The Fate of Rusty the Car

Yesterday as I exited the highway on my way to work my oil light kept coming on in my car. It mostly flickered off and on until right before I arrived at work, and by then it was staying on steadily. When I got out of my car I realized there was a pretty strong smell of burning oil. On the way home I bought a quart of oil and poured it in. I made it only about halfway home before the light was flickering on and off again. I don't know a lot about cars, but I could tell there was a problem.

I got home and pulled into my garage. As I walked out to my mailbox I saw a steady line of oil. So I moved the car to the street. In the evening Eric and I decided to drop the car off at the shop. I got detained by a red light on our way, so he ended up a bit ahead of me. As I approached the shop I saw our little gold car on the side of the road, just shy of the turn-off into the shop's parking lot.

I picked Eric up and was pretty gleeful. Who could be gleeful about a dead car? The person who really wants a clicker, that's who. I told Eric that our car was dead. He said we'd wait and see.

This morning he called me. He seemed to be in a good mood as he said, "The car people called." "Oh, you sound like you're in a good mood. Is our car salvageable?" I said. He said, "It needs a cylinder replaced and will cost $2,000-3,000." When he said it, at first I thought he was going to say "hundred" instead of "thousand" and I was bummed. A few hundred dollars might be worth it. A few thousand is most definitely not.

I don't think I'd ever imagined a time when I'd be excited about the demise of a car. But I am. You've been a good car, Rusty. I'm sorry you died on the side of a road.