"Turn right to go left," Lightning muttered later that afternoon as he pulled Bessie down the road. He was filthy¹ and covered with cactus² thorns. "Guess what? I tried it, and you know what? This crazy thing happened—I went right!"

 

"You keep talking to yourself, people'll think you're crazy," Lizzie said.

 

"Thanks for the tip," Lightning told the forgetful old car.

 

Lizzie glared at the race car. "I wasn't talking to you!"

 

Meanwhile, Lightning's gorgeous new road had inspired the townsfolk to spruce up their shops. Mater was using his cable to straighten his TOW MATER sign. Ramone was repainting a fence as Flo looked on, clearly impressed. Red was busy washing the leaning tower of tires.

 

"Che bellissimo!" Sally cried as she watched Luigi's assistant, Guido, paint the tire store while Luigi cleaned the windows. "It looks great!" She was thrilled to see the townspeople taking pride in Radiator³ Springs. Actually, she thought, there's only one car who still needs a makeover. … She looked over at the filthy race car, who was muttering to himself as he paved.

 

"While I'm stuck here paving this stinking⁴ road," he griped, "Chick's in California schmoozing Dinoco." Lightning pulled harder, working out his anger. "My Dinoco. Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he said, stopping to straighten up. "Who's touching⁵ me?"

 

"You have a slow leak," Luigi explained as Guido checked the air in Lightning's tires. Cactus prickles stuck out of the rubber like porcupinequills.

 

"Guido," Luigi said, motioning to his assistant, who held a can of tire sealant, "he fix. You make-a such-a nice new road. You come to my shop. Luigi take-a good care of you—even though you not a Ferrari. You buy four tires, I give you a full-size spare absolutely free." He smiled enthusiastically.

 

Lightning sighed. He was in a terrible mood. "Look," he said irritably⁶, "I get all my tires for free." Don't these people know anything about famous race cars? he wondered.

 

Just as Luigi drove off, Lightning was blasted with cold water. "Ohh!" he screamed. "Stop!"

 

The water stopped, and Lightning found himself facing Red. Sally was standing⁷ beside him.

 

"Ooh, Red," Sally said, "you missed a spot. See it right there? Right on the hood⁸? Right there."

 

"No, no—" Lightning cried as Red blasted the remaining piece of cactus on his hood. "Ah … stop!" he sputtered⁹. "Ah, that's cold! Whoo! Help! Please! Stop!"

 

Red kept blasting water at Lightning until the cactus flew off.

 

"Thanks, Red," Sally said.

 

"What was that for?" Lightning demanded, coughing and blinking.

 

"Do you want to stay at the Cozy¹⁰ Cone¹¹, or what?" Sally asked bluntly. "I mean, if you do, you gotta be clean."

 

"What?" Lightning was really confused now. "I don't get it—"

 

"Nothing," Sally said, trying to sound as if it was no big deal. "I just thought I'd say thank you for doing a great job by letting you stay at the Cozy Cone."

 

Lightning was shocked. "Wait, you're being nice to me."

 

"I mean, if you want to stay at the dirty impound, that's fine," Sally went on. "You know, I understand—you criminal types."

 

"No, no, no, no—that's okay." Lightning looked in admiration¹² at the motel in the distance. It was much nicer than the impound, that was for sure. "Yeah, the Cozy Cone."

 

"Cone number one, if you want." Sally drove off, accidentally running into a stack of- orange cones¹³. They tumbled all over. Embarrassed, she drove quickly into her motel office.

 

Just then, Mater appeared. He pulled up beside Lightning and began chattering¹⁴ away, "You know, I once knew this girl Doreen. Good-lookin' girl. Looked just like a Jaguar¹⁵, only she was a truck. You know, I used to crash into her just so I could spoke¹⁶ to her." Mater grinned proudly.

 

"What are you talking about?" Lightning asked.

 

"I dunno," Mater admitted. "Hey, I know somethin' we can do tonight, 'cause I'm in charge of watchin' ya."

 

"No, Mater, I gotta finish this road and I have to get out of here."

 

"Well, that's all right, Mr. I-Can't-Turn-on-Dirt." Mater started to drive off. "You probably couldn't handle it, anyway."

 

"Whoa, whoa, easy now, Mater," Lightning said indignantly. "You know who you're talking to? This is Lightning McQueen. I can handle anything."

 

那天下午晚些时候，麦坤拉着贝西走在马路上。他浑身脏兮兮的，沾满了仙人掌的刺。“向右打方向，车身向左转。你猜怎么着，我真的试了一下，结果呢？奇迹发生了，我真的向右转了！”

 

荔枝婆说:“你这样自言自语，别人看见了一定会以为你疯了。”

 

麦坤对这辆健忘的旧车说：“谢谢你的提醒。”

 

荔枝婆盯着赛车：“我可没跟你说话！”

 

同时，麦坤修的华丽的新路激励着小镇居民重新装修各自的店铺。板牙用自己的牵引索加固写着“拖线板牙”的挂牌，雷蒙给篱笆喷漆，芙蓉在一旁惊讶地看着，而小红则忙着清洗轮胎斜塔。

 

卡布的助手奇诺在给轮胎店喷漆，而卡布则在擦窗户，看到这些，莎莉兴奋地说：“棒极了！看起来棒极了！”她激动地发现温泉镇的居民都因小镇而骄傲。事实上，现在就剩下一辆赛车需要美容一下……她看了一眼满身灰尘的麦坤，他正一边铺路一边自言自语。

 

“我被困在这鬼地方铺这臭烘烘的路，”麦坤嘟囔着，“路霸却在加州和岱诺可套近乎。”他停下来，清理掉身上的柏油：“我的岱诺可！哎呀，哎哟！谁在碰我？”

 

“你的轮胎有条裂缝。”卡布解释说，奇诺检查了一下麦坤的轮胎，仙人掌的刺就像豪猪的刺一样刺破了他的轮胎。

 

“奇诺，”卡布一边示意麦坤到手里拿着一罐轮胎胶的助理那里，一边说，“你把路修得这么好，你应该来我的店铺。即便你不是法拉利，奇诺也会好好为你服务。你如果买四个轮胎，我再免费送你一个全尺寸备用轮胎。”他满腔热情地给了一个大大的微笑。

 

麦坤叹了一口气，他的情绪十分糟糕。“看，我用的轮胎都是免费的。”他纳闷，这群人竟然对大名鼎鼎的赛车一无所知？

 

卡布离开以后，麦坤被泼了一身凉水。他尖叫起来：“嗷！ 住手！”

 

水停下来后，麦坤发现小红站在自己面前，而莎莉站在他旁边。

 

“哦，小红，”莎莉说，“你漏掉了一个地方。看见了吗？在那儿，就在那引擎罩上。”

 

小红继续冲洗着遗留在麦坤引擎罩上的仙人掌。麦坤气急败坏地说：“不,不要……太凉了!住手！救命啊！求求你了！快停下来！”

 

小红不停地朝麦坤喷水，直到把仙人掌全部冲掉。

 

“谢谢你，小红。”莎莉说。

 

“为什么给我清洗？”麦坤咳嗽几下，眨着眼睛追问。

 

“你想不想住在舒适的路障汽车旅馆？”莎莉直率地问，“我是说，你要想住进去，就得把自己洗干净。”

 

“什么？”麦坤现在真的困惑了，“我不明白你的意思……”

 

“没什么！你的工作做得很棒，我觉得我应该让你住在路障汽车旅馆，以此表达谢意。”莎莉说。她尽量控制好自己的语气，让这件事情听上去就像小事一桩。

 

麦坤被深深地触动了：“等等，你对我真好。”

 

“我是说，你要想待在脏兮兮的拘留所，我也不勉强。”莎莉接着说，“像你这种罪犯，我是了解的。”

 

麦坤怀着仰慕之情望着远处的旅馆：“不不不，那里很好。耶！路障汽车旅馆！”的确，旅馆比拘留所好太多了。

 

“你要愿意，就住一号房吧。”莎莉走开了，她不小心撞上一堆橙色锥形路障，它们散落得到处都是。莎莉一脸尴尬，匆忙回到自己旅店的办公室。

 

正在那时，板牙出现了。他来到麦坤身旁，滔滔不绝地聊起来：“我之前认识一个叫多琳的女孩。她很美，就像捷豹一样，虽然她只是一辆卡车。我总是为了和她说话而故意撞她。”说着，板牙自豪地笑了。

 

“你在说什么？”麦坤问。

 

“没什么。”板牙说，“喂，我知道我们今天晚上该做什么。因为今天我负责看管你呀。”

 

“不行，板牙，我得抓紧把路修完，然后离开这里。”

 

“好吧，‘我不能在泥土路上转弯’先生，”板牙准备离开，“也许这对你来说太难了。”

 

“喂，喂，等等！板牙，”麦坤生气地说，“你知道你是在和谁说话吗？我可是闪电麦坤，我能搞定任何事情。”

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