Chapter 20: Now What?
"We have no more money."
Grid spoke as he parked himself next to a sulking Tony in their Los Angeles suite.
"You said, 'there's always a way to make more bucks', we're broke now!" Grid breathed a sharp and annoyed breath as Yarvis studied the laptop a few feet away.
"I didn't think things would get this bad!" Tony replied. He looked exhausted as he slumped to the floor.
"Things are harder when there's no one around to photograph except Storm." Yarvis stated, not looking up from his laptop.
Grid thought for a moment, peering at the screen the Yaris was immersed in. Storm's little meltdown with the cameras about two weeks ago was quickly becoming old news as McQueen's near fatal crash took actual headlines. Paparazzi were eager for shots of the veteran racer hiding away instead of Storm's latest after race interviews. It made selling cheap news all the more difficult.
"Why are we even doing this?" Yarvis asked. His eyes peered up, looking at the two cars in front of him.
"She got treated like a VIP for no reason." Grid stated, attempting to justify his stance. Tony soon chimed in.
"She got deals, access to the roof venue without even being invited... she got an autograph from Storm when she's not even a fan... " Tony said, an annoyed tone in his voice.
Grid began snickering, "Dude, admit it."
Tony shot him an incredulous look as Yavis looked his friends on in confusion.
"you wish you could be as fast as Storm."
"I bet I could be! Sheesh, why do you have to be up my tailpipe?" Tony brushed off the comment. "Does it look like I care."
"Yeah," Yarvis answered simply, garnering an eye roll from Tony.
"You're pretty far up Storm's tailpipe, way to mask that envy." Grid joked.
Tony suddenly tossed a stuffed toy at Grid, the grey car swiftly dogged the toy as it hit the wall behind with a squeak.
"A Hudson Hornet plush toy?" Grid laughed examining the stuffed car, and turned to meet Tony's glare.
"Where'd you even get this thing?"
Tony's eyes became neutral once again. "I found it when I was cruising around out at the back lot. There was a bag full of them outside of a trailer. I was bored, so I grabbed one."
"Didn't our boss say there's a memorial fair tomorrow for the Fabulous Hudson Hornet? Maybe that's what they're for." Yarvis guessed.
"Probably. That also means we get the day off." Tony said, thinking about it.
"So, we gonna make that online profile we said we were gonna make or not?" Grid interrupted. Yarvis stretched his axles, "What's the point? We just pull fake publicity out of our tailpipes and expect cash to just flow in?"
Tony opened his mouth to protest when the room garage opened. Preston rolled in, his red paint contrasting the look of anguish on his front.
"Take it easy, bro," Grid said. "Lightning will be back in the season soon... maybe."
Preston said nothing as he rolled past the trio, soon relaxing on his tires in the corner.
"Where did you go?" Tony asked, watching his friend slumped in melancholy.
"I tried to see if I could meet McQueen while he was recovering, but the hospital was keeping a low profile. Man this sucks." Preston soon answered.
There was a new silence in the room as the four thought over the devastating event. They could remember the sounds of shredding metal and sparks flying as the legendary racer tumbled down the speedway. It wasn't a pleasant experience to witness.
Tony soon broke the silence, his tone genuinely confused as he stared over the plush toy once more, "Who was the Fabulous Hudson Hornet anyway?"
Preston, Yarvis and Grid collectively shot him a look of confusion and amazement.
Has anyone else noticed that Jackson Storm resembles the model of the Nissan GT-R R36 set to be released in 2020? I always thought he looked sort of like a Lamborghini mixed with a modern stock car.