Through Sam's Eyes - James and the Giant Pumpkin

by CarsWorldFan

Another episode in my Through Sam's Eyes series. It's the day of the Giant Vegetable Show in Pontypandy. What could possibly go wrong? Warning: contains series 11 spoilers. Oneshot.

Through Sam's Eyes

James and the Giant Pumpkin

Series 11 Episode 13

It was the day of the annual Fruit and Vegetable Show in Pontypandy, and this year's theme was 'Giant Vegetables'. The competition was simple, really – the biggest and most impressive vegetable would win.

Elvis and I had spent most of the morning setting up the display tables for the competition, and now our friends were happily setting up their displays. I was a bit disappointed to not be in this year's competition, but it really couldn't be helped. My accident earlier in the year had prevented me from being able to prepare my garden in time for sowing. So, instead of growing a new vegetable patch, I'd decided to focus on enriching the soil in preparation for next year. Hopefully, that would enable me to win next year's competition.

"Oohooh! I love the Pontypandy Giant vegetable Competition, Sam!" Elvis told me excitedly.

"Well, looks like Dilys has done well," I said, and we walked over to her table. She turned around as we approached. "That's a very fine cauliflower you have there, Dilys."

"Oh, thank you, Sam," Dilys replied. "But, it's not as impressive as Trevor's beetroot."

"Thank you, Dilys," Trevor said. "But just wait till you see my radishes."

"Stand back everyone!"

Turning, I saw Joe approaching. He was carrying a large cardboard box and panting heavily from the effort of carrying it. He set it down on a vacant table.

"Have a look at this whopper!" Joe removed his entry from the box, and he held it up proudly. "How's that for a big brassica?"

"Looks like a cabbage to me," Elvis whispered to me.

"A cabbage is a brassica, Elvis," I explained. Then, I raised my voice slightly, so I could address the crowd. "Well, I must say, they all look very impressive!" I paused when I noticed that one of the tables was still vacant. "Oh! There's still one more entry to arrive. I wonder who that is?"

"Well, the children aren't here yet, so it must be their entry," Bronwyn reasoned.

I frowned thoughtfully. "I didn't know they were entering."

Bronwyn nodded. "James and Sarah said they'd helped the other kids grow something special. I can't wait to see it."

"Hmm… Well, in that case, I think we'll come back later to see it. Right now, we need to get back to the fire station. Penny and Arnold are having the day off, you see, so there's only four of us on duty."

Bronwyn smiled knowingly. I turned to leave, but then I noticed that Elvis had gone over to Moose's table.

"Err, Elvis?"

"Yes, Sam?"

"It's time to go."

Reluctantly, Elvis followed me back to the fire station. We entered through the side door, only to find Station Officer Steele crouched down on his hands and knees beside a locker.

"Come…" He clicked twice. "Come to daddy…"

Elvis and I jumped back in surprise. What is he doing? I thought, confused.

"Yes, come on…"

Elvis tapped me twice on my left shoulder, to get my attention. "Sam? What's Station Officer Steele doing?"

"Yes, come on!" Station Officer Steele said with frustration, and he clicked again.

I decided to get his attention, so I cleared my throat loudly.

"What?" Station Officer Steele exclaimed as he stood up. There was a loud 'clang' as his head whacked into the locker. "Ow!" he yelped in pain, and he spun around to see who had startled him. "Oh! Yes, it's you, Sam. Yes, hello…"

"Lost something, sir?" I asked. That was the only reason I could think of as to why he'd be looking under a locker.

"No! No, I was…erm…looking…" He sighed in defeat. "Oh! It's James and Sarah's guinea pig. I was supposed to be looking after him, but he's escaped."

"Oh, no!" Elvis exclaimed, and he briefly placed a hand on my left shoulder. "Norris! Norris, where are you?" he shouted close to my ear, making me wince. "Norris!"

Elvis started to look, while I went over to Station Officer Steele. "Don't worry, sir. We'll help you find him."

"Thank you, Sam. You keep looking here, and I'm going to get a carrot from the kitchen to tempt him. He might be hungry."

"Hungry?" I pondered that thought for a moment. Uh, oh… If he's looking for fresh food… "I think I might know a better place to look." I turned towards Elvis, who was looking underneath Hydrus. "Come on, Elvis! Oh, and uh, grab a shoebox."

"Huh?" Elvis scratched his head, confused.

"Hurry up! We have to stop him before he destroys the competition!"

"Oh, you mean… Not the Giant Vegetable Show?" Elvis exclaimed in horror.

"He couldn't have gone that far on his own, could he, Sam?" Station Officer Steele asked.

"A hungry rodent will do anything," I replied.

As soon as Elvis had found an empty shoebox, we hurried back to the park. As we got closer, I slowed to a calm walk. Elvis did the same.

"Just stay nice and calm now, Elvis," I instructed. "People might panic if they think there's a rodent on the loose, and we don't want to scare Norris away either."

"Okay, Sam."

We calmly approached the show area. Looking around, I couldn't see any signs of Norris. But then, I heard someone wail in dismay.

"Oh, nooooo!"

Elvis and I glanced knowingly at each other before we sprinted over to where Mike was examining the remains of one of his peapods.

"A marauding mischief-maker's been munching on me mangetout!"

"Come on, Elvis!" I said as we stopped running. "We might have found our man…er, pig…I mean, well, rodent…" I continued sprinting over to Mike, who was busy examining the rest of his vegetables.

"Looks like me onions are okay…" He looked up when I stopped in front of him.

"You, er, haven't seen a guinea pig around here, have you Mike, by any chance?" I asked him quietly. I really didn't want to alarm anyone else.

"Yes!" Mike replied crossly. "That furry fellow took a nibble out of my best mangetout, and then scampered off!"

"Oh!" Elvis moaned, and he placed his hand on my shoulder again. "How are we going to find him, Sam? He could be anywhere!"

"Hmm… We need to split up, Elvis," I decided. "And be very sneaky. I'll start at this end of the tables, and you start at the other end, and we'll meet in the middle."

"Okay, Sam."

I began by looking around Mike's table first, then Moose's. Seeing no further evidence of Norris having been there, I moved onto the middle section. I got down on my hands and knees, trying to see the world from Norris' point of view. I could hear high-pitch squeaking nearby, so I was sure I was closing in on him.

"Oh, dear, oh dear!" Joe exclaimed. I quickly rose up onto my knees, so I could see what was going on. "Something's run off with half me brassica!"

Glancing to my right, I frowned with surprise when I saw the remains of Joe's cabbage behind a carboard box. Well, that wasn't there before… Norris is being especially cheeky today…

Standing up, I picked up what cabbage remains I could, and I carried them over to Joe. "Erm, I'm sorry to say that this is all that's left of it, Joe."

"Oh, dear, oh dear!" Joe lamented as he took it from my hands. "What creature do you think could've done this, Sam?"

"Um…" At that moment, I heard the squeaking again. Elvis heard it too. He reacted by spinning around and slamming the open shoebox down on top of Mike's table.

"Did you get him, Elvis?" I asked hopefully as I walked over.

Elvis peeked under the box. "Er…no. It's a potato!" And he pulled it out to show me.

I cast Elvis my I'm-really-not-impressed look. Then, I heard the squeaking sounds coming from behind us. Turning, I saw one of Dilys' turnips moving. I nudged Elvis.

"Huh?" he muttered as his spun around. I pointed to the moving turnip. The squeaking grew louder and more excited. It sounds like Norris has struck 'gold'.

"Oh!" Dilys exclaimed when she saw her moving turnip. "My turnip's doing the lambada!"

We hurried over to her. Dilys picked up her turnip. The top had been chewed off.

"Oh! That hairy monstrosity has chopped my turnip into smitheroons!" she complained to me.

"We have to stop Norris before he ruins the whole competition!" Elvis declared, stating the obvious.

While Elvis was speaking, I heard the squeaking again. I held up my finger to silence him, just as Trevor spoke angrily.

"Oh, no! He's got my best carrot!"

Knowing the we were closing in, I motioned for Elvis to follow me. I snatched up the shoebox and I went over to Trevor.

"Where is he, Trevor?" I asked in a whisper.

Trevor pointed to the ground right at Dilys' feet. Motioning for everyone to stay quiet and still, I started to sneak up on the pesky guinea pig. He seemed to be completely focused on his prize, because he had his back to me.

"HEEEEEEELLLLLL…!"

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw a strange object rapidly approaching us. In fact, it was heading straight for Norris! Instinctively, I put the shoebox down, snatched up Norris, and leapt backwards out of the way. Dilys also moved out of the way just in time. There was a loud 'crash' just as I landed on my left-hand side. My elbow took the full impact of my weight, jolting my shoulder badly. It was the first time I'd really tested my left arm since my accident. I winced when I felt a muscle in my shoulder protest, but thanks to the titanium pins that were still in my forearm, it seemed to hold up okay.

As I sat up, I tried to process what had just happened. Norris trembled slightly as I clutched him to my chest with my right arm. Then, I saw that, whatever had just gone past had completely destroyed most of the competition area.

"Oh dear!" I muttered with an air of surprise. Bronwyn hurried over to me.

"Are you okay, Sam?" she asked with concern.

"I think so." I let her help me stand up. "What was that?"

Bronwyn pointed towards the far end of the park. "It's James on a cart with a giant pumpkin!"

The alarms went off at the fire station. Knowing that I'd probably be needed, I carried Norris over to Elvis. Before I could do anything else, Station Officer Steele's voice came on over our radios.

"Firefighter Phillips, can you pick up Fireman Sam at the park?"

"Roger that, sir!" Ellie replied.

Hearing Ellie approaching in Venus, I handed Norris over to Elvis. "You take Norris back to the fire station. I'll go and rescue James."

"Roger that, Sam!"

Ellie arrived then, and she parked Venus nearby. I jogged over, and Ellie opened the passenger door for me.

"Ellie?" I said after I'd climbed inside, closed the door and put on my seatbelt. "Follow that pumpkin!"

Ellie drove away as quickly as she dared. While she drove, I focused on putting on the spare firefighting uniform that was kept under the passenger seat. It wasn't easy to put it on with the seatbelt around me, but it was an art I'd perfected over the years. I was glad to see that Ellie had managed to grab my helmet before she'd left the fire station.

I'd finished putting on my uniform before we'd even left the town. Ellie had Venus going as fast as she deemed safe, given the circumstances. Soon, we had James in sight. I couldn't believe how fast he was going. However, his cart started to slow down once we were off-road. It was only then that Ellie was able to drive Venus up alongside the cart. I rolled down the window.

"Keep calm, James!" I called to him. "We're going to get you off of there. Now, try and edge your way over towards me."

"I can't, Uncle Sam! I'm attached to the pumpkin by a harness!" And he indicated to it.

"It's never easy in Pontypandy," I muttered to myself in disbelief.

Ellie interrupted my thoughts. "We're going to have to be quick, Sam. We're heading for the cliffs!"

My eyes widened when I realised that she was right. James squealed in horror.

"Oh! Did she say…cliffs?"

I had to act, now. I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the door. Then, in one swift movement, I leapt over onto James' cart. I grabbed hold of the pumpkin to steady myself. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw the door close.

Right then… That's plan A gone out the door…literally. Time for plan B. I'm going to have to grab James and jump off. Hopefully, I can cushion our fall, so he doesn't get injured… I gulped. I probably will be though…

I placed my hand on James' shoulder. "Just keep your eyes on me, James," I told him, hoping to stop him from seeing how close we were getting to the cliff edge. He anxiously looked up at me.

"Sam?" Ellis called. "The wind's blown the door shut. Hang on!"

There was a screech as Ellie braked Venus and turned her around. I wasn't quite sure what she was doing, but unless she came up with another idea, I was sticking to plan B.

"Where's she going?" James asked.

"Don't worry, James. She'll be back." At least I sounded more confident than I felt.

"We're going to go over the cliiiifff!" James wailed.

"No, we're not, James!" Glancing over my shoulder, I saw Ellie driving Venus backwards on our left. It was then that I realised what she was up to, because the passenger side door was wide open now. Brilliant! We're back to plan A then.

"Someone order a rescue?" Ellie teased, and she winked at me.

"Uh, why is she going backwards?' James wondered.

"So the wind keeps the door open, James," I answered as I untied his harness from the cart. Holding onto the back of the harness, I picked James up with my left hand. "Hold on tight!"

"Oh!" James whimpered as I leapt back over to Venus. I misjudged my landing slightly though, because I felt my right foot slip. Luckily, I'd made a solid grab onto Venus' roof with my right hand. Using the momentum from my jump, I swung James inside the cab. As soon as my left hand was free, I secured my hold before I also scrambled inside. Ellie braked hard just as I settled James on my lap. I pulled the door closed.

Venus skidded to a stop with her rear bumper hanging over the edge of the cliff. I watched out of the rear-view mirror as the cart with the giant pumpkin still attached to it flew over the edge and disappeared.

"There we are! Safe and sound," Ellie announced casually. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Seeing how shaken James and I were, Ellie drove Venus forwards and we headed slowly back to town.

"Thanks, Ellie," I finally managed to say. "That was close."

"I'm really sorry, Uncle Sam," James whimpered. "We were just trying to get our pumpkin to the park for the competition."

I placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, James. It wasn't your fault." I winced when I felt my shoulder muscles complain. Ellie noticed, but she said nothing.

Dusk was settling in by the time we arrived back at the park. I held my helmet neatly under my left arm to help ease the pain in my shoulder. The show's contestants had fixed most of the damage, and now they were picking over the vegetables to see which, if any, were still okay.

"Ooh, it's going to be a bit hard to pick a winner out of this lot," Mike bemoaned.

"I could make a big stew!" Elvis suggested excitedly.

Norman was standing in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. "This is your fault, James. If you were a better driver, our pumpkin would've won by miles."

"What?" James protested. "It's hardly my fault! And isn't anyone going to say 'sorry' for all of this? I was in a lot of danger."

I decided to intervene. "Well, James, as far as I can see, you lot were just trying to get your pumpkin to the competition. Sometimes things are just an accident."

"We must be able to choose a winner, somehow," Joe said.

Trevor was inspecting one of his carrots. "Well, this carrot still seems to be okay…"

"Then, we have a winner!" Mike declared. He gave Trevor a friendly pat on the back, causing Trevor to nearly drop his carrot.

"Oh, Trevor!" Dilys said flirtatiously. "I always knew you'd grow a champion carrot."

"Ah! James. Sarah," Station Officer Steele said as he joined us. "There you are! I brought Norris back for you, safe and, er…sound." And he handed the closed shoebox to James, who lifted the lid.

"But…there isn't anything in here, Station Officer Steele!" Sarah pointed out. Sure enough, the box was empty.

"What! He's escaped again? I mean, not that he escaped before at all…ever…"

"Oh, no!" Trevor shouted. "He's gone off with my carrot!"

Seeing Norris scampering away with Trevor's carrot in his mouth, I passed my helmet to Elvis. Then, I went over to James. "Could I, er, borrow that shoebox?" I asked as I knelt beside him. "I think I'm in for a busy afternoon."

James handed it to me. I started to sneak up on Norris, who had just settled down to enjoy Trevor's carrot.

"Norris…" I called softly. Hearing me, Norris snatched up the carrot and took off with it. "Norris!" I ran after the pesky rodent until he disappeared behind the swimming pool building. He was trying to hide in some tall grass. Forgetting about my injured shoulder, I made a dive for him.

"Ouch!" I yelp as I landed. Luckily, I'd managed to contain Norris underneath the shoebox, but I was in too much pain to care. Having heard me cry out, everyone came running to see what had happened. I sat up, nursing my left shoulder.

"Oh, Sam! You haven't dislocated it again, have you?" Bronwyn asked with dismay.

"I don't think so, but it really hurts."

"Did you catch Norris?" James wondered.

"He's under the shoebox." I winced again just as Bronwyn took out her mobile phone.

"I'm calling Helen," she told me.

I didn't bother to protest, since I was just as worried about my shoulder as she was. I could see that everyone else was worried too.

"Hello, Helen? It's Bronwyn. Sam's injured his shoulder, and I'm worried he might have dislocated it again. Hold on, I'll ask him." Bronwyn looked at me. "Can you move it, Sam?"

"Yes, but it hurts when I do."

Bronwyn repeated what I'd said to Helen. "Okay. I'll do that, and we'll see you soon. Bye." She put her mobile away. "Helen said that I should take you home and put some ice on your shoulder until she arrives. She said that it sounds like you've just pulled the muscles, but she wants to see for herself to be sure."

I nodded as I managed to stand up. Then, I glared down at Norris, who was now being held securely in James' hands. Not knowing what to say, I shook my head before allowing Bronwyn to escort me away. Station Officer Steele went with us.

About ten minutes later, I was lying down on the sofa in my sitting room with an ice pack on my injured shoulder. I had removed my firefighting uniform, but I was still wearing my station uniform. Bronwyn and Station Officer Steele were with me, waiting for Helen to arrive.

When the doorbell rang, Bronwyn went to answer it. She showed Helen into my sitting room.

"Sorry I couldn't come immediately," Helen apologised. "I was attending to another patient."

"That's okay," Bronwyn replied.

Helen set her medical bag down in the armchair closest to me as I sat up. "Well, Sam. What have you done to yourself this time?"

"Do you want the whole story, or the reader's digest version?" I quipped.

Helen chuckled. "Let's stick to the reader's digest for now."

"In that case, I nearly got run over by a runaway pumpkin while I was in pursuit of a pesky guinea pig, and then I nearly went over a cliff while rescuing James."

Helen opened her mouth to speak, but then she changed her mind and shook her head in disbelief instead. She gently took the ice pack from me, and I carefully rolled up the sleeve. Helen examined it for a moment without saying anything. I winced when she touched a tender spot.

"I don't think it's too bad," Helen mused. "Let's see how far you can move it…" She placed one hand gently on my shoulder, and with the other, she slowly pulled my arm upwards. "Does that hurt?"

I shook my head. Helen then moved my arm outwards, raising it until it was level with my shoulder. I grimaced once my arm was fully outstretched. Helen didn't miss my reaction. She then lowered my arm and started to push it backwards.

"Ow!" I yelped, flinching.

Helen removed her hands from my shoulder. "Well, the good news is that it's not dislocated or broken. You've strained the top of your bicep muscle."

I sighed heavily. "I'll have to remember not to land on my arm again in future."

Helen smiled. "The rest of your arm seems to have held up. You were lucky you didn't dislocate your shoulder again. I'm going to recommend that you rest that shoulder for a week, and we'll see how it goes. I won't make you wear a sling, but I will advise that you do."

I nodded. "The ice is helping."

"Keep icing it as well then. That will help it heal faster, but don't do it for more than twenty minutes at a time."

Hearing a knock on the backdoor, Bronwyn went to answer it. Station Officer Steele stood up to leave.

"I'll process the form for you to be on sick leave," he told me kindly. "And, since you were injured while on duty, you'll need to fill out an incident report."

I nodded again. "I'll come and sort out the paperwork now then. I also need to sign off from duty."

Helen picked up her medical bag. "I'll come back and see how you are in a week. Make sure you get plenty of rest."

"I will, Helen," I promised.

Bronwyn showed Sarah and James into the room. James was still holding Norris.

"Uncle Sam?" James said as I stood up.

"Yes, James?'

"We're really sorry about all the trouble Norris caused today."

I smiled. "That's all right. But, I think the next time you ask Station Officer Steele to look after him, you should leave him in his cage."

Sarah and James humbly nodded in agreement.