A NEW HOME FOR NIA
Thomas and Nia were completely unaware that the latter's abusive manager was now on the hunt looking for her. Now that a message had been forwarded to Sir Topham Hatt, it was only a matter of time as to when he would turn up and bring his number one engine - and hopefully Nia as well - back to Sodor. A ship from Sodor to Canada would take a week to get there, but a flight from Canada to Tanzania would take, at most, about two to four days depending on what stops were made.
In the meantime, Thomas and Nia were kept busy arranging trucks around Dar es Salaam Docks; at least they had something to do whilst they were waiting.
"Most of the people around Dar es Salaam are rather nice," said Thomas. "Why doesn't your controller just sell you to another part of Africa if he doesn't care for you?"
"I wish I knew," sighed Nia. "Maybe he needs me around just so the other engines don't have to shunt their own trains."
"Or maybe he doesn't want you telling anybody about how mean he's being," Thomas suggested. "He might be afraid of getting into trouble. But don't worry. He won't hurt you again once we get to Sodor."
Meanwhile, Nia's manager was out in the desert riding a camel. Unfortunately for him, camels could not go as fast as engines could, and he had to take a different route that didn't travel close to the railway.
"This is going to take forever," he groaned, tugging at his camel's reigns. "Come on, you blasted camel, move!"
The camel was rather offended by this remark. So it retaliated by turning its head around, and spitting on the manager.
"Ugh, yuck!" the manager groaned, wiping it off in disgust. "No wonder we eat creatures like you; you're too stupid for anything else!"
Now the camel was really angry. It then began to shake violently, trying to throw the manager off.
"Stop this crazy creature!" he cried before finally falling into the sand. The manager spat out some sand that had gotten into his mouth and growled.
"I hate camels..."
Meanwhile, back in Dar es Salaam...
"Good news, Thomas," said his driver. "Mr. Percival has just phoned back and said that Sir Topham Hatt is on his way to Dar es Salaam."
"Hooray!" cried Thomas. "Once he gets here, I'll ask him if Nia can come with us back home."
"How long will he be?" asked Nia.
"He's expected to arrive by aeroplane," said Thomas' driver. "It should take him about two to four days, at best."
"We may as well get back to work," Nia suggested. "It will help pass the time."
"I just hope your controller doesn't turn up before Sir Topham Hatt does," sighed Thomas.
A few days later, Thomas and Nia had finished arranging some trucks into their sidings when they caught sight of a plane flying overhead.
"That must be Sir Topham Hatt!" cried Thomas excitedly. "It'll soon be over!"
"Oh, thank goodness!" Nia sighed with relief. "I do hope he will take me with."
A couple of hours later, the engines were filling up with more coal and water from their hard work. Suddenly, they heard a commotion from a crowd of people.
"What's going on over there?" asked Thomas. The two engines could see someone arguing and pushing their way through the crowded streets.
"It's my manager!" Nia gasped when she recognized the figure.
Yes indeed; Nia's manager had finally arrived at Dar es Salaam. But he was also a complete mess. His clothes were in tatters, and he was covered with sand, straw and mud. He also wore an unhinged expression on his face, which made Nia feel most uncomfortable.
"YOU!" he roared, pointing an angry finger at Nia. "Just what do you think you are playing at running off with this... this... blue puffball?!"
"I-I'm sorry, sir," Nia stuttered. "H-h-he needed help."
"I don't care!" the manager snapped. "I took you in when your siblings were taken out of service, and this is how you repay me? I should have just left you in the scrapyards, you ungrateful pile of junk!"
"Don't you dare talk to her that way!" hissed Thomas.
"What did you say to me?!" snapped Nia's manager.
"I said 'Don't you dare talk to her that way'!" Thomas repeated. "Nia was only doing what she thought was right by helping an engine in need! She does not deserve to be bullied!"
"She is my engine!" the manager barked. "Engines are meant to do as they are told when they are told! Those who don't are better off as scrap metal!"
"That's not what my controller, Sir Topham Hatt thinks," Thomas retorted. "He may scold us engines at times when we make mistakes, but he would never do something as cruel as to have us scrapped just because we stand up for ourselves! He even sees to it that we have proper sheds to sleep in!"
"Your controller sounds like a soft good-for-nothing!" the manager scoffed. "On my railway, I make the orders, and nobody is going to tell me what to do!" He was so angry that he swung a shovel at Thomas. A small scrape was made on one of the tank engine's buffers, but Thomas wasn't phased by this. He was not going to back down and let this wicked man get away for all he had put Nia through.
"I should just break you to pieces right here, right now!" the manager added.
"You will do no such thing!" a voice bellowed. A jeep drove into the yard. In the passenger seat was a very familiar stout gentleman.
"Sir Topham Hatt!" Thomas cried. "Am I ever so pleased to see you, sir!" Once the jeep came to a stop, Sir Topham Hatt practically jumped out and walked over to Nia's manager.
"You keep your hands off of my engine!" he roared. The manager, feeling like it would be a bad idea to argue with a fellow railway controller, dropped his shovel.
"Now," Sir Topham Hatt began, "just what on earth is going on around here?"
"Well, sir," Thomas began, "this is my new friend, Nia. She helped me in delivering a goods train here after I couldn't manage it alone. Can she please come back to Sodor with us?"
"Over my dead body!" snapped the manager. "That engine belongs to me, and I am taking her back to Kenya right this minute!"
"No, I am not!" Nia snapped. "I have had enough of you!"
"Don't you dare talk that way to me!" the manager barked. "I am your manager!"
"No, you're not!" Nia hissed. "You are a bully!"
Nia then told Sir Topham Hatt all the mean-spirited things her manager had done. Sir Topham Hatt could not believe that an engine like Nia would be given such cruel treatment from someone who willingly took her in and then treated her like a piece of scrap. He turned angrily at the manager and rolled his sleeves up as though he were going to punch him.
"Who do you think you are?!" he bellowed at the cruel man. "Just because you are in control of an engine, that does not give you the right to bully them! Sometimes I may get cross when my engines make mistakes, but I would never be as cruel as to scrap them! You, sir, know absolutely nothing about running a railway!"
Before Nia's manager could come up with a retort, the sound of police sirens filled the air. And within seconds, several police cars pulled up to the scene. Stepping out of one of the police cars was the workman Nia's manager had last spoken to.
"There he is, officers!" he declared, pointing to the horrid man.
"Just what is going on here?" the manager demanded.
"The railway company has heard rumors that you have been bullying your engines and staff while also hoarding money to yourself," the workman explained. "So they sent me in as a mole to see if the rumors were true."
"What?!" the manager cried. "I have done no such thing!"
"I believe you have," said Kwaku, coming in with a train of his own. "Threatening us with scrap when we talked back, giving patch jobs instead of full overhauls, forcing workmen to work overtime, giving them little time to be with their families... Shall I go on?"
The manager just stared in complete shock; two of his engines were no longer afraid of him. Now they were calling him out for how cheaply and harshly he had managed his part of Africa's railway system for years, and it had finally caught up with him. After such a humiliating call out, he willingly gave himself up without a fight, and was taken away.
"Now that my manager's being taken away," said Nia, "I just wonder what will happen to the rest of my friends."
"Perhaps they'll be sent to work with much nicer people," Thomas insisted.
"Which reminds me, Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt spoke up. "Besides the deal with Nia's cruel manager, did you have another reason to want Nia to come to Sodor?"
"I do, sir," said Thomas. "You see, ever since Daisy got transferred to Harwick and Rosie got sent to work at Vicarstown, my branch line's been more busy than usual. We appreciate the occasional help from Stanley, but we still need another engine to help run the Ulfstead extension. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier before I was meant to go to Canada, sir."
"No, Thomas," Sir Topham Hatt sighed. "I'm the one who should apologize. I should have anticipated this happening as soon as I sent Daisy to Harwick. I will have a word with the railway's superintendent."
He left without another word, leaving Thomas and Nia in suspense.
Two weeks later, the boat to Sodor pulled into Dar es Salaam docks. Not only that, but Sir Topham Hatt had also returned from his negotiations with the superintendent.
"After some negotiating," he announced, "I have succeeded in purchasing Nia." The engines were very happy to hear this.
"Oh, thank you, sir!" cried Nia. "But... what's going to become of Kwaku and the others?"
"He's being sold to a private collector in America," Sir Topham Hatt explained. "Apparently they have an interest in adding a Garratt engine to their collection."
"Well, it's good that he found a new home," Thomas said. "But what'll become of the rest of Nia's friends?"
"Some will get to stay where they are once a new manager, who actually knows how to run a railway, is brought in," explained Sir Topham Hatt. "But others are being sold off to other railways."
Hearing this made Nia feel much better. All the same, she still felt a little sad at having to leave the railway she once called home.
Before long, the engines were loaded by Kobe on the ship bound for Sodor.
"We'll miss having you around, Nia," said Kobe.
"And I will miss all of you too," said Nia.
"Don't worry, Nia," Thomas spoke up. "It always hurts to say goodbye to a friend, but you'll get to make many more friends in your new home."
Nia smiled at this thought. Brand new friends in a brand new home with a controller who actually knows how to run a railway. Could it get any better?
At last, the ship began to sail off into the sunset. The day, and Nia's time with her cruel manager, may be over. But a brand new day, with new beginnings, was just around the corner.
TO BE CONTINUED
Author's Comments
Well, that took way longer than I expected! But at long last, Thomas and Nia comes to a close. Rather than being based on a specific scene from Big World! Big Adventures!, this chapter is more or less new content. At long last, Nia has officially become a member of the North Western Railway... but wait! What's been happening back on Sodor since Thomas' departure, and what about Emily taking part in the Great Railway Show in Canada?
Find out the answers to these questions and more in the second half of the movie adaptation, Emily at the Great Railway Show!
