SAFETY FIRST

It was a calm autumn morning on the Island of Sodor, and the Pack were ready to start work clearing a field near Toryreck for a new playground to be built. Miss Jenny was instructing her machines about the day's work.

"All right then you lot, now to make sure you know what your jobs are for today." she said. "Alfie and Oliver, you two will be clearing the earth from the field and loading it into Max and Monty."

"Got it, Miss Jenny!" they replied eagerly.

"Buster and Byron, you two will be making sure that the ground is nice and flat so that Patrick can then pour the cement onto it for the foundations."

"No problem!" Buster said.

"You can count on us." Byron replied.

"Ok team, off to work! And remember-"

"Safety first!" they all cheered in unison.

Laura is Miss Jenny's Land Rover, and an honorary member of the Pack. One would think that, since she is Miss Jenny's own personal vehicle, she would be just like her. They couldn't be more wrong. Laura is rambunctious, rebellious, mischievous and feisty, and doesn't like to pay attention to the rules. When it comes to parking in particular, she prefers to park based on personal preference and how comfortable it is. Miss Jenny's motto of 'Safety First' doesn't seem to stick with her.

On this particular instance, Laura was lounging about right close up to the railway line, watching the clouds go by, when Byron slowly rolled past her. Seeing Laura's carelessness immediately set him off, and he rumbled over to her, and pulled her back from the line and onto the field.

"Oi, oi! Whatcha' doin', Byron?!" she said crossly, "I was enjoyin' a bit o' peace and quiet!"

"Putting yourself in danger as well as others, more like." Byron snapped. "I don't care if you like parking where you want to. You should be focusing on being parked in a safe area! You could end up derailing a train that comes down this line and hurting them and yourself in the process!"

"Alright, alright, keep yer plow on, I'll just 'ead off somewhere else, ey?" she chuckled.

"Make sure that it is somewhere safe." Byron sighed and rumbled off back to work.

Laura sighed, she didn't like Byron much. He always seemed to be giving her strict instructions about what she could and couldn't do.

"Yer so bossy, Byron!" she called over to him.

Byron ignored her and continued on his way.

Laura groaned loudly and began to sulk.

As Laura sat in her spot away from the line, she saw a rather dozy looking workman leaning up against a box, having a rest, and clearly trying to stay out of anyone else's sight. Unluckily, he was right in Laura's line of sight.

"Ey, you!" She called over to the workman.

The workman opened a sleepy eye and turned over to look at Laura.

"What?" he asked, half-asleep

"D'y mind drivin' me ta over there? By that cliff lookin' place? Can't be over here apparently 'cause Captain Bossy said so."

The workman looked back at where the machines were busy working and then he turned back at Laura.

"Uh… yeah sure… then I can go back to sleep, right…?" he asked.

"Yeah yeah, sure." Laura replied.

The workman, once making sure nobody was watching, climbed into Laura's cab and drove her away from the railway line towards the edge of the cliff.

Alfie caught a glimpse of her passing by and he turned to Oliver.

"Hey, Oliver. Where is Laura going?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe Miss Jenny just needs to move her somewhere safe?" Oliver replied, not looking up from the hole he was digging.

Laura drove over to the edge of the cliff, looking over the road going past. The workman immediately fell fast asleep at the wheel, but Laura didn't care. She felt very happy as she watched the brown, crumpled-up leaves fall from the trees and fly away in the wind. She then looked down and watched as buses and cars drove along the roads from underneath her,

"Whotta brill view this is." She sighed happily, and after a bit, started to nod off.

This wasn't until-

"Laura!" came a stern voice from behind her.

Laura woke up suddenly, and felt something pulling her away from the cliff onto the field.

"Heyyyy! What're ya doing?!" she cried.

"For goodness sake, Laura!" the all-too familiar voice of Byron said, "Parking right on the edge of this cliff?! That's just as, if not more dangerous than where you were sitting just a few minutes ago!"

Laura looked back at Byron and chuckled.

"Yer such a worrywart, Byron. Shouldn't ya be doin' yer work instead of talkin' ta me?"

Byron fumed, but took several deep breaths before speaking again.

"Listen to me right now, Laura. If you don't make sure that you are parked in a safe location away from any danger, I'll be telling Miss Jenny about your behaviour."

"Alright, alright, I'm going!" she groaned.

The workman sitting at her wheel had woken up by now but was still feeling very tired.

"Blimey, can't I get some rest round here?" he sighed.

Laura looked around, first at the machines busy working, then-

"Ey look! There's a whoppin' great barn over dere! I could stay there out of everyone's way and no one will be able to see me!"

"If you…" the workman yawned in between his words, "say so…"

And with that, the workman drove Laura out of everyone else's sight towards the old barn.

The workman parked Laura up against the side of the barn, and fell fast asleep.

"What a great place for a sleep, not like anyone else is gonna notice dat I'm ere." Laura grinned. And she started to nod off.

Meanwhile, Miss Jenny was busy looking for Laura. And the lazy workman.

"Has anyone seen them?" she asked her machines.

"She was over by that cliff." Byron replied, "Not sure where she is now."

Miss Jenny began to get worried.

A few minutes later, Oliver slowly rumbled over to the front of the barn, his wrecking ball attached to his arm. It needed to be demolished so that it could make space for the playground.

"Alright, Oliver!" the foreman called to him, "Swing away!"

Oliver turned to one side, and then, swung his arm right around to the barn. The wrecking ball hit the rotting wood with a loud crash.

The sound of this immediately woke up both Laura and the workman. Laura got the absolute fright of her life when she saw the barn getting demolished right next to her.

"Gordon Bennett!" she cried in horror, and the workman slammed his foot on the gas and drove her away from the collapsing barn-

-straight into Oliver.

"OOF! Hey, watch where you're-"

Oliver stopped and looked to see who had raced into him.

"Miss Jenny!" he called over, "I found Laura!"

Miss Jenny was very cross when she found Laura.

"Laura!" she shouted angrily, "What on Sodor were you thinking?! From what Byron told me, you put yourself in lots of danger today! You could have been seriously hurt!"

Laura looked down sadly at her front bumper.

"Sorry, Miss Jenny…" she sighed. "I just like parkin' where it feels comfortable for me…"

"But you should park where it is safe!" replied Miss Jenny, "Not based on if you like it or not!"

"I won't do it again, I promise…" Laura replied in shame.

The workman looked up over the dashboard, and, upon seeing Miss Jenny, quickly ducked down.

"I wondered where you'd been hiding!" She stormed over to Laura's door, and swung it open.

"You've been avoiding work for the past few weeks, and now today, you've endangered both your own and Laura's lives!" She pointed a finger angrily at the workman. "I expect to never see you around here again, because you're fired!"

The workman looked down at his feet from inside Laura's cab and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah… sorry boss…"

From that day on, Laura always made sure to stay in a parking spot where she and others would be safe, much to everyone's satisfaction, Byron's especially. But she was still a tad cheeky and rambunctious as ever,

"Stand back everyone, Big, Bossy Byron coming through!" she called over to where Byron was getting ready to level some ground for another construction project.

"Oh Laura." Byron chuckled.

THE END

Safety First was a scrapped episode from Jack and the Pack, though, it isn't known what the plot was. So I made one for it as well as introducing a new character, the first in my Original Episodes. Laura is a very fun character to write for, her dialect especially. The fact that she doesn't like listening to advice or authority much makes for interesting scenarios, and though I don't expect to use her as a lead again, she might be featured as a major character in another story down the line.

As always, here's what's coming up next:

Thumper Keeps Up - Ever since the incident with Boulder, Thumper has been kept working in a specific area of the Blue Mountain Quarry, and they try to keep calm and safe. They work rather slowly though, which doesn't please Sir Handel and Duncan at all.

Scrapyard Stakeout - Reg enjoys working at Cronk's Scrapyard but doesn't enjoy scrapping perfectly good machines or engines. One day, he comes across a scared little tank engine named Nelly, and does his best to hide her from 'Arry and Bert, who have reported a missing scrap engine.

Nelly and BoCo - Having been rescued from scrap, Nelly is sent to work at Wellsworth Yards to do some shunting. However, she gets very scared when she meets BoCo as she has a big fear of diesel engines. Can Edward help her out?

Gordon Goes Foreign - After getting into a heated argument with Flying Scotsman about what London Station is called, Gordon sets off to London to prove that it is named King's Cross.