WHATEVER HAPPENED TO SMUDGER?

CHAPTER 3: One Way Ticket

As Smudger neared the docks, he could hear a loud boat horn. "Oh no," said his driver, "We might be too late."

Smudger turned a bend. Ahead, he could see the docks. There were lots of railway lines going in all directions, half of these line were a bigger gauge. "That's odd," the green engine said, "I didn't know there were bigger engines here."

"Well now you know, Smudger," chuckled his fireman, "Now we gotta get to our boat—"

"Wait."

Smudger froze in realization of something simply shocking.

"Which boat is ours?"

Neither the driver nor fireman knew. When Mr. Chitana had been giving them the directions to the boat, they had been busy fitting Smudger's wheels back on.

The driver tried not to worry. "Alright," he said, "Let's assess the situation. We're in a port or dock or whatever, and we're leaving by boat. Our boat belongs to a Japanese company, right? So they must have a certain sign of their nationality somewhere near them."

But as they sped through, they couldn't exactly tell which boat it was. They all look very similar to each other, each very large, made of metal, and none had a logo. If they had a logo, it was probably covered by the tarpons.

They puffed over to a dockside worker who was busy arranging several crates of shrimp. "Oy!" snapped Smudger, "Do you know where that Japanese boat is? We gotta get outa here!"

The worker glared. "No idea, but don't snap at me like that, ok? I'm busy!"

Smudger snorted and puffed away, looking for somebody more reliable. Suddenly they heard one of the boats blow its horn, which meant that it was leaving.

The driver checked his watch, and cussed to himself before speeding Smudger up to get to the boat.

They could see a large ship, also with a tarpon, getting ready to leave port.

"No wait! Stop!" cried Smudger, but it was no use. They couldn't hear him. He sped up, trying to get to the loading dock.

But then the ship's anchor came up, and it started to leave. Smudger panicked.

"No wait! Stop, please!" he cried, and blew his whistle furiously. But it was no good. The ship picked up speed and sailed away.

Smudger choked, watching the ship sail away. His driver and fireman sat on his footplate and groaned. "Gah…now what?" moaned his driver.

Suddenly they saw a man walked up to them. It was Mr. Chitana, and he was smiling. "What are you doing here, looking so glum?" he asked politely.

The three were surprised. "What the-!" cried Smudger.

"Didn't your ship just--?" said the fireman, but Mr. Chitana simply chuckled.

"You two should listen better when getting instructions from your new boss," he said, and the driver and fireman, both red in the face, looked down at the ground.

Mr. Chitana's ship was next to the space where the other ship just was. Smudger was attached to the loading cranes and was loaded safely onboard.

Before they set sail, Smudger remembered something. "Mr. Chitana, sir…why did all the ships have tarpons on them?"

Mr. Chitana sighed, "There's a bit of a war going on, and we had to hide the ship's names so that we can't be tracked. Anyways, let's get going then!"

The anchor was lifted, and the ship's horn blew nice and loud. Smudger was safely sent into the elevated cargo hold, and the ship sailed away to the American engine's new home.

TO BE FRIGGIN CONTINUED