Absolute Physical Life

Awwww Bessie. Bessie-the-tractor-engine-smelting-machine. We love her. She's almost 40 years old now. Has hammered out 16,000 tractor engines in her life. Never complained once. She was of The Greatest Generation. Non-union. Just did her job: two pistons good, four pistons bad. But we (whispering so she won't hear us) know that on her 40th b-day, it has to be her last...day. She's literally tearing herself apart. Pieces fly off. Have to be welded back. Engine blocks no longer square. Sadly, it's...time. Her absolute physical life is over...not just from an accounting perspective. We depreciated her to almost nothing, a decade ago. But now, we just can't write the words. Sniff^2.