Have you ever seen this before? I marveled.

My mechanic said nothing but kind of laughed, looking at that sunken switch. He walked across the long length of his garage to pick up the right tool, but he did so slowly and looking as if he might be in pain. He’s about my age. I’d never seen that before in him. My heart went out to him.

I wondered if he would be retiring soon, or rather, how soon: the whole neighborhood was one mass of construction and tear-downs with a recent zoning change housing housing housing, trucks in the way workers parked all over the place narrowing his street nearly down to a one-way. The land his business has been sitting on for so many decades could help that retirement a lot.

Selfishly, I will greatly regret when he does. He has experience, skills, and a deep sense of integrity.

And just like that he was done.

Could I pay him anything for his time and expertise? He smiled, No.

It’s an old car, he said. Be gentle with it.

I wasn’t entirely sure he was just talking about cars.