UNDERSTANDING IVO HUGH
Loosely inspired from "Too Loud, Thomas!" by Becky Overton
"Ivo Hugh's a mute, sir?!"
The little engines were shocked with what their controller had just revealed. It was Peter Sam who had spoken on the behalf of everyone else.
"It's true," nodded Mr. Percival.
"No wonder he only responds with whistles and facial expressions," said Rheneas.
"This isn't a common occurrence among engines, is it?" asked Rusty.
"This is the first time I've seen this," admitted Mr. Percival. "With people, it comes from genetics, but obviously, you engines don't have that."
"Nothing irregular happened while he was being built, was there?" asked Sir Handel.
"That we shall be looking into," said Mr. Percival. "But sometimes, there are things we just can't explain. In the meantime, keep up with the workload as best you can and treat Ivo Hugh like you would anyone else."
"Yes, sir," the other engines said. The only engine who hadn't spoken at all - besides Ivo Hugh for obvious reasons - was Duke.
"Duke, a word outside, please."
The tender engine gulped as he obeyed Mr. Percival, leaving the other engines giving each other concerned looks.
"Do you remember the last time Granpuff had gotten into trouble with Mr. Percival?" asked Peter Sam to Sir Handel.
"Yeah, that was ages ago," said Sir Handel. "And that was the previous controller. I wonder what happened this time." Neither engine noticed Ivo Hugh's nervous expression.
"Duke," said Mr. Percival bluntly, "I am very disappointed in you! You caused Ivo Hugh to get into an accident!"
"I wasn't even there!" Duke protested.
"From what Ivo Hugh's crew have told me," said Mr. Percival, "you left him to handle the shunting by himself. He's not even two days old yet, so how can you expect him to know how to properly shunt trains?!"
Duke didn't know how to respond to that. He was supposed to be one of the most experienced engines on the railway, in the same league as Skarloey and Rheneas as the trio the younger engines looked up to. But now he had failed to look after a new engine on his first day in service.
"You are to work with Rusty and Fred on maintenance duties until I can trust you again," Mr. Percival went on. "I'll assign Skarloey to work with Ivo Hugh."
"Yes, sir," said Duke quietly. He did not want to risk further angering his controller; after all, that would not have suited His Grace.
The next day, Annabelle Regaby, Mr. Percival's sister-in-law, had come to visit the Skarloey Railway with her daughter Alice.
"So, mom, is it true that there's a new engine?" asked Alice.
"Yes, that's what your uncle Peter said," smiled Annabelle. "I think he's purple."
"My second favorite color!" cried Alice. "Ooh, where is he?"
Mother and daughter then heard a pair of whistles as Skarloey puffed into view with Ivo Hugh.
"That's got to be him!" said Annabelle. "Skarloey, is this your new friend?"
"Ah, hello there, Annabelle," greeted the old engine. "And yes, this is Ivo Hugh, our newest acquisition."
"You look so pretty in purple, Ivo Hugh," said Alice. "Reminds me of one of the Wiggles, Jeff. He wore a purple shirt too."
The young engine smiled and blushed at the compliment.
"Ivo Hugh's also mute," Skarloey explained. "We're not exactly sure how he can communicate with us."
Ivo Hugh's expression turned sad at Skarloey's comment.
"Oh, don't be upset, Ivo Hugh," said Annabelle. "I'm sure there will be a way we can do this."
"Well, that tells us a lot," said Alice. "When Skarloey said that, Ivo Hugh became sad. You just have to look at his expression to see what Ivo Hugh is trying to convey."
"In theory, that's a good point," Skarloey put in. "But we aren't always facing Ivo Hugh. Right now, we're double heading this train."
"It's a pity engines don't have hands," sighed Alice. "Then he could communicate through sign language."
"How about we come with you on the train?" asked Annabelle. "There has to be another way we can get around this."
Skarloey and Ivo Hugh agreed as the duo boarded the train.
The two engines puffed along the line to the next station where Luke was waiting with his own train.
"Hello, Luke," said Skarloey. "You don't usually take passengers."
"Oh, it's because Duke's been put onto maintenance duties." Luke sighed. Ivo Hugh once again looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of Duke's name.
"Duke's back in service?" asked Annabelle as she and Alice got out of the train. "That's great. How long has he been back?"
"About a week," said Skarloey, "and… he's not in our good books right now." He quickly explained the situation.
"Oh my," exclaimed Annabelle. "Being out of action for a long time must not have had the best effect on Duke."
"Especially since it's happened twice now," sighed Skarloey. "He believes we didn't miss him."
"He's not always like that, is he?" asked Luke.
"Usually, no," said Skarloey. "But he is a good engine at heart once one gets to know him. Just ask Sir Handel and Peter Sam."
"I'm starting to have doubts, Skarloey," sighed Luke. He was uncoupled from his train and was making his way towards the water tower. Suddenly, Ivo Hugh started blowing his whistle sharply.
"Ivo Hugh?!" cried Luke. "What's going- whoa!" He braked to a sudden stop and got a good look at the water tower. The water wasn't clear, but it was murky and brown.
"Oh my, that was a close one," panted Luke. "I could've gotten sick if I'd taken a drink from that!"
"Well done, Ivo Hugh," smiled Skarloey. "That was quick thinking."
"And it's given me an idea," said Luke. "Maybe Ivo Hugh can have a set of whistle signals to tell us what he's trying to convey."
"That's a wonderful idea, Luke," smiled Annabelle. "We'd better let Peter know about this."
Mr. Percival quickly received word about the idea.
"Excellent idea, Luke," he grinned. "And good job, Ivo Hugh. We'll see to cleaning that water tower at once."
Ivo Hugh beamed with pride at having prevented what could've been a nasty situation for the railway.
"There is one question," said Skarloey. "How did the water tower become contaminated at all?"
"If the situation gets more serious," said Mr. Percival, "I'll get Barbara to look into that. But for now, I'll get Fred to get the workmen to clean it out."
Speaking of maintenance work, Duke was helping to mend the damaged track at the castle from Ivo Hugh's accident.
"From what Sir Handel and Peter Sam have been saying, Duke," said Glynn, "you're really good with young engines."
"But not with Ivo Hugh," muttered Duke. "You should see how he reacts whenever I'm near him, Glynn; doesn't even want to look me in the eye."
"Well, he is fresh out of the Steamworks," said Glynn, "and he didn't see anyone angry before yesterday."
"So I've made him scared of me just by giving an understandable reaction?" grunted Duke. "Great…"
"Millie told me what happened back there, Duke," sighed Glynn. "It's not good to let that resentment bottle up inside. She got pretty upset one time when Stephen and I didn't clear up the garden waste and blocked our way to the sheds with it."
"This is more than just a hiccup with garden waste and a blocked shed!" snapped Duke. "I was abandoned, twice! The first time was because no one bothered to talk about me, and the second time was because the workmen decided to sit around drinking coffee all day and who knows what else!"
"Duke, are you sure that second one is true?" asked Glynn.
"Why else do you think my overhaul was put on the backburner for years?" retorted Duke. "Because no one cared to give me the repairs? Because no one was missing me? For Trevithick's sake, no one even told me that the previous Grace had died in the war!"
"Duke, listen to me," Glynn snapped. "On the second point, everyone was missing you and/or wanting to get to know you. There wasn't a single day gone by where Sir Handel and Peter Sam wouldn't mention you at least once. For the first point, that was beyond anyone's control as the workshops couldn't find your blueprints due to a storm which partly destroyed the Steamworks and some of them were lost, so constructing new parts took a very long time. And the third point, did it ever occur to you that someone telling you about His Grace's death would have been extremely difficult, considering that you were named after one of his predecessors?"
Once again, Duke fell silent, unsure of how to answer that.
"I…" Duke sighed. "I suppose my abandonment issues still sting me hard. I had a similar incident years ago where I thought Sir Handel wanted to replace me with Skarloey."
"Oh, yes, it can hurt a lot," agreed Glynn. "Granted, my situation was a bit different; Edward hid me away to save me from Albert Regaby, but I was left wondering if anyone would find me. Or, if they did, see me as nothing more than a pile of scrap with a face."
"I'm glad you were found and restored, Glynn," said Duke. "If only the same could've been said for your siblings."
"I wish that too," sighed Glynn. "I miss them all so much. Maurice, Phyllis, Leslie… if only Albert Regaby saw us with feelings instead of just machines with faces."
"I have to agree," said Duke. "I'll have to have a proper talk with Ivo Hugh… I just hope I can understand what he's trying to say."
"Whatever do you mean, Duke?" asked Glynn.
"He's unable to speak," explained Duke. "Yet so far, no one can really explain why."
"Maybe that's not the problem, Duke," said Glynn. "We'll have to figure out a way we can understand him and for him to communicate with us."
"You're right," said Duke. "I haven't really given him a chance to prove himself, and that would never suit His Grace."
"Indeed it doesn't, Duke," came a voice.
"Oh," gasped Duke, seeing the Earl walk up. "Er… good day. I… was nearly finished with the track's maintenance and I'll be on my way soon."
"That's good news about the track, Duke," said the Earl. "And I also hope you apologize to Ivo Hugh. From what little I've seen of him, he was hoping to make a good first impression."
"And I completely ruined that…" muttered Duke.
The guard's whistle blew and Duke puffed away. Ivo Hugh wasn't even a week old, and he caused his first accident by not showing him what to do when shunting trucks. And to cap it off, he scared him on account of something that Ivo Hugh had no knowledge about, much less any involvement with.
"I just hope he'll give me another chance too," Duke said to himself.
Author's Comments
Here's the third chapter to Ivo Hugh the New Engine, being an adaptation of Too Loud, Thomas! in idea only. That idea, of course, being about trying to work around a vocal disability. In Thomas' case, it was his constant attempts at singing opera that led to him temporarily losing his voice, and at a bad time too, as he needed to send a message to Stefano about Gina's delivery. Not one of my favorite episodes from that era, but I did like the idea behind it, and it worked with what I had in mind for Ivo Hugh's situation. And once again, we carry on with Duke's subplot about letting his emotions override his common sense. I've found the idea of him interacting with Stephen and Glynn to be a funny one, especially since the latter would've been in service around the time of the Mid Sodor Railway's working life. Although in this instance, comedy wouldn't have worked out; Glynn was in a similar situation to Duke, only he was hidden to avoid being scrapped and was eventually rediscovered.
Next time, the big finale shows that actions are, in fact, Louder than Words!
