… landed and found his line in the snow. 

Started laughing with tears blowing back from his eyes, got into it and knew he’d always return to this outrageous piece of mountain to celebrate this day. He darted and jumped and carved a magnificent run that he didn’t want to end. Knew just like his father had known, that this was his special place. 

This terrifying, no-turning-back, suck-it-up Steeps.  

And so ends the story – for now. 

Next I’m going to finish the screenplay version and work on getting the movie made. 

If I could ask you to go back to the chapters you especially liked and vote for them if you haven’t already, it would be extremely helpful in my judging what would work best on film. And please share any casting ideas you might have. 

My sincerest thanks for your reads and your votes. Your support and comments have kept me going. I will keep you posted on what I hope is Casey's and my journey to the screen.