Disclaimer: Thomas the Tank Engine does not belong to me.

Duck's Worth

Duck, the Great Western engine, runs his own branch line by the sea. Known as the Little Western, it can get rather busy, so Donald, Douglas, and Oliver assist Duck with the work. Unfortunately, Duck takes his position too seriously sometimes.

"Those freight cars shouldn't be put in the same siding as those others," he said as he passed Donald on his way to the station one day. Donald scowled and continued to shunt.

"Oliver, these coaches should've been placed closer to the center of the platform," he stated as he backed into his train, "We don't want to inconvenience the passengers." Duck took off before he could respond, so Oliver just frowned.

"Don't take all day at the water tower, Douglas," Duck ordered as he went onto the line. Douglas rolled his eyes.

Later, after their work was finished, Douglas and Oliver were in the shed, talking when Donald arrived.

"Where's Duck?" Oliver asked.

"Ach, 'e be off takin' a freight train. I'twas gonna be mine, but 'e wou'not le' me. Says I won' git there on time, jus' because I was a li'l late yesterday," answered Donald in an annoyed tone.

Douglas agreed, "Aye. 'e thinks 'e knows everythin', 'e does. Why, jus' earlier today, 'e tol' me that I was whis'lin too loudly. 'is mouth is louder than me whis'le, I say."

Oliver frowned, "Duck does know a thing or two about how to run this branch line, but I think he's filled with hot air."

Douglas laughed, "We all are. We're steam engines."

Oliver chuckled, "Good point, but you know what I mean."

"Aye," replied Donald, "yer sayin' that Duck's got more 'ot air in 'im than 'e should."

"Ye know," Douglas mused, "Me driver was tellin' me about a poster 'e saw in the station master's office. It 'ad a picture of a bunch of gears, and the caption said, 'Worth: Jus' because yer necessary don' mean yer impor'ant.' I think it's time Duck learned that less'n."

Oliver and Donald agreed, and the three of them spent most of the night discussing the best way to teach Duck a lesson in worth.

The next morning, Duck was surprised to see Donald, Douglas, and Oliver all sitting in a siding, smiling at him innocently.

"What're you three doing?" he demanded, "There's work to do!"

"Duck," said Oliver, "We've been thinking. Since you clearly know how things need to be done on the branch line and we don't, we thought it'd be best if you showed us how to do our work so that we get every detail correct."

"It's simple," retorted Duck, "If you need to shunt freight cars, you put them into sidings. If you need to pull a passenger train, you gather the coaches and pull them."

"Well, clearly it's no' tha' simple," stated Donald, smiling, "I mean, yesterday I clearly wasn't shuntin' right."

Duck lost patience, "Fine. I'll do all your work, you damned lazy slackers, and I'll show just how great the Great Western way is."

"Well then, ye better 'urry up," remarked Douglas, "The first freight train tha' I usually pull leaves in fifteen minutes."

Duck huffed away to fetch the freight cars. When he brought them to the station, he found Douglas waiting on the track next to him, smiling.

"What are you doing?" Duck snapped.

"It's like we tol'dya," Douglas replied, "I'm gonna watch 'ow ye do the work, jus'ta be sure."

Duck sighed and started pulling the freight train. Douglas followed alongside. Duck found it greatly annoying, but he was determined to show Douglas that he could do it.

They reached the station on time, and Duck smirked at Douglas, "That wasn't too difficult. I hope you've learned something."

"Aye," Douglas replied, smiling, "Bu' if I remember correctly, Oliver's firs' passenger train leaves the station we jus' left in five minutes. Ye better hurry, if ye plan to start it on time, but I don' need to tell ye that, since yer a Great Western engine and all."

Duck gritted his teeth as he quickly put the freight cars into a siding and made his way back to the first station. Oliver was waiting on the next track, too. He was smiling in that annoyingly innocent manner.

"Hurry up, Duck. My train was supposed to leave three minutes ago."

Duck rushed to get the coaches. He jostled them and they protested in alarm, "Easy, Duck, easy!"

Duck ignored the coaches and brought them to the platform. He backed onto the train and was coupled on, "Get in quickly, please!" He called to the passengers, and he grimaced as he heard one of them say, "I'd already be in quickly if you'd have been here sooner!"

After the passengers were in, Duck bolted out of the station, Oliver coming alongside.

"I know I don't need to tell you this," he said, smiling, "But you'd really better hurry up if you want to make it on time."

Duck puffed harder and tried to go faster. He ended up going so fast that he overshot the station that was their destination, and had to back up to the platform.

He looked at the clock and groaned. Despite his speed, he was still ten minutes late.

Donald was in a siding talking to Toad, and then he looked at Duck and smiled, "Duck, I see ye made good time! Ye are Great Western, after all. But ye better get a move on. Me train was supposed to leave twelve minutes ago."

For the rest of the day, Duck did his best to do all the work that the other engines refused to do. He was tired, angry, and kept finding that the next train that he had to pull was already late. It was made worse by the fact that Donald, Douglas, and Oliver kept running alongside him, smiling irritatingly.

At the end of the day, Duck wearily pulled into the shed with the other engines.

"Well Donald, Douglas, what did we learn today?" Oliver asked.

"I don' know," Donald said in a puzzled manner, "Duck puts a lo' of stress on how neat and precise everythin' should be, bu' I never seen more jostlin' and bumpin' of the cars an' coaches."

"Aye," agreed Douglas, "and fer someone who gives lectures when we be only four minutes late, he's not too great at gettin' 'is trains in before the ten-minute mark."

"I agree," said Oliver, "also, he barely gives the passengers enough time to get on and off the trains. That's not very courteous to them, is it?"

"That's enough!" Duck shouted. "It wouldn't've been so bad if you'd been doing the work like you were supposed to!"

"Really?" Douglas asked, "Bu' every time we do the werk, ye tend to criticize us."

"So?" asked Duck, "What's your point?"

"Our point," replied Douglas frankly, "Is tha' unless yer confident that ye can do the werk better than us, ye best haud yer wheesht and leave us to it."

"And from what we've seen, you can't do the work more efficiently than we can, so that only leaves you one option." finished Oliver.

Duck spluttered and stammered, but realized that this was an argument he could not win. He sighed resignedly and went to sleep, aching from the effort of the day's work.

Afterwards, things ran smoothly on the Little Western. The trains ran on time and the passengers were satisfied. Occasionally, Duck would try to give unnecessary pointers, but the others would say, "You do it, then," and he'd back off. Duck learned that being a Great Western engine did not make him an important one.