Sea Legs is an upcoming episode.
Plot[]
Arthur loves working at the Fishing Village and on his branch line by the sea. He, unlike many other engines, enjoys the salty smell of fish and the sound of a busy seaside on a summer afternoon. However, he runs the line by himself and sometimes the work gets to be too much for one engine to handle on his own.
It was a scorching day on the Island of Sodor, one of the hottest the engines had seen in a very long while. The Fat Controller arrived in Winston early that morning, and the engines were already complaining about the heat. "Good morning, sir," panted Edward, "scorcher, isn't it?" The Fat Controller waved a newspaper at his face to cool off, as he said, "Yes indeed! It's been awhile since it was this hot! I can't wait to get home to my pool with a nice, cold glass of lemon-limeade and relax in an inflatable duck with a..." The engines looked queerly at the man, who quickly realized that the heat was getting to him. "Oh, never mind. Anyhow, I need an engine to go down to the Fishing Village to help Arthur on his Coastal Branch Line. Any volunteers?" The engines looked away, all except Emily. "I'd love to sir! Please choose me, it would be nice to escape to the seaside for a little bit on a hot day like today," she said excitedly. "Very well, then, as soon as your driver and fireman arrive, you can be on you way!" The engines groaned at the thought of a fire in their smokebox, but Emily beamed from buffer to buffer.
At the Fishing Village, Arthur was already hard at work shunting vans of fish and salt into their proper sidings, when Emily puffed in. "Good morning, Arthur!" she chimed. Arthur smiled, he liked working with Emily. She was strong, efficient and she loved to help out. "Good morning, Emily! It's nice to have a helping buffer around here. Now, could you shunt those Empties into the siding beside that crane? Great!" Arthur replied, and the two set to work.
The two had a splendid day, and Emily was going to come back the next day to help out some more. She was taking one last train of fish to the dockside before going back to the shed for the night, but the heat was still lingering- even at dusk. Emily was feeling parched and thirsty, so her driver allowed her to get one more drink from the nearby water column before going home. In the heat, her driver couldn't quite make out the direction the points were set at, but the track ahead was blocked by a line of wagons, so she figured that the points were set the other way as to avoid a collision. Emily kept puffing, thinking that she was going in the direction of the water tower, but she wasn't! No sooner had Emily realized she was going the wrong way than she collided with the wagons, and was sent off the rails, hanging precariously over the edge to the sea! Emily was terrified. "HELP! HELP!" she cried in terror.
Luckily, Arthur was nearby and coupled up to Emily so that he could pull her back onto the rails. "You could've had a nasty accident, there, Emily! Luckily for you I was around," Arthur said kindly. Emily shuddered. "I know," she whispered sadly.
The next morning was just as hot. Emily arrived at the Fishing Village after much coaxing, for she was now nervous after her endeavor the previous night. Arthur was waiting for her at the pier when she arrived. "I have to take a train down to Brendam Docks this morning; could you clean up the piers by moving these trucks to their proper places?" he asked, not noticing Emily's nervousness and skepticism. "I suppose, but are there any jobs I could do that don't require me to come close to falling into the sea? I mean, Thomas fell of one of these piers awhile ago, and I wouldn't want to- er- repeat history..." Emily replied meekly. Arthur was taken aback. He looked surprised at Emily, and said in the kindest way possible, "Sorry, but there isn't anything else to be done right now... Only because you did such an amazing job yesterday of course! Well, I'd best be off then," said Arthur as he was coupled to a goods train and headed off to Brendam Docks.
"Aye, if it isn't me old friend Arthur again! How's yer 'spotless record' goin'?" chuckled Salty as Arthur pulled in, smiling. "Oh that ended years ago, you old scallywag, of course a decent captain like yourself wouldn't know how to stay clean for an hour!" laughed Arthur in reply. He really enjoyed Salty's company, though not many could say that they didn't, Salty was friends with everyone and everyone was friends with Salty. "Is something' troubling ye, Arthur?" asked Salty kindly as a frown and distant look crept onto the LMS tank engine's face. "Oh, well, Emily seems to be afraid of the ocean I suppose." Salty gasped with horror, but Arthur ignored him and continued, "I think it was because of a nasty could-have-been accident that happened at the Fishing Village last night." Salty started to smile. "What the ol' lass needs is to get her sea legs back, me hearty! Nothin' to it!" "Sea legs back? What do you mean?" Arthur inquired. "Some just don' like the sea I guess, can't imagine why, but everyone has the sea in their hearts, all they need is a push in the right direction. And I want nothing outta ye about her not 'aving legs, ha ha!" laughed the dockside diesel. "How will she get her 'sea legs' back, then?" asked Arthur. "Easy!" chuckled Salty, "this is what we do..."
Later that day, Salty and Arthur arrived back at the Village. Emily was shunting the last load of trucks off the pier with a pained look on her face. She looked over and saw Arthur. She managed a weak smile and said, "oh, hello, Arthur. Oh, and Salty. I've finished all my work and I'll be off then." Arthur inspected her work. "Ah, yes, lovely! But I'm afraid you've shunted this truck a bit too far north..." Arthur puffed forth onto the pier and bumped into the truck, sending it flying off the edge, through the buffers! Arthur continued forward, until there was almost no more track left! "Oh my!" he shouted, pretending to almost be falling off the edge, "HELP!" Emily gasped in horror, "what shall we do, Salty!?" "Go up and save 'im, me hearty! Quick!!" Salty shouted. Emily dashed forward and coupled up to Arthur. With one mighty heave, Arthur was back to the land in no time. Arthur was surprised at how strong Emily actually was.
"There, now your safe!" she sighed, "what happened?" "Well, I staged the accident to show you that you had nothing to fear," said Arthur meekly. "WHAT!??" shouted Emily, "you had me worried sick!" Salty grinned. "Aye, but are ye still afeared of the sea, m'lady?" Emily thought for a moment. "I guess not, but Arthur was in peril and I needed to save my friend, so I was willing to face my fear for him and-" Emily stopped as she realized what she was saying, "I am not afraid anymore..."
Since then, Emily has gone to work at the Fishing Village regularly and knows how to manage the trucks with ease, thanks to "Salty's Secret". She learned that day that fears can always be confronted when you have a friend to help you through it.
Characters[]
- Arthur
- Emily
- Salty
- Edward
- The Fat Controller
- Porter (cameo)
- Gordon (cameo)
- Henry (cameo)
- James (cameo)
- Duck (cameo)
- Billy (cameo)
- Bill and Ben (cameo)
- Cranky (cameo)
- Winston (does not speak)
- Thomas (mentioned)