Lee's Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends
Stories
The Ogre of Sodor
Part 3
The figures were fast approaching in numbers even Cordelia and her driver couldn't comprehend it. None of this was making any sense at all.
"This is just wrong…" Cordelia cried. "Someone's got to help!" but as she and her driver waited for the figures to get even closer, a deep bellowing laugh was heard in the distance. The laugh could only belong to one thing and this was most definitely not the supposed Ogre. This was the laugh of Boulder. Even though his quarry was closed off and screened away from Sodor, Boulder was obviously still aware of what was around, but had he made this happen? No-one knew…
The laughing echoed all around and it sent a shiver to everyone that heard it.
"Topham…" Lady Hatt said nervously. "I thought he'd been dealt with…"
"Obviously Boulder can do more than we ever imagined…." The Fat Controller said grimly as he looked out onto the spooky dark landscape. Then as the pair of them fell silent, the telephone rang. The Fat Controller picked it up and listened intently. He looked very concerned and Lady Hatt was worried.
"Topham…" she cried out. "What's wrong?" she asked as her husband put down the phone.
"It's Cordelia…" he said simply. "She's been surrounded…"
"By what?" asked Lady Hatt.
"No-one knows…" replied the Fat Controller. "…but I'm about to find out" he added as he left to his car. Lady Hatt didn't follow as all she could do was panic as her husband's blue car zoomed away…
These nights had made it felt as if the story of the Ogre was now all too real. Engines, vehicles and residents were all scared and it showed all around. Edward and his crew once again just looked out concerned and dreaded to think what would happen if the Ogre was nearby.
"It's nights like this that make me wish I never told these stories…" Edward said solemnly to himself. His crew tried to comfort him and assure him that he was not at fault, but Edward still felt awful even though he knew he really wasn't the issue. Then, out of nowhere came the rush of a blue car to Tidmouth Sheds. The car was the Fat Controller's and he looked deeply concerned.
"Edward…" he boomed. "I've been informed that Cordelia is in trouble and it is all thought to be linked to you know what…"
"Is it the Ogre, Sir?" wailed Percy as he'd overheard. "I hope it isn't as I don't want to be gobbled up!" The Fat Controller didn't answer and soon got back in his car.
"I'll lead the way!" he commanded as Edward and his crew got ready to help. The Ogre appeared to be real and by the sounds of things, it was heading for Cordelia…
Cordelia and her driver were very nervous. With a flat tyre and many figures looming in front of them, they began to wonder what would happen to them. As they panicked, there was then the distant noise of both an engine chuffing along the line and a car zooming up the road. Unbeknown to Cordelia, the noises were that of Edward and the Fat Controller's blue car.
"We're going to be eaten!" Cordelia cried loudly as she looked on at the figures as they came to a complete stop. All of the figures at once just stood still and looked on. Soon, Edward and the Fat Controller's car had caught up to the scene of mystery and were just as shocked.
"Well I never…" gasped Edward.
"Indeed you wouldn't…" then called one voice as they stepped forward into the light coming from Cordelia and the Fat Controller's car.
"Who are you?" Cordelia's driver asked.
"My name doesn't matter…" replied the voice but the Fat Controller began to recognise their face.
"Mr. Hargreaves…." he said stunned. "It's you, isn't it?" The figure didn't answer for some time but the Fat Controller seemed very sure in his guess.
"Yes…" conceded the voice eventually. "I'm Mr. Hargreaves. The old Greengrocer of Tidmouth."
"Well what are you doing here?" asked Edward as he and his crew looked round at the other figures behind Mr. Hargreaves. They were of all shapes and sizes, of all ages and abilities but the oddest thing was how they looked so innocent.
"Were without homes…" Mr. Hargreaves eventually answered. "All of us. We're the homeless of Sodor…."
Meanwhile, the deep laugh that echoed all around was getting quieter as the minutes passed by but Lady Hatt still looked out concerned from her front door wishing her husband hadn't left.
"Topham…" she sighed. "Please be safe…." she added simply as Boulder's laugh began to finally fade away into the distance altogether.
"The homeless of Sodor?" asked the Fat Controller. "But there's so many of you. It can't be true."
"It is though…" then came a woman's voice. "I was the Landlady of a Pub in Cronk but now I sleep in fear and terror every night…"
"Because of the Ogre?" Cordelia asked. The woman laughed as did Mr. Hargreaves. The pair of them chuckled for a good while and soon the others behind them began to laugh too. "What's so funny?" Cordelia then asked as she was confused.
"The Ogre…" began Mr. Hargreaves. "…is just a story – a story so old that some believe is true."
"But…there were the noises…." protested Cordelia's driver. "I was even pulled over the edge of a bridge by something."
"Stories can bear some truth though…and we apologise for that slight understanding the other day." the woman then said. Cordelia's driver and everyone else were just even more puzzled.
"I'm sorry…but what do you mean?" asked the Fat Controller.
"I think they mean the Ogre is them…" Edward cut in. "The laughing and all the other noises were you lot?"
"Indeed…" confirmed Mr. Hargreaves. "They are the noises of the homeless of Sodor…noises of men, women, children and pets. They are noises that Sodor seem terrified to acknowledge. We mean no harm…"
Back at Tidmouth Sheds, the spooky looking night was beginning to get the better of everyone else there. The fact Edward was now apparently confronting the Ogre began to spook everyone else even more.
"What is it with these spooky things happening lately?" Emily wheeshed nervously.
"We've obviously been doing something bad to anger them…" Henry added. The others seemed just as scared – even Gordon, who until now had been portraying himself as brave against this Ogre story was now beginning to wonder about it.
"I just hope Edward is all ok…." he said to himself. "If not, that Ogre will face the wrath of me…"
Laughs, cheers and grumbles all around in the crowd of people were to be heard as they lit candles and carried lamps around to make everyone see them.
"Why are there so many of you?" Edward asked.
"Because we were forgotten…" then spoke one man next to Mr. Hargreaves. "I'm HT by the way…" he then introduced. "…but quite simply as society moves on we couldn't catch up and when that happens, lives crumble."
"It's what happened to my Greengrocers…" confessed Mr. Hargreaves. "When that Vegetable Bus came about, I lost trade and it kept on happening until I had to close. I lost everything. It's why I now spend my days living under bridges to see out my remaining years." he added very bleakly. The Fat Controller felt bad as he had commissioned the vegetable bus that was Bulgy and hadn't thought of the consequences to local businesses.
"I'm so sorry…" he apologised. "I'm sure we can help you in some way." the Fat Controller then suggested. Mr. Hargreaves, the Landlady and HT didn't seem convinced.
"We've heard that before…" spouted the Landlady. "…and that's why were still here…"
"We accept the lives we have now…" added HT. "Don't try and help us in anyway at all…" Edward, Cordelia and the Fat Controller all looked on feeling awful knowing that help was not wanted in anyway at all. Cordelia though still wasn't satisfied with the Ogre now seemingly only being the homeless of Sodor.
"Who made up the story?" she then asked suddenly. "Who made up the Ogre of Sodor?" No-one replied and ever looked like replying but then as silence fell around everyone, a deep bellowing laugh was heard once more…
"Boulder…" muttered the Fat Controller. "He has such influence on us all…"
"It can't be right though…" protested Cordelia. "How can Boulder make up a story?" she then asked.
"Because he can…" said Edward glumly. "Because it's Boulder…"
The return of Boulder's laugh was once again sending shivers to all on Sodor and the homeless of Sodor seemed the most scared of all. HT looked on scornfully at the Fat Controller.
"You've made him angry…." he said. "No-one is meant to question his authority…"
"What do you mean?" asked the Fat Controller. "I've not done anything to do with him!"
"You locked him away!" said the Landlady furiously. The Fat Controller and everyone were just confused.
"It's a Boulder…" protested Cordelia. "It can't speak, or move of its own accord….it's a boulder!"
"He's angry…" said Mr. Hargreaves. "And this is his revenge…but we can help!" he added as the laugh echoed all around. The crowds that made up the homeless of Sodor all looked up to the sky and pointed their lamps or candles in that direction too. As they pointed them all in unison, Boulder's laugh began to fade away once more.
"How are you doing that?" asked Edward.
"No-one knows…" smiled Mr. Hargreaves as Boulder's laugh began to die away even more. Whatever was happening made it look terrifying but magical all in the same moment.
"Something strange is happening…" said Cordelia as all the lights and candles worked in unison to finally rid the night of Boulder's laugh for good.
"The Ogre is defeated…" smiled the Landlady.
"The Ogre?" quizzed the Fat Controller.
"You never guessed did you?" smiled HT. "The Ogre was Boulder….we lied earlier on."
"But why?" asked Edward as he still couldn't comprehend a thing that had happened.
"To help…" said Mr. Hargreaves simply.
As time went on, the homeless of Sodor began to explain that Boulder had helped fuel the story of the Ogre which was a sign to show his strengths. As time had gone on and as Boulder had been locked out of sight, it became clearer that the story of the Ogre must be fulfilled in some way.
"We made the noises to scare all…" confirmed Mr. Hargreaves. "…because we had to at the time. We had to instill fear into this Island once more because Boulder had been forgotten. Now he's back firmly in your minds, we can relax and the Ogre can finally be laid to rest. The story is no more…"
"I still don't understand why this all happened…" admitted the Fat Controller to Mr. Hargreaves in one of their many casual meetings they now have.
"I don't think we truly know why either, Sir Topham…" smiled Mr. Hargreaves. The pair of them smiled as Edward and Cordelia looked on still unsure of how to explain this to anyone.
"It would just be easier to say we defeated the Ogre, wouldn't it?" Cordelia joked.
"Indeed…" laughed Edward as faintly in the distance in a locked off part of the Island, there was a laugh, not a deep bellowing one, a more sinister one that belonged to a familiar face. Boulder most certainly wasn't defeated yet….but what would he have next in store for those on the Island of Sodor? No-one knew…
