She's dead. She was always dying, but the Hamilton County emissions testing program finished her. A mechanic called with the hardest news of all: a $1,500 estimate, as a starting figure, before they even began examining the transmission. If an automobile can die of organ failure, mine just did.
I covered at least fifty-thousand miles in that van. Smoked about half that many cigarettes. Drove to Canada. Drove away from some friends. Funerals, weddings, countless runs to Trenton and Sand Mountain. I don't feel much like recounting all the memories. It just makes me sad.
If anybody feels like selling me something reliable in the $3-to-5K range, I'm listening.