Lightning was glad when Sally came to visit him while he was training with Cruz.
She was a good kid, and he was more than surprised when she called and offered to train him to be able to race with this new generation. When the media and the racing world turned away from him just because of his age, he didn't know what to do. He was only forty, he wasn't old. The King was older than that when he finally retired, and he had been pitted against the same situation. This young race technician with a promising career who had as much faith in him as his family in Radiator Springs, wanted to train him.
He was very surprised indeed.
But with the Florida 500 quickly approaching, Cruz's training seemed to be becoming more… boisterous and demanding.
He wasn't sure how stretching his tires out in front of him and 'reaching for his lunch', was going to improve his racing. And with Cruz acting super pumped about it afterwards and exclaiming loudly what a good work out it was, didn't make him feel any better.
Sally could see this too.
"Cruz."
Cruz turned from her portable computer, the screen covered with a list of training exercises and a schedule for each one. She was about to say hello, but Sally held up her tire to silence her. She rolled back slightly to see where Lightning was. He was a short distance from them, watching the sunset with a quart of oil at his side. His red paint shining in the setting yellow and orange sun as it slowly descended behind the dilapidated grandstands of the Thomasville Speedway.
"Can I talk to you?" Sally said softly, gesturing with her eyes that she wanted to talk somewhere else, away from Lightning.
"Sure." Cruz replied quietly, following Sally out slowly as to not attract Lightning's attention. They drove out of the old pit garage they were staying in onto the smooth dirt road that surrounded the speedway.
The breeze blew softly as the light of the dying sun filtered through the lush tree leaves. Sally and Cruz drove side by side.
"Cruz, I can't thank you enough for what you're doing for Lightning. It means so much to us, to him. Even if he's the last car on earth to admit it." Sally laughed lightly, making Cruz laugh too at the truth of the statement.
But just as they grew silent again, Sally broke it suddenly.
"Cruz… have you ever crashed?"
Cruz didn't know what Sally was going to ask her, but a question like that, she was completely unprepared for.
"I… no, I haven't. I mean, I was on a highway once and saw the aftermath of one. I've watched the crashes in races as long as I can remember, including Lightning's. But I've never been in a crash myself."
"Hmm…" was all Sally replied with. Cruz couldn't understand what Sally was trying to say to her.
"Lightning had never crashed before… he's always been far too carful to let it happen, and it made him scared of crashing." Sally spoke slightly mournfully. "He busted some tires when he first raced for the piston cup and he got a few knocks from Chick, but in his whole racing career, he never crashed. And then he did… and… and it was horrific, and he was terrified." Sally had to be careful of how she said what she was trying to say. The tears of the memory were pricking her eyes and she wasn't going to let them fall.
"I can't image how hard it would have been for you both. Being in hospital, the therapy, getting him motivated to not give up." Cruz replied in the same tone.
"And that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Sally looked to Cruz. "Because it's been… so hard, especially on him. And it's not just because of the crash and how horrible and scaring it was, it's the media and the racing world. They don't believe in him anymore. There're comparing his crash to the Hudson Hornet's crash, saying it was the most horrific crash ever seen since that. And it was horrific, lightning couldn't move for a couple of months. He was under anesthetic so he couldn't feel the pain.
The media and racing comities played on it, saying he's too old and not fast enough to race anymore. And even before that, everyone was questioning when he would retire just after he turned thirty-eight. So when he crashed, he felt… ashamed. Ashamed because he had done what they wanted, it was a way to get him out of racing so this new generation of racers could take his place as the best.
He's been rejected by the thing he was born to do. He wants to keep racing, and you wouldn't believe how stunned he was when you offered to train him. Because you're giving him hope Cruz."
"I'm giving him hope?"
"Yes, hope that he can race again. Hope that he WILL race again."
Cruz looked down, a small stick cracked under her wheel. "I'd never thought of that. But knowing that makes me feel so, happy, because I'm REALLY helping him." She sped up to turn and face Sally, a smile gracing her lips. "I get what you mean now, it's going to be hard for him to adjust to this. I need to work with him in a way that'll give him confidence so he can show the racing world he's not finished." She was practically glowing with her realization.
"Exactly." Sally smiled back and tuned next to Cruz. "Come on, we better get back in case Lightning realized we're gone."
When they drove back to the open back doors of the garage they immediately looked to Lightning, still watching the sunset and not moving at all to the point Sally thought he was asleep.
"Thanks Cruz." Sally gave her a side smile as she left to park beside Lightning.
"No problem Sally." Cruz turned to her computer. It was time for a new schedule and altered exercises.
"Hey, you awake?"
Lightning was shaken out of his trance when Sally spoke and nudged his fender lightly. "Yeah, just watching the sunset. If you want I can say something like it's beautiful but not as beautiful as you…"
"Arhh, please don't."
Sally rolled her eyes, her annoyed but amused laugh following. Lightning laughed with her and nudged her fender. She nudged back, quickly turning into bumper rubbing and dreamy gazes before an idea popped into Sally's head.
Sally gave her engine a small rev. "Come on, I'll race you." Her cheeky tone and wink was enough to convince him to drive off a cliff for her.
"Oh, you are so on Sal'!"
Cruz looked up with surprise when she heard the roar of a couple of excited engines, turning just in time to see a blur of red and blue speed away in a cloud of dust. She smiled.
It was going to be hard, but one thing she knew, with all the cars Lightning had in his life and all the support they gave him, he was going to prove to the world who he really is. He would be the one to decide when he was done. That it isn't over… until lightning strikes…