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A Eulogy of Sorts
Alright, there’s good news and there’s bad news. In my limited experience the bad news always comes first, so I see no reason not to follow the tradition.
Mike is dead. My all-time best friend and very first car has passed on.
It was sudden, but not altogether unexpected, I suppose. He was an old car, having served faithfully for nigh 20 years, and he rather understandably had his problems. Two weeks ago, he had to be towed to the shop as he had developed an unhealthy sounding rattle. The verdict was swift and grim. Write-off. The hyphenated phrase a car dreads hearing. He was done.
I grieved for a time, wracked with guilt over my friend’s demise. If only I’d checked his oil more often, taken better care, or driven him less, I thought. But no, it occurs to me now. He died well. He was old, the oil wasn’t filtering through his engine properly, but he was driving right up to the end. I think that’s how he would have wanted to go…if he were capable of wanting anything. Either way, he had a good, adventuresome life and he will be missed.
But there’s good news yet.
Reluctantly, I went to the lot where he had been towed to retrieve his effects and my belongings. He was taking up space and needed to be towed to the scrap yard.
I was sombrely emptying the corpse of my car when one of the mechanics approached me. He didn’t speak English terribly well, but I understood him. Other than being dead, the car was in good condition, he felt, and it deserved a better fate than retiring to “cubesville.” Offering only the $150 cash he (almost suspiciously) had stashed in his overalls, he told me of his plan to make Mike a project car and get him running again. I hastily agreed.
Though he paid me less for the car than the scrap yard would have, there was no contest. I took the opportunity to ensure that Mike would be reborn – that he would triumphantly return to the road.
So while he is still gone to me, I know that somewhere, sometime, he’ll be back.
[tags]eulogy, car, Toyota Tercel, sick, tow-away, written off[/tags]