Truck

Everything has a life. A few chapters in the biography of a truck's vehicular dharma. New and slate blue-grey off the factory line, delivered to a dealer in El Segundo, where it sat for months in a crowded sidestreet lot full of trucks. Pandemic. No one bought much for over half a year. Then, the new truck, heavily discounted, finally got sold to a small delivery company, joining their modest fleet of vans and trucks. The daily miles racked up quickly as business got better, the truck wore down plenty in a year of long, prosperous shifts. Not prosperous for the truck. First, air conditioner problems, twice. Then, a brake-line issue. The truck was down a few weeks getting fixed, so when a mechanic made an offer, the delivery company let it go. Mechanic uses it as his main ride, eventually took it to the body shop for a new look. Still rolling strong, all good and happy, 78k miles. Everything has a life.