On Saturday, Stephanie was sitting in her room, wearing a long-sleeved, light blue shirt, with a pair of black tights and white socks.
She was staring at the crumpled piece of paper in her hands, which had a drawing of a child, showing him making fun of a picture of her, crying.
Stephanie was half confused about this strange drawing given to her by Mason from school, but shrugged to herself and placed the picture back into the drawer of her table stand.
After placing the drawing back into her drawer, Stephanie continued thinking to herself as she sat on her bed, tapping her legs with her fingers.
Her back was still sore from carrying all the rocks in her backpack filled from Mason and his 'friends.'
But she was lucky to escape the wrath of Jessica and her cronies after getting into 'trouble' with them.
Stephanie smiled a little at the kindness Reginald had, grateful for him handing her a bracelet for good luck.
Pushing her glasses into place, Stephanie was about to stand from her bed to carve something to get her boredom away when a knock came from her door.
"Who's there?" Stephanie called the figure from behind the door.
"It's Sir Topham Hatt." Sir Topham Hatt responded. "Would you like to come with me to visit Mr. Percival?"
Stephanie's curiosity perked after Sir Topham Hatt asked, before answering, "Sure! Let me put my shoes on first!"
Stephanie collected her shoes and blue jeans pants after Sir Topham Hatt called her before opening the door once they were on her feet and her pants replacing her black tights, excited to see more railways.
Once they were in Sir Topham Hatt's car, Stephanie glanced around a few times to see where they were going, slowly calculating which area of the map and the railways.
Since she was taught how to make maps, Stephanie could tell that this railway was near a mountainside, which seemed to be an extraordinary place to be at.
After reaching one of the stations, Stephanie, Sir Topham Hatt, and his helpers stepped out as a familiar person stepped out of the station.
To Stephanie's surprise, he looked almost identical to Sir Topham Hatt!
But this conductor looked a little different from Sir Topham Hatt himself.
He has short jet-black hair, fair skin, and light brown eye color.
He is dressed in a black suit jacket with gray trousers, a yellow waistcoat, a white shirt, a black tie, and a black bowler hat instead of a top hat like Sir Topham Hatt.
When he noticed Stephanie standing next to Sir Topham Hatt, blushing a little shyly, he pushed his brown, half-moon glasses into place.
"Erm, Topham?" he politely asked, mentioning her as Stephanie looked confused. "Is she your daughter?"
Sir Topham Hatt sighed as he pinched his nose bridge as his helpers chuckled as Stephanie giggled, covering her mouth with a hand.
"No, she is just staying in my mansion until her foster-father comes here to pick her up, Percival." Sir Topham Hatt explained.
Stephanie blushed again after Sir Topham Hatt explained, feeling a little sheepish about being the center of attention with everyone else.
"Ah, I see." Mr. Percival nodded. "Let's go inside and talk about the conversation we had earlier."
Stephanie was about to follow them into the station with curiosity about what the conversation was until she heard an unusual snore that caught her attention.
She turned her head to where it came from, looking confused as Sir Topham Hatt's helpers did not notice that she stopped following her and entered inside the station.
So, without stopping to think, Stephanie instead decided to follow where the snoring was coming from.
Stephanie continued venturing away from the station in curiosity, looking for where the snoring was coming from.
Soon, she reached a shed and stopped when she discovered an elderly engine sleeping at the entrance.
His base was based on Prince, a George England tank-tender engine and painted in an orange-brown with a yellow lining and has two red plaques on either side of his saddle tank with his name 'Duke' written in gold.
Stephanie looked surprised when she noticed the small, sleeping locomotive, giggling softly to herself at how elderly and cute he is.
When she giggled, it seemed to wake him up, snorting gently from the sudden titter, seeing Stephanie standing in front of him.
"Excuse me," he huffed gently, before pausing a little as he yawned. "What are you doing out here, young lady?"
Stephanie shyly blushed after he asked after yawning, answering, "I'm sorry, sir. I heard you snoring a while back at the station and came over here to see where it was coming from. I'm sorry for disturbing you, sir."
Rather than being angry at her for waking him up from his nap after hearing his snores, a soft and kind smile appeared on his face as he said, "Oh, no. It's fine. I'm used to being woken up by Peter Sam and Sir Handel."
Stephanie chuckled as she stepped closer to the elderly engine, saying, "You remind me a little of O.J, though."
"'O.J?'" he asked, cocking his body to the side a little. "Oh, him?"
He chuckled a little after Stephanie mentioned his appearance as she stood in front of him, her hands behind her back.
"The other engines do sometimes tell me that," he chuckled gently. "But, I am not like my old friend O.J. My name is Duke."
Stephanie smiled a little after he introduced himself to Stephanie, as she politely curtsied to him, saying, "Pleased to meet you, Duke. My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Allen from America."
"An American?" Duke softly mumbled. "It has been a very long time since the last two I have met in my past."
Stephanie felt curious after he mentioned, asking, "Who were the two American engines?"
Duke paused a little after she asked before sitting down on a crate next to him, having a gut feeling that there was a story coming.
"Actually," Duke smiled as he moved a little forward, seeing that she was curious. "One of them is American, and the second was built here in England."
"Oh!" Stephanie blushed in embarrassment after Duke corrected her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to mix cultures up!"
"No need to apologize, young one." Duke softly smiled. "You were a little confused about where they were made. Now, where were we?"
"Uh, about the two engines back in your time?" Stephanie asked, cocking her head a little to the side.
"Ah, yes!" Duke nodded. "Thank you, Stephanie."
Stephanie patiently sat as she listened to the story of Duke's encounter with an American in the old times, long before Stephanie was born.
It was a long time ago when the rails were young, and engines were being built for work.
It was called the 'Mid Sodor Railway,' where it was still operational, and Peter Sam and Sir Handel were named 'Falcon' and 'Stuart.'
"Oh, I remember those nicknames! I've met them before!"
You have?
"Yes, it happened a long time ago when I accidentally fell into one of the Quarry trucks at Knapford. They were very nice!"
You have been very adventurous, haven't you?
"It happens when you have curiosity."
Yes, that is true, Stephanie.
Now, I was the first one to be at the railway, but other engines were coming into the railway than me.
"Who were they?"
Their names were Albert, Jim, Tim, Jerry, Alfred, Atlas, and Bertram.
There were not only engines, but some friendly trucks and carriages, Cora the guard's tool shed, and Gertrude and Millicent.
"Oh, that is a lot of locomotives, and carriages there, Duke!"
Yes, but I worked as hard as I could with everyone else, and as you know, 'every engine has its own purpose.'
"I agree, Duke!"
Yes, and as the years went by, two young engines came to the railway from the Mainland.
One of them is named 'Stanley' and was from the United States when World War One started, then was brought over here.
"He sounds tough."
And he was.
The other was named 'Smudger' and is numbered as number two on our line when I was number one.
Stanley was accidentally painted as a number two, too, but the Manager did not mind it.
"Who's 'Smudger,' Duke?"
Smudger was a show-off engine who liked showing off his pride and often derailed, always spilling the contents out and to the ground.
"That's horrible!"
Yes, and every time I caught him in one of his accidents, I would always say to him, 'That never suits his grace!'
But all he said was, 'Listen, Dukey. Who worries about a few spills?'
'We do here!' I told him, but he just laughed.
"…He was very arrogant?"
Oh, yes, very.
Stanley was like him too, not caring about spilling the goods from the trucks and always acting so… reckless.
But one day, the manager said he will make him useful at last, and Smudger stopped laughing then.
"What on earth happened to him, Duke?"
He turned him into a generator to pump the water out of the mines they worked in, never being able to move, still stuck behind our shed.
Stephanie looked surprised after Duke finished his story, asking, "What about the other? Did the same thing happened to him?"
"Oh, yes, it did." Duke nodded. "Before Smudger, Stanley had the same thing happened to him too, but was put behind Peter Sam's shed a long time ago. I could not remember where he was now since our railway shut down."
"What about the other engines?" Stephanie asked, moving her hands up and gently rubbing them to calm her worries down.
Duke's face softened a little when he saw how worried Stephanie was about them, saying, "They are in good hands, Stephanie. They are in different stations and are still working, just like those two rascals."
Stephanie chuckled after Duke finished his story, pausing a little in her thoughts, and asked, "Do… you think Smudger is still alive, wanting to work like he used to do?"
This seemed to make Duke think to himself from Stephanie's question, glancing down at his buffers before back up at Stephanie.
"I do not know, Stephanie." Duke slowly answered. "But if we found him… I don't know about accepting him again since he was reckless in his past."
Stephanie paused a little after Duke slowly answered Stephanie's question, glancing away from Duke to think to herself about Smudger.
"Stephanie?" Stephanie perked after hearing her name called, standing up from the crate she was sitting next to. "Where are you?"
"Over here!" Stephanie called, waving her hand as Sir Topham Hatt came into view.
"What are you doing over there?" Sir Topham Hatt asked.
"Uh..." Stephanie blushed as Duke slowly puffed out of his shed, calling, "She came over here after hearing my snoring, sir!"
Sir Topham Hatt sighed and placed a hand on his temple, saying with a soft exclamation, "She is just as curious as a kitten!"
Stephanie was nervous after coming back over to Sir Topham Hatt, confusing Duke as he followed her to make sure nothing happened to her.
"Don't scare us like that, Stephanie!" Mr. Percival exclaimed. "We were looking all over the office for you!"
"Sorry," Stephanie blushed sheepishly. "It seemed like I was a little too curious."
Duke cleared his throat after Stephanie apologized, moving forward, and said, "If I may, sir? She did not mean to wander off. She merely heard my snoring and came over to me."
Stephanie's blush deepened after Duke explained to them, as Sir Topham Hatt and Mr. Percival glanced at each other.
"I should've told you, sir." Stephanie sighed, ducking her head a little lower as her long hair covered some of her face.
"It is quite alright, Stephanie." Sir Topham Hatt assured her. "Next time, be wary of your surroundings with others than yourself."
Stephanie nodded her head after Sir Topham Hatt assured her before following him to his car with his helpers.
"Oh," Stephanie turned around and waved to Duke. "Thank you for telling me the story!"
Duke smiled after Stephanie waved at him and whistled in return as Stephanie followed Sir Topham Hatt to the mansion.