Doc Hudson was peacefully listening to the radio in his garage. It was too damn hot to do anything outside, which meant he was forced to spend the weekend cooped up in his small shack.
Unfortunately, The only thing airing at this time (with a reasonable connection) was the ever-depressing news station. Doc sighed tiredly. At the very least listening to it was more bearable than dealing with the heat, or whatever stupid nonsense the rest of the town got up to.
As the news anchor forklift blabbed on about stock exchanges and the weather (more dry heat? oh brother), Doc found himself dozing off. His frame lightly bobbed with each breath.
Doc was about to drift off into dreamland when his nap was rudely interrupted by the sounds of squealing tires and obnoxious yelling.
Of course, Mcqueen was here. The plucky bastard had the gall to bother him on his day off.
Earlier, Doc had heard the red idiot dash off to Flo's in what seemed like a hurry. Unfortunately for the Hudson Hornet, it seemed that he was next on the agenda for whatever the kid was doing.
With a loud boom the garage door flew open, revealing Mcqueen and the sun and the heat. Doc recoiled on instinct.
"I'VE GOT GOOD NEWS, CHIEF!" Mcqueen blasted at full volume.
"Jesus Chrysler! Did ya have to bust the door down to tell me?!" the hornet snarled back.
"Chick invited me to a race in Motoropolis! I'm so excited!"
"Great! I don't care! Now get the hell outside before I blow a gasket!"
"Come on, Doc. Won't you help me out for this special occasion?"
"No, I'm not doing this!" Doc squeezed his eyes shut, "Go ask Mater or somethin!"
He shooed the hot rod out of his garage and slammed the door shut.
"…Oh…" Mcqueen was downcast, "Ok…."
He decided to go see Mater. Surely his best friend would be fine with playing crew chief for the race
"Dad-gum!" Mater said upon inspecting the letter, "You've got yerself a real grudge match on yer hands!"
"Yeah!" Mcqueen smiled widely, "Isn't it great?"
The tow truck smiled, "Sounds like it'd be fun as hell!"
"So you'll help crew chief me..?"
Mater's grin froze for a moment, "Eh, I'm not sure…"
"Why not?"
"Well, for starters, I dunno the slightest bit about that fancy crew chief'n stuff,"
"Aw…"
"And also…." Mater turned to eye a suspiciously tall tower of empty cans, "I've got to watch over my pets,"
Mcqueen may have been stupid, but even he wasn't fooled. "Mater, that's a pile of cans,"
The tow truck grinned impishly "Yea, so? Who's to say that them cans don't have feelin's?"
He tried to use his tow hook to stack another canister onto the pile, but he accidentally knocked them all over. They clattered noisily on the ground.
"Dang-it,"
Lightning cleared his throat, "Listen, it'll be simple. You don't even have to do anything. All you need to do is help me beat Chick,"
"That sure don't sound simple…"
Mcqueen cringed with frustration, "You know what, Forget the crew chief stuff! Why not join me as a friend? I go tractor tipping with you all the time, won't you do this one thing for me?"
Mater closed his eyes in apparent thought, "Well, you've got a point. I never have gone out to see yer races…..but..." he smirked, "I might need some convincing,"
"I'll buy you a pack of Gask-its,"
There was a glint in Mater's eyes, "Make that two packs and we've got a deal!"
"Alright! Let's do it!" Mcqueen smiled wide, and drove off
As the tow truck re-stacked the can tower, his thoughts were racing in his head,
"Motoropolis is not a nice place. I'm sure Chick has something sinister planned. But what could it be?"
He decided it would be worth it to call a meeting with the twins over this. If Mcqueen was going to get himself in a potentially dangerous situation, he had to be there to keep his friend safe.
"I just hope that Lightnin realizes the danger here…" he thought.
