DISCLAIMER: I don't own Cars.:(
It was a mostly quiet morning in Radiator Springs, the only thing breaking the silence being the familiar daily bickering of Filmore and Sarge over their personal music preferences.
"Filmore! Turn that disrespectful junk off!"
"I'm tellin' ya, man, respect the classics!"
All the townsfolk were beginning to gather 'round Flo's Cafe to have a morning conversation and can of fuel before business picked up later in the day. All except for Lightning McQueen and Doc Hudson, who were down at Willie's Butte having a training session.
Or, rather, Lightning was training and Doc was criticizing his training, yelling at him about everything from getting distracted by the littlest things to not getting to sleep early enough the previous night so he wouldn't be half-asleep while he was driving 200 mph around a dirt track.
"If you can't get focused on what you're doing, it can cause accidents, you know that as well as I do. How late did you get to bed, anyway?"
"Uhh, I dunno, maybe one?" Lightning muttered sleepily.
"AM or PM?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Finish the lap and we'll get back to Flo's. This afternoon we'll do some more. And for goodness sake, take a nap before then!" Doc snapped as Lightning pulled up in front of him.
Lightning just smiled. He knew Doc wasn't really mad at him, but the older racecar had a tendency to be grumpy, especially since it was currently about seven in the morning.
The two cars made their way back to the main part of town.
"I'm sorry, Doc. It's just that Sally had me up half the night talking about wedding plans." Lightning rolled his eyes slightly.
He loved Sally, so much that he'd proposed to her and now the two cars were engaged to be married, but she tended to get a little over-obsessive with organization, especially if the thing she was organizing was her own wedding.
"Naw, that's all right, kid. Don't mind me, I'm just a grumpy old racecar." He chuckled. "I know I'm not always in the best of moods, but-"
"But you're not as grouchy as you could be?" Lightning suggested.
"Ha, ha. Watch your mouth, kid, or it'll get you in trouble."
The day had turned out to be pretty slow, business-wise, so most of the town's residents were still hanging around Flo's, as well as a few customers.
One couple had driven in with their nine-year-old child, a boy who had stared at Lightning with awe in his eyes and was almost too overwhelmed to ask for his autograph.
"Here you go," Lightning said and smiled as he passed back the signed autograph book, then exchanged an amused glance with Doc.
The boy followed his glance and stared at Doc, then asked him in a soft, dumbfounded voice, "Are you the Hudson Hornet?"
Doc shot Lightning an annoyed look for getting him into this, then replied, "Sure am, kid."
"Can you sign my autograph book?"
"Of course, kid."
Now it was Doc's turn to be gaped at, something that he didn't particularly appreciate.
"Run along, now, before your parents worry."
"Okay!" He re-joined his parents, who were now driving out of the cafe. "Bye Mr. Hudson! Bye Mr. McQueen! Thank you for your time!"
"And all the admiring fans love you," Sally told Lightning as she drove over and pecked Lightning on the cheek.
"Yeah," he replied, sounding slightly embarrassed.
Suddenly, there was the distant roar of an engine.
"Whuh-uh," said the Sheriff. "Here comes trouble."
"Hey, McQueen!" Chick Hicks, Lightning's main racing competitor, drove into the cafe, revving his engine. "I've missed ya at the track. You too scared to show up and practice?"
Lightning snorted. "Hardly. We've got our own track here."
"Oh, have ya now. But don't you think a track here wouldn't be quite-" He lowered his voice to a stage whisper. "Up to par with the official track?" He was obviously trying to get a rise out of Lightning.
It worked.
"Our track is just as good, maybe better than the one at the racetrack." At least, it's good for teaching hotshot Piston Cup racecars that they don't know everything there is to know about racing, Lightning added to himself.
"Oh, is it now? Maybe I could test it out for ya, just to make sure it's up to standard. Fair, ya might say."
What does he know about fair? Doc thought.
"We could have, say, a race of sorts," Chick finished slyly.
"You're on!" Lightning replied, eagerness in his voice. He wanted to see Chick dumped into a cactus.
"Say, noon tomorrow?"
"Isn't that a bit foreboding?" Lightning said, chuckling a bit.
"What, you superstitious or something?"
"No! What I meant was, uhh, wouldn't it be a bit hot at noon?"
"If ya can't take the heat, get out of the race!" Chick snapped.
Lightning frowned. He didn't think he'd ever get used to Chick's taunts. "Oh, I can take the heat fine." Luckily, he had plenty of experience dealing with them. "Maybe it's not me you should be worried about."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Chick's voice began to get menacing.
Sheriff cleared his throat loudly.
Chick gave him a glance, then turned back to Lightning. "Noon, tomorrow." With that, he drove away.
"What did he want in the first place?" Sally asked when he was gone, speaking to no one in particular.
"Who can tell with troublemakers like him. I'm just glad he's gone," The Sheriff said, sounding grumpy. "Too many other problems to deal with. I don't need one more. Now I've got to oversee a race tomorrow, which is just asking for trouble if you ask me."
Doc was not one to say, 'I told you so.' He didn't have to. The look he gave Lightning said it all.
"Why are you blaming me? He started the whole thing!"
"I didn't say anything, Lightning, I didn't say anything." He drove off towards his office, leaving Lightning to sulk.
"That was kinda stupid," Sally said.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Lightning agreed, sullen. Then he perked up. "But don't you want to see Chick fall into a bed of cactus?"
"Cacti."
"What? My eye?"
"No. The plural of cactus is cacti."
"Whatever."
"And yes, I do look forward to that."
This is my first story, so please review if you haven't already!!!!
In response to LightningAndDoc's review, I do plan on elaborating on Lightning & Sally's engagement, just not for a few chapters yet.