Chapter 2: Mysterious Letters and Destinies Revealed
Some time after the Zoo incident, it was getting close for Thomas and Tristan to be starting school. Tristan would be going to a fancy school called South Coast Academy, while Thomas would go to a regular state school.
That morning, Thomas had been forced to pick up the mail at the front door. Strangely enough, there was a letter addressed to him. He kept it aside while he handed the rest to Nigel.
"Oh dear," he sighed, reading a letter. "Diane is ill. Ate a funny whelk."
When Tristan noticed Thomas's letter, he snatched it and showed it to his father.
"Dad, look!" he cried. "Thomas has a letter!"
"Give it back to me! It's mine!" cried Thomas.
"Yours?" chuckled Nigel. "Who would be sending letters to you?" He stopped chuckling when he looked at the letter.
It was addressed to "Mr. T. Billinton, The Cupboard under the stairs. 4 Terrier Grove Brighton." On the back of the letter was a seal that looked like a shield split in four colored sections; Red, Green, Blue, Yellow. Nellie and Tristan noticed it too. They looked at Thomas, who gulped nervously.
The next day, they received more letters for Thomas. Nigel torn them and screwed a board onto the letter flap.
"No more mail through this letterbox." he said proudly.
But I'm afraid it didn't stop. One morning, while Nellie was cracking eggs into a bowl, each Egg had a letter for Thomas in it. Looking out the window, Nellie saw a flock of owls outside and panicked.
The next day, Nigel was on his way to work. He was most annoyed to find a flock of owls resting on top of his car. Some had even left presents on it!
"Shoo!" he shouted. "Bugger off!"
Then Nellie tapped her husband's shoulder and pointed to the letters on the ground. More for Thomas. That night, Nigel was tossing more of the letters into a fireplace. Thomas came from a corner and saw what he was doing, but said nothing about it.
"Nothing to mind, said Nigel. "Just junk mail."
But deep inside, Thomas felt like Nigel was lying. Just what was in those letters? Why didn't they want him to read them?
One Sunday morning, Nigel was feeling rather happy.
"Fine day, Sunday," he said smugly. "Why are Sundays the best, Tristan?"
When Tristan didn't answer, Thomas asked "Because there's no post on Sundays?"
"Right you are, Thomas!" chuckled Nigel. "No post on Sundays. Ha!"
While Nigel was boasting about Sunday, Thomas looked out the window and saw a huge flock of owls.
Before he could say anymore, however, a letter flew in from the chimney and smacked him in the face.
"No, sir! Not one blasted letter!" continued Nigel.
Before he could say anymore, however, a letter flew in from the chimney and smacked him in the face.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise. And out of the fireplace shot out zillions of letters! All of them for Thomas!
They popped up from everywhere; through the letterbox, the windows, and they even found their way in the toaster!
"Make it stop!" cried Tristan. "Please make it stop!"
During the chaos, Thomas jumped onto the coffee table and grabbed a falling letter, bolting to his cupboard.
"Give me that letter!" shouted Nigel, giving chase.
"They're my letters!" shouted Thomas.
"That's it!" shouted Nigel. "We're going away! Far away! Where they can't find us!"
"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?!" asked Tristan.
Nellie said nothing. She was still in shock over what was happening.
That night, the family borrowed a boat and rowed all the way to a house on the middle of the sea. Nellie, Nigel, and Tristan were fast asleep, but Thomas was still wide awake.
You see, at the stroke of midnight, it would be his birthday. And at the moment, he was making a pretend cake out of the sand on the ground. Just then, he heard Tristan's watch beeping. It was now Midnight.
"Make a wish, Thomas," Thomas said to himself, blowing out the pretend candles.
Suddenly, there was a great bang at the door.
This startled the family awake; Nigel picked up a shotgun to prepare himself for self-defense.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
The door broke from its hinges and fell the ground with a loud thud, and out of the rain was Harvey Dubs.
"Sorry about that."
He lifted the door up and put it back on its hinges.
"I demand that you leave at once, Sir!" demanded Nigel. "You are breaking and entering!"
Harvey walked firmly over to Nigel and Nellie.
"Dry up, Craven, you great prune!" he snapped, bending the gun upwards.
Nigel fired the rifle, but it blew a hole in the roof due to its bending. Harvey then went over to Tristan and Thomas.
"Mind, I haven't seen you since you was a baby, Thomas," he said, "but you're a bit more along than I would have expected. Particularly 'round the middle."
"I, um, I-I'm not Thomas," said Tristan.
"I am," said Thomas bravely.
"Oh, well, of course you are!" said Harvey, correcting himself. "Got something for ya. Afraid I might have sat on it at some point, but I imagine that it'll taste fine just the same." He handed Thomas a white box with a ribbon on it. "Baked it myself. Words and all."
Thomas opened the box, and there was a cake which was meant to read "HAPPY BIRTHDAY THOMAS".
"Thank you."
"It's not every day that your young man turns eleven, now is it?" asked Harvey. Sitting down on the couch, Harvey took out some sort of umbrella and pointed it at the empty fireplace. Shooting two sparks out of the umbrella, the fire roared to life.
"Excuse me," said Thomas, setting the cake on a table, "who are you?"
"Harvey Dubs," said Harvey. "Keeper of keys and grounds at Sodor. Course, you'll know all about Sodor."
"Not really," said Thomas, a bit confused by the name.
"What do you mean?" asked Harvey. "Didn't you ever wonder where your mum and dad learned it all?"
"Well... no."
"You're a wizard, Thomas," said Harvey.
"I-I'm a what?" asked Thomas.
"A wizard," said Harvey. "And a thumping good one at that, I'd wager. Once you train up a little."
"I'm sorry, but I can't be a wizard," said Thomas. "I'm... just Thomas. Just Thomas."
"Well, Just Thomas," said Harvey. "Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain when you were angry or scared?"
Harvey then handed Thomas the exact same letter had been getting for the past while.
Thomas opened the letter and read into it:
'Dear, Mr. Billinton. We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Sodor's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!'
"He'll not be going!" protested Nigel. "We swore when we took him in we'd put an end to this rubbish!"
"You knew?" asked Thomas indignantly. "You knew all along and you never told me?"
"Of course we knew," sniffed Nellie. "How could you not be? My perfect sister being who she was. Oh, my mother and father were so proud the day she got her letter. We have a witch in the family. Isn't it wonderful?" she was of course being sarcastic at this. "I was the only one to see her for what she was. A freak! And then she met that Billinton, and then she had you, and I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as ... abnormal. And then, if you please, she went and got herself murdered! And we got landed with you."
"Murdered? You told me my parents died in a car crash!"
"A car crash?" asked Harvey, sounding cross. "A car crash kill Payne and Marie Billinton?"
"Well, we had to say something," insisted Nellie.
"This is an outrage!" cried Harvey. "A scandal, is what it is!"
"He will not be going!" insisted Nigel.
"And I suppose a self-righteous Muggle like you is gonna stop him?" retorted Harvey.
"Muggle?" Thomas was rather confused by this new word.
"Non-magic folk," explained Harvey. He then returned his attention to Nigel and Nellie. "This boy's had his name down ever since he was born! He's going to the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world, and he'll be under the greatest headmaster Sodor has ever seen: Wilbert Awdry."
"I will not pay to have some crackpot old fool teach him magic tricks!" snapped Nigel. That was a big mistake, as Harvey threatening pointed his umbrella at him.
"Never," he said threateningly, "insult Wilbert Awdry in front of me." He looked over and noticed Tristan eating some of Thomas's cake. Deciding to teach the family a lesson, he pointed his umbrella at Tristan's backside, and a grey pig's tail grew out. Tristan and his parents screamed in horror, but Thomas found the situation most amusing.
"I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone at Sodor about that," said Harvey. "Strictly speaking, I'm not allowed to do magic."
"Fair enough," said Thomas. Harvey then looked at his pocket watch.
"Ooh, we're a bit behind schedule," he said. "Best be off." He then opened the door before turning back to Thomas. "Unless you'd rather stay, of course."
Thomas did some thinking; would he rather stay with a family that treats him like dirt, or go to a Wizard school for a chance of happiness?
"Lead the way," he said at last.