Chapter 5: Compliments from a flower bed and advice from a Duck
Gordon felt tired, extremely tired. He was glad that the overlooking grass provided him shade. His pistons begged him to take a break, but Gordon was determined to give Percy a piece of his mind for dragging the express engine into the mess, so he carried on.
Gordon chuffed tirelessly, knowing that the water in his boiler would soon disappear, and that it would be a waste to stop and wheesh more steam.
The noise he made should be 'puffing' but strangely, Gordon had been hearing it go quieter until he came to a gradual halt. "Bother, without any water I can't move at all!"
"I might as well just let my wheels and my pistons rust away and I'll have plants popping out like some garden pot." Gordon had the suspicion he was being watched but by who this time? He'd be too small to be seen, after all, the flowers that had the height of tall trees in his perspective gave him cover.
"Would you look at that?"
"Yes, a blue caterpillar!"
"Or a blue worm, by far the oddest looking worm I've seen."
"Indeed!"
The very tiny blue engine was surprised at the voices. "I don't see any worm." muttered Gordon. 'They better not have been referring to me… but of course! I've basically been getting the spotlight since I fell from the sky!'
"How adorable, it talks too!"
"Adorable?!" Gordon spluttered with embarrassment.
A green gladiolus flower bent down to get a closer look. "An odd looking worm with wheels!"
The voice of the latter flower reminded Gordon of a certain engine. "Emily?"
Another flower also leaned over. "I'm not even sure if it is a worm!"
"Daisy?" The pearly-white flower giggled with glee, "At last, someone knows a refined blossom like myself."
"Let me see!"
"Rosie, wait your turn!"
Soon, a whole talking bouquet swarmed over to observe the blue creature, including a yellow sunflower that had to bend down and an exotic orange plant with foreign patterns. Gordon did not like to be doted on as if he was a cute animal. To be fair, he was far from cute in his opinion.
...
"Alright settle down! What's with all this commotion?" Two bees buzzed down to have a closer look at Gordon, who recognised the yellow striped insects as the mischievous twins of the quarry.
"Bill and Ben?"
"Don't you mean Ben and Bill?" They responded. Gordon did predict that Bill and Ben - or Ben and Bill - would pull the 'mixed-up twins' card.
The Daisy huffed at the twin bees. "You're lucky Mavis the song-thrush isn't here to keep you two in line."
"You're all sticks in the mud, literally. Besides, our trouble-making will bring some excitement to your lives ladies. No offence Stepney."
A Bluebell flower, who Gordon presumed was Stepney, sighed. "None taken."
The curious twins hovered closer to take a closer look at Gordon. He was annoyed but couldn't do much about it.
"What an odd thing."
"You can say that again."
"What an odd thing."
Gordon the still-tiny engine was furious after being called 'it', 'thing' just stabbed into his dignity more.
"I am not a thing!"
"So it talks." spoke the twins. "Adorable, isn't it?" added Emily the Gladiolus.
"I am not adorable." Gordon retaliated. This didn't intimidate the bees whatsoever, it only piqued their interest of causing mischief.
"Well Ben, don't you think he looks familiar?" "Bust my wings, you're right Bill!"
'What are those two up to? And what do they mean that I look familiar?!'
The snickering insects finally gave the context to Gordon as if they'd read his mind.
"Didn't he go down the marigold path earlier, Bill!" "You sure? He was a million times larger than this, Ben!"
"Wait a minute, you both were there when I talked to those twins, Tweedle-Donald and Tweedle-Douglas?"
"Indeed we were, Gordon! We even saw you blowing that cottage down!"
The Daisy groaned in annoyance towards the twins. "Were you two spying on those silly Scottish Twins again?"
Both of the bees buzzed angrily towards the haughty Daisy. "No, we did not!" defended Ben. "We heard Gordon's interesting poetry so we stopped to listen!" added Bill. "In fact, we made a little poem just for you."
Gordon recited the poem mentally,
'Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And marigolds all in a row… wait...'
Gordon wasn't too sure about that last line… he did recall at his encounter with the twins that he said the version with 'pretty maids' and left following a trail of marigolds… or did he follow a trail of maids - which would be an odd name for a flower - and performed the version with marigolds. This whole place was messing up his memory!
The poem turned out to be a parody of 'Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary', but not a very nice one.
"Mister Gordon, quite the phenomenon,
Not only he shrinks and grows,
With a mountain of pride, and temper inside,
In a flick, his fuse just might blow!"
If Gordon still had water in his boiler, all of it would be turned into steam and flowing out of his funnel accompanied the sound of a kettle whistling. Of course, that is an exaggeration. However, the bees couldn't resist taunting Gordon further. "Mister Gordon's face was so red that it could defeat King James' famous livery!" They cackle with laughter.
"Once I grow back to my normal size, I'll run you over with my wheels."
However, his threat did not deter Bill and Ben in doing one more trick.
"Why so red, Mr Gordon?" "You could use a little cool down."
Using their weight, Bill and Ben tipped over a huge leaf that was holding enough water to wash Gordon out. Gordon was petrified, due to his inability to move and the water coming at him like a tsunami.
The tide carried him away from the flower bed and down a hill faster than Gordon could say 'Oh the indignity.'
Not a moment later after the soil beneath soaked up all the water, Gordon was grumbling. "At least they filled up my tank with water." The engine had grown to the height of the tall grass around him, he may not be satisfied with his current size but it would do in the meantime.
He came across a calm pond. "I would do anything to stop this shrinking and growing nonsense," Gordon chuffed around slowly, gazing upon his reflection, "I can't even keep track of it."
Ripples in the water distorted the image of a blue engine as a duck and its ducklings swam across to the shore. The fluffy yellow ducklings caught sight of Gordon, their curiosity luring them to surround the engine. Gordon locked eyes with an angry father.
"Who are you?"
"...Pardon?"
"Who are you?!" quacked the Duck in an angry tone.
"I honestly don't know anymore," replied Gordon, "My name is Gordon, I know that for certain. But I've been shrinking and growing all day non-stop. Sometimes I'm a gigantic engine, a middle-sized engine, a small engine or a tiny engine that can't even be seen. I can't even call myself 'Gordon the Big Engine' if I can't stay the same size. Oh, I would love to be back in my original size again and stay in it, this is such a dreadful height to be in-"
"So what's wrong with this height?! I'm in the same height too, you know?!" The Duck hastily interrupted his rant.
Gordon was already in such an irritated mood, so he decided to leave before more mishaps could happen.
"Come back! Come back!"
"What does he want now?" grumbled Gordon, nonetheless he grudgingly complied.
When he returned, the ducklings were swimming along the stream within the Duck's supervision. The Duck rudely stared at him, Gordon had been through confusion and delay but this is one of the worst cases he's ever seen- no, been in.
"Well?"
"Well what?" It replied.
"You're the one who called me back!" Gordon huffed.
The Duck shook his head in disappointment, 'tsking' at the engine. "That attitude won't do! You have to learn to control your temper, it's the reason why you're shrinking so much."
Gordon looked at his reflection, realising that he has indeed shrunk a little. It didn't help since Gordon was wrong, and the Duck was right.
"So basically, the more I'm angry, the more water I use. I suppose when you add logic into the equation, it makes sense. My anger controls... well, actually no. It controls the heat of the fire in my firebox, so I burn off more water when I'm angry; thus making me shrink more than usual." Gordon ranted, glad that there was some form of logic in this world that he could understand.
"Or to shrink your hideous face when you get angry so no one will have to see such a face." muttered the Duck.
"Why you-" Gordon remembered about temper, and if he was to get the best of this place, he'd have to keep it under control. The flames soon regained their normal size. "I don't understand, I'm the one who has to manage my anger and you're the one who… got angry at me."
"I'm just trying to look out for my ducklings. There's this strange, square black engine abducting other ducklings. Not that it would matter myself but who knows what happened to them. They could have been roasted and served."
"I understand. I act the same way if someone stole my express."
"So you have to learn how to not act like that."
"It still doesn't help me how to grow back and stay in it."
The Duck waddled not too far away, prodding his beak into the reeds of the stream. He returned with two pebbles, one with a hint of blue and the other with streaks of red.
"If you place either of them in your fire, they will have an effect on your size. This one," The Duck pointed to the indigo orb, "Will never burn out and keep you in the same size. Unless," His beak gestured at the brownish red clay, "You add this in after. It increases your size but will overpower the other one so it reverts back to shrinking over time and even worse if you get angry. You add the blue one after, then you'll stay in that size. I think about a quarter of the clay will do the trick... Well…"
"Well?"
"What are you waiting for? You have what you need to stay in your size."
"I will require assistance if I'm going to put them in my firebox. Does it look like I have any limbs?" Gordon responded sarcastically.
The Duck broke off roughly a quarter of the red, stubborn clay and waddled off with the piece. Thankfully, Gordon's cab is big enough for the Duck to step inside. The feeling of webbed feet stomping around his cab felt both odd and heavy. The Duck fiddled with his firebox and tossed the piece of clay which quickly melted.
"Are you sure it's working? I barely feel any-" Before Gordon could finish his sentence, there were leaves in his mouth that he instantly spat out. He could only see the top of the trees that were a few Crankys tall if he recalled, and he felt the Duck fluttering about with panic in his cab.
"When I said -pfft- 'Gordon the big engine' -pfft- I meant -pfft- Not this big!" The branches kept swinging back at his mouth, which was growing to be such a nuisance for the phenomenon known as Gordon. 'Bother! Now it's stuck in my mind!'
"You didn't hurt my ducklings, I'll give you that!" cried the Duck. "Just get angry!"
Fortunately, for the Duck, he was able to fly out of his cab so he may not be burned in the process. Gordon had no problem ranting off all the things that went wrong - in his perspective anyway - in this horrid place.
"Well -pfft- bother!" He was so frustrated, he had bitten off some troublesome branches! He spat them out so they wouldn't get into his mouth again, finally allowing him to talk with no interruptions, "I fell through a hole that felt like an eternity! I've been shrinking and growing ever since! I fell from the sky and got thrown by an elephant and nearly got assassinated by an eagle with a buffalo brain!"
Gordon started to shrink down, steam flowing out and his face tinted red all over.
"I couldn't even pick a favourite character in a poem! I was trapped in some 'cottage' that was a Cranky and a half tall and there were no stairs! I even blew it down! And to top it off, an annoying pair of mischievous twins mocked me in a third-rate poem and washed me down a hill!"
Each time he yelled, he shrunk by a quarter of a Cranky… or that's what Gordon estimated. He had his eyes clenched in rage and couldn't give an exact measurement.
"How despicable!" Gordon shrunk down to Cranky.
"Quite disgusting!" He shrunk to half a Cranky
"Just disgraceful-" "Stop! Is this the right height now?"
Gordon the maybe-at-the-right-size engine looked back into the lake, joyful at his original form that matched to the ratio between his surroundings and his body.
"Yes! Yes it is!" Gordon laughed triumphantly - though the laugh sounded like it was more relief than triumph - at the success.
The Duck sighed, waddling with the indigo orb in his beak. "Just let me add this in before you get tiny again."
The orb simmered slowly into the fire unlike the clay. The remains of said clay still stuck onto Gordon's cab, quite stubborn indeed.
"Now I can go in peace knowing that someone won't be crushing my nest anytime soon." Huffed the Duck, who haughtily splashed back into the lake and swam away with ducklings trailing behind him.
"What a bother," Gordon grumbled, whose mood changed to happy instantly when he saw that he didn't shrink, "So it does work." he mused.
Then Gordon, who was finally 'the big engine' again, puffed on his merry way.