Henry and Soot
By Other TV
Description- Henry has problems with Donald and Douglas for being black and wishes that they were green like him.
Disclaimer- I do not own Thomas the Tank Engine.
Author's Note- This story is based on controversy from the story Henry's Sneeze where kids were described as black as (the n word) after Henry sneezed at them from under a tunnel. The word was changed to soot in all new additions. So my story revolves around that idea and the more serious idea of racism.
Henry liked his green coat of paint. He didn't enjoy the blue engines, because people that they he was too much like Gordon. He thought that he was more important than the blue engines. Donald and Douglas thought being blue would be nice instead of their black color.
"You'd never see me being black," said Henry. "I enjoy my green coat of paint. If I were blue, people would think that I'm Gordon."
"Well Henry," said Donald, "if you tried being black like us, you might learn something about the value of changing colors every now and then."
"Yeah," said Douglas. "Your smoke box is too full of soot. You should try sneezing every now and then."
"I tried that once," said Henry. "All it did was get me in trouble. Besides, I'm much better now than before I was ill. I almost died pulling the Flying Kipper so they turned me into a better engine."
"Maybe you would have done better if you hadn't been repaired," said Douglas.
"If you weren't repaired," said Donald, "we wouldn't have to waste our time with you and this lame conversation."
The twins then went on with their business.
"They'll learn," said Henry. "I'm better then those engines. To think, we ordered them from Scotland. They should have stayed where they were."
"Now Henry," said his driver. "You shouldn't complain about an engine because of where they are from or what color they are. I'm sure that there are people who don't like your green color."
Henry ignored him and went on his business. He couldn't remember where he came from, but he knew that it had to be better than Scotland.
Today he was taking a special coal train to another part of the island. He thought that he was too important for the job, but took it because Gordon was busy with the express. When he pulled the freight cars up a big hill, he saw a horrible sight. Kids were playing near the line and were throwing soot up in the air. There was so much soot, Henry couldn't see clearly. That's when he went under a bridge. A car was enjoying its ride along the island. There was a can of black paint that was in the car. When Henry went under the tunnel, the car swerved and the black paint fell all over Henry. He was too busy to notice that his paint was ruined and that he had turned black. But he was glad that the kids stopped playing with the soot.
Donald and Douglas were shunting cars when they noticed a strange black train approaching them. As soon as it stopped they exchanged glances. They knew who it was and wanted to tease him.
"Well Henry," said Donald. "You seem different today."
"Yes he does," said Douglas. "You seem much darker than usual."
Henry looked at the twins, confused by their statement. He driver soon realized what had happened.
"Henry!" he exclaimed. "You're covered in black paint!"
Henry was shocked at this.
"My lovely green paint is gone!" exclaimed Henry. "Whatever shall I do?"
"I'm sure you can get it changed if you wanted to," said Douglas.
"Maybe you'd rather be blue," said Donald.
Edward came in and laughed at Henry.
"That'll teach you for not liking Donald and Douglas," said Edward. "If only you were Scottish like them."
Henry frowned. "I don't even know where I'm from," he said. "But I won't make fun of these two again."