Farmer McColl stood on the platform to his farm next to his sheepdog, Katie, looking very excited.
He kept looking at his watch.
"He should be here any moment," he murmured.
Just then, a bell rang out.
Farmer McColl grinned from ear to ear.
"'Ere he is!" he said excitedly as Toby puffed in with a wellwagon.
On the wellwagon was a blue tractor.
"Here you are, sir," said Toby, "Your new tractor has arrived."
"Thank you, Toby," said Farmer McColl as he trotted down the platform with Katie running behind.
"Ah, hello fellow! Am I the one who bought you at the auction?" the farmer asked.
The tractor squirmed.
"I suppose so... That is why I was brought here, right?"
"Yes, of course," said Farmer McColl, "What's your name, tractor?"
"I'm...Jacob." the tractor said slowly, "Is this farm my new home?"
"Of course it is! We've even got plans to rebuild the barn just for you!" McColl said.
Jacob's frown turned into a small smile.
"Wow, I've never had my own shed before..."
"But it'll require some assistance." Farmer McColl stated, "Which is why I have an idea..."
He got out his phone and dialed a number.
"Hello? Yes, Ms. Jenny? Listen, I need to tell you something..."
A few days later, The Pack were busy repairing Farmer McColl's shed for his new tractor.
Oliver and Ned had already demolished it; now they were rebuilding the structure to make it stronger and more stable.
But Jacob was uneasy, and he kept looking at the sky.
"Why so stressed?" asked Byron.
"It's...nothing," Jacob said quietly.
Soon, Jacob looked almost scared.
"Hurry, please. I hear there's a storm coming and I don't want to sleep outside," Jacob grumbled.
Kelly sighed.
"This is the fifth time you've said this, Jacob. We're working as fast as we can, and anyhow, maintenance work should be done properly."
"Not at all rushed," agreed Oliver politely.
"Well, I don't want to sleep out in the rain." mumbled Jacob.
"And you won't," said Oliver.
But Max and Monty were bored; they had nothing to do.
After all, a shed doesn't mean dumping things; they had finished clearing the debris from the demolition.
"Surely there's something we can do," grumbled Max.
"Yeah, you can shut up for one," muttered Patrick, who was pouring some cement for the foundation of the new barn.
Max and Monty were very cross.
"Nobody speaks to us like that!" growled Monty.
"Well I can talk however I want to!"
"Just stop it, all of you," grunted Byron, who was plowing some dirt, "I have to concentrate."
"Yeah, a bulldozer has to concentrate." cackled Max.
Byron just sighed.
Thomas puffed in with the prize bull; he had picked him up from Spencer, who had taken the bull to the Mainland for a contest.
"Your prize bull won first prize!" cheered Thomas' driver as he went to uncouple the van.
"Great!" said Farmer McColl, "I knew he would. He's a good bull."
The bull bellowed angrily.
"See?"
Thomas gulped.
"Be careful with the bull," he warned the Pack, "The porters had a hard time putting him in the van at Knapford."
"Pah," snorted Max, "It's only a bull."
"Yeah, what harm can it do?" asked Monty.
"Famous last words," murmured Byron.
Suddenly the bull leapt out of Thomas' van, which had just been unlocked, and ran right in front of Byron.
"What the!" exclaimed Byron as he came to a sudden halt.
The bull started running around, causing chaos.
"What's this thing doing here?" asked Oliver as he swerved to avoid a collision with the bull's horns.
"Yikes!" shouted Jacob, and he hid behind the farmhouse.
The tractor shivered.
"Don't let it get me, please!" yelped Jacob.
"I'm out!" cried Max as the bull ran towards them.
"Same here!" cried Monty.
Max and Monty scurried away, with the bull running after them.
"Ugh, you can never get it right when you're with lousy assistants..." muttered Farmer McColl and glared at the assistants that unlocked the door.
"Heh, heh..."
"That can only mean trouble," muttered Thomas.
"I'm not going to get attacked, right?" said Jack worriedly, "Since I'm red?"
"Actually bulls don't care about the color red; it's just a myth." Kelly said matter-of-factorly.
Back on the road, Max and Monty kept going back and forth.
"Bulls are attracted to red, not orange! Right?!" shouted Max.
"I don't know! Let's find something red and get rid of this bull!" replied Monty.
Max and Monty raced down the road with the bull clomping behind.
It lowered its head, preparing to charge.
Max and Monty were really scared, and desperately tried to look for something red, but they found nothing, until...
"I am so glad the Fat Controller gave me another chance. I don't even have to pull stupid vegetables around anymore."
It was Bulgy up ahead at a bus stop.
Max and Monty spotted him.
"Yes! Maybe he'll ram into Bulgy!" cried Max, with the bull right behind him.
Monty turned around and raced off back to the farm.
"No! Traitor!" shouted Max desperately, but Monty had already left.
Bulgy was surprised to see the commotion.
"What in the blazes is going on?"
"It's- OW!"
The bull just scraped Max's registration number.
"Faster!" cried Max and his driver sped up.
Max circled around Bulgy and raced back to the farm.
Bulgy was so surprised that he didn't notice that his driver already started him up.
Meanwhile, Farmer McColl was worried about his bull.
"Is there anything we can do?" he asked Thomas' driver.
"Well, we've got to collect our coaches at Knapford. We'll send for somebody to come with a workman from the Animal Park." and Thomas puffed away.
"I hope the bull doesn't come after me!" cried Jack, "After all I'm red!"
Suddenly, Max and Monty stormed in with the bull following behind.
"Yikes!" cried Monty as he avoided a strike of the bull's horns.
Jack scurried off with the load of dirt still in his bucket, as did Alfie.
The rest of the Pack were too stunned to move.
Farmer McColl had had enough.
He ran into his barn and then came out with a lasso.
"Where in the world did you get that?" cried Byron.
"Apparently last week he was on a holiday to Texas. He learned how to lasso. It might come in handy." replied Jacob, who had had the courage to come out into the field.
Farmer McColl threw the rope over one of his horns just as Rosie puffed up with the workman that Thomas' driver had sent for.
"What's happening?" asked Rosie, scared.
"'Farmer McCool' here is trying to lasso the bull," muttered Patrick, rolling his eyes.
The bull struggled free when the rope came over his horn.
"Darn it!" cried Farmer McColl and he tried again, this time over both horns.
The workman from the Animal Park came to help.
Soon, the bull was taken away into the barn.
"Well, Max and Monty, you had a lot of fun today, eh?" teased Isobella, who was supplying the Pack with their fuel.
"Well, uh..." said Max.
"We'll be going." finished Monty and they scurried off to find Nelson to take them back to Cronk.
"Is this shed done yet?" complained Jacob, "I can see dark clouds coming."
"Actually, we're almost done. What matters is that the bull is stopped," replied Kelly.
"I'm sure Max and Monty would agree," laughed Patrick and everybody laughed along with him.
Soon the barn was done, and just in time.
"Thank you." called Jacob as the rest of The Pack were loaded onto Henry's train of wellwagons and flatbeds.
By the time they reached Cronk, Max and Monty were hiding in the shed.
"Is the bull still gone?" cried Max.
"You can relax." chortled Jack, "The bull's where it should be. It's not going to come back and haunt you or anything."
Suddenly another bull's cry was heard from a nearby farm.
"Aaaah!" yelled the dump trucks, but everybody else just laughed.
Max and Monty were very embarrassed indeed.