Mack hitched¹ himself to the trailer, and soon he was hauling Lightning McQueen west. His face appeared on a video link inside Lightning's cabin.

 

"California, here we come!" Mack sang.

 

"Dinoco, here we come!" Lightning said to himself as he scanned the trophies² and plaques³ that lined the walls and shelves of his trailer. He couldn't wait to land the glamorous⁴ new sponsor.

 

Just as Lightning had settled under the buffer⁵ for a massage⁶, the phone rang.

 

"Is this the world's fastest racing⁷ machine?" asked a smooth voice at the other end of the line.

 

Lightning perked⁸ up at the sound of his agent's voice. "Is that you, Harv? Buddy⁹!"

 

"Kid," Harv replied, "it is such an honor to be your agent that it almost hurts me to take ten percent of your winnings … and merchandising. And ancillary¹⁰ rights in perpetuity. Anyway, what a race, huh, champ? Didn't see it, but I heard you were great. Listen, they're giving you twenty tickets for the tiebreaker thing in Cali. I'll pass 'em on to your friends; you shoot me the names."

 

"Right. Friends." Lightning paused. Who was there to invite? The truth was, he had tons of fans … but he couldn't think of any real friends. He was speechless.

 

"Okay, I get it, Mr. Popular," Harv broke in. "So many friends you can't narrow it down."

 

Lightning didn't bother correcting him.

 

"Okay, gotta jump, kid," Harv said. "Let me know how it goes."

 

Harv hung up, and Lightning's eyes wandered to the window. A minivan weighted down with a mattress¹¹ tied to its roof struggled to pass them.

 

Many long hours later, Lightning got more and more impatient. Can't we go any faster? he wondered. "Oh, come on, Mack," he complained over the intercom. "You're in the slow lane. This is Lightning McQueen you're hauling here."

 

Mack headed toward a truck stop. "Just stopping off for a quick breather, kid," he explained. "Ol' Mack needs a rest."

 

"Absolutely not!" Lightning insisted. "We're driving straight through all night until we get to California. We agreed to it."

 

Mack groaned¹². "All night? May I remind you, federal D.O.T. regs state—"

 

"C'mon, Mack." Lightning's voice softened¹³. "I need to get there before Chick and hang with Dinoco." Lightning really wanted to move.

 

Mack looked at the truck stop, where a line of semis slept peacefully. "Hey, kid," Mack said gently, "I don't know if I can make it."

 

"Oh, sure you can, Mack!" Lightning said brightly. "Look, it'll be easy. I'll stay up with you! All night long."

 

Finally, Mack agreed to keep going down the dark Interstate.

 

麦克连上拖车，很快便载着麦坤向西前行。他的脸庞出现在连接着闪电车厢的视频显示器上。

 

“加利福尼亚，我们来了！”麦克兴奋地哼着歌。

 

“岱诺可，我们来了！”麦坤浏览着拖车车厢内壁和架子上一排排的奖杯和奖章，自言自语。他迫不及待地想找到有吸引力的新赞助商。

 

正当麦坤在车辆缓冲器下面做按摩时，电话响了。

 

“请问这是世界上最快的赛车吗？”电话那边传来一个柔和的嗓音。

 

麦坤一听到经纪人的声音，立刻打起了精神。“哈维老兄，是你吗？”

 

“小子，”哈维回道，“当你的经纪人真荣幸啊！我都不忍心抽走你一成的奖金……和营销收入，还有永久的附属权利。总之，真是场精彩的比赛！虽然我没看，但是我听说你很棒。听着，主办单位给了你二十张加州殊死赛的入场券，你告诉我你朋友的名字，我帮你送给他们。”

 

“好的，朋友们。”麦坤顿了顿。他到那儿之后该邀请谁呢？事实上，他的粉丝很多……但是挚友没几个。他一时语塞。

 

“好吧，人气小子，我懂了。”哈维打断麦坤的话，“你的朋友真是太多了，都难以取舍。”

 

麦坤没有纠正哈维的话。

 

“好了，小子，我得离开一下，有情况随时向我汇报。”哈维说。

 

哈维挂了电话，麦坤望着窗外发呆。一辆小货车被载在车顶的床垫压得很低，挣扎着试图超过他们。

 

漫长的数小时过后，麦坤越来越不耐烦了。我们不能开得快点吗？他感到疑惑。他用内部对讲机抱怨着：“拜托，麦克大叔，你开到慢车道啦，你载的是闪电麦坤耶！”

 

麦克朝着卡车停靠站开去。“我只要停一小会儿就好了，”他解释道，“老麦，需要休息。”

 

“绝对不行！”麦坤坚持说。“我们说好的要连夜赶路，不到加州不停车！”

 

麦克满腹牢骚：“连夜？我得提醒你，交通部规定……”

 

“求求你了，麦克，”麦坤的语气和缓下来，“我得赶在路霸之前到加州与岱诺可会面。”麦坤真的希望快点到达目的地。

 

卡车停靠站里，一排排车子正静静地酣睡。麦克朝那里看了看，轻轻地说：“喂，小子，我不知道我能不能撑得住！”

 

“喔，你绝对可以，麦克！”麦坤兴奋地说，“听我说，这不难。我陪你熬夜！直到天明。”

 

最后，麦克还是同意继续沿着漆黑的州际公路前行。

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