~Chapter 17~

"Snow Day"

The sun slowly rose over Radiator Springs. Snow had already fallen from the cold desert nights, but it always melted a bit when the sun came back up. Only when it was cloudy did the snow stay. This morning, clouds were blocking the sun, but just enough so that a car was able to stare right at the it and see its circular shape a bit.

Mater opened his eyes, weakly, and stretched out his tires. Icicles were hanging from his fenders. He rolled his eyes and groaned. He jumped up and down to knock off the icicles. When they hit the floor, they didn't break. Instead, they rolled around, which gave Mater an idea.

Lightning was sleeping while Sally was with him in the examination room getting ready for work. She shook her hood in disbelief.

"I can never have the whole motel occupied," she said to herself. "I wish I could finally light up my 'no vacancy' sign."

She continued to shake her hood as she drove out of Doc's office and went to work.

Jane opened her eyes. She was asleep under the lift. She looked up and saw her father raised above her, but when she did that, something else caught her eye.

Outside on the windowsill was a pile of snow that glistened in the sunlight. The pupils in Jane's eyes widened. She was in complete and total adoration. She looked up at her father once again. She needed to get his attention.

"Daddy?" she asked.

Lightning continued to snore. His body was gently bobbing up and down from his breathing.

"Daaaaddy?" she asked again.

Still, there was no answer. Jane started to get annoyed. She looked at the pole that was keeping Lightning lifted on the lift. She knocked her tire on it a few times while staring up at Lightning. There was still no reaction. Jane exhaled heavily and stomped her tire on the ground. Something inside of Jane made a quick clicking noise when she did that. Jane looked back and forth wondering where the noise came from, but there was nothing out of place. After a few seconds, she decided she didn't care at all about the noise, because she just wanted to get her father's attention. She stared at the pole again, revving at it. This time, she was going to knock herself into it. She revved some more and accelerated, but instead of going forward, she flung herself backward, and rolled over the switch.

The lift pulled down fast and Lightning slammed into the ground. His eyes shot open in fear and he started to pant.

"Bubba no!" he yelled, thinking he fell off of the cliff again. As he kept breathing, he started to take in his surroundings again. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Daddy!" she exclaimed. "You go boom!"

Lightning groaned and in a baby voice he said, "Yes, daddy went boom. Now daddy needs to keep himself cool before he screams really loud and breaks every window.."

"Daddy look!" Jane exclaimed. She pointed with her tire at the window. Lightning looked over and saw the snow.

"Oh...your first snowfall," said Lightning. "You want to go see?"

Jane nodded fast. She accelerated, but went reverse again. She was very confused.

"Honey, get yourself out of reverse," said Lightning. "I don't want Mater to see that and start teaching you how to drive badly. You're going to grow up to be a racer. You need to be a professional like your father."

Lightning smiled - at himself. Jane struggled with her gears and eventually got herself out of reverse.

"Come on, Jane. Let's go outside."

"Daddy drive now?"

"Yeah, daddy can drive now."

They both drove to the door.

"Now, I'm warning you now. It's going to feel cold, but it's very fun to play with. If mommy knew you were going outside though..she'll have engine failure. Another thing, ice is not good to drive on. You will slip and slide. I know you've seen people sliding around on ice on the TV, but they are professionals. You can't do that," Lightning paused for a moment, "Yes, you can do that. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. It just takes a lot of time, effort, willpower, and practice..but if you get one scratch on you when you're out there, Ramone and your mother will hurt me. They will hurt me in ways that are worse than what Bubba did to me. Especially mommy. Understand?"

Jane nodded.

"One more thing," Lightning started.

Jane rolled her eyes.

"If you see a car that doesn't look right, run here, and tell daddy. Also, stay away from cars you don't know. Also, don't speed. Wait, no, speed, you need to practice racing. Wait, no, don't speed, there's ice out there. Wait..no..just be careful okay?"

Jane nodded slower, more forced.

"One more thing," Lightning started again.

Jane shut her eyes.

"Stay away from crazy cars. Now, let's go."

When Jane heard that last part, she opened her eyes quickly and smiled. Lightning opened the door and Mater was parked right in front of them. He had two icicles stuck behind his upper lip.

"Look!" Mater shouted. "Ahm a walrus!"

Jane stared at Mater with an even bigger smile on her face and laughed really hard.

Lightning remembered what he said about crazy cars to her, leaned over to her, and said, "Jane, stay inside."

Lightning studied Mater some more.

"Take those out of your mouth," he said. "Before you hurt yourself."

Mater chuckled, "Ain't gonna-"

Suddenly, he gasped.

"Hey, Jane!" Mater exclaimed. "Has you ever seen snow?"

Jane shook her head 'no' and tilted her head to hear more about it.

"Mater," said Lightning. He cringed at what he was about to say, "Can you take care of Jane for me?"

"Sure thing, buddy!"

"Keep an eye on her! No, you're too literal, keep both eyes on her."

"It's gonna be fine!"

"Make sure she listens to you and make sure you're listening to me."

"I hear ya!"

"Sally will be very mad if she finds out anything bad happened to her."

"I know, Lightning."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Positive?"

"Yes!"

"Mater, if she has one mark on her-"

"Dad-gum, you're annoyin'!"

Mater hooked his tow-hook to Jane's bumper. He tugged on it a little bit so Lightning saw it was tight, "See? I got 'er. I won't let go."

Lightning sighed and said, "Listen, Mater, I know you're my best friend and all, but this is the first time we- I mean, the first time I let anyone else take care of Jane. If Sally found out-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Mater scoffed. "She'll hurt ya."

Lightning looked down at Jane and frowned. Jane was too busy bouncing from excitement to notice. Mater saw a look in Lightning's face that he never saw before, but even he knew what it meant. He drove close to Lightning, bumped his tire on his, and said, "I won't let go."

Lightning looked back up at Mater.

"Promise?" he whispered.

"Promise," Mater assured. "Now get back in there an' rest."

Lightning took one last look at Jane and turned around to drive away. Once Lightning was clear out of view, Mater smiled.

"Whooooo-weeee!" he exclaimed. "Let's play!"

Mater sped out with Jane to Frank's field. The snow was so thick there since there weren't many cars who drove by, so the snow was able to keep its shape for the most part. The way the sun hit the snow was so beautiful. It was almost as if Mater was staring into a field of diamonds stuck on white glue. Jane was hooked behind Mater from her rear bumper, facing away from him. She planted her hood into the snow and shook around to move the snow about. She pulled it out and shivered.

"C-Cold!" she squealed. Mater nodded and continued to drive. He passed the area where Frank sleeps.

"Hey, ya see that?" asked Mater, pointing to the area. Mater let some rope go, so that Jane was able to move about. Jane drove around Mater with his hook still attached and took a look.

"Uh-huh," said Jane.

"Don't go near here," said Mater.

"Why?" asked Jane.

"'Cause the big, bad wolf will git ya!"

Jane gasped and backed away. Mater giggled and tightened up his tow hook again.

"Now, don't you start worrying on me, kid," said Mater. "You your daddy's daughter."

Jane didn't quite understand what that meant, so she didn't answer. Mater continued to drive until he reached an open area; not a tree in sight. It was just Mater and Jane. The only thing around them was a white floor and a blue sky. It was like they were on the blank page of a fresh book and their tire marks made the words each time they drove an inch. The snow was so white, the only way Mater was able to see Jane was to look out for her mismatched eyes. Mater looked around and took a deep breath in. The cold winter air stuck inside of his filters and released when warm air inside of him fought against it.

"Smell that?" asked Mater. "That's the smell of real fresh air."

Jane took a deep breath in and then coughed. The cold air irritated her.

"Don't worry," said Mater. "You get used to it when you've breathed cold air for your entire life."

Mater grinned and said, "Yep, you're just a baby car. You're no bigger than my door. You're exhaust is cleaner than my exhaust."

He let some of his rope go so he could turn to face Jane and when he faced her, he drove close to her.

He sniffed her, "..and ya still got that 'new car' smell."

Mater tightened his tow hook again then paused.

"Ya know?" he said. "It's kinda hard to talk to ya when you're always behind me. Ya heard what you're daddy said about talking to a car ya don't know, right?"

"Yes."

"Ya heard what you're daddy said about drivin'on ice, right?"

"Yes."

"Ya know to always listen to your daddy, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I think you should come and drive next to me!"

Mater unhooked Jane. Her eyes lit up and she drove around went next to Mater.

"Now that you're here, let me show ya how to make a snow car!"

Mater took off and drove farther into the blank snow field. Jane was speeding behind him. Suddenly a white bunny popped out of the snow. It was so hard to see, and Mater was able to drive right over it because he's so small, but when she finally saw it she Jane slammed on her brakes and swerved around the bunny. She swerved onto snow that was piled thinly on ice that no car would have been able to see it.

She slid back in the direction in which she and Mater drove from, and kept sliding, getting farther and farther away from Mater. She went to scream Mater's name, but Mater wasn't in sight anymore. Jane slammed on her breaks, but her tires locked, and she kept sliding. She moved her tires around to try to get a grip on the ice, but it was impossible. She kept sliding until she eventually hit a rock, just big enough to form a speed bump, that bashed into her front tires, and brought her to rest. Jane breathed heavily.

In the distance, she heard a car, a woman crying. She looked around and in the same distance and saw a red, 1995 Ford Mustang.

The Mustang ran her tires over little bits of red metal that were buried under the snow that had fallen overnight.

"Daddy..," she whispered. She started to sob, "That ol' Frank git ya? Well, I'm gonna git 'em next."

Jane knew not to talk to strange cars, but Jane saw this car was crying, and couldn't help but want to help, so she drove over to the car.

"Hi," she said. The Mustang jerked, out of surprise, and turned around. She looked down at the baby Porsche. Jane was now able to get a good look at her. The Mustang had two green eyes that looked like gems and pouty lips. Her red paint job was just a red paint job from far away, but if a car drove that close to her, he or she would see that this Mustang's paintjob was more than that. This paint was glossy and was filled with glitter. This red paint job was so plain, yet so complicated. Ramone couldn't even do a job like this ruby.

"Well, howdy there, little one. Ya sure look like an expensive little bitty. Where your parents at?" the mustang asked. Her voice was so soft. Her voice was softer than Sally's; so delicate that it seemed like if she yelled her voice would break into a billion pieces.

"I'm lost-ed..," Jane told her.

The mustang pressed her lips together and lowered her eyelids.

"Aw, you poor little thing," she said. Jane looked over at the metal bits on the floor.

"Why did you call those 'daddy'?" asked Jane. The mustang looked like she was about to cry and one could hear her voice starting to crack.

"He died last night," said the mustang. "Torn apart by that stupid 'ol combine over in that there place."

She used her tire to point to the same area Mater told her to stay away from.

"That's something you kinda have to expect out here with dangerous animals," she continued. "It's easy to have someone you love killed."

Jane tilted her body in confusion.

"What's 'killed'?" asked Jane. The Mustang looked over at Jane and mirrored the confused look on her face.

"Ya don't know what being killed means?" said the mustang.

Jane shook her head, "No."

The mustang chuckled and said, "You've got a lot to learn."

Mater stopped at a spot in the snow field that looked just like the one he left, but he promised it was different.

"Now," said Mater. "I'm gonna show you how to make a snow car."

Mater gathered some snow together, so it started as a weird pile.

"Now you try."

Mater turned around to Jane, who wasn't there. Mater wasn't worried though. Jane was white so she blended in with the snow pretty well. He looked around for eyes, but couldn't find them.

"Jane!" he called out. He felt his engine beginning to race.

"JANE! Where are you!?"

Mater turned in circles over and over. Finally, he stopped, "Oh no.."

"What's your name? Is it 'Leo'?" asked the mustang.

"Leo?" asked Jane. "Jane! What's 'Leo'?"

"Oh, I was just shortenin' 'Little Expensive One'."

"Oh…I'm Jane."

"Jane? That's pretty silly!"

"Why?"

"It's so plain!"

"What's 'plain'?"

"Plain. Plain? Plain basically means, well, worthless."

"Daddy says it's like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'."

"Your daddy based your name off of a silly lil' rhyme?"

Jane still didn't really understand, but she couldn't help but feel like she did something wrong. She looked down at her hood.

"I'll just call ya 'Leo', Jane. 'Cause you're so expensive lookin'. I think it's less, ya know, stupid."

"Okay…"

"Really, Leo?"

"What?"

"You're not even mad?"

"Daddy says I shouldn't know what mad is 'til I'm married."

"Well, you're daddy sorta got somethin' right. Even so, I just made fun of your name, Leo! That's your name! The only thing ya really own in this world. Even so, ya don't really own it. Other cars may have your name. I mean, come on. Your name is 'Jane'. That's pretty bland enough to have thousands of cars with the same name."

"What's 'bland'?"

"It means plain."

There was that word again. Even with the mustang's explanation, she didn't get it, "What's your name?"

"My name is Vermella."

"Ver-may-ya?"

"Yes. It's spelled: V-E-R-M-E-L-L-A. Hear that double 'L'? That makes a 'y' sound in my name."

"Sounds pretty!"

"Thank you. So you're Leo and what's my name?"

"Huh?"

"Yes, you're Leo now. What's my name?"

"Ver-may-ya."

"Good. Say it again."

"Ver-may-ya."

"One more time."

"Vermella."