"Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside.
Oh, I do like to be beside the sea..."
"If ye must sing that song, Toad," complained Donald, "Can ye at least sing the whole song ON KEY?!"
Normally, the Scottish Twins tolerated Toad signing, since it let himself stay entertained when the trucks were behaving themselves while they talked between themselves. This morning however, the sun was hot, and the Twins' train was long and heavy.
"Don't get me wrong, Toad," agreed Douglas, "I can usually stand you singing. But singing the same song over and over gets more than a wee bit tiring."
"I'm sorry, misters," replied Toad, "I didn't mean to be of any offense."
Toad spent the rest of the run from Brendam to Tidmouth in a sad silence. When the train started rolling up the Little Western near Bluff's Cove though, Toad saw something from the corner of his eye. At first, it appeared to be some sort of gray marooned boat. As Toad took a closer look though, he quickly realized what it really was.
"Mr. Douglas," he shouted, "Look, it's a whale!"
Neither of the Scottish Twins had noticed the whale, which was obscured by a locker room for beachgoers. As such, they thought Toad was joking.
"If you want to make a good joke, Toad," said Donald, "At least try to make it light hearted…"
Toad was going to insist it wasn't a joke, but given their previous attitudes, he saw no point.
…
Toad was still despondent when Douglas left him in a siding at Arlesburgh to do some light shunting. Then, he heard a familiar whistle, and as he looked up he felt a glimmer of warmth and hope.
"Are you having a good morning, Toad?" Oliver asked kindly, coming into the station with Isabel and Dulcie.
"I was, Mr. Oliver," replied the brakevan, now becoming depressed again, "But then Mr. Donald and Mr. Douglas both complained about my singing."
"What?" asked Oliver, "Are you serious?"
"He did apologize eventually," continued Toad, "But it still left me pretty hurt. Then, I… I…"
Toad didn't say anything for a few moments, before he eventually let out a despairing sigh.
"Oh never mind," he grumbled, "You'll just laugh it off too."
"No I won't, Toad," replied Oliver earnestly, "What is it?"
"I saw a whale on the beach at Bluff's Cove," said Toad, "It looked like it was beached and dying, and…"
"There wasn't any whale there, Oliver," interrupted Douglas, as he backed down with a train of vans, "The lad must have been hallucinating under the hot sun."
Before Oliver could speak in Toad's defense, Douglas addressed the brakevan.
"Come on, Toad," he continued, "We've got to get these fish vans to Tidmouth so the Kipper can be ready early."
"Of course, Mr. Douglas," replied Toad despondently.
…
Oliver was still thinking about what Toad and Douglas had said as he waited at the platform to start his next journey.
"I just don't know what to do," he confided to Isabel and Dulcie, "Both of them seemed honest in saying what they did. I didn't see a while myself, but maybe it came up to the shore after I already passed Bluff's Cove"
"Maybe, honey," said Isabel, "You could try to get Douglas' side of the story. After all, Toad could have indeed been seeing things."
Oliver decided to give Isabel's idea a try. Eventually, he caught up to Douglas while they were both pulling goods trains late afternoon.
"Frankly, Douglas," he said as they rolled along the coastline, "I think you were far too harsh on Toad about his singing and the whale."
"Perhaps about the singing," sighed Douglas, "After all, it is a nice song and he's not as bad at singing as Donald thinks, but the-"
All of a sudden, Douglas gasped and applied his brakes. Oliver quickly stopped ahead, with the locker room obscuring his left-side view.
"Losh sakes!" exclaimed Douglas.
"What's the matter?" asked Oliver as he reversed to get a better view of what startled Douglas. When he did, he also became shocked.
"I don't believe it!" exclaimed Oliver, "There really is a whale, and it's still alive too!"
On the beach, several workmen had come to surround the whale. They were putting a tarp over it to protect it from the hot sun, and a tow truck was leaving the beach.
"They haven't had much like trying to get it back to the sea," said the stationmaster, who was watching the spectacle, "They tried using a tow truck to get it back to sea, but the tide's too far out."
Now, Douglas felt even more wracked with remorse for brushing off Toad.
"I can't imagine how shaken Toad will be when he finds out." said Oliver.
"I owe the wee van an apology," muttered Douglas, "That's for certain."
…
When Douglas said he was sorry and explained everything to Toad, the brakevan was wracked with despair upon learning that the whale was likely to die. The heartbreak on Toad's face made Douglas and Oliver's hearts sink lower.
"If I may request, Mr. Douglas," asked Toad, "Might I be shunted into the siding at Bluff's Cove to keep the whale company?"
Oliver and Douglas had their drivers arrange it with the stationmaster there. Soon, Oliver and Douglas arrived, and Oliver shunted Toad into a siding. Now, the workmen were digging trenches, and a fire truck sprayed water over the whale to keep it from being dehydrated.
"Now," said Douglas, "We wait for the tide to roll back in, and it can swim away!"
"But that will take hours," protested Toad, "I'm no expert on whales, but I doubt it can live like this long enough."
Presently, Toad noticed Harold the Helicopter flying over the scene, and an idea came to him.
"What if," asked Toad, "We have Harold fly it to the nearest harbor, and dump it in the water there? That way it can just swim away?"
"Do you really think Harold is strong enough to do something like that?" asked Douglas.
Toad thought again, and remembered that the last trucks on the twin's train that morning were flatbeds. This gave him yet another idea.
"What do you say we pick it up, put it on a flatbed, then use a crane at the nearest harbor put it back in the water?"
Douglas groaned in slight frustration.
"I'm sure they know what they're doing, Toad," replied Oliver simply, "Come on, Douglas. We've got jobs to do."
...
Oliver and Douglas soon were back at Arlesburgh, where everyone seemed to be talking about the beached whale. During the whole time though, Oliver was still thinking about the ideas that Toad had floated to him and Douglas.
Just then, Oliver looked to his right, and noticed Duck shunting some flatbeds on to a siding.
"Right," said Duck happily, "Now that no one needs these anymore, I can rest until it's time to go down to Wellsworth."
"EUREKA!" shouted Oliver.
Suddenly, the Fat Controller strode up. He was visiting Arlesburgh for a meeting with the Small Controller, and heard Oliver's shouts.
"What is the elation for, Oliver?" he asked.
Oliver explained to the Fat Controller about Toad's idea to place the whale on a flatbed.
"That is a brilliant idea," exclaimed the Fat Controller, "Rocky the Crane is in the yard right now, so you and Douglas can take him and one of the flatbeds Henry just shunted."
So it was arranged. Douglas fetched Rocky from the yards, and Oliver took a flatbed with him back to Bluff's Cove. Toad was elated.
"Oliver?" he asked, with tears of joy, "You actually liked my idea?!"
"Of course I did, Toad. "And so did the Fat Controller. He said he's always happy to help with saving Sodor's wildlife too."
…
Soon, a tow truck came again to pull the whale close enough to the tracks for Rocky to lift it on to the flatbed.
"Do be careful, Mr. Rocky." said Toad, as Oliver coupled him up to the flatbed. Flynn the Fire Truck also came from Tidmouth to help by keeping the whale hydrated on the way to Arlesburgh Harbor.
"The lad certainly looks tired after all that," remarked Douglas, as the workmen finished securing the whale to the flatbed, "I bet it could use some of that singing those scientists say whales like doing to each other."
Douglas realized what he had just said when Toad's interest piqued.
"You can count on me, Mr. Douglas." exclaimed Toad.
As Oliver led the procession of him, Flynn, and Douglas on to the harbor, Toad began signing to the whale.
"Oh you do need to be out of the seaside,
Oh you do need to be inside the sea…"
At first, Douglas was going to say that it wasn't an invitation for Toad to sing, but Oliver hushed him.
"Let him have his moment, Douglas," he puffed.
Nonetheless, Toad's song for the whale grew on Douglas as the journey began for the Harbor. Along the route, people came along the line to see the strange, yet beautiful sight of a real, live whale being hauled by a train.
Soon, the journey to the harbor was finally finished, and the harbor's strongest crane set to work on lifting the whale. Everyone held their breath until the crane finally dropped the whale into the water.
At first, nothing seemed to happen. But then Oliver, Toad, and Douglas noticed the whale blowing water joyously out on the ocean.
"Your plan worked Toad!" exclaimed Oliver.
"Well done, laddie," shouted Douglas, "Now the big lad can swim to his heart's delight!"
Nowadays, the whale still lives near Bluff's Cove. Whenever Toad passed that place, whether he saw the whale or not, he sang a little song...
"Oh, he does like to be back in the water,
Oh, he does like to be back in the sea.
Now he's back inside the sea,
And beside himself with glee.
Beyond the seaside,
Inside the Sea!"
Oliver and Douglas could only smile warmly whenever they heard Toad sing that rendition. Even Donald stopped complaining about Toad singing after that day; though Douglas admittedly does wonder if that's mostly because Toad finally started singing on key.