Tow Mater and Doreen might have continued forever in the blissful life they'd started together, but as the days went by, Doreen's exhaustion only became more pronounced, even after they'd reluctantly curtailed their nighttime activity. It hadn't taken long for guilt to set in over the way she'd turned in her family to the law, despite her bravado at the moment she had done so. The two forces worked together so that she was dragging more each day than the previous. She'd even nodded off at work more than once.
Sheriff watched her limp back to the V8 night after night, and he had studied her long enough to sense that there was yet another concern that was weighting her down, one that she had likely not admitted to Mater yet, let alone herself. His eyes narrowed as he noted how she moved more cautiously, her substitution of oil for her usual ethanol, and the way she often got distracted. He suspected the reason behind her change in behavior, but Mater seemed oblivious.
Though the tow truck hadn't any idea, Becky called her friend on it while they were in their usual space by the grandstand one weekend.
"Doreen, ya were never much fer kiddie drinks like oil, and suddenly yer drinkin' 'em like there's no tomorrow and turnin' down the good stuff." Her voiced dropped. "Do ya think yer…in the family way?" The rusty pickup bit the straw in her oil can, watching Mater down on the track, struggling to pull a stalled monster truck.
"Think so," she said softly. "I've been tryin' hard to hide it but I ain't been feelin' like myself lately." To her dismay, Chrissi turned to them, and the look on her face made it obvious she'd not only overheard but was eager for the opportunity to share her unwanted advice.
"You know there's a new dipstick test you can buy to find out for sure? Of course, you might be fine. Everyone knows you can't get pregnant your first time." She wasn't sure if that last part was true, but it was an empty reassurance anyway; she was delving for more information and waited for Doreen to respond.
"We made love twice," the pickup said, gritting her teeth, "and a few times in the days since. I am livin' with him, after all." Feigning concern, the Jaguar pressed for more details, disguising her remarks again.
"On your tires or off? Because, you know, your chances are less if you were upright."
Doreen naively took the bait again. "Off," she answered cautiously. The sportscar whistled.
"Really? You might as well consider yourself good and knocked up," she said, a touch of cruelty in her voice. "I'll tell you what I'd do if it were me." As the sportscar rambled on, Doreen sensed she'd been tricked into revealing details she needn't have and drove down to the pits in frustration, Chrissi's voice fading away behind her.
On a sultry August afternoon soon afterwards, Doreen had Mater wait outside the general store in her town while she whisked inside. She couldn't help but notice the large poster advertising the EZ Engine Koolant's sponsorship of the local Rustbucket racers hanging on the glass by the door. She had to admit it looked very professional and polished. Of course, she was nowhere to be found in the photo and Becky looked peeved. Mater parked by the vending machines, puzzled as to why they couldn't have picked up whatever it was she needed so much at Lizzie's shop.
Approaching the pharmacy counter in the front of the store, she asked the clerk for a test, averting her eyes. She knew the hatchback behind the counter from her school days.
"Here ya go, and good luck with everything. Does he know yet?" the clerk asked, gesturing at the window, where Mater could be seen on the sidewalk, attempting to shake a loose bottle from the beverage machine.
"He's gonna soon enough," sighed Doreen, paying him and sliding the kit into a sack.
Soon after, she stood by Mater in his shack as they anxiously waited for the test to show its results. Doreen already knew full well what it was going to reveal sometime in the next half-hour, and it hadn't been cheap. She wouldn't have wasted her money had she not known Mater would want proof positive of what she could have just told him.
"Wow, I guess this changes everything," pondered the tow truck as they stared at the tiny screen on the test, which was still blank. "A little one we created. We sure got ourselves in deep for a summer romance, but at least now we'll always be together."
Doreen's engine flooded with emotion as she realized he evidently hadn't paid much attention during certain classes in school. Since she and Mater were both trucks and their reproductive processes were different from cars, there could be as many as six little ones born next spring. She was still planning the best way to break this latest startling revelation to him when she realized they were not alone. Swerving around, they caught sight of Sheriff, who stood behind them with a large rifle. He looked past them at the test.
"Mater, in light of what's happened I think it's high time you made an honest woman out of Doreen." Not daring to defy the only father figure in his life, the tow truck allowed himself to be led to the courthouse, hardly daring to believe what was happening.
Tow Mater stood before the raised bench as Doc glared down at him unsympathetically. Doreen was by his side, not quite touching him. The tow truck wanted to flee from the suffocating courtroom, but one of the parking boots from his own impound yard had been clamped tightly over his tire, reducing any ideas of escape to mere fantasy. Sweat dripped from his cab onto the dusty wooden floor, and she had a sheen of moisture over her own rusted paint.
"This is the first ceremony like this I've done this in a long time," Doc said gruffly before opening a book before him. "Never thought I'd have to do one again, either." He shot a brief glance at the couple, who hadn't even had a chance to wipe away the dust from the desert roads. Obviously Sheriff had caught them off guard.
Doreen nudged Mater's tire as the older car began reciting the civil ceremony that would unite them in marriage, his words droning on in a monotone voice. Her hood was flushed and the fans overhead only pushed the stale air around. To be certain, she had dreamed of marrying Mater as soon as she'd fallen in love with him, but though her fantasies hadn't been very lofty, they hadn't been quite like this either. She'd known her own family would have no interest in attending her ceremony unless there was an open ethanol bar, but surely Becky would have come, as well as Tommy Joe and even Chrissi, providing the Jaguar wasn't too jaded to appreciate the commitment a wedding symbolized.
"I just wanted ya to know that I'd've married ya anyway, even if I hadn't, uh, knocked ya up." whispered Mater before Sheriff hushed him. The pickup felt a warmth spread through her engine. He had a knack for saying things in the least eloquent manner possible, but she knew his promise was sincere.
Their ceremony was mercifully brief, and soon Tow Mater was being asked if he would take Doreen as his lawfully wedded wife. Sheriff jabbed the rifle against his taillight for emphasis, but the gesture was unnecessary and Mater gave his answer. When Doreen followed suit, Doc pronounced them married, and then excused himself without apology.
"Sorry, son, but that needed to be done," Sheriff added, then left after the Hudson. The two trucks departed quickly from the stifling heat and out into the sunlight.
"So that was it, no rings or kiss or photos or cake," the tow truck mused during the short drive home, feeling wounded. "But at least we got each other and all that other stuff don't matter, an' we did git ourselves into this. Ain't like we can blame nobody else. Sometimes, though, it just feels like it's ya and me against the world, don't it?"
"We can't do anything right, can we?" she said dejectedly.
"Nope." He made Doreen wait in the junkyard while he rummaged through a supply of small parts. "I know this ain't much but it's the best I've got and I'd love fer ya to wear it," he said, holding up a small wingnut. Doreen dipped her antenna low and slid it on.
"Thanks," she said, her eyes misting over. She felt bad for her prior self-pity over something so trivial as who got to witness their wedding when Mater was going out of his way to be so kind. As they prepared to enter the shed, her new husband caught her on his tow hook, trying to make the best of the situation.
"Uh-uh," he chided, "it's bad luck unless the gentleman carries the lady over the threshold." He swung her forward until she was inside, then followed. "Dang, I love bein' a tow truck," he quipped, then slyly added, "I s'pose this is our honeymoon, ya know…" Doreen didn't respond, and he realized she was still parked where he'd dropped her, staring at something. The test.
"It's…negative?!" she asked in a whisper, then bolted from the shack, her eyes flooding with hot tears. "Dammit, I need some time alone!" Mater looked after her in befuddlement, for he had always found her stoicism comforting during difficult times and he hadn't seen her give in to dramatics before. He was unsure whether he should follow her against her wishes, but he finally opted to give Doreen her space.
Sheriff cleared his throat when he approached the shed, startling the despondent tow truck inside. He hadn't come to his decision to force this on the couple overnight and he'd even had second thoughts while holding the rifle in court. Mater had probably guessed it had been unloaded anyway. One look at the newlywed alone in his house cautioned him not to pry into Doreen's whereabouts or what might have made her leave.
"C'mon, son, let's go down to the V8 and the drinks are on me tonight. You ought to at least have some fun on your wedding night."
Doreen threw herself down on the floor of the abandoned Tireiron shack, hating herself for crying, for worrying Mater with her flight from their home, but even more so for trapping him in a marriage he might not have wanted. She found two last cans of ethanol in the kitchen and downed them without satisfaction.
At least I can still have this, she thought grimly, tossing the empty can aside. So I ain't pregnant, what a relief. I'm just horribly sick from something I can't identify and can't afford to see a doctor for.
Then another realization occurred. Based on what that stuck-up Jaguar said, there's no reason why I should have gotten out of this so easy, unless...maybe I can't give Mater any children, ever. Her mind flashed back to the countless night runs she'd made for her father, carrying those accursed chemicals that he'd ordered her to bring home. There had been so many times she'd had to hose out her bed at the outdoor tap afterward, and every time she'd tried not to imagine to what she might have been exposed. I probably screwed myself up just fine, but back then, wasn't it all just taking one more hit for the team?
"Breaker, Jaguar," crackled a familiar voice over her CB radio. Her engine fluttered. "This is Blue. Got yer ears on?"
"10-4," she answered, her voice quavering. Mater didn't allow much silence to pass.
"Listen, babe, we can talk about all this but ya have to come home, now. I love ya." His voice was desperate. Doreen stammered a protest, but he cut her off impatiently.
"Ya don't understand. Sheriff and I were here at the V8 and we got word over the radio that yer pa done escaped from the jail tonight! He's gonna come after ya!" Doreen felt the oil throughout her body run cold.
"I'll be there in a flash," she said, but as she rushed for the exit a new transmission directly to her radio froze her in her tire tracks.
"Not so fast," the gravelly voice ordered, and she paused with one tire poised to shove open the door. In horror she realized she had heard the voice in stereo as her father emerged from one of her brothers' rooms. "Git away from the door," he snapped, and she complied out of habit. He advanced toward her and poked at the wingnut on her antenna with his own.
"Ya got hitched, didja? So how knocked-up did he getcha first?" He spat on the floor. "A tow truck for a son-in-law, wonderful." Doreen was still rendered speechless, and her eyes strayed to the deep gashes along his side panels.
"Oh, those? Got 'em bustin' through the fence at the jail," he crowed proudly, even though it was apparent the wounds had to be maddeningly painful. "There's a guard back there who'll be lucky to wake up tomorrow with a bad headache, provided he wakes up at all."
"You left the boys behind?" she asked.
He nodded. "Fer now." Grabbing her sideview mirror roughly with his antenna, he dragged her toward the door. "It's you who's gonna git me to freedom." She struggled but Monroe was a larger truck with a stronger engine and he could easily overpower her.
They took the off-road path to the Glug-'N-Gas, the only remaining station in the rural area after her family's business had been leveled. Smashing through the door at her father's command, Doreen had already surmised his plans and how she was to be involved.
"I'm gonna let ya go after ya help me," he offered once they were inside, then added unpleasantly, "but I'm comin' back to git even with ya and yer husband fer what ya done. Might be tomorrow night, might be a year from now, you'll never really know when to expect me. When I'm done layin' low and come back to git ya, ya'll be really sorry ya done double-crossed me." He gathered up several plastic jugs and moved toward the pumps behind the beverage counter.
"C'mon, help me fill these," he barked. "I need enough for the next several weeks." Shaking, Doreen switched on the pumps and the numbers started rolling as the tanks filled. When he'd filled his bed with the tanks and she had helped him tie down a tarp over them, he knocked the gas nozzle from her grip to the floor, where it continued to dispense gas across the tiles. The smaller pickup bent to retrieve it but her father clubbed her with a tire. She slid to the floor, scrambling to regain her balance in the pool of liquid that was surrounding them both.
"No, let it be!" Monroe bellowed. "I'm leavin' no evidence behind, an' I always hated this store after old Smedley picked up my business once I was outta the picture." He pulled a lighter off a spinning rack.
"Pa, ya can't!" Doreen yelped, realizing the scenario she'd escaped at the Windshields was about to happen anyway, but on a grander scale considering the amount of gasoline flooding the store.
Monroe calmly tossed her the lighter. "No, I'll leave that to you. Ya are yer father's daughter like ya done said so yerself! Now light 'er up."
Doreen let the plastic device bounce off her hood and splash into the liquid on the ground, then crushed it deliberately with a tire. When her father lunged at her in fury, she was ready. They grappled, getting drenched with the spilled gasoline, but her father knocked her into a display rack and seized another lighter. He made it emit a short orange flame, sneered triumphantly and tossed it to her. It bounced off one shelf of the mangled rack to the next, as if in slow motion.
Doreen charged forward as the entire gas station erupted in an inferno. Shattering through the large front window, she hit the ground outside roughly, surrounded by shards of glass. She was almost deaf from the explosion of the building's windows and her suspension had not been strong enough to prevent her body from being painfully mashed against her tires and the ground, but the flames had not touched her.
"Mater!" she screamed, seeing him rushing into the lot. A second later, her father plunged through the exit she'd made, roaring off crazily but somehow unharmed. She pulled away from the raging fire and into the nearby woods where she collapsed, gasping.
"What have I done?" she asked, as the flames continued to devour what little was left of someone's livelihood.
"He made ya do it," the tow truck insisted. "Ya never had a choice."
She shook her head vehemently. "The law ain't never gonna see it that way. There's no gittin' out of this one like I did last time. I can't go to the same jail as my brothers, I'll git killed!" Admitting she was right, Mater could see no other way out.
"What are ya gonna do?" he asked, his voice breaking.
"I always had this escape plan if things ever got real bad with my family," she said sadly. "I got a great-granny livin' down south, she'd probably take me in and I could start a new life fer myself." Tears weaved among the rivulets of gasoline on her hood. "'Course it wouldn't be much of a life without ya in it. You've got to stay here and watch yerself and Lizzie 'cause my dad's still after ya. " They hurriedly kissed for what they knew would be the last time for a long while.
"I'm gonna make somethin' of myself, an' hopefully make up for this." Doreen vowed. "By the time I get back, I'll be someone ya kin be proud to call yer wife."
"I already am, Doreen. Yer the best thing that ever happened to me. I love ya and good luck," said Mater. He watched as she drove off until her taillights faded in the darkness.
Back in Radiator Springs, Sheriff had been reluctantly watching over Lizzie's shop when the county police radioed him to inform him of the fire. They'd already found Monroe's tire tracks, as well as those of his daughter. Both were being classified as wanted criminals.
When Mater rolled back wearily and said he hadn't found Doreen, Sheriff struggled to find the words necessary to inform him that his wife had not been quite who he'd thought.
"Yeah, and right before she tore outta here she found out she weren't pregnant, either."
"Oh no," Sheriff said, almost whispering. "I'm so sorry…I mean, I guess it's better she wasn't, but…you've got to realize, I was only trying to do the right thing by ordering you to the courthouse. I doubt that you would have left her anyway, but I couldn't see that girl left alone to raise your child." He added wistfully, "That's what happened to my own ma."
"We can have the marriage annulled for you if you'd like, son. She did abandon you," Sheriff offered gently.
"No," sniffed the heartbroken tow truck. "I'd rather be married in name only than to have lost her altogether." Accepting that he'd overcome his denial in time, Sheriff watched Mater slump to the floor of his shack, one tire resting on a ragged quilt that must have been his wife's.
Tow Mater deflected questions from his neighbors about what had happened between himself and Doreen, only telling Tommy Joe and Becky the true story. Only Doc and Sheriff knew they'd ever been married, and Mater grew so evasive when anyone brought up the topic of his relationship that everyone else assumed the rusty pickup must have cheated on him and left him for another the same night she'd helped her father torch the gas station. Eventually the tow truck only spoke of Doreen as though they'd had a brief summer romance, and he tore the metal panels off his shed.
Three decades passed.