7:11 p.m., Saturday, October 31st, 1942

The golden leaves began to turn red with the coming of the fall, as the seasons often do and what had seemed like a long summer of green grass and blue water, turned to brown earth with grey surfaces. Terence the tractor was hard at work as Thomas puffed two and fro past his field.

He found Christopher sitting on a bench at Ffarquhar Station, his chin resting on his hands as his elbows were in contact with his knees. He was just staring up at the sky, then his eyesight returned to Thomas sitting in front of him.

"I wish I was heading home now, Mum must be so worried about me."

"If she was," Thomas answered. "She would have a broken heart by now."

"Please don't say that," Christopher whispered, curling his legs up to his chest.

"I did not mean to," apologized Thomas. "I was being hypothetical, in other words, imagining what I can know about how your mother feels."

"What would you know about my mother? You never even met her!"

Thomas tried to talk sense into Christopher.

"Well, isn't it natural for a mother to be worried about her young? And what about your sisters? Isn't she worried about them as well?"

Christopher relaxed himself and gazed up at Thomas.

"Well, maybe."

Then Thomas changed the subject.

"Do you know what you'll be for Halloween this year?"

Christopher's expression was one of dismay.

"Thomas, I'm twelve years old now. When you are twelve years old, you're practically a man."

Thomas was flummoxed.

"I find that hard to believe. You're never too old for Halloween and you still look like a boy to me."

"Maybe I'm not growing quick enough."

"You will someday."

And Thomas ran round to take Annie and Clarabel back to front as soon as his passengers were aboard. Christopher returned to Diana's house for lunch. She was looking forward to Halloween and had selected her costume: a military officer. When she asked Christopher what he was going to be, he replied.

"Diana, for the past two years, I have been a bat and a goblin. I can either skip this year, or I can be an engine."

"An engine would be a wonderful idea."

Diana's idea led to him crafting his costume into the shape of a boiler and a funnel made from silk fabric. He also added six wheels, straight piston rods and a flat square cab, almost resembling Thomas. For color, Christopher added red and yellow stripes around the boiler section and Mrs. Driver helped to stitch it together.

But later that day, his worries were coming back to him when a news report of Canterbury being bombed by the Luftwaffe came on the radio. Even though he had no relatives living in Canterbury, it was very nice holiday spot, known for its history and the setting of Geoffery Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a well-known book containing stories written in the 15th century. Reports said it was the biggest act of bombing since the Blitz with over 30 planes participating. The first numbers of casualties proved to be too much for Christopher, who attempted to turn off the radio before Diana blocked his hand.

"Look at it this way, All Hallows Eve, or Halloween as we call it now, is the one day that the spirits of the dead can return to the living world. This means that the people who died in Canterbury can try visiting their relatives for one more day before…moving on."

"Can Grandmum and Grandpa come back to visit me too?" Christopher had never heard something like this before.

"They might," Diana smiled.

The news on the radio eventually switched to a hockey team in Montreal. The broadcast mentioned a 21-year-old right wing player named Maurice "Rocket" Richard, a newcomer who helped his team in a 3-2 win against the Boston Bruins. But Christopher could care less about hockey at the moment, he was looking forward to trick-or-treating with Diana for the third consecutive Halloween on Sodor.

When the sun began to set, Percy had been selected to receive a truckload of hay and lime from Tidmouth Harbour to Knapford, which would be loaded onto Thomas' last train to Crowe's Farm. There, the loads would be taken to Mr. Crowe's forty-acre field just outside the farm. At the time Thomas received the load, children on the platform were already dressed as ghouls, wizards, witches and pumpkins and he thought about Christopher all the way to Toryreck.

At Toryreck, only one bag of lime had been left on the platform since the cart that had to be taken to the field was overloaded. It gave Thomas an idea.

"Why not use that extra bag to cover me in white?" he asked his driver. "It'll make me look like a ghost. Perhaps I can get Christopher into the Halloween spirit again by pretending to be a ghost and scaring him."

The driver and fireman were worried about what Mr. Crowe would say, but they carefully covered Thomas until he was white all over. Then they drove slowly into the night.

Christopher and Diana were getting their candy from the last house in Ffarquhar until the boy turned his gaze to the shed. Annie and Clarabel, having already retired for the day, were fast asleep. Leaving Diana, he walked over to the shed hoping to share the news of his night out…but he could not see anyone until he felt the hiss of steam gliding through the doors.

Thomas approached the shed quietly.

"Chrissstopherrr…" said a spooky voice.

Christopher, his back turned on Thomas, turned round, trying to recognize the figure through the steam.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to sound brave.

"It is Iiiii…the ghooost of Thomasss."

Then the boy plucked up courage.

"Yea? While I'm the monster engine!" he cried in a growly voice. "And this is my shed!"

Thomas kept in tune with his charade.

"Noooo, this was miiinnneee…"

"Mine!"

"Miiinnneeee!"

"You cannot be dead!"

Instead of a disappointing reaction as one might expect, Thomas and Christopher stared at each other for a few moments, then laughed together as a barrage of fireworks all the way from Ireland filled the sky in multiple colours. The other engines, watching from Tidmouth Shed, saw this as well. James was certain that they could have been bombers, but the others thought it looked too colorful in a way that the sparks produced green, blue and purple among others, filling the clouds like food dye.

Thomas was soon cleaned and went to sleep in the shed as Christopher removed his costume.

"I only thought that I could get you back into the Halloween spirit," he admitted after he was free from the lime.

"Well, Diana might have coaxed me to go trick-or-treating with her, but you gave me a big surprise that one would less expect, even on this holiday."

"Everybody gets scared by spooks on Halloween, Christopher, but you proved your courage."

"I only hope I can find the courage in me when I go home, but in any rate, I'll be looking forward to next Halloween. Maybe I'll be the one to scare you!"