Forest of the Plains

Written by Cynthia Goerzen

The maroon Pontiac 6000LE is dead, never to be driven again. Arrangements for the final resting place have not been finalized. The car barely limped home from work yesterday, spewing water all the way. It had been leaking for some time already, but yesterday the leak exploded, and one last water fill was barely enough to drive the 12 miles between work and home.

The water pump had been replaced once already, and Dad says it’s not
worth replacing it again. If anyone can pull extra miles out of a vehicle,
he can. So when he determines that a car’s time as a drivable member of our
fleet is up, it’s really done.

For 12 years the car carried us to and fro, first as a family car, then as a school car, then as a work car. Although the Pontiac 6000LE was a good and faithful servant, it was not able to match the all-time family record of our blue van’s 212,000 miles.

But the Pontiac has a record of its own: we don’t have any other vehicles that
survived 2 wrecks, including being totaled. Although it bore scars from its
injuries, it did recover each time. I don’t know of any other modern-day cars
that don’t need a key to turn on the ignition!

I really liked that car in its younger years; it was the first vehicle we ever had that I was not embarrassed to drive. Oh yes, it had its share of quirks that caused us more than just a few anxious moments, but I appreciated it anyway.