Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends

Stories

Mary's Sooty Day

An old returning friend was steaming onto Sodor once more. Mary is a brown Fowler Dock tank engine and from time to time she comes to Sodor as their one and only chimney-seep engine. She has done this job for many years and enjoys seeing her friends again whenever she visits. Mary loves her work, even if it wasn't her original intended duty but she can't help but love taking away the soot from chimneys of businesses to make them very useful indeed.

Mary's day began as it always had whenever she had visited Sodor with a visit from her friend Percy.
"Hello again!" chimed Percy. "It's been a while…" he added.
"It's my routine…" said Mary. "It is every two months I come here just for a few days and then I'm gone once more." she smiled. Mary knew that it was best she was only here for a few days at a time as she never wanted to get too attached to the Sodor scenery. That had happened once before in a location on the Mainland and in the end she was forced to leave there and return to her home line.
"I suspect you're going to be quite busy, Mary…" Percy then pointed out as he looked on at the factories in the distance. "The factories have been busy of late…"
"That means more soot to clear then!" Mary chimed happily as she set off with a loud whistle. Percy liked Mary but knew that other engines didn't. He couldn't understand why though.

"Silly sooty engine…" sneered Diesel quietly as he could see Mary cheerily heading off to collect her chimney-sweep. Diesel had never really liked Mary; it was just one of those things. Other engines had asked but he could never really explain why. Diesel was most likely jealous but he knew today that he could feel better than Mary. He knew where the chimney-sweep was and immediately rushed away to get him. The chimney-sweep was surprised when Diesel arrived to pick him up though.
"Is something the matter with Mary?" he asked kindly.
"She's erm….um…ill…" Diesel eventually explained. The chimney-sweep accepted and got onboard and Diesel soon set away. He was just out of sight by the time Mary had arrived. She and her crew were confused as the chimney-sweep was nowhere to be seen.
"Is he late?" Mary wondered. Her driver and fireman wondered the same. They soon asked a nearby workman and he explained that Diesel had taken him. He seemed very surprised to see Mary as he thought she was ill too. "That silly diesel…" grumbled Mary as soon she went on to the first port of call for the day where there then arrived, Diesel was grinning widely. The grin soon vanished though.
"Oh…" he said. "You're here…"
"Yes I am!" Mary said indignantly. "We will report you for this! Taking my chimney-sweep is not acceptable in the slightest!" The chimney-sweep soon apologised to Mary but she accepted it and let him get along with his work. Mary watched closely as Diesel slithered out of sight…

Later on, as the chimney-sweep was getting stuck into the work and thoroughly enjoying it, Mary began to have a nap. The long journey to Sodor was still having its effect on her and in no time at all, she was fast off. Diesel was still nearby and slithered back once again into view and just watched on. He kept as quiet as possible so that he wouldn't stir Mary. Keeping quiet though was becoming an issue for the chimney-sweep as he seemed to get stuck in the chimney he was cleaning.
"Ooh…" he cried. He tried to nudge himself free but he seemed to get even more stuck. What he didn't know though was that this chimney was old and worn out. Bricks were loose and cement was not firmly in place anymore. The chimney-sweep was struggling to move but in the dark conditions he hadn't seen that he'd moved one brick quite out of place. It wasn't noticeable on the outside either but there was a slight crumbling noise developing. Mary was still fast asleep and her crew had gone away for lunch in the meantime meaning none of them could have expected what would happen next.

The chimney-sweep was still struggling and was still stuck. He moved once more and this time he heard a brick move very loudly. For a brief moment he saw the bright light of the outside as the brick landed to the ground with a smash.
"Oh dear…" he said but before he could do anything it was too late. The crumbling noise from earlier grew louder and louder and then the chimney began to cave in on itself and then it began to fall over. The noise of the fallen brick had woken up Mary and she was only just fully awake when she saw the chimney falling to the ground.
"Oh my…" she said.
"ARGH!" wailed Diesel as he still looked on. The chimney fell to the ground with a thunderous noise sending soot and brick dust everywhere. Mary and Diesel's faces went orange with all the dust and the all that could be heard was the loud noise of the pair of them coughing. Luckily, no-one had been hurt as the chimney-sweep had managed to get free just in time. He felt awful as he surveyed the damage. Diesel felt awful too but Mary could only smile. She never minded getting dirty but this was a whole new level of dirtiness.
"Well…that was different…" she laughed to herself.

The Fat Controller arrived as soon as he could with Harvey and Rocky in tow to clear the mess and spoke with everyone to check that they were alright. He wasn't pleased with the chimney-sweep at all.
"But…" he said grandly. "…we should have checked that the chimney was properly maintained." Mary was soon reunited with her crew who took her for a much needed wash-down. Diesel was sent there too but the pair of them never spoke to each other. Diesel still didn't like Mary obviously.
"Suit yourself…" said Mary as she left to return to her temporary shed. Percy was there when she arrived and she told him the whole story of the day.
"That's a proper Sodor experience!" Percy smiled. Mary laughed but knew that if life was like that here all the time, she wouldn't want to be here permanently.
"Just a few days every couple of months is enough." she muttered to herself before resuming her nap from earlier in the day.