"Pick up, pick up, pick up!" Lightning cried into the phone, getting more and more desperate with each ring that came from the phone. Why was nobody answering?!
Meanwhile, everyone else was at Flo's, talking and laughing. They were in a good mood as they usually were at the end of the working day when they all gathered at Flo's.
"Boot camp's going well", Sarge was happy to report to his friends that evening. "Had quite a few new recruits in the new year. Most of them have done well on the obstacle course today. Of course, there are always one or two that could do with some work."
"You always do well at the start of the year, honey", Flo commented with a laugh as she served everyone with oil. "Meanwhile, I'm sufferin' with everyone still on their diets."
"Give it a couple more days, baby!" Ramone told his wife, also laughing. "Then everyone'll give up the boot camp and get some grub off you!"
That got everyone laughing.
"Guido and I have been very busy too", Luigi remarked happily. "It is the new year, everyone wants to look good with new tyres. Business is-a good at Luigi's Casa Della Tires."
Guido smiled proudly. "Peet stop!"
"Yeah! And so's the love life, it seems!" Ramone added. "I saw you two flirtin' with those two pretty pink French cars!"
Luigi's eyes sparkled. "Ah, yes! Those angels!"
"You think this could go somewhere?" Sheriff asked them.
"Well, we have their phone numbers." The Fiat turned to the blue forklift beside him. "I want to call them! Do you want to call them, Guido?"
He nodded enthusiastically. "Okay."
"Well, I got the same good business goin' on for me, man!" Ramone got back on topic. "Lots of cars wantin' new paint jobs to look good!"
"Yeah, and the diet thing's been good for me too, man", Fillmore chimed in. "I got so many cars comin' in for some of my organic fuel."
Sarge made a face, letting everyone know what he thought of that. Even before he gave his retort of, "Are you sure that it isn't cars whose New Year's resolution it is to poison themselves coming in?"
"Come on, Sarge!" Sally insisted. "Fillmore's organic fuel's not that bad."
Sarge glowered at the hippie van, who didn't say a word, but was smirking triumphantly.
"I will never understand how anyone can possibly drink that freak juice!"
"Well, Sally thinks it's not bad, man!" Fillmore pointed out. "And it hasn't put anyone in the hospital since 2009!"
"Yeah!" Sarge scoffed. "Put that in the commercial!"
"Here comes the rain", Sheriff announced, taking note of the sudden change in weather in town and everyone looked to see that the squad car was right.
"Do you think this storm is going to be bad?" Luigi pondered.
"Probably not as bad as that storm back in 2004, man", Ramone commented.
"Oh, yeah", everyone recalled. That had been a bad one.
"What?!" Lizzie asked, confused.
"Ah, yes!" Luigi chuckled. "Poor Fudgie was so scared during that one! She hid in her closet until Guido and I found her and gave her cuddles."
Everyone laughed, remembering Luigi telling them all that story nearly a decade ago.
"What about the time Mater said that the hail got so big, he was thrown into the air and the hail hittin' the ground shook out his headlight?" an amused Sheriff added.
"Ah, yes!" Luigi repeated, still laughing. "He came back to town with only one headlight and when Doc asked him about it, he came up with that crazy story!"
The tow truck shook his hood completely seriously. "It's a true story! It really happened! It did!" he added at the many sceptical faces around him. "I swear! I done flew so high in the air, I could see all the way to Crankshaft County!"
The utter ridiculousness of this statement got everyone laughing even more.
"Mater, where do you come up with these stories, man?" Ramone wondered.
"Same place he came up with the stories about seein' a UFO and bein' a rock star and a private eye!" Sheriff teased, naming just a few of Mater's many tall tales.
Nobody could stop laughing.
At that moment, Sally's phone rang. She smiled as she was quick to answer it. "Hey, Stickers! What's up?" A second later, her smile vanished. Her voice sounded surprised, confused, very concerned and even a little scared as she asked, "Hey... sweetie? What's wrong?"
All chatter and laughter stopped and Flo paused in her task of serving the others as everyone tried to hear what was going on. Immediately, they all became concerned as well.
"Uh-oh..." Sarge murmured.
"Oh, no!" Flo gasped softly.
"Oh, no! What happened?" Sally questioned. "Oh, no... Oh, no!... Oh, my God!" Her voice sank to a whisper as she dared to ask, "How bad is it?" As Lightning talked, Sally's eyes filled with tears and she got choked up. "Oh, God! Oh, God... Oh, God... This is just unbelievable! I... I... And they won't tell you anything?"
By then, Flo's was dead silent. The only sound being the gentle rainfall as the storm came in, but hadn't gotten too bad yet. All of the patrons were listening to Sally's end of the conversation fearfully, knowing that something was very wrong. What could Lightning possibly be telling Sally? Whatever it was, they knew it was serious.
"Oh, Stickers, no! No! Listen to me! This is not your fault!" the Porsche insisted and her friends could tell she was trying to stay calm. "These things happen. I know it's sad, but they do. It's not your fault... Look, we're gonna come down there. Where are you?... Okay... Okay... I'll tell the others what's happened and we'll be there as soon as we can, okay?... I will... Okay... Okay. We'll see you soon... Thanks for telling me... Love you too... Bye."
Sally hung up and expected everyone to pounce on her, demanding to know what was going on. Yet nobody did. They all just stared at her anxiously, watching as tears poured down her hood, knowing that this did not look good.
"Sally?" Sheriff ventured after a couple of seconds. He, like the others, didn't want to know, but they all felt that they had to.
Sally took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. She just couldn't look at Luigi and Guido as she announced just above a whisper, "It's Fudge..." She trailed off, sobbing.
Everyone froze. They had all assumed that something had been wrong with McQueen, or maybe even Francesco; after all, they were racing together. Something could've happened on the track to make Lightning feel guilty. Yet, not a single one of them had anticipated that the "something very wrong" would be with Fudge, especially not Luigi and Guido. The two Italians' eyes widened as their faces took on wounded looks. Immediately, worst case scenarios entered their brains. Was their daughter okay? What had happened to her?
"Fudge?" Sarge broke the silence. "Is she okay?"
"Do... Do you remember the other day when Lightning took Fudge for a couple of laps by Willy's Butte and she fell off his roof?" the Porsche quizzed the others. "And... and Luigi said he was worried because the next time, she might not be so lucky?"
Everything was quiet at Flo's before, but now, it seemed to get even quieter. The only sound was the rumbling of thunder as the storm worsened and everyone took this awful news in. Nobody said anything. They all knew exactly where this was going, but they didn't want it to be true. They all felt their oil run cold and their hearts skip several beats. Even Lizzie seemed to comprehend what Sally had just told them and was just as shocked as the rest of them.
"WHAT?!" Luigi exploded, after taking a couple of seconds to take this in. He didn't believe it; he didn't want to believe it! "No... No... No!"
"Are you serious?" everyone else gasped, trying to absorb this too-awful-for-words news.
Red burst into tears immediately, but nobody else did. All of them were far too much in shock. It just didn't feel real. It all felt way too horrible to be real.
Sally turned to Luigi and Guido, tears in her eyes. "He... he told me to tell you guys that he's sorry. He's really upset and he just feels awful that this has happened." He would've told them that himself, but he just couldn't. For one thing, he didn't feel ready to face them just yet. For another, he just felt that he couldn't talk to any of the others just yet. It had been Sally that he felt he had to talk to at that moment, Sally's voice he needed to hear. Sally. Only Sally.
Neither Guido nor Luigi answered. Both of them just looked dazed. Like they simply couldn't believe it. And that was exactly how they felt.
"Do we know how bad it is?" Sheriff wanted to know.
"No. Not yet. The doctors won't tell him anything. The actual accident only happened forty-five minutes ago, so she's still in surgery", Sally replied. sniffling. "But... but it sounds really bad. I think she's hurt pretty bad. Stickers had to give her CPR!"
Now, both Guido and Luigi looked just about ready to faint. As it was, Flo and Ramone practically had to keep them upright.
"Better get movin' then!" Sheriff declared. "What hospital is she at?"
"St. Helena's Children's Hospital", Sally told him.
Sheriff didn't waste a second. He rolled down the road and switched his lights on. "I'll give you all a police escort there. That'll get us there a little quicker."
"It'll take three hours to get there, right?" Sally asked.
"Normally, yeah", Sarge answered, "but it's gonna take even longer in this weather! So, let's move out!" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the Jeep felt an extra pang of sadness. He knew what Fudge would say if she was there. Every single time she'd heard Sarge use that phrase, she'd have to reply, giggling, with, "Aw, but I like my house!"
Nobody hesitated to obey. All of them- including Red and Lizzie- followed Sheriff down the road, still in shock. Nothing was said and very little was thought as they ventured into the storm, keeping as close to the lights and sirens as they could.
I can't believe this is happening! Sally thought to herself. She was the one who had spoken to Lightning and she didn't believe it! Poor Stickers must feel terrible! Not to mention Fudge! I hope they're both okay! When she spoke to him, she just wanted nothing more than to be there with Lightning and give him a big hug.
Sheriff led the group down the winding roads on their way to the highway, which would take them to the city. He remained focused on only one thing: getting his friends and himself to the hospital as fast as possible. Fudge needs us, he repeated in his mind. Fudge needs us. He just hoped that they wouldn't be too late.
Most of the others were thinking the same thoughts. They were thinking things like how this was just unbelievable. How bad was Fudge's condition? Was she going to make it? The latter was a thought that they all attempted to banish from their minds. Yet, no matter how hard they tried, it always found its way back in.
Then there were Luigi and Guido. The fathers of the girl in question. For most of the drive to the hospital, they'd been far too in shock to really think or feel anything. However, when they were about halfway to the hospital, it sank in. They were on their way to see their daughter. In the hospital. They had no idea how bad it was, but knew it was very serious. Although, despite their fears, unlike the others, they highly doubted that Fudge was going to die. Fudge was their daughter! She was going to be fine. She had to be. Even so, they were both still afraid of what they were going to find at the hospital. At pretty much the same time, both of them started crying. None of the others could console them.
Well, their friends probably needed consoling themselves. They all cared so damn much about Fudge. She was like a niece to all of them, with the exception of Mater, who saw Fudge as his little sister like Lightning did. Although, with the close-knit community of Radiator Springs, she was also like a daughter to all of them. They were all worried about her.
"How much longer?!" a weepy Luigi quizzed Sheriff impatiently as they ventured into the city. By that point, they had to shout in order to be heard over the wind, rain and thunder. Although, not an awful lot of talking was going on, considering the circumstances.
"Hospital's still a couple miles away!" Sheriff reported, still staring straight ahead. It was hard to see a thing with the rain pelting him in the face, but he could see cars hurrying out of the way as he and the others came through. "Who knows how much longer it's gonna take with this damn weather?!" he groaned. "This traffic ain't helpin' either." Although he had his lights and sirens going, there was still a lot of traffic their way.
Luigi was growing more and more anxious as time went on. So was everyone else.
However, Luigi was experiencing something else nobody else was: anger. All of a sudden, he found himself absolutely furious at Lightning. The race car had promised he would look after Fudge! But he didn't! None of this would've ever happened if it wasn't for him! Because of Lightning, Fudge, Luigi's daughter, was in the hospital! And it sounded pretty bad if she had to be given CPR! How could Lightning be so... so... irresponsible?!
"We're here!" Sheriff announced after about half an hour.
Thank Chrysler! everyone thought as they pulled up to the hospital. With the weather and traffic, it had taken them way too long to get there. Now, they could focus entirely on Fudge. They just hoped that they weren't too late.
How was that? Sad, right?
My personal favourite line is, "Well, Sally thinks it's not bad, man! And it hasn't put anyone in the hospital since 2009!" "Yeah! Put that in the commercial!" BTW, the part about Mater losing his headlight is a reference to the Cars Origins story, Struck by Lightning. You should definitely read it if you haven't done so already. I have that one and Storm Chasing, but sadly not Cruz Control. I've been unable to find that one anywhere.
I know I probably should've done both sides of the phone call, but the reason I didn't was because I wanted to focus on how nervous the others were, listening to Sally's side of the conversation, knowing that something was wrong, but not knowing what.