Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl called Hazel. She loved and collected toy cars.

Her passion for toy cars originated from one special car: the ‘Yellow 2000’ that she got as a present from a kind old lady at the till of a charity shop. Hazel was browsing among the toys in the shop and she found this little car: a very old and somewhat broken, faded yellow sport car that had the number 2000 written on its bonnet. Hazel had never been interested in cars before, but somehow she fell in love with Yellow 2000. Hazel asked her Mum whether she could have the car and Mum said:

‘It depends. Ask the lady how much it is.’

So Hazel took Yellow 2000 to the till and asked the lady: ‘How much is this, please?’

‘Well’, the old lady took the little car in her hand, ‘I have no idea, sweetheart’, she said. ‘There is no price tag on it.’

‘Is it impossible to buy it then?’, asked Hazel desperate.

‘Nothing is impossible, darling’, the old lady smiled at her, and examined the car further. ‘You see, this one is a bit broken here.’

‘I know’, said Hazel, ‘but I still want to buy it.’

‘I guess’, the old lady said, ‘you can have this car for free because you have such beautiful eyes, love.’

‘Really?’, Hazel was overjoyed. ‘Thank you ever so much.’

‘You are welcome’, smiled the lady.

Hazel took the car home and created a special parking place for it. Soon, Yellow 2000 became her favourite toy and she played with it all the time. Also, Hazel took an interest in cars from then on, and started collecting toy cars. She bought cars with her own pocket money, she got cars as presents from her family and friends, and she even found a toy car on a beach abandoned, and took it home.

No matter how many cars Hazel collected, her favourite was still Yellow 2000. She took it with her wherever she went, in a special car holder that she could clip on her backpack.

Deep in her heart, Hazel always knew that Yellow 2000 was not just a toy car. There was a special air about it as if it had some special powers.

One day, Hazel was really upset about her friends being mean to her at school. She even cried a little when she got home and nobody saw her.

Well, she thought that nobody had seen her, but someone actually had. I think you have guessed it already: it was Yellow 2000.

‘What’s the matter, Hazel?’, asked the toy car.

Hazel stopped crying immediately, and looked around puzzled: there was noone else in her room.

‘Why were you crying?’, asked Yellow 2000 in a gentle voice.

‘You can talk!’, Hazel exclaimed, ‘You can actually talk!’

‘Well’, said the car, ‘You are the only one who can hear me, Hazel. I have tried to talk to a lot of people during my long life, but noone has ever heard me.’

‘In that case’, Hazel said, ‘I am the luckiest person in the world!’

‘I would say’, Yellow 2000 smiled, ‘you are the most kind hearted person in the world, and that is why you can hear even a toy car’s voice.’

Hazel looked at the car closer: ‘I know you are not just a toy car, Yellow 2000.’

The car was silent for a moment, then he said: ‘You are right, Hazel, I am not.’

‘Who are you then?’, inquired Hazel.

‘Long story’, shrugged Yellow 2000.

‘Please tell it to me’, Hazel begged him.

‘Maybe one day I shall’, said the car, deep in his thoughts.

Hazel examined him closer.

‘Can I help you?’, she asked, ‘You are in trouble, right?’

Yellow 2000 was really taken aback: ‘How did you know, Hazel?’

‘Well’, Hazel did not really know the answer, ‘you look like someone in trouble.’

‘Do I?’, the car seemed disappointed.

‘How can I help you?’, Hazel urged him.

‘Well’, Yellow 2000 hesitated, ‘I don’t think I have the right to ask you for such a sacrifice.’

‘You do’, Hazel reassured him.

‘Well’, the car sighed, ‘in order to help me, you would need to shrink small enough to sit in my driver’s seat.’

‘I would love to!’, Hazel exclaimed.

‘Really?’, Yellow 2000 was genuinely surprised.

‘Of course I do, silly!’, said Hazel joyfully.

The car thought about it for a few moments, then, he said: ‘Let’s do it then.’

There was a spark, a tiny pop, and some yellow smoke, and all of a sudden, Hazel was tiny. So tiny that she was able to open the driver’s door of Yellow 2000 with some effort because it was a bit rusty, and she got in.

‘That is amazing!’, she cried. ‘What now?’

‘You need to start my engine’, said Yellow 2000, ‘but it is not going to be easy. I haven’t used it in a very long time.’

‘I can’t drive’, confessed Hazel.

‘Don’t worry, I will teach you everything’, said the car.

There was a lot of coughing and shivering, some strange noises and a lot of yellow smoke before Yellow 2000 got started and Hazel drove him out of her room.

‘Oh my! Stairs!’, cried Hazel.

The car was startled: ‘What on earth can we do now?’

Hazel had an idea: ‘You know what? If you turn me back to my normal size, I can carry you downstairs.’

‘I am sorry, I am not able to do that’, said Yellow 2000, ‘Changing sizes takes a lot of energy, and we need that for what lays ahead of us.’

‘I see’, Hazel said. ‘Let’s do it this way then’, and she started to drive towards the stairs in full power.

There were a lot of somersaults and banging, many strange noises and an awful lot of yellow smoke before Hazel and Yellow 2000 reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘I thought you said you couldn’t drive’, said the car.

‘I thought I couldn’t’, said Hazel, ‘but the old lady was right: nothing is impossible.’

‘That’s true’, acknowledged Yellow 2000.

‘Well, then’, Hazel said, ‘where do we need to go now?’

‘Drive out of your street, turn left on the main road, go straight until you reach the second roundabout, and then, you turn–’

‘Stop’, Hazel said, ‘It’s easier if you give directions as we go.’

So Yellow 2000 did exactly that. They were driving through the town, across fields, through more towns and fields, until the car said: ‘Please stop at the next corner.’

Hazel did so and looked around puzzled.

‘This looks like a junk yard’, she observed.

‘That’s exactly what it is’, said Yellow 2000, but we must go in and find my friend: Scott.

‘Is he living in here?’, asked Hazel somewhat taken aback.

‘Or dying’, said Yellow 2000 very quietly.

They went into the junk yard, both deep in their thoughts.

‘What does he look like?’, asked Hazel looking around.

There were a lot of broken cars there, and even more dismantled car pieces.

‘Well’, sighed Yellow 2000, ‘Scott was a shiny blue racing car with huge silvery tyres. He had a lion painted on his bonnet. But, I guess, this description is not much help anymore’, he said as he looked around the dirty, rusty wreckages.

‘I guess not’, said Hazel sadly.

They looked and looked. They looked under heaps of wreckages, between them, at the top of them, at the middle of them, everywhere. Scott, or what could have remained of him, was nowhere to be found.

‘We shall go home’, said Yellow 2000 devastated when dusk came.

‘Absolutely not’, cried Hazel, ‘We must find him!’

‘What if–’, started Yellow 2000 but he stopped and tears were rolling from his eyes.

‘If there is nothing left of him?’, asked Hazel bravely. ‘I promise you, my friend, that’s not the case. And I promise you that we are going to find him.’

Yellow 2000 looked at the girl’s determined face, and he said: ‘Let’s do it then.’

‘Scott! Scott! Scooott!’, they shouted as loud as they could.

‘Did you hear that?’, Hazel asked suddenly.

‘I haven’t heard anything’, said Yellow 2000 doubtfully.

‘Well, I did’, said Hazel setting off towards an enormous heap of wreckage. ‘Follow me.’

So Yellow 2000 did.

‘Scott!’, Hazel called out.

‘Brrr–’, came a weak voice from the heap.

‘Scott!!’, cried Yellow 2000.

‘Robert?’, answered the same voice unsure.

‘Robert??’, Hazel looked at Yellow 2000, puzzled.

‘That’s my real name’, explained the car. ‘Scott, where are you, my friend?’, he shouted excitedly.

‘Here–’

‘Where? Where??’

Robert and Hazel were frantically tearing the heap apart the best they could, until Robert stopped abruptly.

‘What is it?’, asked Hazel worrying.

‘It’s me’, said a dirty, rusty wheelless wreckage.

Robert and Scott were both crying.

‘I am so sorry. So very sorry’, Robert kept repeating.

‘It’s not your fault’, smiled Scott, ‘and I am so happy that you’ve finally found me!’

They cried a bit more.

‘What shall we do?’, asked Hazel cautiously.

‘We take him home’, said Robert.

‘Well’, said Hazel deep in her thoughts, ‘Scott has no wheels, how can we tow him home?’

They could see that even if Scott had wheels, he was not in a condition to be able to go all the way home.

Scott and Robert looked at each other silently for a long time.

‘Leave me here’, said Scott. ‘It is enough for me that I was able to see you one last time. And I can see that you are well cared for’, he winked at Hazel.

‘Don’t be silly’, said Hazel. ‘I’ll take you home. I am sure Dad can repair you.’

Robert looked at the girl inquiringly.

‘Turn me back to my normal size’, she said.

‘But–’, Robert started.

‘Trust me’, said Hazel.

So Robert did. There was a spark, a tiny pop, and some yellow smoke, and all of a sudden, Hazel was big again.

‘Thank you’, Hazel said smiling and put both toy cars in her pocket.

She walked and walked until she got to a bus stop. An awfully long time had passed before a bus finally arrived.

As the door opened, Hazel wanted to get on the bus but the driver stopped her: ‘Where are your parents?’, he inquired, ‘I cannot take you anywhere on your own’, and with that, he closed the door and drove away.

‘What shall we do now?’, asked Hazel from Robert.

‘Put me on the road, please’, said the car.

‘What for?’ asked Hazel, puzzled.

‘Trust me’, he said.

So Hazel did. There were many sparks, some huge popping, and an awful lot of yellow smoke, and all of a sudden, Robert was a real life-size car.

‘Wow!’, Hazel exclaimed as she climbed in him.

‘Well done’, sighed Scott in Hazel’s pocket.

‘Actually’, said the girl somewhat surprised, ‘this feels no different from when we were both tiny. I am sure I can still drive you.’

‘No need’, said Robert and he coughed a little, reversed a little, sighed deeply and–

Whoosh! Robert was flying super fast high above the clouds.

‘Wow!’, Hazel exclaimed. ‘I’ve always known that you are not just a toy car.’

‘Thanks’, said Robert, modestly.

‘Now’, said Hazel, ‘I think it’s time for you to tell me your story.’

‘She is right’, said Scott.

‘Well then’, sighed Robert. ‘Scott and me were friends all our lives. And when we were young, well, we were quite silly.’

‘Stupid’, Scott corrected him.

‘Well, he is right’, said Robert. ‘We loved racing.’

‘We did’, sighed Scott longingly.

‘We do’, Robert corrected him.

‘Well, yes’, said Scott.

‘Nothing wrong with that’, Hazel reassured them.

‘Well’, Robert sighed deeply, ‘if you act responsibly, that’s true.’

‘But we didn’t’, said Scott.

‘No’, said Robert turning to his friend, ‘I am so sorry, Scott. Terribly sorry.’

‘Don’t be’, said Scott. ‘I am perfectly happy now being with you two.’

‘And Dad will repair you and you will be able to go super fast again’, Hazel promised him.

Both cars stayed silent.

‘Please tell me what happened’, Hazel begged them.

‘Well’, Robert sighed, ‘there was this silly race–’

‘Stupid race’, Scott corrected him.

‘Yes’, Robert took a deep breath. ‘And I caused a terrible accident’, he finally confessed.

‘Actually, I caused it’, Scott corrected him.

‘No’, cried Robert, ‘it was my fault only. I was si– I was totally stupid, I was.’

All three of them fell silent.

‘No people got hurt’, said Robert, ‘but some cars did. Badly.’

‘Including us’, Scott added.

‘What happened to you?’, Hazel inquired.

‘I don’t know’, said Robert slowly. I fainted. When I woke up, I was in a toy box of a nasty little boy. Thank God, he finally lost me one day. But then I got to many different children. Until a mum finally gave me to that charity shop where you found me.'

‘I stayed conscious’, said Scott, ‘and I saw that people took Robert with them. I saw our friends being thrown to the junk yard, being taken apart, being –’

They were silent for the rest of the journey, deep in their thoughts.

‘Now’, Robert said, ‘I land in your back garden and turn myself back to be a toy car so that you can take us in the house without being noticed, Hazel.’

‘Good plan’, Hazel agreed. Scott was asleep in her pocket.

So they did exactly that.

Dad repaired Scott, and Hazel had many more adventures with her car friend, and everyone was happy.

Well, not everyone. You see, Jeremiah, Hazel’s old ginger cat was the only one who saw Robert landing in their garden and turning back into a toy car. Of course, he was cautious from then on. Whenever Jeremiah saw Robert after that, he huffed and puffed and tried to scratch the toy car. Naturally, Hazel did not let him and tried to make it up for him.