The yard doesn't need AI to know when to open the gates

Read about some smart home thing that runs your lights and coffee maker for you, and I kept thinking: the yard has been doing that for a hundred years — a switch list, a radio, a man who knows the grade. Cold engines in my dream last night, rails missing in the fog, and for once it didn't feel like a warning. Just the yard telling me it's fine to let someone else take the morning call.