Chapter 4

"You're what?"

A silver Peugeot 407, who had just taken Lightning's registration, gave Lightning a strange look from behind the stack of papers all across his desk space. He hadn't even looked at him since his arrival, until then.

Lightning looked confused.

"I said…. I'm Lightning McQueen. I'm supposed to race today in the invitational?..."

Lightning was in the race management office at the Monza Grand Prix Circuit, having made it with little time to spare, and he was anxious to get out into the paddocks to meet his pit crew and make all the final preparations for the race.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that. We've got you ready to go. I meant that you're the guy from Radiator Springs, right?"

Oh Chrysler…. Here we go….

"I can't believe you even showed up here today. Takes a lot of engine grease to come out here after all of that stuff!"

McQueen tensed up, laying most of his weight on his tires and tightening his face in a look of discontent.

Great….

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Two knocks on the door woke Sally, her bumper in a stack of papers she had ended up taking over to her rest area earlier that morning. Her eyes slowly opened, her head all abuzz.

Oh, man…. Last night was awful!... I've got to get out to the Cone and…. Oh! And the next two cars coming tonight…. And I wonder if Doc ended up getting Mater into number…. Number 3? Number 4?... I wish I'd gotten more sleep and….

Another knock at the door broke her spinning thoughts.

"Oh! Just a minute…. I'll be right there!" she said, shaking herself a bit to clear her head.

Sally quickly looked around, hoping her office wasn't messy. It looked fine apart from the small stack of papers that had since scattered when she shook herself about.

She moved towards the doors, readying herself for business and putting on her perfected 'hospitality' attitude.

There was one last knock as she pulled up to the door.

"It's okay. I'm right here," she responded, unlatching the lock and pulling the right-side door open smoothly with her tires. Her whole expression was very accommodating, pleasing, and professional.

"Hi. Good morning. I hope your stay last night was enjoyable. How may I help you?" she began, almost in recitation, but ended with enthusiasm and a smile on her face. She finally looked at the car in front of her and almost blushed in embarrassment.

"Sheriff!... Sorry, I, uh…. Yeah, long night…. But no, I didn't realize you weren't a customer and so I just used my business greeting… instead of just saying hello….Yeah…," she said, trailing off in her rushed sentences.

Could pay a little more attention now, right? I mean, yeah, it was a long night, but you're going along like it's business, but it's not…. Embarrassing….

Sheriff just sat there, waiting for her to calm down. He knew she would be this way after storm the night before. Sally always got so caught up in herself when she was tired or stressed out.

"Hi, Sheriff," she finally said, giving a little, bashful smile. "Sorry about that…. So! How is everything?"

"Oh, it's alright…. I just needed to get you to come back to town as soon as you could. Doc said he needed to see you…." he told her.

"Hmmm…. It's probably just about last night," she said quietly, glancing to her right, recalling Doc's mixed response to her call.

Sheriff shifted his weight to his other two tires, his shock absorbers squeaking a bit. "Well, he didn't say what it was for… Just wanted me to come up here and let you know."

"Oh, well okay. Thanks, Sheriff," she said.

"It's no problem. I think I'm going to go head out to the sign right now anyhow," he said.

Sheriff turned around and started making his way back to Radiator Springs. One of the doors in the lobby-drive opened, two young Hondas speeding out of the doorway shouting.

Sally quickly turned her attention towards them, calming herself and putting her business manner back on.

"Hey, hey, hey! Slow down, little guys. 5 miles per hour in the lobby…."

She let the two kids just drive around because she saw one of the parents coming out of the room, with the other just a few feet behind. Sally drove over to them and started taking care of their check out.

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Lightning rolled his eyes, his face in a tight look of discontent.

"Now, what is going on here?" he asked emphatically, the Peugeot looking as if he were about to say something else. "Those cars on the Motorway, the guys at the entrance, the two kids in the lobby, and now you? What am I missing, huh? Who in the world is saying that it's my fault, the town's fault for making Michael Schumacher retire?! I have no idea what's going on and no one will tell me!"

The manager had a surprised look on his face. He raised his eyebrow, confused.

"What did you say?" he said. "Michael Schumacher retired? When? What?"

Oh, you've gotta be kidding me….

"You mean you didn't…. Yeah, he retired. Last night, I guess," Lightning said.

"I can't believe that! How could he retire? He's one of the best!" The Peugeot looked completely bewildered.

"Wait, so what were you talking about 'it taking a lot of engine grease' for me to come here? I thought you had heard about this… little thing about his retirement and were upset just like these other cars I met on the way here were."

It took a few seconds before the manager's attention came to what McQueen had said. "Oh… just earlier? I hadn't heard a thing about the retirement. I was just bein' a little hard on you since it's the first time you've ever raced here in Europe."

Lightning let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Huh, well that's nice. Intimidate the racers you invite…" he said under his breath. "Well, I guess I should get going down to the paddocks…. " he remarked, louder, hoping to get the race manager's leave.

The Peugeot took a moment to snap his attention back to McQueen, his thoughts once again centered on Schumacher. "Oh, sorry. I was just wondering about the retirement thing again," he said.

Yeah, I noticed.

An engine started up in a room adjacent to the office they were in.

"Did you say retirement?" a voice yelled from the direction of the engine noise.

Both Lightning and the race manager looked towards the doorway. A glossy red Fiat Dino circled around the threshold and into the office.

"I thought I heard Gerald here just say something about retirement. Only two months on the job and you want to retire?" the newly arrived car said.

Gerald, the silver Peugeot Lightning had just been talking with answered. "Oh, no no no. Lightning McQueen just told me that Michael Schumacher is retiring!"

"What?" the Dino responded.

Oh great. Here we go again…. I need to get out of here, not tell everyone the news all day long.

Lightning glanced towards the door, wondering how much time he had left to get ready for the race. He made up his mind. It was time to go.

"Hey guys, before you get too caught up, I need to go. Now, actually. Talk about Schumacher's retirement all you want, but I need to get out to the paddock and meet my team."

Before Gerald could say anything, the red Dino answered. "You haven't met your team yet?"

"Uh…no. I've been in here," McQueen replied.

The Dino glanced back at Gerald.

"How long did you keep him in here?" the Dino said.

Gerald slumped down onto his tires.

"I… Not long. I mean, I was just getting him through and he said something about the retirement," he responded.

"Uh huh…. Well," the Dino started, turning back to Lightning, "you should get out there right now then. I'll make sure you've got enough time to meet with your crew."

Lightning's face lit up. "Thank you!" he said.

"Don't worry, just go," the Dino said back.

He was out of the room and making his way outside to the midfield complex, relieved and very excited. He knew he was wearing his trademark grin, mentally psyched now that the paperwork was over with. He shot out of the doors to the office building, on his way to the paddocks.

Yeah…. Monza, here I come!

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Sally's engine revved as she pushed herself through a hard downward right turn, the mid-morning light streaming through the tall pines all around. She accelerated fast onto the straightaway she had just reached, the shadows and light dancing all over her frame and past her on the ground. The cooler air of the forest was very refreshing, the smell of the wet pines and the sound of her squealing tires as she barreled through a few of the tighter curves a welcome addition to the whole atmosphere. She was still tired, but her head was on straight.

Sure is a nice day for a drive….

She felt a little less anxious about Doc wanting to see her after helping a few of her tenants check out of the Wheel Well and driving down her beloved stretch of road heading back to town. If her mind wasn't preoccupied with other things, she would have loved to drive at full speed. It was just one of those days she wanted to concentrate on the road for a little while, letting the business and the numerous little happenings slip out of her head.

The first few hills were coming up so she slowed, ready for a few of the small blind turns to come. The town was only a few minutes further now that she was out of the Range and back in the Valley.

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Sally slowed as she pulled out of the shadow of the Radiator Cap overlooking the town. Everything looked alright. Nothing had been damaged from the storm as far as she could tell. She sped back up and drove into town.

A few cars were having a late breakfast at "Eat," the restaurant that had re-opened a few months after Lightning's headquarters started up for his second season. Red was cruising down the main street, on the lookout for anything he might need to take care of. Flo, Mia, and Tia seemed busy, three cars besides Fillmore and Sarge sipping at some oil and conversing. She saw Mater tending to something at his salvage yard.

That's good…. Looks like Mater's doing fine today.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. There was a fair amount of bustle from the visitors, but even after the thunderstorm, everything appeared to be just fine.

Maybe I just worry too much….

She made her way to the Cozy Cone, wondering if there was anything she could do before finding Doc.