“How about taking me for a spin?” a pretty Latina girl asked. She clutched a bottle of Bud in one hand and was falling out of her tank top.

            “I, ah, yeah, sure. Climb in,” Ray stuttered.

            “This is a really cool ride,” she said, stroking my lacquered dashboard.

            “Just don’t spill anything on the upholstery.”

            “No sweat. So, what’s your name?”

            “Ray McAllister.”

            “I’m Lucy Vargas. You go to UCSB?”

            “Yeah, is it that obvious?”

            “No, not really. You don’t look like the yuppies that go there.”

            “Thanks. I’m studying engineering.”

            I steered them toward the beach at Ledbetter Point. Nothing much had changed: the waves continued to roll onshore, the tangy sea mist tickled my body, my radio’s soft tones mixed with the surf sounds. They talked for hours, about young people things, their families, histories, and dreams. I wish I could have joined in. It was like my own life was starting over.

            “Ya know, my grandpop had a car like this,” Lucy said.

            “No kidding.”

            “It was gone long before I came along. But my grandmom tells stories about the time they spent in the back seat.”

            Ray looked nervously over his shoulder. “Well, ah, we can check it out if, you, ya know, want?”

            Lucy grinned. “I was wondering when you were gonna ask.”

            They climbed in back and began making out. It had been a lifetime since I’d experienced that surge of energy through humans to me. I felt lucky and proud to have survived that long.

            As the moon disappeared, Lucy snuggled into Ray’s arms. “Yeah, Grandpop Arty has an old photo of his car hanging above the fireplace. He loved that machine, called her Ruby.”

            I thought my battery cables would disconnect. I trembled in the night air, blaming the shakes on the freshening ocean breeze but grateful that the circle of life that affects all living things might also apply to the likes of me.

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