The dog was twelve years old and had been perfectly healthy two hours ago. Now it just looked tired.
Flag for removal.
Leo spent the next hour scanning everything. The toaster. SN: 06-14-2019-TOAST-04. STATUS: DEPRECATED. The oak tree in the backyard. SN: 04-01-1972-OAK-09. STATUS: GROWING. END OF LIFE: 2031. The mailbox. The car. The neighbor’s kid’s bicycle. Everything had a serial number. Everything had a status. Active. Deprecated. Paused. Pending recall. Serial Number Checker Switch
Leo’s hand trembled. He looked at the remote. Under the LCD screen, the rubber button had a secondary function he hadn’t noticed: a tiny slider switch labeled on the left, RECONCILE on the right. The dog was twelve years old and had