Chapter 9- As Time Goes By
"Sally?"
The Porsche turned around at the sound of her name at about eight o'clock the following morning. "Stickers? Are you okay?"
"No..." he groaned. "I... I feel terrible."
"I'm not surprised!" she chuckled. "You spent all day yesterday drinking!"
"Never done that before", he remarked. "Why did I do that?!"
Sally hesitated. "You don't remember?"
Lightning thought for a moment, confused, before the awful memories came rushing back to him. "Fudge!" he exclaimed, horrified. "How... How is she?"
"No news yet, Lightning", Sally reported ruefully. She almost never called her boyfriend Lightning. It was normally only when she really wanted him to listen to her. "Nothing yet."
"Have you seen her?"
"Not yet", the Porsche replied. "Only family's allowed to see her at the moment, so only Luigi and Guido have seen her."
A pause followed.
"People have been calling", Sally informed her boyfriend. "Cal, Bobby, Rusty and Dusty, Mack. They heard about what happened and they were asking how you were."
"I'll call them back later", Lightning responded half-heartedly.
However, Sally wasn't sure that he was going to do that. "Well, we should probably get over to Flo's now."
McQueen sighed. "Luigi's still mad at me, isn't he?"
"He was the last time I saw him", Sally admitted, "but that was yesterday. He might not be anymore. He's had over twenty-four hours to absorb the shock."
"He probably will be, though."
Sally didn't have a response to that, but it didn't matter because they got their response when they arrived at Flo's.
After greeting Sally relatively warmly, Luigi gave Lightning a death stare. "You."
"Luigi, please don't start this again!" Sally pleaded.
The yellow Fiat didn't say anything. He was still mad at McQueen for what had happened, but it seemed pointless to argue with everything else that was going on. He just pretended to be absorbed in his oil.
"How are you, McQueen?" Fillmore questioned sympathetically.
The stock car shrugged. "I've been better", he answered. "I still can't believe this has happened." He groaned. "My hood is killing me!" Only, he regretted his choice of words instantly.
"Maybe it will not just be your hood!" Luigi remarked coldly.
The mood at Flo's was pretty frosty after that. While they all understood why Luigi was angry at Lightning, nobody else blamed Lightning for what happened, except Lightning himself. Not even Guido was angry at him. As previously stated, as far as Guido was concerned, pointing tyres wasn't going to do any good now. He just wanted his baby girl to get better.
Everyone just went back to their oil in silence.
That day, the next few days and even weeks after it weren't much easier for the RS gang. They soon found themselves in a new routine. It wasn't one that they enjoyed or wanted to get used to.
At sunrise, everyone would be lying awake in their respective homes silently. Not even Sarge and Fillmore were making any noise. And it was obvious that something was wrong when Sarge and Fillmore weren't going through their usual morning routine. The last time that happened, apart from when they were out of town, was right after Doc died.
Sunrise would pass and they would all meet up at Flo's shortly after. Flo would hand out drinks to everyone and nobody felt much like drinking, but they knew they had to try.
The only one who wasn't always upset was Lizzie and that was because she didn't always understand what was going on. "Why's everyone so upset?!" she would ask. Then when she was reminded gently that Fudge wasn't there, it was, "Oh, Fudge'll be here any minute now. She's never too far away."
Things would always be quiet and sombre at Flo's, but as soon as both Lightning and Luigi were there, things would get very tense. No words were ever exchanged between the two of them, but every now and then, they would give each other cold glares.
"Come on, Guido", Luigi would announce after a while when he was sick of giving Lightning death stares. "We are going to the hospital."
"Okay", Guido would agree, abandoning his oil can, which was never completely drunk.
"Kin we come?" Mater had asked hopefully on that first day. Even though he understood what had happened to Fudge, he was completely clueless on what her condition was. He didn't understand any of the medical terms that were being thrown around.
"Mater, we can't see her yet", Sheriff had pointed out gently.
"Why not?"
"Only family's allowed to see her at the moment."
"Yeah, but we is her family!" the tow truck had protested.
Sheriff couldn't help chuckling a little bit. "Yeah, but not to the doctors, we ain't."
"You can come to the hospital", Luigi had informed his friends, "but you won't be allowed to see Fudge just yet."
"Well, it sure is better than waitin' around here all day", Flo had declared. "We'll be right there if you have any news for us."
"Yeah!" everyone else had agreed.
"Okay", Luigi agreed, knowing that this was the least of his worries.
So, they all joined him and Guido on their trip to the hospital on that first day. Sometimes, the entire RS gang would come, sometimes they wouldn't (and if Lightning stayed behind, he would often get very drunk), feeling that it would be best if they stayed behind to keep the town running somewhat normally (Sarge and Fillmore were taking care of the tyre shop as well as each of their own stores). Although they were banished to the waiting area, they seemed to be okay, knowing that they were closer to Fudge there. Only Luigi and Guido were allowed in the room to see their daughter.
Well, whoever came to the hospital would have to get past the mob that was out there, demanding updates from Fudge. Most of the time, they managed to just ignore them. Sometimes, Luigi really wasn't in the mood and snapped at them.
"We understand you must be devastated", Jo Beth Nakamura called out to them. "Do you have any comments?"
"Yes!" the angry Fiat shouted. "Go away! I just want to be with my little girl. So, let me through!"
But they didn't. They just kept shouting out questions. Lightning lost it at them too.
"McQueen! Any comment on-" Amy started.
"YES!" he screamed. "It was my fault! All of it! Do you have to rub it in?! It was my fault! My fault!" He broke down, sobbing and Sally had to lead him away.
Finally, when they got through the mob, Luigi and Guido made a beeline towards the elevator while everyone else, if they were there, waited in the lounge.
"Buon giorno, Fudgie", Luigi whispered every morning as he entered the room.
"Buon giorno!" Guido added, trying to sound a lot more perky than he felt.
It was almost as if they expected her to open her eyes, jump up in a whirl of energy, smile and exclaim, "Buon giorno!" brightly. Of course, she didn't. Fudge was lying there, eyes closed, just as still and silent as she had been the day before.
Still, Guido and Luigi talked to her soothingly about anything and everything and sang to her gently since she had always loved it when they sang to her. If they weren't singing or talking, they would put the TV on for her or let her listen to Lightning's iPod (since hers was smashed beyond repair in the accident) through headphones. Sometimes, they even played recordings of everyone else's voices, so she could hear them, even if they couldn't be in the room. Occasionally, they would get interrupted by a doctor or nurse, but as they had all of the noise going on around her, Luigi and Guido often did tasks to take care of Fudge like brushing her hair.
They also placed the flowers, balloons, get-well cards and the like that were flooding in around the room. There really was a lot. They came from the townsfolk; Finn, Holley and Sammy; Lightning's racing buddies, both Piston Cup and international; Luigi and Guido's relatives in Italy; Dr. Snow, the therapist Fudge had been seeing ever since Doc died. Even Lightning McQueen's fans sent stuff as well!
"This one is from Cal", the two Italians would inform their unconscious daughter. "And you have another card here from Rusty and Dusty..."
They went on like that and would read her cards aloud as if she was awake and listening to them. In all honesty, neither Guido nor Luigi could care less about the cards. (Again, they were just an excuse to talk to their daughter, but who knew if any of it got through to her?) If one more person said that they "sent their thoughts and prayers", they were going to lose it. What good did that do? It wasn't going to make their daughter better! It was all just meaningless!
Still, they supposed people felt like they ought to do something. The two Italians could understand that. They felt the same way. They wished there was some way they could make their daughter better, but there was nothing they could do. There was nothing anybody could do, really. The doctors were doing everything they could, but Fudge had to do most of it on her own.
They had never felt so helpless.
Meanwhile, not a lot was going on with the rest of the RS gang either; they hung around in the waiting area, mostly in silence. Every so often, someone would make a comment or ask a question, merely to fill the silence or get up to get something to eat or drink. Every now and then, Luigi and Guido would appear, having been kicked out of the room for a while due to the time restrictions. Normally, this happened when a doctor came in to do some more tests. Not knowing where else to go, they joined their friends and would shake their hoods at them ruefully, answering their unvoiced questions.
"Nothing yet", they reported quietly.
Everyone would sigh, disappointed. Nobody would be more upset than Lightning. His eyes would fill with tears every time he was informed that there was no news.
"Stickers?" Sally asked, concerned.
"I'll... I'll be fine!" he assured her hurriedly.
Luigi would give him a hard glare before rolling off to go back to his daughter.
McQueen sighed. "How long do you think he's gonna be mad at me?"
It was Sally's turn to sigh. "I don't know, Lightning. He's just really upset right now. He'll come around."
"I know... I don't blame him."
"Stickers!" Sally repeated. "What happened to Fudge was not your fault! It was just an accident! No one else blames you except for yourself!"
"What about Luigi?"
"I don't think he really does blame you, soldier", Sarge voiced his opinion. "Like Sally said, he's just very upset right now."
Lightning nodded, but he didn't look convinced.
Every night at eight o'clock, Luigi and Guido would feel that it was time to go. If the others hadn't accompanied them that day, they would call them first to give them the latest news (or, rather, the lack thereof) and if they had, they would find them in the lounge and announce that they were leaving. They didn't always go back home, though, sometimes, instead, choosing to stay at the hotel down the street from the hospital. That way, they could not only avoid seeing and going past Fudge's empty, quiet bedroom, but also return as soon as possible in the morning.
The drive home- if they returned to town- was always a very quiet affair. Not only would they be upset, they'd be tired. Even though they hadn't done an awful lot, it was the emotional pain they were experiencing over Fudge's accident that took a lot out of them.
However, they didn't go home and get some sleep immediately. They would all stay over at Flo's, trying to force down some more oil. Nobody really talked most of the time because they didn't want to talk about Fudge and it felt wrong to talk about anything else. If someone couldn't bear the silence, they'd switch on the TV or the radio. Normally, they'd play a channel or station that wouldn't talk about Fudge or show a devastated-looking Guido and Luigi fighting their way past reporters to get inside the hospital, such as the cooking channel. Nobody would ever pay the slightest bit of attention, though.
Again, Luigi's behaviour towards Lightning made everyone uncomfortable. Luigi would glare at Lightning every now and then and they would only talk to each other through the others ("Sally? Can you ask McQueen if he is coming to the hospital with us today?" "Guido, can you please tell Luigi I'll be going to the hospital in the afternoon?" Things like that.) Lightning didn't want it to get to this point, but whenever he tried to talk to Luigi himself, he would just be ignored.
One by one, the townsfolk would roll home slowly. Luigi and Guido would be the last to go home, being reluctant to leave Flo's at all, knowing that Casa Della Tires would be quiet and empty yet again without Fudge. Lightning would stay for quite a long time too. However, when there were only four left- being Luigi, Guido, himself and one of the other residents, which would change every day- and the fourth one was about to leave, McQueen would go as well. He and Guido couldn't really hold a proper conversation, so that would just leave Luigi to talk to. And he was far too uncomfortable to try that just yet. So, he just had to get out of there.
By the time Guido and Luigi returned to Casa Della Tires, it would be about two-thirty in the morning. They, like everyone else in town, would be lying awake, thoughts of Fudge refusing to leave their brains. Eventually, though, they would drift off to sleep for a few short hours, only to wake up at sunrise and go through it all again.
Lightning was not only struggling to sleep, but whenever he could sleep, he would end up having nightmares about Fudge's accident. After all, he was the only one there to see it. He was the only one who actually saw it happen. The nightmares were extremely vivid and played out exactly like the real accident. He skidded a little on the track, having lost control for a couple of seconds. Fudge fell off his roof. She gave that loud, horrified scream again. He clipped her hard. He tried to stop, but he couldn't. He ran her over. He skidded to a halt, horrified by what had happened.
"Fudge!" he shrieked, racing back towards her. "FUDGE!"
The human girl lay there, unconscious. Blood pouring out of her all over, bones sticking out. She looked dead. It all felt so familiar...
Only it didn't always end the same way in his nightmare as it did in real life. In fact, it rarely did. Normally in his horrible dream, Lightning tried so hard and for so long, giving her CPR. He could still hear those awful animal-like howls she gave off that night, which was something that he had always thought that he would never want to hear again. Sirens sounded in the distance, always seemingly just tauntingly out of reach. Then, when they finally arrived, they would check Fudge over before giving Lightning a look of sympathy.
"I'm so sorry", they would whisper remorsefully. Even though the wind, rain and thunder were insanely loud, Lightning would always be able to hear those words. They were always so painful. Always so real.
That was often when the race car would wake up in tears. For him, the worst part of it all was knowing that the nightmare didn't stop when he opened his eyes. It was always there. Fudge was still in the hospital. She was still in a coma. It was still all his fault.
Sally was always quick to wake up when Lightning started crying. She never had to ask what was wrong. She knew.
"Oh, Stickers!" she would exclaim, giving him a hug.
The first time it happened, Lightning described his nightmare to his girlfriend, even though she could figure it out. However, every other time, he never said anything. Neither did Sally. She would just hold him and let him cry for as long as he needed to until he either fell back asleep or the sun rose and he would decide that it was time to go over to Flo's. In between the nightmares, he was coping with the tragedy by drinking and listening to Alanis Morissette.
So, that's how it was for the next few weeks. Mater's birthday took place in the middle of all of this, but very little was done to celebrate it. Even Mater himself felt that it wouldn't be the same without Fudge, especially with where she was spending his birthday instead of with Mater himself.
Needless to say, nobody was in a really good mood.
"What if she doesn't make it?" Lightning asked the others at Flo's one evening while they were waiting for Luigi and Guido to return. They had just called to say that there was no news just yet again and it was obvious that this lack of news was worrying Lightning.
"Stickers, don't talk like that!" Sally responded.
"You gotta think positive, man!" Fillmore added. "Fudge had good vibes about this year and so should we!"
"Good vibes aren't gonna help Fudge, hippie!" Sarge declared, making a face. "If good vibes were effective, she wouldn't have been in the accident in the first place!"
All of Lightning's guilt came rushing back to him as Sally spoke up with, "Fillmore's right. All we can really do for her right now is hope for the best and that she'll recover."
"Come on, you guys!" Lightning snapped, sounding pretty disgusted. "We all know it might not happen! What if she doesn't?!" He knew the answer to that. He wouldn't be able to live with himself. How could he, knowing that Fudge was dead, all because of him?! Not seeing her every day would bring back guilty thoughts of how it was all his fault.
There was a pause. They all knew that, while they didn't want to think about it, Lightning was right. It was still quite possible that Fudge wouldn't survive.
"Well, then Doc will take care of her", Sally replied calmly.
Nobody could help a small smile from spreading across each of their faces and tears coming to their eyes. That was true. Not all of them agreed on what happened after death, but they all agreed that no matter what happened after death, Doc was somewhere out there, watching over them. So, they all knew that if Fudge was taken from them, she would go to be with Doc and he would look after her.
"Yeah..." Lightning admitted. "Yeah, I'm sure he will."
Things became silent. Dead silent. This time, they couldn't turn on the TV or radio. They'd most likely be talking about Fudge.
"Here come Luigi and Guido", Ramone announced half an hour later, spotting his friends coming into town.
Immediately, Lightning rolled off and started to head back to the Cozy Cone, knowing exactly what would happen if he stayed. As it was, Luigi gave him yet another Look as he rolled past.
"Hey, Luigi, Guido!" everyone greeted them as they both pulled up at Flo's in tears.
"Ciao..."
"Here you go, honey." Flo gave each of them a can of oil.
"Grazie", Luigi mumbled half-heartedly. He didn't drink the oil. Neither did Guido. They just parked there in silence, staring into their cans.
Finally, Luigi pulled out his phone and the silence was broken by the sound of the phone ringing.
"What are you doing?" Sarge questioned.
Luigi didn't answer. He just put the phone on speaker as Fudge's voice came through. She had an American-Italian accent and kind of a deep voice for a girl. She also did not have an indoor voice; she never realised just how loud she was being.
"Ciao! This is Fudge Rossi-Topolino. I can't take your call right now. So, please leave a message and I will call you back. Thanks."
As Fudge repeated the phrase in Italian, Guido, Flo, Red, Sally, Lightning, Sheriff and Fillmore all started to cry. It scared them all to think that they might never hear that voice again.
"It's gonna get better, honey!" Flo insisted finally, still sniffling.
Luigi sighed. He looked doubtful. "I don't know..."
"She still ain't awake yet?" Mater asked. He still didn't completely understand what was going on with Fudge. He didn't understand how Fudge could just sleep for weeks on end.
"No", Luigi answered, choking on the words as sobs escaped from him. "The doctors are doing everything they can! But... but they don't know if she will ever wake up! Or if she will ever walk again if she does! I just wish there was something, anything, I could do for her, but I... She..." Luigi couldn't talk anymore. He was crying too hard.
"Luigi! C'mere, honey!" Flo gave the Fiat a hug.
Luigi returned the hug and couldn't stop sobbing.
"I know, honey, I know! It's gonna get better!"
"It... it does not feel like it!" Luigi sobbed, struggling to speak.
"Never does."
Just like every other night since Fudge had been in the hospital, the only sound at Flo's was the sound of sobs. They all felt Luigi's pain. They all loved Fudge and wished that there was anything they could do for her too. And they all missed her. With the exception of Luigi and Guido, none of them had seen Fudge since the day of the accident. There was only one question that was burning in everyone's minds: Would Fudge ever get better?