Percy And The Windmill
A.N. Some time ago, my buddy BigMoose01 expressed interest in doing a rewrite of "Toby And The Windmill" with Percy in Toby's place, since that was the original plan for the episode, and when I asked if he had any ideas for what I should do for my next Thomas & Friends story on here, he was more than happy to oblige with suggesting this one, so kudos to him for helping to make this story possible. With that out of the way, let our story begin.
A.N. 2. The title image was made using sprites by DanielArkansanEngine (who made the sprite of Percy) and 736berkshire on DeviantArt, so credit to those two as well for providing the means to make the title image.
There are many beautiful places on the Island Of Sodor. The engines love the pretty water mill, the peaceful canals, and the castle on the lake. Percy's favorite place is the old windmill. The windmill is worn and doesn't make much flour now. Percy loves to watch the sails go round-and-round. And the miller was his friend.
"Good morning, Percy!" greeted the miller.
"Good morning, Mister Miller!" Percy replied.
One day, Percy was collecting a load of flour to take to the market. As he was approaching the windmill, he noticed the turning sails.
"Man, just look at those sails go." he said to himself.
But Percy was so busy watching the sails that he wasn't paying attention to the tracks, and he ended up pushing the freight cars loaded with the flour into the platform, and into a wagon that had more sacks of flour, which ended up going everywhere. All the flour was ruined.
"Oops..." said Percy.
The miller was upset.
"If I can't sell my flour, I'll have to shut down the windmill." said the miller.
"I'm sorry, Mister Miller." sighed Percy.
"It's okay, Percy." replied the miller. "I know it was an accident."
Soon, Harvey arrived to put the freight cars back onto the track. As he watched Harvey go straight to his work, Percy felt sad about the miller.
"What will the miller do if his mill shuts down?" he worried.
"It is sad to think about, Percy." said his driver. "But we must hurry back home. There's a storm on the way."
That night, at Tidmouth Sheds, while the other engines were sleeping soundly, Percy couldn't sleep at all, although it wasn't the thunder and lightning that was keeping him awake. Rather, he was still worried about the miller. To make matters worse, that night, the old windmill was struck by lightning. The miller was sleeping in his own bed when he was awakened by a loud crashing sound.
"What was that?" the miller gasped.
The miller quickly went outside and saw that, much to his horror, the windmill was on fire!
"Oh no!" he cried.
The miller raced back inside his house to call the fire brigade. The next morning, Percy chuffed carefully down the line. The storm had torn trees up from the ground, and farm buildings had been damaged.
"Wow." Percy said as he surveyed the damage. "That storm made quite a mess!"
But when Percy soon saw the most shocking sight of all, that being the damaged windmill. The fire brigade was still there.
"The windmill is broken!" Percy cried.
But the one who was most saddened was the miller.
"This means the end of my business." said the miller sadly. "I can't afford the timber to make the repairs."
Percy felt bad for the miller and wanted to help.
"There must be something I could do to help the miller." Percy thought as he left.
Not too far away, Percy's driver saw a fallen tree on the track. Harvey and Terence were clearing it. Sir Topham Hatt was on the scene as well, and he was very annoyed.
"This storm has caused confusion and delay." he said. "This tree must be removed at once."
But Percy had an idea.
"Sir, would it alright if I took this tree to the lumber mill?" he asked.
"What for?" asked Sir Topham Hatt.
Percy told Sir Topham Hatt about the windmill and how he wanted to help the miller repair it. Sir Topham Hatt thought this was a splendid idea.
"In that case, you may take the tree to the lumber mill." he nodded with a friendly smile.
"Thank you, sir!" grinned Percy.
Soon, the tree, along with any fallen branches, was loaded onto a flatbed, and Percy proudly took everything to the lumber mill, where the workmen wasted no time cutting the wood into more than enough pieces of timber to repair the windmill.
"Alright, you're all set!" one of the workers said to Percy.
"Thank you!" Percy replied.
Percy then took the timber to the miller, who was delighted to see it.
"Now we can build our windmill back up again!" he said. "It will be good as new!"
Percy watched as the work began. It took quite a long time, but at last, the new windmill was completed. When Sir Topham Hatt came to inspect it, he was very impressed. And the miller was very grateful.
"Thank you, Percy." said the miller. "Your idea saved my windmill."
"Indeed it did." agreed Sir Topham Hatt. "Percy, you are a Really Useful Engine."
Percy beamed with delight.
"Thank you, sir!" he said.
Soon, the miller began producing much more flour than ever before, and Percy made twice as many deliveries to the market. He never tires of watching the sails turn.
"Boy, those sails turn just as smoothly as before." he said.
Just then, the miller approached Percy.
"Say, Percy, I've been thinking of giving the new windmill a new name." he said. "And in honor of your act of kindness with supplying the wood to rebuild it, I think I'll name it "Percy's Windmill"."
Percy liked that name a lot.
"That sounds perfect!" he said.
"Glad you think so." smiled the miller.
Soon, it was time for Percy to leave with his load, and as Percy puffed away, he felt very proud to be the namesake of the new windmill.
The End