ROLLING AROUND

One bright sunny morning on the Island of Sodor, Thomas was taking Buster the Steamroller to help repair the town roads in Killdane. Buster was marvelling at the sights around them as Thomas pushed the flatbed holding him along the line.

"Looking forward to the job today, Buster?" Thomas asked, but he got no reply. "Buster?"

Buster snapped out of his trance and glanced back at Thomas.

"Oh! Sorry, Thomas! I was just watching that cloud above me. Kinda looks like me a bit, don't you think?"

Thomas chuckled, Buster meant well, but did have a tendency to get caught in his own little bubble.

Thomas soon arrived with Buster at Killdane. The steamroller was lifted off his flatbed onto the nearby road, and Thomas set off.

"Have fun, Buster!" he called out as he steamed away.

Buster simmered happily as he sat nearby the railway line, looking at all the different shops surrounding him. His gaze became focused on the bright, vibrant colours of a nearby toy shop.

Suddenly, an sharp, unfamiliar whistle rang out and Buster looked over to see a green steamroller slowly making his way towards him, a rather moody expression plastered on his face. He stopped and Miss Jenny climbed down from his cab.

"Buster," she said, "This is George. He shall be helping you with smoothing out the roads today. Make sure you two work well together."

Suddenly, a loud crash sounded out from nearby.

"Max! Monty!" Miss Jenny shouted, "Leave Alfie alone right now!" And she hurried off.

Buster watched Miss Jenny leave and went back to looking at the toyshop window, George sat next to him, rather unimpressed with his new colleague. George and Buster had never met each other before, but George was already starting to dislike him.

Buster suddenly turned to face George, remembering that he was there next to him.

"Oh! Nice to meet you, I'm Buster!" he exclaimed cheerfully, a big, cheesy grin spread on his face.

George just sniffed. "Hmph, if you want to be a proper steamroller like me. Fraternizing with railway engines is not the right way to go about it. " he glared at Buster, who didn't really seem to be paying much attention.

George didn't seem to notice this however, and simply continued on rambling.

"Furthermore," he added, "you should be helping me with this job, though," he paused for dramatic effect, "I'm sure that someone like you wouldn't be to get the job done nearly as good as me."

And with that, he blew his whistle and rolled slowly away.

Buster looked back at where George had been sitting and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry? What were you saying?" he asked, perplexed.

George sauntered along the roads, smoothing out all the bumps in the road. He was rather enjoying himself, until he saw James passing by with a slow goods train.

He hurried over to the level crossing and cleared his throat, ready for some complaining.

"Move out of the area!" he barked out, "We don't want you spoiling our hard work!"

"Pah!" James scoffed, "All you seem to be doing George is snapping at me! Why can't you be like Buster over there?"

George looked back and sure enough, there was Buster, smoothing out all the bumps in the road without a care in the world.

"Now if you'll excuse me.." James chuckled and wheeshed a cloud of steam at George, before hurrying away. George was fuming with rage.

The foreman then walked over to George, he didn't look particularly impressed.

"George, instead of getting agitated at others, maybe you could try doing some work?"

"That little-!" George growled angrily. "Why on Sodor is he so cheery all the time?"

George's foul mood didn't go away that day. Every single little thing seemed to set him off. Someone sneezing too loudly or someone with a much too bright light, someone just so happening to be in his way or line of sight. And even someone telling him how to properly do something only served to make him angrier.

"There's so much here to spoil my day." he grumbled, "How on earth is that Buster able to stay so upbeat?"

A little while later, George's driver was checking him over.

"I'm sure I heard something funny going on here, George." he said concerned, "I definitely think I should check you over before we go back to work-"

"Pah!" interrupted George. "Nothing wrong with me! I'm perfectly fine!"

"I still think I should check." his driver began.

"I don't care!" George snapped. "Whatever it is, we can get it down after the job is finished. Now, come on!"

"If you say so, George.." his driver sighed, rubbing his forehead as he climbed back up into George's cab and setting off.

Later on, in the afternoon, Buster was finishing up another section of the town road, when he heard a loud yelling going on from nearby.

"I wonder what that could be?" he thought to himself.

George was furiously trying to get Henry to move off of the level crossing. The big green engine had been attempting to pass through the town but had only ended up getting stuck on the crossing. George, meanwhile, was lumbering towards him, in an attempt to move Henry himself.

"Out of the way!" he yelled crossly. Steam erupting from his funnel as he made his way over to Henry.

"For goodness sake, George!" Henry snapped, "I can't go anywhere right now! For once in your life, learn to be patient!" But George wasn't listening.

Suddenly, a loud bang rang out from George's boiler, and his front roller started to swerve and turn all over the road.

"Oh no!" he cried. His driver desperately tried to steer George away from the pavement, but he swerved off the road, onto the pavement and with a mighty crash, the steamroller smashed his front roller straight through the toy shop window that Buster had been looking through earlier.

George seethed quietly as his smokebox was covered with stuffed bears and toy cars.

His driver climbed down from the cab outside the shop and stamped his foot in anger.

"This wouldn't have happened if you weren't so impatient, George! I might have been able to check what was wrong with your roller earlier!"

George looked down at his roller in front of him from inside the toy shop and sighed.

Buster made his way over to George and stopped behind him.

"What happened here?" he asked curiously.

"George got stuck in the shop because he was being reckless." his driver groaned. "I don't suppose you'd be able to get him out.

"I'll give it a go." said Buster.

Soon, a rope had been attached between Buster's front roller and George's cab. Then, Buster pulled back as hard as he could. Sure enough, George was freed from the broken shop front.

Miss Jenny was most annoyed with George when she found out what he had done.

"You should consider yourself lucky you're not one of my vehicles, George!" she said crossly, "Or else your punishment would be a lot more severe."

"I suggest you stay here for the next few days to help repair the damage you caused."

George glanced over from the shop wall over to Buster.

"Maybe I shouldn't be so impatient in the future.." he sighed, "And I probably shouldn't get so angry either.." He looked down at his roller.

Buster smiled happily.

"Well, at least you'll be able to fix the problem, and learn from your mistake." he said cheerily, "Try and be a bit more positive with your outlook on life."

George looked over at Buster and gave a small, weak smile.

"Heh.. thanks.." he said.

But Buster had gone back to his own word again. He rolled over to Nelson's trailer, steamed right onto it, and was now heading off for home. He whistled goodbye to George until he was out of sight.

THE END