“You could say that.” Her voice shudders. “It all started when I flushed the toilet. Our plumbing’s awful, and you never know what’s going to happen, but you have to flush, right? Otherwise it’s gross, and then you’re like Floyd. He’s my boss, and he’s gross. Anyway, the toilet backed up and started gushing all over the place and I sort of panicked and just stared at it instead of turning the shut-off valve, and that’s when the shop got flooded. Then I lit a match because watching flames sort of calms me, you know? Once the match was out I threw it in the garbage can, except the match wasn’t all the way out, I guess, and there were a bunch of oily rags in the can and they ignited and all of a sudden the whole can was on fire! I went running for the fire extinguisher but instead ran right into the garbage can and toppled it over, and the standing water on the floor put out the fire. So I guess maybe it was good that the toilet backed up? I don’t even know anymore. I just want to sit down in a dark room and light a match.”

I blink for a good, long time. Then I ask, “What did you learn?”

“If I don’t get this all cleaned up, I’m going to learn what it’s like to lose my job.”

Proto rarfs and goes paddling by.

“Can you repair our tire before you lose your job? We have sixty-three cents.”

The mechanic laughs, but it is not a sound that expresses humor, happiness, or mirth.

“I don’t think we will successfully repair or replace Car’s tire here,” I inform ADA.

But then Trashbot trundles up beside me. “Do you have any waste you wish to dispose of?”

The mechanic’s laugh rises higher in pitch. It is a little bit like a scream. “Why, yes, I do. This whole shop is a waste. My life is a waste. Everything is waste.”

Trashbot’s faceplate flashes green. “Affirmative,” he says. A hose spools out of a compartment on the front of his body. He submerges the end of the hose in the water and begins vibrating with a mechanical noise. The water gloops and shlorps and ripples, and when Proto begins fighting the current to keep from being drawn to the hose, I realize Trashbot is vacuuming up the water.

Proto rarfs as I pick him up and rarfs a little more angrily as I shake water off of him. Trashbot continues rolling around the garage, and gradually the water level goes down until there are only puddles here and there, and even these, Trashbot takes care of. He’s only getting started.