The next day, I woke up quickly and got my morning routine done as fast as I could. I knew Frieda would most likely be impatiently waiting for my arrival, so she could get moving.
After a little while, I was finally ready, and headed over to Vicarstown at once.
When I arrived, Frieda was already sitting outside her shed, a steady stream of steam rising from her funnel. Once she noticed me she blew her whistle.
"Hello! I am fery eagerly vaiting to go!" she said. I smiled, and walked over to her.
"I'm sure you are. I'm all set if you are. I'll give you directions along the way, and once we get to the straight, I'll give you the go ahead, and you can open up all the way!" I said, climbing into Frieda's cab. She chuffed out of the station, and onto the mainline.
"I haf not been able to recall the last time I vas able to go all out." she said as the two of us headed towards the coast. I poked my head out of her cab window.
"Well, I'm sure doing so today will bring back some happy memories." I replied.
The two of us traveled along for a good twenty minutes, before Frieda stopped at a red signal at the beginning of the straight.
"Once this signal turns green, Frieda, let her rip!" I said, patting her cab side. Frieda blew her whistle in excitement.
"I vould suggest you hold onto something." she warned, increasing her boiler pressure for an optimum start. I nodded, and grabbed one of the hand rails inside the cab. Suddenly, the signal turned green, and Frieda launched forward with a violent jolt.
"Whoa!" I said aloud as Frieda rapidly picked up speed. Without any cars slowing her down, who knew how fast she could go? I watched her speedometer as it quickly rose. After a few minutes of racing along the straight track, Frieda was doing one hundred miles per hour, which is what her speedometer maxed out at.
"Frieda, you're doing one hundred miles per hour!" I shouted over the winding ripping past the cab. Frieda gently applied her brakes, and eventually slowed to a stop in a large siding. I shakily got out.
"Zat was fery fun!" she said gleefully. I stared at her with a bewildered look on my face. I had never gone that fast in my life!
"Sheesh. I didn't know you were capable of going THAT fast!" I said, sitting on the ground. Frieda smiled at me.
"Eet eez as you said, eet eez vat I vas designed fohr." she said, releasing a pent up cloud of steam.
"Well, you're very good at it. I've never been that fast in my life." I said. Frieda laughed heartily.
"Vell I am glad I vas able to claim your firginity of speed." she said. I snorted.
"Hey, I've gone fast before... just not THAT fast." I defended. Frieda smirked.
"Ja ja, eef you say so."
The two of us sat on the siding for a while, letting Frieda gather her steam, and letting me calm down from the wild ride.
"Vat else eez there to do around here?" Frieda asked. I thought.
"Well, there's a lot to do, but I don't know how much of it you would enjoy. There's the beach, the Whispering Woods, the drive in movies, but that's all slow paced stuff. It's to bad we don't have any engine races on Sodor often." I said. Frieda smiled.
"Zat's alright. Going fast today vas enough fohr me." she said. She may have said that, but I knew she still wanted to go fast. I had another idea.
"You know, since I'm currently in charge of the railway, I could set up special events if I wanted to. Special events like... a race." I hinted. Frieda looked at me in curiosity.
"A race? Like a race on ze rails?" she asked. I nodded.
"I could have all the biggest and fastest engines come to participate. We could use that straight section of track from earlier, and a little before and after that. See who's really the fastest on Sodor. And you could be our special contender." I said. Frieda looked very happy.
"I would enjoy zat a lot. I haf not been able to compare my speed to another engine's in quite some time." she said. I smiled.
"Well, I'll get started on setting that up tomorrow when I return to work. For today, I'm still going to show you some of the special places on the island." I said, climbing back into her cab.
. . .
Throughout the day, I showed Frieda everything Sodor had to offer. The Quarry, the Whispering Woods, Ulfstead Castle, Lurcher's Castle, and even Toby's Windmill. The two of us enjoyed the trip immensely. At the end of the day, Frieda and I headed back to Vicarstown.
Frieda slowly reversed into her shed, before letting off steam. I got out and walked to her front.
"Thanks your fohr today, Sir. Eet vas ze most fun I've had in a long time. And you haf been kinder to me than almost anyone else has in a long time." she said, smiling at me. I stood there silently, just watching Frieda's expression. Eventually, I realized I had been staring, and looked away, blushing.
"You're welcome Frieda. I'm sorry I treated you so badly before this. It just goes to show that you need to get to know someone before you judge them." I replied, walking towards the shed door.
"Vill I see you tomorrow?" Frieda called quietly, looking at the ground in front of her bashfully. I smiled.
"If you'd like. I'll be at the docks again. Come help out if you want, or even if you just want to talk. I'll be there. I have to look into a race event that might be starting soon, you know." I said, walking out of the shed. As I closed the door, I heard Frieda laugh quietly from inside. It made me smile.
. . .
The next morning the first thing I did upon arriving at my office was set up the race event. It was Sunday, so a lot of business's and Express trains weren't operating, so the track that would be used was free. I posted advertisements about it at the dock station, and had all the other stations tell the high speed engines.
Around eight thirty, Caitlin the big magenta streamlined engine rolled into the dock station. She looked very excited.
"Oh Sir, are we really having a big race this afternoon?!" she asked eagerly. I chuckled.
"Yes Caitlin, we are. I know you'll do well. You are one of the biggest, quickest engines on the island after all." I said. Caitlin blushed.
"Oh Sir, thank you! I love racing, but just racing Connor can get old after a while. It will be nice to have some competition." she said. I nodded in agreement.
"Indeed. As I said, I have no doubt that you'll do well. You certainly have the build for speed, after all." I said, glancing down at your clipboard.
"Will you root for me?" Caitlin asked.
Two things happened after that question. Frieda had pulled in about thirty seconds ago behind Caitlin, and was listening to our conversation, and I mindlessly gave Caitlin a typical answer as I was looking at the dock schedule.
"Sure." I replied. I heard a gasp, and a whistle blow. I looked up as Caitlin happily pulled out of the station, and then turned to the sound of the gasp, which was Frieda, who looked devastated.
"What's the matter Frieda?" I asked, unaware of how the situation looked from her view.
"You vould set up zis race vith me as a special guest, and zen root for HER instead?" she asked. I tucked my clipboard under my arm.
"What? You're the special guest, why wouldn't I root for you?" I asked, unaware of what I had told Caitlin. Frieda looked unhappy.
"Because you vill be rooting fohr your girlfriend instead of me. I should haf known that you didn't really like me. After all, she is much more built fohr speed zen I am, and she is much stronger looking! I thought I finally had a friend who vas on my side, but I can see clearly now. Zis race is just an excuse to get me off your back, and make her happy!" she snapped, before quickly reversing out of the station.
"GIRLFRIEND?!" I asked loudly in utter confusion. I looked back and forth, between the direction Caitlin had gone, and the direction Frieda had gone.
"What in the hell just happened?"