《赛车总动员》第18章

In a moment, the town was swarmed with reporters, photographers, and camera vans. The reporters jostled Sally out of the way as they descended onto Lightning, asking him questions a mile a minute.

One reporter barked, "Did you have a nervous breakdown, Lightning?"

"Look, Lightning's wearing whitewalls!"

"Are your tires prematurely balding?"

"Stickers?" Sally called. "Lightning?" But her voice was lost in the confusion of the crowd.

"Lightning!" shouted a TV reporter. "Will you still race for the Piston Cup?"

"Sally?" Lightning called. "Sally? Sally!" He searched for the Porsche, but he couldn't find her in the chaos.

Just then, a truck horn blared. It was Mack! He drove toward Lightning, shoving reporters out of his way.

"You're here!" Mack cried. His voice was thick with tears. "Thank the manufacturers you're alive! Oh, you are a sight for sore headlights. I'm so sorry I lost you, boss. I'll make it up to you."

Mack unhooked the trailer and held back the press so that Lightning could get inside.

"Mack," Lightning said in a dazed voice, "I can't believe you're here."

"Is that the world's fastest racing machine?" boomed a familiar voice.

"Is that Harv?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, he's in the back," Mack replied.

Then Mack turned to the reporters. "Get back, you oil-thirsty parasites!"

"Harv!" Lightning called into the trailer. "Harv?" "Kid! I'm over here."

A speakerphone slid easily from the side of the trailer.

"How ya doin', buddy?" Lightning asked into the microphone.

"I'm doing great!" Harv exclaimed. "You're everywhere—radio, TV, the papers. What do you need me for?"

Then the agent's voice turned serious. "That's just a figure of speech. You signed a contract. Where are you? I can't even find you on my GPS."

"I'm in this little town called Radiator Springs," Lightning explained excitedly. "You know Highway Sixty-six? It's still here!"

"Yeah, great, kiddo," Harv said, cutting off Lightning. "Playtime is over, pal. While the world's been tryin' to find you, Dinoco's had nobody to woo. Who they gonna woo?"

Lightning knew the answer to that one. "Chick."

"Bingo," Harv said. "Mack, roll the tape."

The TV screen glowed blue, showing footage of Chick standing next to Tex Dinoco. Chick was surrounded by reporters and gorgeous female fans. He even had a new dark thundercloud with a giant C painted on him.

"Show us the thunder!" the reporters begged.

"Yeah, give us the thundercloud!"

"You want thunder?" Chick demanded, basking in the attention. "You want thunder? Ka-chick-a! Ka-chick-a! Ka-chick-a!"

"Hey," Lightning said in horror, "that's my bit!"

"You gotta get to Cali pronto," Harv yelled. "Just get out of Radiation Stinks now, or Dinoco is history, you hear me?"

"Yeah, okay," Lightning said slowly, "just give me a second here, Harv." Lightning drove over to Sally, who was parked by the side of the trailer.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment. Lightning spoke first. "Sally, I—I want you to— look, I wish …" He sighed and looked at the ground. He didn't know what to say.

"Thank you," Sally said sincerely. "Thanks for everything."

Lightning looked up at her. "It was just a road."

"No—it was much more than that." Tears welled up in Sally's eyes.

Mack charged over, interrupting them. "We gotta go," he said. "Harv's going crazy. He's gonna have me fired if I don't get you in the truck now."

"Mack, just hold it," Lightning begged. He looked at Sally, pained.

"You should go," Sally told him.

Lightning started to speak, but Sally cut him off. "I hope you find what you're looking for," she told him. Then she backed away and turned, pushing through the press.

"Sally … ," Lightning called. "Sally!" But it was too late. She was gone.

"C'mon," Harv urged. "Let's go." The agent coaxed as Lightning backed into the trailer. "That's right, kid, let's go. You're a superstar. You don't belong there anyway."

Lightning looked out at the soft neon glow of the town lights one last time before the ramp shut behind him.

As Mack hauled Lightning out of town, the folks of Radiator Springs watched sadly. Just then, a reporter rolled up to Doc.

"Hey, are you Doc Hudson?" she asked. "Thanks for the call."

Sally's jaw dropped. "You did this?"

"It's best for everyone, Sally," Doc said.

"Best for everyone?" Sally demanded. "Or best for you?"

"Hey, guys!" shouted a reporter. "Lightning's leaving in the truck!"

The press raced after him, leaving the town as suddenly as they had arrived.

"I didn't get to say good-bye to him," Mater said sadly.

One by one, the townsfolk went back to their shops. Alone, Doc sat under the town's traffic light as they all turned off their neon. Radiator Springs was quiet and dark once again.

不一会儿，整个小镇挤满了记者、摄影师以及摄影车。记者们把莎莉挤到路旁，朝麦坤一拥而上。他们一边挤一边七嘴八舌地问各种各样的问题。

一个记者大叫：“麦坤，你是不是出了严重的故障？”

“快看！麦坤换上了白胎壁轮胎！”

“你的轮胎是不是磨损得太快了？”

“闪电侠！麦坤！”莎莉叫着麦坤的名字。但混乱的人群将她的声音淹没。

“麦坤！你还去参加活塞杯比赛吗？”一个电视台记者问。

“莎莉?”麦坤大喊。“莎莉？莎莉！”他想在嘈杂的人群中找到这辆保时捷，却怎么也找不到。

正在这时，一辆货车响起喇叭。是麦克！他推开挡路的记者，朝麦坤开去。

“你在这里！”麦克大叫道，声音里掺杂着泪水。“谢谢制造商把你造得这么坚固，你还活着！噢，见到你实在太高兴了。我的小祖宗，都是我不好把你弄丢了。我会补偿你的！”

麦克把记者们拦住，然后放下厢门以便麦坤能顺利进入车厢。

“麦克，真不敢相信你能找到这里。”麦坤一脸茫然地说。

“这不是世界上速度最快的赛车吗？”车厢里传来了熟悉的声音。

“是哈维吗？”麦坤问。

“是啊，他就在车厢里。”麦克回答说。

麦克转过身冲着一帮记者大叫：“让开，让开，你们这群贪婪的汽油寄生虫！”

“哈维？”麦坤冲着车厢喊。——“孩子！我在这里。”

车厢一侧伸出一支麦克风。

“最近还好吗，伙计？”麦坤对着麦克风说。

“一切都很好！各种媒体——广播、电视还有报纸都在报道你的事情，你还要我为你做什么？”哈维说。

突然，哈维的声音变得严肃起来。“刚才只是些客套话。我们签过合同的，你去哪里了？连我的卫星定位都找不到你。”

“我就在这里啊，水箱温泉镇，”麦坤激动地解释道，“你知道66号高速公路吗？它就在这里！”

“好了，别小孩子气了，”哈维打断麦坤的话，“该说点儿正经的了，老兄，大家都在满世界找你。岱诺可现在没了宠儿，他们该找谁？”

麦坤知道哈维指的是谁。“路霸！”

“答对了！”哈维说，“麦克，装上录像带！”

电视屏幕亮起后开始播放视频。视频里，路霸和老德站在一起。路霸被大量的记者和漂亮的女粉丝包围着。路霸甚至在身上印上了一团雷云，前面还有一个巨大的字母“C”。

“给大家展示一下你的雷鸣吧！”身旁的记者请求道。

“对，让我们看看那道雷云！”

“你们要看雷鸣？”路霸享受着众人拥戴的惬意。他故意问：“你们要看雷鸣？咔嚓！咔——嚓！”

“喂，”麦坤不高兴地说，“那是我的招牌动作！”

“你现在必须离开温泉镇，即刻赶往加利福尼亚。要不然，你只能和岱诺可擦肩而过，你听清楚了吗？”哈维冲着麦坤大喊。

“好，我知道了，”麦坤慢吞吞地说，“给我一分钟的时间，好吗？”麦坤说完便朝莎莉走去，莎莉此时停在拖车旁边。

俩人默默对视着，彼此都没有讲话。麦坤先开口：“莎莉，我希望你能……你听我说，我希望……”他叹着气，眼睛盯着路面。其实，他也不知道到底该说什么。

“谢谢你，”莎莉诚恳地说，“谢谢你所做的一切。”

麦坤抬头看着莎莉说：“我只是把被我弄坏的路修好了而已。”

“不，远不止这些。”莎莉不禁流下了眼泪。

一旁的麦克调过头，打断了两个人的对话。“我们必须要走了，”他说，“再不走哈维都要疯了。如果你再不进到车厢里，他就要把我开除了。”

“麦克，再坚持一会儿，”麦坤哀求着说。他看着莎莉，心里十分难受。

“你该走了。”莎莉对麦坤说。

麦坤刚要张口，莎莉便打断他的话：“我希望你能找到你想要的。”说完，莎莉后退了几步，随即消失在拥挤的记者群中。

“莎莉，莎莉！”麦坤想叫住她，但是已经来不及了。莎莉已经离去了。

“抓紧时间，”哈维催促道，“我们该出发了！”哈维连哄带催地把麦坤赶到拖车里。“这就对了嘛，小帅哥，我们出发吧！你是赛道上的超级明星，你根本不属于这里！”

麦坤站在车厢里，在厢门关上的最后一秒，他还依依不舍地看着小镇上闪烁的霓虹灯。

麦克拖着麦坤离开小镇，小镇的居民伤心地看着。此时，一位记者跑到蓝天博士面前。

“嘿，你是蓝天博士？”她问，“谢谢你打电话给我们提供线索。”

莎莉听了大吃一惊：“你打的电话？”

“我这样做是为了大家好，莎莉。”博士说。

“为大家好？还是为你自己好？”莎莉厉声追问。

“大家注意，麦坤已经被拖车运走了！”一个记者大叫着。

所有记者急忙朝麦克追去，就像他们刚才涌进小镇一样迅速。

“我还没来得及说再见，他就走了。”板牙伤心地说。

居民一个一个离开了，大家各自回到自己的商店。蓝天博士一个人留在原地，他坐在小镇入口的交通信号灯下，看着闪烁的霓虹灯一个个失去色彩。刚热闹起来没多久的温泉镇又回到了以前的沉寂。