The next morning, Emily woke up first and gave a solid, serious look to Thomas. Then they saw Gina come backwards out of Percy's berth and back onto the turntable. She looked at Emily and both queens began to feel a heavy weight in their hearts, knowing what lay ahead, and wondering what else could be ahead, all depending on what George would say or do next.
"Be careful out there, Gina," Percy peeped as he came out of his berth. "As ironic as it sounds, George is NOT to be underestimated."
"Don't worry about me, Percy. He can't hit me if he can't catch me, and I'm FASTER than that ugly steamroller!" Gina whistled.
"Please take my word for it and don't push George too far either," said Thomas.
"I'm not afraid to answer back to him, Thomas," Emily replied. "Sometimes ignoring him isn't enough. It would just bottle up all my feelings inside until it got out of control, and I don't want that to happen to me. Gina and I have to go now."
And with that, the two queens set off on the Main Line, while Thomas and Percy exchanged a worried glance to each other. They didn't know exactly what would happen, but they did know it was sure to be most irritating and frustrating as long as that steamroller was still working.
At Knapford Station, Emily and Gina arrived and saw the Fat Controller.
"Well, you two," he said. "I've just heard from the foreman this morning that George needs more tar and sand to cover more of the developing motorway. Those trains are right in the yards for you to collect. The rocks and building material will have to wait until later today."
"Yes, sir," Emily and Gina said unhappily, knowing this would mean quite a long day with George.
Just then, Emily, Gina and the Fat Controller heard Bertie honk from outside the station. They looked up and saw David come striding into the station. His expression was strong and focused as he looked around for a moment, then up to Emily, who suddenly felt her sense of urgency build.
"I heard all about it, Emily," he said. "Everything that happened between you and that menace yesterday. I came back from work and Mum told me the whole story! To think that George never did anything to you until now! If that rolling miscreant is annoying you...!"
"Oh, dear," said Emily. "I had a feeling you'd feel rather intense about this matter, David. I know nothing has ever happened between me and George before. But what happened yesterday gives you no reason to overstep your boundaries and do anything rash."
"Emily is right, David," said the Fat Controller. "I had a feeling you'd react strongly to what happened yesterday, but I will take care of what may happen to Emily. As inexcusable as George's behaviour gets, I don't fancy you taking the railway's matters into your own hands again, as you lightly did with Donald and Douglas."
"I sure as Hell hope I don't need to, Sir Topham," said David. "Although I do think I have much more reason to hate George than I ever did to hate Donald and Douglas. What they did to Emily that winter was by accident...but everything George does is on purpose, and I for one will NOT tolerate any trouble he throws at Emily or Gina!"
The Fat Controller shook his head.
"Huh! Honestly, David! I appreciate your feelings for Emily, and I'll gladly see to it that she is safe enough today, but as I told you before, her first driver may have been your father, but I am the controller of this railway. She'll adhere to her duties as I told her to, and we can only put faith in the fact that George adheres to his duties properly, whether he does so or not. Now please...go about your business. I trust you have work to do yourself?"
David felt his heart twitch with conflict as he looked to Emily, then the Fat Controller, not liking the feeling of where everything would go.
"I'll still help have a say in all this, if I feel the absolute necessity," David said to no one in particular as he left the station and returned to Bertie.
The Fat Controller watched him leave, shaking his head, then looked back to Emily and Gina.
"Oh, dear. I don't want to take part in this," Emily sighed.
"Neither do I, Emily," said Gina. "But we must be really useful all the same."
So with a nervous whistle to each other, Emily and Gina gathered their trains together and set off with heavy hearts, while the Fat Controller went back to his work, wondering just what might happen and what it would entail...
Emily took the sand trucks, while Gina followed behind with the tar wagons. Soon they arrived at the Wellsworth road construction. Neither Emily, nor Gina could see Max, Monty, Oliver or Alfie anywhere. But there were several workmen waiting for their loads. But then came that distinctive growl of eccentric grump which Emily had heard the day before. Gina looked up and cast her eyes for the first time on the infamous steamroller. She didn't need to look twice to know what George would potentially say.
"Hold back for a moment, Gina," Emily whispered. "I'll let you see what he may be like."
"Si, Emily. But be careful," Gina whispered back.
George came trundling down the line, still grumbling the same rude remark he always made, until he stopped and looked up with a raising eyebrow. There was Emily slowly making her way a little closer to the workmen as if she were trying not to be noticed. Then she stopped, not saying a word, or looking to the road, trying her best to ignore George...until she heard the voice again.
"Huh! How's the useless blue puffball today, imitation steamroller?" George grunted.
Emily didn't answer. She just let off steam feebly, hoping that George wouldn't pick too much of a fight.
"Did he go crashing down another field, where he'll be out of sight and out of the way?" George snickered.
Still, Emily didn't answer, fighting her flipping heart and inner urge not to answer back.
"Huh! This is what I get for working with an imitation steamroller!" George remarked. "A mute who can't even talk and just fades into the background like the 'goody-goody,' steamroller you are! Seen and not heard, just as you ought to be!"
That was it. Something else thudded in Emily's boiler. This was yet another remark that Gordon and James had thrown at her shortly before her bossy ways got hold of her all those years ago. In the similar wave of offense she felt yet again, Emily couldn't ignore this. As her driver got down and uncoupled her sand trucks, she suddenly spat it out.
"Well MAYBE, since YOU'RE a steamroller yourself, YOU should fade into the background and be seen and not heard!"
"Huh! You're quite a feisty sort! You're steaming off so much, you might make your rails rusty!" George jeered back. "Have some oil for those rails!"
Emily wondered what George meant by this when she suddenly looked down and saw another oil drum, just like the day before. Then she saw George rush forward and burst that drum open. Oil burst out and splashed everywhere...but not on the rails, or Emily. Much to her relief, it splattered on the field. George had missed his target.
"BAH!" said George. "Just wait till next time!"
Emily decided not to put up with any further nonsense for now and steamed away in a huff, leaving her sand trucks in a nearby siding and steamed away to find some peace...while the shenanigans would carry on with the other queen.
Gina had seen and heard everything that had transpired and she felt her fierce side reawaken considerably within her. She thought back to how Thomas called her railway silly and how she huffed and puffed a lot. Gina had to admit that perhaps George would truly make her huff and puff today. But that wouldn't stop the Italian Queen form having the final word. She wasn't afraid to spill some words to this steamroller and see how he would take it himself.
George was still glaring in Emily's direction after she had set off again, until he heard a whistle he didn't recognize. Gina came along the line with her tar wagons and stopped, waiting for the workmen to unload the tar for more asphalt. She took one look at the steamroller and immediately saw just what Emily meant by his unsavory expression. Then George looked up and began to retort the same way again, not thinking first thing.
"Hah! Here she is again! Now she's playing magic tricks with me and-"
George stopped short and looked again. There was another engine who looked rather like Emily, only smaller and sharper.
"Wait a minute...YOU'RE not the imitation steamroller!" George exclaimed.
"Huh! Hardly!" Gina retorted. "And NEITHER is Emily! You're George, so I hear! I heard everything to know about you! And you've got a lot of filthy nerve, splashing Emily the way you did yesterday!"
"And YOU'VE got a lot of nerve wasting my time!" George retorted. "Hmm. You're nothing like the imitation steamroller. I see YOU don't have giant steamroller wheels at all. Far too small for that. But they DO look like wheels for a horse carriage. That makes you...Ms. Carriage Wheels! Why don't you go plough a field with an old, smelly horse?!"
Gina gasped and scoffed strongly, deeply and scathingly offended. Even Thomas had never called her names, even at his cheekiest moments in Italy. Gina felt her face turn red with sheer affront and fierce desire for retaliation. Now she began to understand what had come over Emily the day before, and just like Emily, she would not put up with this nonsense. Her words to George were harsh and laced with solid anger.
"Huh! My wheels have carried me through truly flawless shunting challenges through my life! Something YOU will never do yourself! Your wheels are too heavy for anything like that. Therefore, MY wheels NOT carriage wheels. And YOU...shut up!"
"Ooh, not very goody-goody, are you?" George chortled. "Not like wimpy little Percy! I heard how he smashed through that cottage some weeks ago!"
Gina suddenly stared right into George's eyes as if she were looking right through him. After hearing about such scathing news about the engine she loved so much, and after seeing him recover so wonderfully well, she would not let a single instant tarry by with George penetrating such a subject.
"You leave Percy out of this," she said very quietly, and dangerously. "In case you didn't notice, I brought you more tar, and YOU need to pave those roads!"
"Well, I'd like to know Percy's true reason for crashing," George teased. "Why did he do it? Lust for ruin upon that wishy-washy family?"
Gina shot a fierce glare at George and felt her axles start to shake.
"You'd better not say anything about THAT to ME," she hissed. "Unless you're routing for trouble."
"Now don't you get cheeky, Carriage Wheels!" George replied. "Your Percy; he's a nice one. A regular right-down killer he was that day!"
"WHAT did you SAY?!" Gina demanded.
"It's a good thing he crashed through that house and killed the family when he did. Otherwise that family would have had to suffer through seeing just how useless all you puffballs really are!"
Gina's face went even redder, but before she could splutter in fury, one of the workmen took the words out of her mouth.
"George! That's ENOUGH of your vile tongue! The tar and sand is ready! Now AWAY with you!"
"Of course, lad," George smiled sweetly, but immaturely. "We steamrollers always work to serve for the roads after all."
And with that, Gina wheeshed away down the same line Emily too, while George got back to paving more of the road. But he was also starting to conjure further plans to disrupt the two queens' peace. It didn't matter to him how much it would interfere with the railway, or even those who worked around him. There was still plenty more to be done from both sides.
Some time later, Emily was coming back along the line to report back to the Fat Controller before going to the Blue Mountain Quarry to gather the stone for the road. But as she looked up and saw the level crossing close to her, she also and saw George start rolling across like before. Then he stopped right in the middle again when he saw her. Emily stopped as well and immediately spoke up.
"Let me through!" she demanded.
"I'm too busy! You'll just have to wait!" George barked.
To Emily, who always shone with sense of reason, this seemed absolutely ridiculous and untrue beyond any sensible reason.
"You are NOT too busy when you're just standing still!" she snapped back. "I have to report back to the Fat Controller and get ready to collect the stones and building material for YOUR roads! And Gina has to bring the building material for your road!"
"BAH! Then THEY'LL have to wait too!" said George "You're just worn out wheels on worn out rails! I need to flatten little engines in the scrapyards! And I DON'T need imitation steamrollers holding me up!"
To this, Emily hissed steam loudly and ushered forward by a few inches with her buffers just touching the gates.
"Out of my way, or you will NOT be able to finish your road at all!" she warned.
George finally gave a big growl and trundled away back to the road construction site, letting the gates open for Emily and she went on her way to Knapford Station, fuming angrily to herself.
But a little while later, Gina was coming back along the line herself to report to the Fat Controller and gather the building material herself. She came along the Wellsworth road construction and looked far down the road. She could see a freshly paved road trailing into the distance and further inland...until she heard George's voice again, right in front of her. After some time had gone by, he had conjured another plan.
"You again?! Why can't some other vehicle bring me what I need?!" he grouched. "Like Max and Monty? Imitation Steamrollers and Carriage wheels like YOU just get in the way!"
Gina was not having a day any better than Emily right now and she was starting to take enough.
"We still have to deliver rocks and building material for YOUR roads, and we DON'T need you splashing us with oil! Don't you need all that oil, unless you're using it to splash the Fat Controller on Lady Hatt's birthday party?! Get out of my way and don't splash me!"
Unfortunately for Gina, this was exactly what George wanted to hear. He had been thinking carefully to himself about what to do next to one of these engines, and with a quick glimpse downwards, then up again, he was ready.
"So...you want a splash...Ms. Carriage Wheels? I'LL GIVE YOU A SPLASH!"
And George charged off the rails, and on toward another oil drum left beside the line. This time, oil burst everywhere and splashed all over Gina, turning her side from green to a splatter of greasy black. And just like Emily, a fair plop of oil landed on her cheek.
"AAGH!" Gina wheeshed just like Emily did. Then she burst into a series of huffs and puffs. "You MISCREANT! You FILTHY demon!"
"There! Now you'll be making much better time for my building material!" George teased. "Maybe you can sliding along much faster on those quaint little carriage wheels!"
"STOP! STOP!" Gina burst with fury, shaking all over. "No one has EVER made me filthy like THIS! You are bold, shallow and RECKLESS! I will NOT be splashed with oil by the likes of YOU! HMPH!"
"Well, Ms. Carriage Wheels...you are now!" George laughed.
Gina decided she wouldn't take any of George's nonsense either. As such, she decided to against what she said about being careful with whistles this one time. She took a very deep breath, then suddenly let off a very loud, very shrill whistle that nearly made her whistle shake loose. All the workmen held their ears, and in these moments, George had to admit he had never heard anyone whistle like this before.
"OOWWW!" George yelled. "My ears!"
"Stop that nonsense, Gina!" called one of the workmen.
Gina took no notice as her whistle stopped, then she wheeshed away in a great huff, letting off a loud hiss of steam. She now knew she would have plenty of words for the Fat Controller, for Percy...and someone else too.
It was now 12:00 noon at Knapford Station. Thomas, Percy and David were all at the platform after a fair amount of work themselves. David didn't have much work today and had come to wait for Emily and Gina. He, Thomas and Percy were all wondering how the two queens would be doing, and what George might have done this time.
Then they looked up and saw Emily huff swiftly right through the station and past them all, still hissing and muttering irritably to herself.
In about five minutes, she came back, facing the other way, having turned around at Tidmouth Sheds for her last job for the day. She then came to an irritated stop at the platform beside between Thomas and Percy. She was having a very bad day now, no thanks to George, and she could only wonder if and when things would get better again. She saw David waiting too, and he immediately looked up when he saw her red face.
Then, just as the Fat Controller came out of his office, Thomas spoke first.
"What happened this time, Emily?" he asked. "Was it George again?"
Emily looked at Thomas with almost flaming eyes, then to the Fat Controller before she spilled it all out.
"My God, Thomas! It's SO annoying!" she hissed. "George just DOESN'T stop with ANYTHING he says or does! Whether I ignore him or talk back, it makes no difference at all! I tried ignoring him today, but to that, he called me a mute and told me I fade into the background like a goody-goody steamroller,' just like Gordon and James also told me! George blocked me at the level crossing again too, saying we're worn out engines on worn out rails, and that she needs to flatten little engines in scrapyards!"
"Ohh..." the Fat Controller groaned irritably. "This will NEVER do! I WON'T have rudeness to my engines, even if it comes from the road!"
"Why did the Sodor Island Council allow George on this Island in the first place anyway?!" Emily wheeshed.
"I can't answer that, Emily," said the Fat Controller. "But if George gives you much more trouble, I for one will not stand by and let it slide."
"Neither will I!" David put in. "Not in the LEAST! None of you deserve this sort of trivial and absurd stupidity from that great clumsy road-hog!"
"And what about Gina?" Percy asked. "How did she square off with George today?"
As soon as his words were finished, Percy heard Gina's whistle. Everyone looked up and saw her hiding behind a line of trucks. It looked like she had something to reveal to the other engines. There was a little conspicuous hint of black on her face, which made Percy suspicious. He began to wonder if she had been given a lot of grief from George too.
"Gina? Are you alright?" Percy called nervously.
Gina sighed and huffed irritably. She had plenty to say herself.
"Ciao, Percy. And ciao, Emily," she hissed sarcastically. "I see you're having a truly wonderful day! I came to tell you something."
"Oh, no need to tell me ANYTHING, Gina!" Emily wheeshed sarcastically. "I've indeed been having a wonderful day! Being splashed with oil by that steamroller yesterday, and him calling me an imitation steamroller over and over! I'm just as mad as Thomas is to be dealing with that idiot! What good could you do me right now, Gina?!"
Gina took a deep breath and chose her words.
"Well first, Emily, before I explain everything, I just want you to know...you're not alone," said Gina.
"Oh, really? How, so?" Emily huffed.
Gina slowly steamed forward and past the line of trucks. Then she came into full view for Thomas, Percy, Emily, David and the Fat Controller to see. And in that moment, the evidence was plain and messy to see, especially for Percy. There was his Italian Queen Gina, splattered with oil all across her side and on her cheek too! In that instant, Percy began to feel a great sense of frustration and irritation just like Thomas did.
"What the...YOU got splashed with oil too, Gina?" Percy exclaimed. "It almost looks worse than Emily's splash from yesterday!"
"Not only that, but I also got it George," said Gina. "He splashed me with oil too."
"He...he did?" Emily asked.
"Well...what else did he do, Gina?" Percy asked. "You said you would explain everything else."
Gina looked right at Percy took a deep, shaky breath as she tried to hold herself together.
"It's...it's truly disgusting, Percy. I don't know where the Hell George got such gall...to bring it up about you..."
And Gina told everyone about how George called her 'Ms. Carriage Wheels' due to the shape of her wheels and that she should be ploughing a field with an old, smelly horse. Then she talked about how George called Percy a wimp and how he had a lust for destroying the entire family and how it was a good thing too. This made Percy turn very pale in the face, then frown with great fury.
"He...he said that about ME?!" Percy wheeshed. "After everything I've done to recover?!"
"Si, Percy...he did," said Gina. "To that, the workmen took the words right out of my mouth, saying they had enough of George's vile tongue, and sent him about his business. But I had no idea of what he conjured next. When I came back later today, he started complaining about how it's always 'Imitation Steamrollers,' and 'Carriage Wheels,' that are getting in his way. I told him we don't fancy being splashed with oil...but I suppose I made a mistake in saying that, which is why I'm now an oily mess myself."
"This is all most distasteful!" said the Fat Controller. "But Gina, don't you remember me telling you and Emily to simply ignore George?"
"Well, as I told Thomas and Percy this morning, maybe ignoring him isn't enough, sir," said Emily. "I can't bottle up all my feelings until they explode into an even bigger problem. It's a tricky area with George."
"I believe Emily is right, sir," said Gina. "But today has been my turn to get very steamed up. George knew about the oil and he didn't say anything. He knows he's a jumped-up road-hog and he's bloody damn proud of everything he said about Percy and Emily too."
"Indeed, he is!" Emily hissed. "The WHOLE island knows it WASN'T Percy's fault, and yet George goes so far as to call it a good thing that family died!"
"That BASTARD!" Thomas barked. "He's gone too far on Gina and Percy so far! What if Emily is next? Someway or other, we need to teach him a lesson he WON'T forget! He's a menace to us all! Forget what he said to Caroline! Everything he said to her is EXACTLY what HE is! He calls himself a steamroller, but he's a disgrace to the road AND the railway and he should find HIMSELF a scrapyard! That BASTARD!"
"Thomas! No need for that sort of talk," the Fat Controller ordered sternly. "As for you, Emily, you still need to collect the stone from the Blue Mountain Quarry. And Gina, once you clean up at the washdown, the building material for the road is waiting at Kildane Station for you to bring back to Wellsworth. As for me, I'd better call the foreman and tell him to give George a little talk about all of this."
While the Fat Controller went into his office to make the call, Gina and Emily spluttered in fury and agreement to everything Thomas had said. But then silence befell the two queens. For about ten minutes more, Emily and Gina looked to each other with a sense of speculation and concern. Their last jobs for the Wellsworth road were right around the corner, and there was suddenly a sense of uncertainty in the air.
"Emily...Gina?" Thomas asked at last. "Is everything alright?"
"I don't know, Thomas," said Emily. "What's to do, Gina? What do you think will happen once we finish our jobs today for the road?"
"Even I can't say, Emily. Let's go," said Gina. "Let's just get these loads over with and be done with that filthy vehicle. I can't waste any more of my visit feeling like this. After all, I'm here for Percy, and Percy only."
"I agree, Gina," Emily nodded. "Let's go."
"Be careful, Gina," Percy peeped. "And please get well-washed for me."
Gina gave a little smile and a whistle to Percy. And after Gina was turned around at Tidmouth Sheds, she and Emily gathered some empty trucks and set off down the line for their destinations, while Thomas and Percy set off to finish their own work, all feeling unsure of what would happen next and having very little idea of what awaited them in just a matter of hours.
But what David felt inside was something more. He had heard everything, including Thomas' mention the possibility of Emily coming next, and it made him feel an urgent sense to act before it was too late. He suddenly walked briskly out of the station without a word, and right to the bus terminal just in time to see Bertie roll along. David waved him down at once and got onboard. Then Bertie set off down the road, just as the Fat Controller came out of his office to find that everyone had gone.
"Hmm," he said. "We shall see what happens next...if there are any more disturbances, they will NOT go unpunished..."
At the Wellsworth road construction site, the foreman had just arrived to give George his scolding. The steamroller was resting by himself while Jem Cole was on lunch break, and George was still grumbling and fuming away to himself about imitation steamrollers and carriage wheels, until he saw the foreman.
"George! You're a very naughty steamroller!" he scolded. "I just got off a call with Sir Topham Hatt, and I've been told just what you've been saying to Emily and Gina all day. I WON'T have rudeness to the engines who are helping you work on the road you're supposed to be paving! And what good do you think you do by painting such a nasty picture on Percy's tragic accident?!"
"Huh!" George retorted. "Percy's just a wimp, and those two ladies are just an imitation steamroller and a set of carriage-"
"No name-calling, thank you, George!" the foreman interrupted. "I'm ashamed of your behaviour so far, and I don't want any more nonsense out of you today! Otherwise, you're sure to end up in deep, deep trouble!"
And the foreman stormed away. Then George looked up and saw Bertie come rolling up the road. Even to fellow road vehicles, George didn't hesitate to be rude.
"Bah! Now even you're blocking my roads, you big red snail! What do YOU want?" he steamed rudely to Bertie.
Bertie frowned back and didn't say a word, not wanting to argue at all with the grumpy steamroller. Then George saw a young, strong-looking man with long black hair and two navy medals on his vest step down from Bertie and look around. Then he stopped his view right on the steamroller, gazing for a moment or two to the very character he hated so much from all the storybooks he had read.
"Huh! Whoever are YOU, you simpleton?" George growled. "A dashing gentleman trying to show off?!"
David didn't say a word at first, then marched straight and tall toward the Steamroller. He suddenly locked himself as straight and tall as a pole, as if he were making a stance of attention among a platoon of soldiers. Then a few seconds later, he went at ease, then spoke very solidly, not afraid of any toil or impudence.
"David Rider. Former soldier of the Royal Marines, sailor of the Royal Navy for six years, Navy Captain of the Sea Emperor, son of Emily's first-ever driver Lawrence Rider, and Emily's faithful navy mentor. I'm here because I don't want any more of your nonsense spewing to my beloved engine, end of story, goodbye, the END! Any questions?"
George continued to frown, but secretly he found himself feeling a little intimidated and uncomfortable around this man.
"I see what this is about...you're the imitation steamroller's bodyguard! Her loyal guardian!"
"Her navy mentor and friend," David replied. "I never thought I would live to see you with my own eyes, George the Steamroller. But I'll have you know that I've read all about what you've done to all the engines. Working for the roads is all very well, but you have been a steady nuisance to us all. I'll have you know that I've followed everything you've been doing to Emily and Gina. You see, I love Emily very, very dearly, and I'm prepared to protect her very dearly too! You just stick to your road business and nothing else!"
George took no notice of anything David said. He thought of David as merely another disgrace to the road.
"Whatever, big man! Anyway, leave me be!" George retorted suddenly. "I've got more work to do when Jem Cole comes back! That imitation steamroller of yours still needs to bring me rocks for my roads! And after doing some of my own thinking, I think I'll give her a little surprise."
David suddenly felt his heart jump. He immediately felt like Emily would land in trouble if he didn't act quickly enough.
"Hey...what little surprise?" David asked suspiciously.
"None of your beeswax," George retorted. "Now get off my road!"
David suddenly lunged in front of George and pointed a finger straight at his face.
"Listen, you! You're up to something, and DON'T think I haven't noticed," David warned. "The Sodor Island Council may have let you go before, and Thomas' inner demon may be vanquished, but if anything happens to Emily, you have ME to answer to. You hear me? One whiff up my nose that something isn't right, one little hair springs up on my head, it's all over. No more 'railways are no good,' no more 'turn 'em into roads,' no more paving, no more ripping tracks up. You're DONE. Got it?"
And David turned around and marched back to Bertie and rode home, leaving George admittedly speechless for a few moments, before he secretly smirked. He didn't care what he did at this point and he didn't care to say anything about David, foolishly thinking not to be afraid of him. A few minutes later, he looked and saw Jem Cole coming back, followed closely by another workman.
"Alright, George," Jem Cole said. "Lunch break is over. Also, a little more work for us. The foreman says the road by the level crossing has a crack not yet taken care of, and he wants us to patch it up. There's a pile of asphalt waiting over there for us to use. By the way, has Emily come with the stone yet, or Gina with the last of the building material?"
"No, they haven't," George replied. "But perhaps we should go find out at the level crossing. Maybe see if they're actually doing the job."
Suddenly a big breeze of wind blew Jem Cole's hat off. "Oh, dear! My hat! I'd better get it back!"
"Don't worry, Jem. I'll drive George to the crossing. You catch up," said the workman as he got on-board George and drove off, while Jem Cole ran to get his hat.
Meanwhile, Emily had made her way fairly far along the line, wondering to herself what would happen next, but it wasn't much longer before she came back to the same level crossing again and saw George blocking the way once again. He looked up and gave a big, deceptive smirk, which made Emily start to feel even more unsteady. She had been teased and insulted by George for two days now, and it was clear he had no intention of stopping now. But what he didn't know was just how far he would push Emily now...and what it would ultimately lead do.
"Hello again, imitation steamroller...goody-goody steamroller," George grinned from end to end of his roller.
"Will you STOP blocking my WAY and picking on me all the time, George?!" Emily barked as her patience was really being tested now.
"Why should I?" George peeped innocently. "I need to go slow to pave the roads I work on, after all...even your no-good railways, and even if your steamroller wheels are no good in the least!"
"I'm not putting up with that nonsense anymore George! Stop bickering and get out of my goddamn WAY!" Emily demanded.
"As I told you before, I DON'T move for IMITATION STEAMROLLERS!" George barked back. "There you go again! Wasting my time with all your complaining for no reason, and still being the same goody-goody steamroller as you ALWAYS are!"
Finally, after two straight days of relentless bullying from George, Emily decided she had taken absolutely enough. She got just a little bit red in the cheeks, then she suddenly gave a loud whistle so shrill that Gorge cringed and backed away, right off the level crossing, before Emily spewed everything out, in a similar way to how she first lost her temper with Gordon and James.
"FOR GOODNESS SAKES, you boiler-aching, childish idiot! This is ridiculous! I've been bringing you the material YOU need for the roads YOU pave! So is Gina! Railways are really useful in that particular sense. You should be thankful that these rails carry me to bring you these loads, but of course you aren't! You NEVER were! No matter how much all the engines have helped you, all you to is bitch and whine and whinge over railways being no good! We have been HELPING you, so stop whinging like a spoiled baby and grow up! SERIOUSLY!"
And just as the gates opened, Emily let off a loud hiss of steam and huffed angrily away. George had to admit he had never seen such nerve from any engine, and it made him very cross indeed.
"You're a useless, fat, coal-stinking FROG!" he growled after Emily, who only raced into the distance without another word.
And as the absolute worst insult to injury on Emily and Gina's part, it was in that moment that George decided to fully enact his plan. He had been all talk for the past two days, making Emily and Gina's lives very miserable, but now he decided to start doing things.
"That good-for-nothing imitation steamroller! I'll show HER who's boss soon enough! And that lazy Carriage Wheels pansy too!"
George thought what to do for a few seconds. Then he suddenly went very still and looked around, feeling a certain memory crease into his funnel. He was suddenly remembering something very particular...when Thomas derailed after running over a set of paved line and was sent careening into a field and right through a small barn.
George looked beyond the crossing and saw a farmer's field, and a barn that looked very much like the one Thomas crashed into, and he also saw a farmer and two children working in the field. Then George looked and saw exactly what he needed. There was the pile of asphalt that had been left for him to take care of...and just as the foreman said, George saw the crack in the road. But he wasn't interested in fixing this road. He began coughing and hissing with intrigue.
"What are you up to now, George?" the workman asked.
"I see the crack right there as the foreman said...as for this little crossing, perhaps it could use a fresh upgrade too. Tarmac it!"
So they did. But it was the wrong way, and George knew it. Before long, he paved right over the line, grinning and snickering with triumph over what was very sure to come along next. But very little did this venomous-minded contraption know just what this would lead to, for Emily, for Gina, and above all, himself.
Meanwhile, Emily made her way fumingly to the Blue Mountain Quarry to collect the stone for the road construction. Then her share of working with George would finally be finished. She was still seething with anger over everything George had said to her for the past two days and Sir Handel and Skarloey could see something was very wrong.
"Emily...is something wrong?" Skarloey asked.
Emily sighed shakily. "I'm sorry I'm not in a good mood, Skarloey. It's...it's George! Just George and everything he said about me and Gina!"
"Ohh, of course, Emily. We came to hear it as word got around," said Skarloey. "But you shouldn't let him get to you so much."
"Well, I'm just happy this is the last job I have to do with him before I'll be finished helping the new Wellsworth road!" Emily stated strongly.
"Oh, Emily. Please be careful," said Sir Handel. "Remember how I tried to race him and he crashed right into my load? I don't fancy him doing such things again, especially to an engine like you!"
"Thank you, Sir Handel, but DON'T remind me what George has done all these years!" Emily replied as she set off with her load of stone.
Soon, Emily was hurrying back along the line toward Wellsworth. When she approached Kildane, she saw Gina having been cleaned at the washdown, and had just gathered the building material. She too was still fuming over what George had done to her that day, but stopped when she saw Emily.
"Ciao, Emily. Got the stone, do you?" Gina asked. "I have the building material right here."
"Yes, Gina!" Emily hissed. "Follow me. I'll show George I'm NOT a goody-goody steamroller. He can't get to me as easily as he thinks!"
"No, he can't. But it's almost over, Emily. I'll be right behind you," said Gina.
So Emily set off again swiftly down the line. Less than five minutes later, Gina's guards whistle blew and she followed Emily's line the same way.
Back at the Wellsworth crossing, George was still waiting for Emily or Gina to come along, when Jem Cole suddenly came running up, having retrieved his hat.
"Saved it," he said as he put his hat back on. "Strong wind, that was and...wait...what happened HERE?!"
Jem Cole pointed with much alarm to the tarmacked level crossing, then looked to the steamroller.
"George!" he gasped and gaped. "What did you DO?!"
"What does it look like? I gave the road a little upgrade," George retorted. "Besides...that crack needed fixing too, you know."
"That asphalt was for the ROAD! Not the level crossing!" Jem Cole scolded. "Oh, WHY did I go running after my hat?!"
"Bother your hat!" said the other workman. "We'd better hurry and alert the Fat Controller before it's too late!"
Then there was trouble. Jem Cole, George and the workman all heard a whistle in the distance. Emily's whistle!
"Oh, no!" Jem Cole cried.
"Oh, yes," George smiled fiendishly.
Emily was still huffing along the line with her load of stone. By this time, she had taken enough, and she felt no shame in when she told George off in the same way she did with Gordon and James all those years ago, even though it did lead to her becoming so dislikable by many across Sodor except Thomas who held onto loving her until he had brought her back. At least she would explain everything to the Fat Controller and let him know what was wrong.
"It's all such an outrage, and it's not fair!" she grumbled. "The last two days have been a living Hell! I've been kept busy with that steamroller and instead of being a decent sport, he makes everything worse at EVERY turn!"
"Well, this is our last load, Emily," said her driver. "Perhaps then we'll-what the...oh, no! Oh, NO!"
"What's the matter? What is it?" Emily asked, suddenly frightened.
"Oh, glory! Look at that!" her driver suddenly shouted.
Emily looked ahead, popped her eyes and gasped, feeling her heart almost jump right out of her mouth. Ahead was the now-tarmacked level crossing! Emily was rushing right into disaster and she had no chance of escaping it now.
"Oh, no! Oh, no! Oh, Noooo!" she wailed with horror. "Aah!"
And when her driver slammed on her brakes, it was too late. Emily's driver reduced steam and braked as hard as he could, but it was all for naught. Emily rushed on toward the paved road and felt herself bounce most horribly!
"Ohh! Help!" Emily cried as she slid off the tracks, and into the field.
Her leading truck's coupling broke, then all the other trucks tumbled and sent stones and rocks flying high into the air and further up the line, while the guard jumped clear just in time before the brakevan overturned as well. Sod and hay flew everywhere as Emily's wheels churned the earth beneath her, then she looked up and yelped in horror as she saw a small barn up ahead, with two children and a farmer right near it! Emily suddenly felt flares of horror pierce her boiler, knowing she had to do something instantly to prevent causing a tragedy herself, and she had to act right now! Emily whistled with sheer alarm as she couldn't bear the thought of killing another innocent family after Percy ended up doing so. But she would not let that happen.
"Watch out! Get out of the way!" she wailed desperately.
The children and the farmer looked up and shouted in shock. They got out of the way just in time. Emily shut her eyes tight as she went huffing right inside the barn, then crashed through the other wall as if it were driftwood, then finally stopped at a big bank of earth that festooned her bufferbeam. Emily opened her eyes again and looked around just as her driver and fireman came running down and began looking her over right away.
No one was hurt, but poor Emily felt very undignified. She had not sustained any serious injuries, but her funnel had sustained some fair scratches, she felt that her front was badly bent and she had gotten quite dirty by her wheels and running boards. And as she thought back to the tarmacked track, she was most infuriated. She had a very strong feeling over who had done this, and all she needed was what she heard next.
"Ha-ha! There you go!" George called down. "Just as Gordon and James told you of all those years ago! Completely out of sight and out of the way!"
Emily turned very red in the face and let out a very loud, very shrill whistle, making the farmer and his children hold their ears until she stopped and they all stared at her. Then Emily suddenly went from infuriated to frightened as she suddenly remembered who else was coming up behind her. Then she heard the distant whistle.
"Oh, no! It's Gina!" she wailed. "Farmer! Children! Stand clear! I hear another engine coming!"
Further up the line, Gina was rushing along the line with the building material, still huffing and puffing irritably to herself.
"The nasty little mouth-off!" she chattered crossly. "Splashing me with oil, and ruining Emily's day! This had BETTER be our last load! With him!"
"Gina! Watch out!" her driver shouted suddenly and slammed on her brakes.
"What is it?!" Gina asked urgently.
Then she looked and cried out in terror as she saw the tarmacked line...and several rocks scattered all over the place among several upset trucks. And worst of all, she caught a glimpse of Emily poking out through the barn. Gina was now rushing to trouble herself, and as she shot her eyes to the farmer and children, she suddenly got a rush of absolute horror, just like Percy did.
"What the-No! No! STOP!" Gina wailed. "HORRORS!"
Too late. Gina hit right onto the tarmacked track, bumped and rolled right over the asphalt, then she was sent cascading down the slope, her trucks jostling and breaking apart behind her as the building material flew everywhere. Gina wailed with fright as she slid along the sod and earth right beside Emily's trail until she turned uncontrollably to the left, while the farmer and children all ran out of the way and gaped with horror. Then Gina's side completely scratched and rubbed violently against the barn wall, scratching off a hefty amount of paintwork before she came to a stop right beside Emily.
There they were. Emily and Gina were now perched in the farmer's field in a most traumatic wreck together. Emily's heart was still racing with fear, shock and horror over what had just happened. This was her first major accident since her snowball incident with Donald and Douglas, and her first time running into a field since that fateful day when her buffers were changed from bronze to silver when she decided to change her ways for the worst. But she knew that wouldn't happen again. But what was even more serious was that another innocent family had almost been killed, not by Percy, but herself and Gina. Very luckily and fortunately, they were all alive and well, but they were both truly shocked and horrified by what could have happened.
As for Gina, her heart was almost in her throat too as she panted and groaned to the scratches she had been dealt, thinking grimly over what Percy would think of all this. Then she looked to Emily who was panting heavily.
"Gina! I...I can't believe this! I...I was too late to stop! I didn't notice until too late!" she wailed.
"Mamma Mia! By Italy! What in Seville's name HAPPENED?!" Gina demanded. "WHO DID THIS?!"
Then they heard that distinct voice come from the line above the field. Gina and Emily glared up and saw George towering over the scene.
"Ha-ha! I told you both you were just an imitation steamroller and a pair of carriage wheels!" he gloated rudely. "Now you're out of sight and out of the way, and all set to plough a field with an old, smelly horse!"
Gina's eyes blazed with fury as she growled then shrieked with all her might.
"RRGHH! YOU DID THIS! I might have known! YOU could have KILLED all these people down here! We're ONLY down here because YOU paved over our track in the FIRST PLACE! HMPH!"
Even in Italy, Gina had never huffed as loud as this in her life. Neither she nor Emily ever imagined something like this would happen during Gina's visit, and it drove them wild with rage. Emily could already smell the soon-to-be rage and repercussion from Thomas, Percy, the Fat Controller, and especially David. In that moment, compared to her defensive nature for Donald and Douglas when David targeted them for a while, she welcomed any targeting manner he would had for George with open buffers. With that, Emily gave another shrill whistle and spilled out her voice.
"YOU!" she yelled out to George. "You DEMON! YOU WRETCH! YOU almost made me KILL an entire innocent family, just like that evil truck made PERCY do! WE were trying to help you OUT! But NOW, you will NOT roll away from THIS, George! We'll see you're OUSTED from Sodor for this!"
But George didn't take anything being said seriously. Then he suddenly made his own mistake as he began rolling toward the slope, mocking the two queens as he went, but in that moment, George just began his much-deserved and most bitter taste of Sudrian Karma.
"Har-har! There you go! TWO queens out of sight and out of the way-Oh! Oh! HELP!"
George bumped and bounced over a few rocks that had landed after Emily's crash. He rocked and jostled over the bumps until he hit one rock too big and high for him to manage. Jem Cole jumped clear as George was tipped upward from behind, then veered out of control, tipping so far forward, he ended up going in a complete summersault over his roof. Then the steamroller cascaded down the slope and plopped into a muddy ditch just beneath the slope. He was now sprawled upside-down and churning in the mud.
"Glug-glug-glug!" he said. "Bluggle my bloiler!"
George felt foolish...and very muddy. But that didn't please Emily and Gina in the least. He deserved much, much worse than his own little crash into some mud. Emily was very, very cross. And so was her driver. He knew this was no ordinary accident, and that the Fat Controller's word for it would be nearly enough. This called for more extreme, yet necessary measures.
"Wait till the Fat Controller and David hear about THIS!" he shouted as he bolted to the nearest telephone he could find.
At Knapford Station, the Fat Controller had been checking his timetable and was thinking deeply to himself about Emily and Gina. Then right when he least expected it, the telephone rang again, and he picked it up immediately.
"Come on, come on, come on! Pick up the phone!" he heard someone's voice shout through the reception.
"Hello? What's all this about?" the Fat Controller asked, noticeably suspicious.
"It's me, sir! Emily's driver! We've got an emergency here!"
"What is it, then?" the Fat Controller asked.
Within seconds, the Fat Controller heard everything and was suddenly immensely shocked, then he became very, very cross, and ever-so incensed. He took one glance outside and saw Thomas and Percy come back from the rest of their work on the branch line. As his heart began to pound, he listened a little more.
"Also, sir...get David over here too!" said Emily's driver. "I think we need him too! And Beatrice! You'll find out everything else once you're there!"
The Fat Controller paused, then barked.
"Although I know just who did this, I'm going to say it anyway! Whoever caused this disturbance will have ME to answer to!"
And with that, the Fat Controller hung up. But very little did he know that he wouldn't exactly be the one to be answered to in the end.
Outside, Thomas and Percy had been nervous all afternoon, waiting for Emily and Gina to report anything, and they were increasingly worried when they saw that Emily and Gina hadn't come back yet. Then suddenly, the Fat Controller's door burst open. Thomas and Percy immediately looked and could tell something was very wrong, and they immediately feared the worst.
"Thomas! Percy! Emergency!" the Fat Controller exclaimed. "Both of you need to fetch Rocky, Butch and Harold!"
"Sir! What happened?" Thomas asked urgently. "Emily? Gina? What's happened to them?!"
"Something truly outrageous, Thomas," said the Fat Controller. "We have to act fast if Emily and Gina are going to be alright!"
"Oh, no!" Percy wailed. "What happened?"
"What did George do to them? WHAT?!" Thomas demanded.
The Fat Controller wasted no time telling Thomas and Percy just what he had found out about what happened with Emily, Gina and George, right until he finished. Then there was silence. Eerie and intimidating silence as the Fat Controller stared deeply at Thomas and Percy's expressions and eyes as they slowly looked around and their faces showed very tiny creases of churning anger and even revenge.
After everything Emily and Gina had been facing over the past two days, Thomas and Percy kept very quiet and very still, their eyes glittering softly at first. Then their faces became intensely red as they slowly and very steadily feeling outrageously incensed. They immediately remembered their run-ins with George in the past and felt sheer annoyance and anger fester in their boilers to even think back to those events...but to hear of the same thing happening to their loved ones, Emily the beautiful emerald angel and Gina the Italian Queen of Shunting. This was most unforgiveable beyond any question, which no apology George made, as impossible and meaningless as it would be, could ever atone for.
As he imagined the horror and fright Emily must have faced after such horrendous bullying from George, Thomas suddenly let loose with such force that the Fat Controller jumped back a few paces as the blue tank engine let off aloud hiss of steam, then let it out.
"THAT'S IT!" Thomas screeched. "Derailing ME with tarmac was one thing, but crashing MY Emily in the same way, and almost making her kill another innocent family after Percy's accident...THAT IS PURE CRIME!"
"And Gina being crashed too! THAT'S the last straw!" Percy shouted in turn. "We'd better fetch Rocky and help them, Thomas! AND get Butch and Harold too!"
With that, Thomas and Percy raced away down the line to fetch help, while the Fat Controller sped off down the road to Arlesburgh with all haste.
At the Riders' home, David and Beatrice were inside, still talking a little about Emily and George and hoping things wouldn't turn out too badly...until they heard a rapid knock on the door. When they opened it and saw it was the Fat Controller, they could see the urgency in his eyes.
"Sir? What's happened? What are you doing here?" Beatrice asked.
"David...Beatrice...something has happened," said the Fat Controller. "Emily's driver called me, and there's an emergency."
"What? What is it, sir?" David asked.
The Fat Controller ushered David and Beatrice outside and he told them everything about just what happened at the tarmacked Wellsworth crossing. Suddenly, Beatrice froze where she was, not saying a word completely gobsmacked and very angry at what she had just heard. But when the Fat Controller looked to David, he suddenly felt frightened himself.
David slowly shut his eyes and shook his head and began pacing up and down a little, brooding in festering thoughts about Emily as he envisioned just what had happened to her and Gina, all because of that steamroller. About two minutes later, David looked and noticed an empty crate beside the line. He slowly and shallowly panted to himself. Beatrice found herself growing very angry underneath too.
"Is...is this true, sir?" she shook. "Did...did George the Steamroller do this...to Gina...AND Emily?"
The Fat Controller nodded, then waited.
Suddenly, David suddenly bolted back inside and came out again, wearing his naval cutlass. He bolted right down to the empty crate, gave a loud yell of anger and viciously kicked the crate over.
"AARGH! Great Scott! First I hear of Emily's horrific accident with Donald and Douglas' snowball, spawning me a year and a half of hatred against her brother figures! Then years later, no sooner do I rid Sodor of that cursed Diesel 10, and now THIS! Take us with you, Sir Topham! How? Will George none? Does he not give apologies? Is he not remorseful? Does he not count his blessings, unworthy as he is, that Emily and Gina have been bringing such worthy material to keep building roads, only for BOTH of them to fall victim to his horseplay?! My Emily and Percy's Italian Queen have been bullied and harassed very badly over two whole days, and now they're left derailed and crashed down in a farmer's field and almost kill another family?! The wretched fool! LET ME SEE HIM!"
"Now, DON'T you start going off like that, David!" the Fat Controller ordered sternly. "Emily's driver told me to bring you along, but I'm still in charge of this matter, and you won't do anything rash! Not like you did about Emily's accident with Donald and Douglas!"
"Sir Topham, this is DIFFERENT!" David yelled. "It's one thing to accidentally hit an engine with a giant snowball, and it's one thing to rudely harass other engines and call them names, but it's a WHOLE OTHER thing to pave over the rails and make Percy's queen and Thomas' angel, MY engine crash into a barn and nearly KILL ANOTHER INNOCENT FAMILY! We've got to STOP that steamroller! BERTRAM, LET'S GO!"
And in less than a minute, the Fat Controller's car was roaring down the road, with two passengers. If things were going to get better in the end, there was not an instant to lose. David, Beatrice and the Fat Controller were on their way for a most intense and heated scenario with the fateful steamroller.