"Heehehe." Mater laughed, sneaking quietly behind Flo's V8 Cafe. "Oh, McQueen is gonna love this!"
A few days ago, Mater had been out cruising the town when he caught sight of Fillmore unlocking what looked like a safe out behind his distillery. Curious, the tow truck watched as his hippie friend mixed a little bit of some mystery liquid into his organic fuel. Promptly, some visitors rolled into town. Fillmore, distracted, left the safe unlocked and slightly open while he went to try and sell his products.
Mater rushed over and paused in front of the oil can Fillmore had just mixed the liquid in. With a quick look around, he decided a little taste wouldn't hurt anything.
"Hm. Not bad." Mater looked at the open safe and saw several different cans sitting on a shelf. Not knowing what was what, he grabbed one with his tow hook and made a run for it before Fillmore came back.
By the time Mater had returned to his rickety old shack, Carburetor Canyon was starting to turn funny, lucid colors. He stopped and watched as the rock walls twisted and turned into a rainbow of different colors and shapes.
"Whoa…" he was completely amazed. A bug flew by, but all Mater saw was a UFO. He started to chase after it, but slowed to a halt as the junk in his salvage yard started to sparkle. He parked there, mesmerized until things finally turned back to normal.
"That was incredible!" he said to himself. He knew exactly how he was gonna use that can he'd stolen.
Now, Mater was sneaking in the back door of the cafe. McQueen and Sally had just returned from a leisurely drive out to Wheel Well and back, and were looking for a drink. Flo stopped mixing oil for a moment to go out and welcome a few out-of-towners. This was Mater's chance to give his best friend the experience of a lifetime.
He meant to only pour a little bit of the concoction, but his hook slipped a little. There went half the can straight into McQueen's oil. Mater hesitated, but then figured it was alright. Fillmore's always talking about how good this stuff is for your health, right? And so he slipped out the back and joined the conversation outside, telling everyone about his encounter with a UFO a few nights ago.
"Two usuals coming right up!" Flo said, bringing Lightning and Sally's drinks out. "Enjoy!"
"Thanks, Flo." they answered in unison.
Mater giggled quietly, but kept engaged in his tall tale to stay distracted. When he'd finished, the visitors kindly thanked Flo for the hospitality and drove on out of town. Sally noticed something was definitely… different with her boyfriend.
"Hey, Stickers, you feelin' okay?" she asked.
"Uh, hey Flo?" McQueen slurred out slowly. "I- I think something's up with this drink. Did you do something different?"
"Nope, just the usual, honey." Flo said, a little confused.
"Everything's… so…" he trailed off, staring into the middle distance, wide-eyed.
"What, you seein' sunshine and rainbows?" Mater asked, choking back laughter.
"Is… is that? Is that…" Lightning slowly rolled forwards towards a stack of oil cans and started talking to them in an indistinguishable manner like they were an old friend.
Everyone besides Mater was becoming very, very concerned.
"I think we need to call a medic." Sheriff said. "I think that oil's contaminated, Flo. Somebody help me put a boot on him before he hurts himself."
Mater absolutely lost it. He laughed and wheezed. "Can - can you guys believe it? McQueen thinks them there oil cans is a car!"
All the ruckus broke Lightning's concentration away from his 'friend' and he turned back to the crowd. All he saw were several distorted, colorful figures making noise. He suddenly felt very lonely.
"Mater! What did you do?" Sheriff asked threateningly. "I know you're behind this."
Mater told them all the short version of his story. "I swear I was gonna put it back after I used it, but this was just too good to pass up! Fillmore, I owe you one, buddy."
The VW didn't look impressed. "The good new is, it should clear up in about an hour. The bad new is, what you grabbed out of my stash isn't the same remedial ointment you tasted. This is a genuine hallucinogen. Left over from the glory days, my friend." Fillmore explained.
"Is he really gonna be okay?" Sally asked.
"He'll be fine." Fillmore assured. "No worries, man."
McQueen didn't absorb anything anyone had just said. He was still completely lost in a maze of shifting colors and slightly familiar faces. All he wanted was to talk to Sally, but where was she?
He slowly rolled over towards her, who looked back at him and sighed. Might as well make the most of the moment. While she held his attention, Sheriff slipped a boot on him so he wouldn't per chance take off and hurt himself or someone else.
"Hey, have - have you seen my girlfriend? Her name's Sally… I really wanna talk to her. I miss her." McQueen said, looking a little confused.
Everyone relaxed and laughed a little bit, including Sally. "You know, I actually haven't seen her around lately." she said. "I think she said something about going for a drive. But I don't know if she's coming back. I think she was leaving town for good."
Big mistake. There is a time for sass and a time for anything but. The red racecar's lower lip started to tremble, and he started making sounds no one had ever heard before. Then came the waterworks.
"No! I have to go find her! She can't just leave, I love her!" he shouted out, blubbering and trying to move towards the road, slowly realizing he had a parking boot on. "What? No! You can't keep me here! I can't go back to jail! Sally!"
"Oh, for the love of Peterbilt, come on! It was a joke! I'm right here!" Sally tried to correct her mistake, but it was no use. "Stickers, look at me. I. Am. Right. Here."
The fully grown racecar wasn't having it. Sally shot Mater a death stare. He calmed down and sort of shrank away from the situation. Guilt ridden, he'd realized his mistake.
All they could do was wait it out.