Another original Thomas story, this time it's "Car-Scotch" Enjoy and comment.
On the Island of Sodor, children like to play all sorts of fun games. Some play hide and seek, some play freeze tag, and some play hopscotch.
The engines like to play games too. Thomas likes to play splosh-splash with puddles on rainy days, and Edward likes to play a game in which he sees how far freight cars can actually travel.
But one day, Percy and James had invented a new game. They called it Car-Scotch, because it was similar to hopscotch, except you shunt the freight cars, and pretend that the rails are squares.
First up was James. He ran up to the freight car, and with a mighty BANG, the freight car moved! It moved seven squares.
Percy was impressed.
Then, Percy came up. He came up by surprise and BANGED the freight car, which moved one square further than James, for a total of eight squares.
James then moved his freight car six squares. He felt very pleased with himself.
Then, Percy made a silly move, and only managed to push the freight car three squares.
The game went on all day long, and at the end, James won by pushing the freight car the farthest.
"That was a great game." said Percy. "Can we play it tomorrow?"
"You bet!" said James. "And tomorrow, we'll play it for real."
But that night, a rainstorm moved through Sodor, and it made the rails very slippery. This would make it more fun to play!
The next morning, the engines were discussing what they were going to do today.
"I am taking very special tourists from France on a tour of the Island." boasted Gordon.
"I'm going to shunt cars in the yard." said Edward.
"I'm going to splash in puddles." said Thomas. "But first, I must take a special to the Steamworks."
"What are you guys going to do today?" Emily asked James and Percy.
"We are going to play our new game." said Percy.
"What's the game?' asked Thomas.
"It's a surprise." said James. "You'll all have to wait for teatime to find out."
James and Percy then puffed away.
Since the rails were slippery, James and Percy would be able to push the freight cars even farther than yesterday.
Like the day before, James went first. He ran up to the freight car, and with a mighty BANG, the freight car moved!
But it only moved four squares. James was cross.
"It's okay James, you can try again on your next turn." said his driver.
Percy than came up, and BANGED the freight car. It went far, ten squares to be exact.
"Wow!" said Percy. "I want to try it again!"
Percy ran up and gave the freight car another BANG. This time it went eight squares.
James was now even more cross.
"Percy!" scolded James. "You took a second turn!"
"I didn't mean to!" protested Percy. "I wanted to see if it could move even further."
"You're only doing it on purpose so you could win." argued James.
"That's enough." said James' driver. "Sometimes we cheat on games to make them more fun. But it's more important, that you two play fair, that way, everyone had fun."
James and Percy agreed, and decided that playing fair was the best of all.
So James and Percy continued with their game, and this time Percy won!
"Good job Percy!" said James.
"And nice try James!" said Percy. "Even though I cheated, I think playing fair is the best of all!"
Just then, all the other engines came.
"Can you teach us the game?" asked Emily.
"Sure!" said Percy.
And so, everyone listened as Percy explained the rules to Car-Scotch. Everyone had a fun time playing, and James and Percy learned that playing fair was the best thing of all.
