Chapter 3
"An' to yer right is Flo's. Best fuel in town. Of course, it's the only fuel in town but... An' to yer left is Finn talkin' to Luigi about something."
Finn was at the mercy of Casa Dela Tires, in a discussion with Luigi about Italy while Guido was prodding at the spy car's tires and, incidentally, his personal space. Still, he seemed to be enjoying himself, which was good, since Holley had no intention of rescuing him even if he wasn't.
It really was astounding how much Mater could bring out in the tiny town. He'd stop every few feet and remember some new story about how he'd met Lightning, or how Sally had broken down just down the road, or how something interesting had happened for no more reason than the character of the cars involved. Holley had plenty of her own exciting stories she could tell, but none of them were like that. None of them were simple. Like this entire town was. Like his life was.
For the first time since achieving her dream of being a full-fledged spy, Holley felt a twinge of envy for somebody else.
"You know, one time I accidentally pulled out Luigi's battery with one of my carate moves."
Luigi instantly turned to face Mater. "We do not talk about that."
"Alright, alright," he leaned close to Holley and whispered, "I'll tell you later." He cleared his throat and returned to his tour-guide persona. "And to yer other left, we have Sheriff comin' this way like he needs to spoke to me."
"Mater!" Sheriff barked, driving up to the intersection, but pausing when he noticed Holley. "Oh, beg your pardon," he said to Holley before turning back to Mater. "Odis left a few hours ago and hasn't made his way back. You know what to do."
"What? Who's Odis?"
"Odis is one of the friendliest cars you's ever gunna meet," Mater explained, and Holley assumed that was high praise from the extremely friendly truck, "but poor guy. Lemon, and he's always pushin' himself too hard." He frowned. "I'm sorry, Holley, but I gots to go help him befer we can continue our date or anything." He stared at his tires. "I know it's not very gentlecarly of me..."
Holley wasn't surprised because Mater would ask for a pause to help a friend. Rather, she was surprised to realize never heard much about Mater's job. Granted, it was obvious to anybody that he worked in towing and salvage, and he'd tried to explain that a few times to Finn, but she'd never actually heard any stories about it. Those stories about another part of his simple life that she was growing quite fond of.
He started down the route towards the county line, and was surprised to hear the familiar engine of a purple jaguar catching up to him. "How about I just come with you?"
"Uh..." He grinned. "O-Okay."
"Shoot, Odis," Mater said once he'd started back towards Radiator Springs with the lemon dragging behind him, "I'd say this is the closest you's gotten to the county line!"
"I know, right? I could see it! I could see it!"
Holley giggled. She had binoculars built into her windshield and she wasn't sure she could have seen the county line from where they'd picked Odis up, but there was no crashing the customer's fun.
"Oh, um, Mater? I meant to ask, but," Odis' eyelids drooped a bit as he looked over at Holley, "who is...?"
"Dad gum, where did my manners go?" Mater continued driving while swapping introductions. "Holley, I told you's about Odis. Odis, this is Holley Shiftwell. She's my girlfriend!"
Odis burst into laughter. "Haha! Oh Mater! Ha! You're a riot! Hooo, that's, haha..." Holley stared Odis down. "Haha...Ha... Wait, is he serious?"
She smiled cheekily. "As serious as he gets."