"The Radiator¹ Springs Traffic Court will come to order!" the Sheriff called as Lightning rolled into the front of the courtroom, his boot clomping.

 

The townsfolk were gathered in the courtroom— and they were not happy.

 

"Hey," called Ramone, a lowrider with a flashy paint job. "You scratched my paint. I ought to take a blowtorch to you, man!"

 

"Did you see what he did to my Stanley?" cried Lizzie, the oldest resident of the town.

 

A glamorous² show car frowned at Lightning, indignant. "You see what he did to my café?" Flo demanded. "Now I've gotta restack the cans."

 

"You broke the road," scolded the small Italian import named Luigi. He owned Luigi's Casa Della Tires—and the tires Lightning had plowed³ through the night before. "You're a very bad car."

 

"Fascist⁴!" Fillmore called.

 

"Officer, talk to me, babe," Lightning said to the Sheriff in a smooth voice. "How long is this gonna take? I gotta get to California, pronto."

 

"Where's your lawyer?" the Sheriff demanded.

 

"I don't know," Lightning admitted. "Tahiti, maybe?"

 

"When a defendant⁵ has no lawyer, the court will assign one to him. Hey!" the Sheriff called out to the assembled cars. "Anyone want to be his lawyer?"

 

"Shoot," Mater said. "I'll do it, Sheriff!"

 

Lightning groaned⁶.

 

"All rise," Sheriff called. "The Honorable Doc Hudson presiding! May Doc have mercy on your soul."

 

An old blue car rolled into court and took his place at the judge's bench. "All right," Doc ranted⁷, "I want to know who's responsible for wrecking⁸ my town, Sheriff. I want his hood⁹ on a platter. I'm going to put him in jail till he rots—no, check that. I'm gonna put him in jail till the jail rots on top of him and then I'm going to move him to a new jail and let that one rot. I'm—" Doc stopped short, narrowing his eyes as he got a good look at Lightning.

 

The race car laughed nervously¹⁰.

 

"Throw him out of here, Sheriff," Doc said in an official voice. "I want him out of my courtroom. I want him out of our town. Case dismissed!"

 

"Yes!" Lightning cried as the townsfolk gasped¹¹.

 

"Boy," Mater said to himself. "I'm pretty good at this lawyering stuff."

 

Just then, a sleek¹² blue sports car drove into the courtroom. "Sorry I'm late, Your Honor," she said.

 

"Holy Porsche," Lightning muttered, awestruck by the gorgeous car. "She's gotta be from my attorney's office. Hey, thanks for coming," he said suavely¹³, "but we're all set. He's letting me go." "He's letting you go?" she repeated.

 

"Yeah, your job's pretty easy today." Lightning grinned. "All you have to do now is stand there and let me look at you. Listen, I'm going to cut to the chase. Me. You. Dinner." He flashed his lightning bolt sticker. "Ka-chow!"

 

"Ow!" the blue sports car cried as the reflected light shone in her pretty eyes.

 

"I know," Lightning growled¹⁴, moving in close to her. "I get that reaction a lot." He revved¹⁵ his engine.

 

"Okay … ," she said, unimpressed. She excused herself to talk to the judge.

 

"Do what you gotta do, baby," Lightning told her. "Oh, but listen, be careful. Folks around here are not firing on all cylinders¹⁶, if you know what I mean."

 

"I'll keep that in mind," the blue sports car replied as she rolled forward. "Hey there, Mater," she added as she drove past the tow truck.

 

"Howdy, Sally," Mater replied.

 

Lightning gaped¹⁷. "You know her?"

 

"She's the town attorney," Mater explained. "And my fiancée."

 

"What?" Lightning cried.

 

"Naah, just kiddin'," Mater said, giving Lightning a friendly nudge. "She just likes me for my body."

 

"Doc, you really look great this morning," Sally gushed¹⁸ to the judge. "Did you do something different with your side-view mirrors?"

 

Doc Hudson sighed. "What do you want, Sally?"

 

"Come on," she pleaded, "make this guy fix the road. The town needs this." Sally not only acted as the town attorney, she also owned the Cozy¹⁹ Cone²⁰ Motel. She knew that the town was dependent on the road. How would they ever get customers if no one could drive to Radiator Springs?

 

Doc shot Lightning an angry glance. "No. I know his type. Race car." His grill²¹ tucked into a frown. "He's the last thing this town needs."

 

"Fellow citizens," Sally said, turning to the cars who lined the courtroom, "you're all aware of our town's proud history. It is our job and our pleasure to take care of the travelers on our stretch of that road. How, I ask you, are we to care for travelers if there is no road for them to drive on? Luigi, what do you have at your store?"

 

"Tires," the little Italian import replied.

 

"And if no one can get to you?" Sally prompted.

 

"I won't sell any tires," Luigi replied. His front bumper²² dropped in horror. "I will lose everything!"

 

"Flo, what'll happen if no one can come to your station to buy gas?" Sally asked the café owner.

 

"I'll go out of business and we'll have to leave town!" Flo cried.

 

Sally turned to the revved-up crowd. "And what's going to happen to all of us if Flo leaves town and closes her station?"

 

Suddenly, the entire town realized that their very lives depended on that road!

 

"So don't you think the car responsible should fix our road?" Sally demanded. "Oh, he can do it," she said, casting a look in Lightning's direction.

 

"He's got the horsepower. So what do you want him to do?"

 

"Fix the road!" the cars shouted, rallying.

 

"Because we are a town worth fixing!" Sally was on a roll now.

 

"Order in the court!" Doc shouted. Once the courtroom was quiet, the irritated judge gave Sally a sidelong glance.

 

"Seems like my mind has been changed for me," Doc finally said grudgingly²³.

 

Lightning was furious. "Oh, I am so not taking you to dinner," he grumbled²⁴ to Sally.

 

"Oh, that's okay, Stickers." Sally smiled, poking²⁵ fun at his sticker-covered frame. "You can take Bessie."

 

"Bessie," Lightning repeated. "Who's Bessie?"

 

麦坤捆着锁链，重踏着进入交通法庭。警长宣布：“水箱温泉镇交通法庭，现在开庭！”

 

小镇的居民聚集在法庭里——他们看起来都不开心。

 

“嘿，你刮掉我的漆了。我要用喷枪揍你一顿！”做喷漆工作的雷蒙是一辆低底盘车，他气愤地说。

 

荔枝婆是小镇最年长的居民，她对警长说：“看看他对我的斯坦利雕像做了什么！”

 

一辆名叫芙蓉的优雅的演出车朝麦坤皱了皱眉头，说：“看看他对我的咖啡店做了什么吧！现在我得回去重新整理我的油罐。”

 

“你破坏了我们的公路，你这辆车真是坏透了。”卡布是一辆意大利进口车，个子不高却在镇上经营了一家名为“轮胎斜塔”的轮胎店，而昨晚麦坤撞上的正是他们家的轮胎，他非常气愤。

 

“法西斯分子！”辉哥吼道。

 

“警长，你能不能告诉我，这样的审判要进行多久？拜托，我得赶去加州。”麦坤语气柔和地说。

 

“你的辩护律师呢？”警长质问。

 

“我不知道，也许跑大溪地去了吧。”麦坤说。

 

“如果被告没有律师，法庭将会为他指派一名辩护律师。大家听着，谁愿意当他的辩护律师？”警长对聚集在一起的小镇公民说。

 

“好吧，警长，我来！”板牙说。

 

麦坤咕哝了一声。

 

“全体起立，”警长宣布，“审判由尊敬的蓝天博士主持，愿博士宽恕你的灵魂！”

 

一辆蓝色的旧轿车冲入法庭，站在法官的位置上说：“好啊，警长，我想知道到底是哪个浑小子把我们的小镇搞成这样。我要把他的引擎盖卸下来，再把他关进监狱直到他腐烂……不对，纠正一下，直到监狱的铁门都腐烂在那里。然后我再把他关到另一间监狱，直到那一间也腐烂掉。我还要……”博士突然停了下来，然后眯着眼睛仔细看了麦坤一眼。

 

麦坤紧张地笑了笑。

 

“把他扔出去！警长！”博士义正词严地说。“把他轰出法庭！把他赶出小镇！案件驳回！”

 

小镇居民满脸惊讶，而麦坤却激动地说:“太好了！”

 

“小子，我这个辩护律师当得不错嘛!”板牙自言自语。

 

就在那时，一辆时髦的蓝色跑车来到法庭：“尊敬的法官，对不起，我来晚了。”

 

“哇哦，保时捷！”麦坤喃喃自语，对这辆漂亮的车惊叹不已。“她一定是我的律师从律师办公室派来为我辩护的。嘿，你好，谢谢你能来。不过问题已经解决啦，他把我无罪释放了。”麦坤温柔地说。“他把你无罪释放了？”她重复问了一遍。

 

“没错，你今天的工作相当轻松！”麦坤露齿一笑，“你现在只要站在那边让我好好看着你就行了。听好，我直说吧，我打算与你共进晚餐。就咱俩，我和你。”他说话的同时秀了一把自己炫酷的闪电标志。“咔嚓！”

 

“哎呀！”麦坤闪电标志反射的亮光刺到了她迷人的眼睛，她叫了起来。

 

“我知道你的感受，”麦坤愤愤地说着，慢慢靠近她。“这种反应我见多了。”说着他启动了发动机。

 

“好吧……”她并没有被打动，而是借口要与法官交谈。

 

“做你想做的事情吧，美人，”麦坤对她说，“不过，听好了，你得小心一点。这里的人可不是都像我们俩一样(都是全气缸点火的跑车)，你明白我的意思。”

 

“我知道。”蓝色跑车一边回应着一边往前开了几步。从拖车旁边经过时，她跟板牙打招呼：“你好啊，板牙。”

 

“你好，莎莉！”板牙回答。

 

麦坤惊讶地问：“你认识她？”

 

“她是镇上的律师，也是我的未婚妻！”板牙解释道。

 

“什么？”麦坤惊讶地说。

 

“没什么，开个玩笑。她只是喜欢我的身材。”板牙边说边友好地推了一下麦坤。

 

“博士，你今天早上看起来真帅气。你是不是改装了自己的侧视镜啊？”莎莉感情丰富地对法官说。

 

蓝天博士叹了一口气：“你想说什么，莎莉？”

 

“求求你，罚他去修路吧，小镇需要路。”莎莉不仅是小镇的律师，还是路障汽车旅馆的主人。她知道小镇离不开这条路。假如没人开车到水箱温泉镇，他们又怎么会有顾客上门呢？

 

博士气愤地瞥了麦坤一眼，他皱起眉头说：“不行，我对他这样的赛车很了解，我们镇上最不需要的就是他这种车。”

 

“各位居民，”莎莉转身对在法庭上排成一排的汽车说道：“大家一定都熟悉我们小镇的辉煌历史吧。我们有权利也有义务为路上的汽车公民服务。可是我问你们 ，如果没有路，我们又该怎样为他们服务呢？卡布，你店里卖的什么？”

 

“轮胎。”矮个子意大利进口车回答道。

 

“但如果没人能到你的店呢？”莎莉接着问。

 

“我一个轮胎也卖不出去，我将失去一切。”想到这儿，卡布的保险杠都吓掉了。

 

“芙蓉，如果没人能到你的店里买汽油，将会怎样？”莎莉问咖啡店的老板。

 

“我会破产，然后被迫离开城镇。”芙蓉哭了起来。

 

莎莉转向激动的人群，说：“如果芙蓉离开我们，关闭加油站。我们该怎么办？”

 

突然，所有小镇居民都意识到他们的生活离不这条路!

 

“所以，你们不觉得这辆闯祸的车应该为我们修路吗？”莎莉质问道。“拜托，他能做这件事。”莎莉说着朝麦坤看去。

 

“何况他还拥有超强的马力。好了，大家觉得该让他做什么？”

 

“修路！”汽车公民齐声回答。

 

“因为我们的小镇值得去修复！”莎莉的工作进展得很顺利。

 

“肃静！”博士叫道。法庭刚安静下来，愤怒的法官便瞥了莎莉一眼。

 

“看来有人改变了我的决定。”博士最终不情愿地说。

 

麦坤勃然大怒。“呃，我现在不打算邀请你共进晚餐了。”他埋怨莎莉。

 

莎莉笑了笑，她仔细看着麦坤身上的闪电贴纸：“没关系，闪电侠。你可以带贝西去。”

 

“贝西，”麦坤重述道，“谁是贝西？”

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