"Wiggle really wanted to be his friend," thought Henry as he reached the chop shop and stopped to catch his breath.
"This place sure looks like a junk yard," he said to no one in pawticular.
"Duct Tape, are you here?" he called out.
There was no answer.
"Why oh why couldn't you hang on until I got here?" sighed Henry. "If only I had more time!"
"I don't know his real name," Henry said, "But we called him Duct Tape. He was an old school bus too, but if you'll pardon my saying, he was not as old as you."
The school bus laughed. "They call me "Snout" here," said the old bus, and I'm not the oldest one still cranking around!"
Henry looked embarrassed. He knew his next question would be delicate to ask the old bus.
"My name is Henry," he said. "Do all the busses live here forever?"
"I just don't understand," said Henry. "It seemed like he could have been so useful, and Wiggle really seemed to care about him."
"But inside he stopped trying," said Snout. "When you stop trying, you die inside. No one else can bring you back if you don't want to try."
"You are right about that Henry," said Snout. "But for whatever reason, he decided not to. If it makes you feel any better, his parts will go on to help other busses who need them".
"Do you think it would be ok if I brought some of them home for Wiggle?" asked Henry. "I know that she always wanted to have some hub caps of her very own."
"Your friend didn't have any hub caps Henry," said Snout. "But you can check in the store. I know they'll have some in there."
Henry still had the 100.00 he was going to save Duct Tape with. "I guess I can still get Wiggle something," he decided.
"For goodness sake, don't start leaking," said Snout. "You know how rusty you get."
"If you hurry, you can get those hub caps before they close today," said the sad car.
"Imagine having someone care about you so much, they'd follow you all the way to the chop shop!" he said to Snout after Henry was gone.
"Looks like Duct Tape missed the best years of his life," said Snout.