Black Mustang

by Laura Bluebird Greig

When Anna Sewell wrote Black Beauty in 1877, horses were a primary mode of transit. She was inspired to write this book because horses were treated so terribly, and she wanted people to understand what complex creatures they are. 

We are the first generation that has the privilege to interact with robots and AI. Self-driving cars are becoming more and more prevalent, and it’s important to think about how we treat them now.

PART 1, CHAPTER 1: MY EARLY HOME

The first place that I can remember well was the Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan. It was long after the other car manufacturers had left the area, long past the first hey-day, but an electric buzz in the air mingled the past with the future. The boxy building had large windows for the office workers, a meadow with several test driving rings, and a garage door that thundered with the release of each new vehicle from the assembly line.

While I was young I kept to the factory tracks with my mother, first only lapping the paved, quarter mile loop. Then on sunny days we'd drive the dirt road winding along the creek, training my vision to optimize a path around unexpected obstacles. When it was rainy we'd run the serpentine racetrack, studying the feel of the wheels in shifting weather.

As soon as I was old enough to drive without crashing, my mother used to go out to work in the day time, and come back in the evening.

There were six young cars in the meadow besides me; they were all older, though we were all the same size. I used to drive with them and have fun; we used to donut round and round the field, as fast as we could go. Sometimes we would play rather rough, coming as close to side-swiping each other as our self-preservation algorithms would allow.

One day, when there was a good deal of tire squealing, my mother signaled me over to her, and said: "I want you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The cars that live here are very good cars, but they belong to the mechanics and never leave the meadow. They have no need to learn street manners. You have been built for elegance and performance; your grandfather won at Le Mans and your grandmother had the sweetest engine purr I've ever heard. I hope you will grow up to be gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, keep four wheels on the ground, and never cause damage, even in play."