Cheering Up Miss Rosie Red
One day, Thomas was taking some empty trucks back to the yard when he saw Rosie idling in a siding. She looked sad.
"What's troubling her?" Thomas asked.
"I don't know." said his driver. "Let's go take a closer look."
And that's exactly what they did. When they got closer to Rosie, Thomas noticed that she had tears in her eyes.
"Rosie?" Thomas asked. "What's wrong?"
"I really wanted to see the premier of Ralph Breaks The Internet tonight, but all the tickets were sold out!" Rosie said in a tear-joked voice. "And I couldn't get mine in time, so now I'm missing it!"
Rosie then started crying. Thomas smiled sympathetically at her while his and Rosie's crew comforted her.
"Don't cry, Rosie." said Thomas. "You can always see it another day."
"Yeah, I know." Rosie sniffled. "I just wanted to see it tonight."
Rosie continued to sob, and Thomas felt a thought bouncing around his funnel like a ping-pong ball.
"What can I do to cheer Rosie up?" the blue tank engine asked himself.
Just then, he thought of something.
"Maybe Edward or Dad or some of the others might have any ideas."
Later, Thomas had arrived back at Tidmouth Sheds and told the other engines about Rosie. All of them felt sorry for her.
"That's terrible!" said James.
"Yeah, it is." said Henry.
"Yeah." said Thomas. "I feel like I should maybe try to cheer her up, but I don't know how. Any of you got any ideas?"
"Maybe you should give her some flowers." said Gordon.
"Yeah, maybe." said Thomas. "Any other ideas?"
"How about a box of candy shaped like a heart?" asked Henry.
"Uh, dude, they don't have those out until Valentine's Day." said James. "And it's November right now."
"Oh, yeah." said Henry.
"Anyone else got an idea?" asked Thomas.
"Ooh, ooh! I have one, I have one!" said Percy.
"What is it?" asked Thomas.
"Try and get her to watch this new show on Cartoon Network called Total DramaRama." said Percy. "Henry and I watch it on YouTube all the time!"
"Indeed we do." said Henry. "It's hilarious."
"What's it like?" asked Thomas.
"Well, it's kind of like the original Total Drama series, except the contestants are now four-year-olds at daycare instead of teenagers." said Percy.
"Cool." said Thomas. "I'll have to try that."
The next day, Rosie was shunting some cars in the yard and still sad about missing her chance to see the movie when Thomas came over with his iPad.
"Hey, Rosie, get a load of this!" said Thomas.
Thomas then opened the Cartoon Network app on the iPad and put on a Total DramaRama episode, the one in particular being "The Date". After it ended, Thomas looked at Rosie.
"What do you think?" asked Thomas with a grin.
Rosie sighed.
"It was pretty good, I guess." said Rosie.
Rosie then went back to shunting. Thomas felt a little discouraged.
"Hey, don't feel too bad, buddy." said the driver.
"Yeah." said the fireman. "You tried. That's all that matters."
Later, Thomas met up with Edward, Henry, and James at Knapford.
"So, any luck?" asked James.
"Nope." said Thomas.
"I might have another idea." said Edward.
"What?" asked Thomas.
"Maybe, in addition to the flowers and candy, you could also give her a card." said Edward. "Heck, maybe you could even give all three of them to her at the same time."
Thomas smiled.
"Thanks, bro." said Thomas. "That's exactly what I'll do."
"And maybe you could sing her a song, too." said James.
"Yeah!" said Thomas. "That sounds like the perfect course of action!"
"Well, what are we standing around here for?" asked Henry. "Let's go!"
"Whoa, hold on there, my big green friend." said Edward. "Maybe we should let Thomas go at this alone."
"Yeah, I agree." said James.
"Oh, okay." said Henry.
"Well, I'm on my way!" said Thomas.
With that, Thomas steamed away and stopped at the candy store, where his driver bought an 8-ounce bag of white chocolate M&M's, then to the florist, where the fireman bought a bouquet of pink carnations, then to the arts and crafts store, where they bought a back of white cardstock, then finally to the general store, where they bought a pink basket to put everything in. Once everything was ready, they went over to Rosie's shed and knocked on the door. Sure enough, Rosie answered, and she was surprised by the sight of Thomas with the basket of goodies.
"Thomas?" Rosie asked. "What are you doing?"
Thomas then extended the basket towards Rosie.
"For you." he said with a smile.
Rosie was even more surprised.
"For me?" she asked. "Oh, Tommy, you shouldn't have!"
"And there's more where that came from." said Thomas.
Thomas then winked at his driver, who then turned on a boombox. As soon as he did, a karaoke track of "It's Not Unusual" by Tom Jones started playing, and Thomas started singing while Rosie watched in awe. In no time, he was done, and he looked at Rosie.
"What do you think of that?" he asked.
Rosie's eyes started filling up and before Thomas knew it, she was crying again.
"Oh, Thomas!" she said. "That was beautiful!"
Thomas smiled while Rosie's crew hugged her.
"Just let it all out, old girl." said her driver.
"Yeah." said the fireman. "We're right here."
Thomas couldn't help but join in the hug, gently touching his buffers with hers. Little did they know that Edward, James, and Henry were watching the whole thing, and James tried to keep it together, but Henry couldn't help but notice a small tear escaping the red engine's left eye.
"James?" Henry asked. "Are you crying?"
"No." James said in a tear-jerked voice. "A bug flew in my eye."
But James quickly proved himself wrong, as he then started bawling his eyes out.
"I'm sorry!" James sobbed. "But it's just too beautiful!"
"Aw, there, there." Henry said.
Henry then escorted James away, but Edward stayed behind and watched Thomas and Rosie together with a smile on his face.
"Way to go, little brother." he said.
Later, Thomas and Rosie were watching the sunset and sharing the M&M's.
"Thanks for cheering me up, Thomas." said Rosie.
"Hey, anything for you, Rosie." said Thomas.
"And you're right." said Rosie. "I can always watch the movie another day."
"Oh, yeah, about that." said Thomas.
"What?" asked Rosie.
Thomas then handed Rosie an envelope.
"Open it." said Thomas.
Rosie did so. Inside were two tickets for the two of them to see the movie the following day.
"Wow!" said Rosie. "Two tickets for the movie?!"
"Yup." said Thomas.
Rosie beamed.
"Oh, thank you, Thomas The Tank Engine!" said Rosie.
Rosie then kissed Thomas' cheek, which made him blush deeply.
"Aw, shucks, Rosie." said Thomas with a chuckle.
The two friends laughed as they continued watching the sunset before heading home. As they did, Thomas was pleased that he was able to cheer his friend up.
The End