Life Could Be a Dream

Chapter 18- Fudge's Fate

"Wow..." he murmured, shaking his hood in disbelief. He watched Fudge run back to try and fill up her water gun, everyone cheering her on. "I can't believe that..."

"I know!" Luigi sobbed. "It is not fair! She is my daughter! I just wish she didn't have to go through this!"

Lightning nodded. "I thought she must get lonely sometimes, being the only kid here."

"Yes. Well, we thought about getting her a pet, but with our store, we decided that it was not the best idea."

"Well, isn't there anything you can do? To let her stay?"

"I don't think so. We refused to let them take her when they came for her in December, but that got us arrested. Now, their decision is final."

"Luigi?" Lightning began, hoping his question wouldn't offend the Italian car. "Don't take this the wrong way, but... if this was such a big issue, why did they let you adopt her in the first place?"

However, Luigi wasn't offended at all. "Since Radiator Springs is such a small town and there is very little information on it, they did not realise that there were no humans here."

"So... how did Fudge even get here?" Lightning wondered. He'd just assumed that Fudge had been born elsewhere (Italy, probably, with that accent) and that her parents had died, Luigi and Guido adopted her and she moved to Radiator Springs to live with them. However, it sounded like that wasn't the case at all.

Luigi explained the whole story of how he and Guido found her mother in labour and she had left town only hours after giving birth, dumping Fudge in the garbage. So, he and Guido took her in.

"Wow..." Lightning repeated and he found himself thinking something Luigi and everyone else had wondered so many times in the past. How could anybody not want her?

"And that social worker that came was a devil woman!" Luigi added. "She told Fudge some of this and we had to have that talk with her much earlier than we wanted!"

They both looked back at Fudge, who was running away from Sarge as he threw water balloons at her.

"I'm gonna get you, soldier!" he informed her playfully.

"Not if I can help it!" Fudge responded determinedly. "Everyone, get Uncle Sarge! You gotta get Uncle Sarge now!"

"Uh-oh..." Sarge muttered as everyone closed in on him.

"I don't care what anyone says!" Luigi proclaimed, watching the girl run after the Jeep. "Fudge is my daughter! My daughter! Guido and I watched her being born, we have taken care of her all of her life. Sally wasn't here when she was a baby, but the rest of us have known her since she was born and we all changed her diapers. Well, except for Mater, who thought that was too disgusting."

Lightning couldn't help laughing at that.

"We want to keep taking care of her!" Luigi continued, sobbing. "We don't want to send her to an orphanage or to live with relatives! We want to see her every day! We want to be there to watch her grow up!" He sobbed harder as he remembered something else. "And Guido and I promised that we would take her to Italy one day! That was a promise... but we just never had the money to keep it."

"Wait!" Lightning sounded surprised. "She's never been to Italy?"

Luigi shook his hood. "No. She has never been out of Radiator Springs in her life."

"But she has an Italian accent!" Lightning noted. "I just assumed you two adopted her in Italy or something."

Luigi smiled sadly. "Yes. Her accent is just from the amount of time she has spent with me and Guido. But no. She has never been to Italy herself. She has always wanted to, though... Her sixth birthday is so soon... And at this point, we are willing to give her just about anything she wants, but... With no business in town, we just don't have the money to take her... That is why... it is so hard..."

"Does she know?" Lightning wondered, glancing back at the excited child, who was receiving hugs and kisses from the others. "About moving..."

Luigi nodded. "Yes", he reported ruefully. "She does. And it has been so hard on her too. My poor baby is so scared about who will take care of her. And she does not want her birthday to come at all."

"I can't say I blame her", Lightning remarked. "When is her birthday?"

"June sixteenth."

"Wow. Not long then."

"She has been having nightmares about the whole thing", the Fiat continued. "Being abandoned and never seeing any of us again. She has already been abandoned once. I do not want her to forget about this when she is older and think that Guido and I did the same thing... It is hard for me to admit as a father, but... if she has to go, I think the sooner she does, the better."

Lightning really began to feel the weight of Luigi's words. He had no idea. He wasn't a father, but it sure seemed like a tough thing to admit.

"Papà!" came Fudge's voice. "Come and play!"

"Coming, baby!" Luigi called back. He tried to shake off his sadness and join his daughter in the game.

In a few short minutes, Luigi seemed to have forgotten all about his conversation with Lightning. But Lightning sure hadn't.