"I'm hereby sentencing you to community service," Doc told Lightning as the crowd filed from the courthouse onto the street. "You're going to fix this mess under my supervision. And you can start by cleaning it up. After that, the road will need fixing and several shops are going to need new windows, painting, structural repair and so on and so forth."
"I know this might be a bad time," Mater added, sidling up to Lightning conspiratorially, "But you owe me thirty-two thousand in legal fees."
"This place is crazy!" Lightning cried, searching the crowd wildly and pinning an angry glare at Sally. "I am so not taking you to dinner."
"Suits me, Stormcloud," Sally laughed. "You'll be too busy anyway." She kicked aside a few shards of glass, glancing back at the shattered display window of Luigi's garage. It lay on the street in a thousand pieces. And not far off, in the center of the road and surrounded by chunks of torn asphalt, was the statue of the town's founder, wrapped in barbed wire. That explained most of the destruction, although how on earth Lightning had managed to tear that statue off its pedestal and drag it down main street was beyond her imagination.
"How long is this gonna take?" Lightning was snapping at Doc. "And where's my car? You can't hold me here against my will… talk to my agent! I need to make some phone calls… are there even any phones around here?"
"Cool it, Hot Rod," Doc said easily. "It'll take as long as it takes, and if you don't do a good job, we'll make you start over again. Mater, get those handcuffs off this fool and get him a pair of overalls and a shovel and a wheelbarrow. He'll have to start right now."
'Twas a pity the entire population of Desert Springs didn't seem to have a single thing better to do than stand along the side of the road and bother Lightning as he shoveled rubble into the wheelbarrow. It was a blazing hot day and the sun beat down mercilessly on the lone worker. His face was red, sweat streaming down his forehead, and the townspeople seemed to find it great fun to stay in the shade of the buildings with glasses of Flo's lemonade and make his job as hard as they possibly could. Sally was out there with them, although she was just slightly frustrated with everyone. Maybe if they shaped up and did something, this town could actually get somewhere.
"Y'know," Mater remarked to Lightning after an hour or two had dragged by. "Red hates ya fer killin' his flowers." And he nodded towards the firehouse. Red's garden had been torn to pieces, shredded flowers buried beneath scattered dirt. The firefighter was on his hands and knees in the dirt, trying to salvage what he could. At the sound of his name, he glanced up and stared furiously at Lightning for a moment before ducking his head and deliberately turning his back. Mater laughed.
"He's awful shy, too."
"Agh, I shouldn't put up with this!" Lightning roared in exasperation, throwing the shovel to the ground. "I'm an expert on speed and aerodynamics, this crazy work has nothing do to with me!"
"Yer arro-what?" Mater looked confused.
"I'm a very famous racecar driver," Lightning snapped and Luigi, who had been chatting with Lizzie on the porch of the curio shop, perked up.
"You are a famous racer?" he spoke eagerly, his eyes lighting up. "A real racer?"
"Yes, I'm a real racer. What do you think? Look at me!"
Luigi looked dubiously and Sally did too, biting back a giggle at that comment. In those filthy overalls, with grease and dirt on his hair and face, Lightning didn't look like anything remarkable. Anything famous, that is, she corrected herself mentally. Because remarkable… well… she smiled inwardly. He was the handsomest thing she had seen since… well, since ever, probably… although she hated to admit it. Even to herself.
"I have followed racing my entire life," Luigi was gushing excitedly. "My whole life!"
"Then you know who I am." Again, the proud head toss and Sally shook her own head. "I'm Lightning McQueen."
"Lightning McQueen?" This did not mean anything to Luigi, but he was certainly freaking out nevertheless. "Yes! I must scream it to the world! My excitement from the top of someplace very high! Do you race any Ferraris?"
"Nah, they race on the European circuit. I'm in the Piston Cup…. what?" this last added indignantly as Luigi turned heel and stalked off.
"Luigi follow only the Ferraris," Luigi shot back over his shoulder.
"Is that what I think it is?" Lizzie quavered suddenly, leaning forward to stare down the road. Sally looked too, and her heart skipped a beat at the sight of a lone car bumping slowly around the potholes and torn ruin of the pavement.
"Customers…" she whispered, and then shouted aloud. "Customers, everyone, customers! It's been a long time," she added as chaos erupted, everyone scrambling towards their respective places of business. "Remember what we rehearsed. Make sure your "Open, please come in" signs are out. You all know what to do. All right, nobody panics…" this she said for her benefit just as much as for everyone else's… "Here we go!" And she rushed to take her place before her Cozy Corner office.
The car rattled on, swerving carefully around the rough patches, until it finally came to a stop in the center of town. The driver's window rolled down and a man stuck his head out, scrutinizing the dilapidated buildings along the side of the street.
"Doug, I don't see any interstate signs anywhere…" a woman's voice was complaining. The passenger door opened and she stepped out, looking tired and irritated.
"Minny, I know exactly where we are," the man sounded exasperated.
"Yeah," she shot back. "We're in the middle of nowhere…"
Sally took her cue and stepped up quickly, determined to show these people that her beloved town was most certainly not the middle of nowhere.
"Hello! Welcome to Desert springs, gateway to Ornament Valley," she launched into the speech she had so carefully rehearsed dozens of times over. "Legendary for its service and hospitality. How can we help you?"
"We don't need anything, thank you," the man began to step back into the car as his wife whispered,
"Ask for directions to the interstate!"
"There's no need to ask for directions," he snapped. "I know where we're going…"
"Oh," the woman ignored him, laughing apologetically to Sally. "He did the same thing on our trip to Shakopee. We were headed over there for the Crazy Days and we…"
"Okay, really. We're just peachy, okay?" the man cried and, climbing back into the car and slamming the door hard, he honked the horn at his wife. Seeing this rare chance evaporating before their eyes, the townspeople practically mobbed the car, offering their various services all at once. Sally groaned, burying her face in her hands. This was not working. The car began to slowly drive away, and Lightning lifted his head, gesturing wildly towards them.
"Hey, hey, hey!" he called as the car stopped hesitantly beside him. "I know how to get to the interstate!"
"You do, eh?" the man stuck his head out of the window and looked narrowly at the racer.
"Yeah, no. Not really." Lightning rolled his eyes. "But listen. I'm Lightning McQueen, famous racecar driver. I'm being held against my will. I need you to call my agent, Harvey Wilson, got it? Tell him I'm in Desert Springs, Arizona, and I need him to come get me to California in time for me to win the Piston Cup. Understand?"
The window was rolled up and the car was gone. Lightning yelled wildly after them, throwing his shovel again.
"No, no! No, it's the truth, I'm telling you! You gotta help me! Don't leave me here! I'm in hillbilly hell!" he was screaming at no one in particular now, although the entire town was staring agape at him. "My IQ's dropping by the second! I'm becoming one of them!"
Sally turned her back to the angry tirade and spoke consolingly to the friends around her. "Okay, don't worry. They know where we are now. They'll tell people. You'll see." and attempting a cheerful smile, she turned back into her office. She had left the radio on that morning, and the sound of the news filled the room.
"McQueen's driver arrived in California this morning, but both McQueen and his car were missing…"
Curious, Sally snatched up her tv remote and switched to a news channel.
"McQueen was reported missing… sponsor stated they have no idea where he is," an announcer spoke. As Sally scrolled through channels, it seemed as if the whole world was searching for the man who was at that very moment on the road just outside her door.
"I hope Lightning's okay," another racer stated. "I'd hate to see anything bad happen to him…"
"I don't know what's harder to find," a news anchor laughed. "McQueen, or a chief who will work with him!"
"Lightning McQueen must be found at all costs," roared a speaker.
"They're all asking the same question: Where is McQueen?"
Sally hit the power button to silence the TV and sank into her desk chair to process this. If Lightning was this important of a person that his disappearance was making national news… could Desert Springs be in trouble for…? No, she shook her head emphatically at this. Ridiculous. He was, after all, just a man, and men should be made to pay for breaking the law. Let the racing world scramble their brains trying to find him, he wouldn't show up until Desert Springs was good and ready to let him go. More honorable work was ready for him here.