HE'S MY BROTHER

Chapter Ten - Adler

Adi the Eagle was a happy locomotive. He'd spent the noontime break pulled over up at the big Vicarstown station that day and when his crew came back for him, his driver, Erich Dornwirth, was holding a yellow coltsfoot flower.

"Check this out," he said, lifting it up so Adler could see it. "I noticed it growing by one of the equipment sheds next to the siding when we went for lunch. There were a couple of framed glass panes leaned up against the shed wall and this fellow was tucked in underneath, using them like a little greenhouse. Tough old thing…you can't get rid of them. Anyway, first sign of spring. It won't be long now, my boy!"

"Yes, thank you!" Adler exclaimed. He shared Erich's enthusiasm. The first flower of springtime was always a beautiful sight to him, even if it was just one produced by a humble pioneering weed. More desirable spring flowers, the ones that were cultivated and wanted by the myriads of gardeners all over the Island, couldn't be far behind, and with it would come the return of the warm season and the tourist jobs he'd come to love. He'd been quite excited after that about getting back to the roundhouse to pass on his crew's finding. No one else had yet spotted a spring blossom, he was sure of it, although almost every engine he knew had begun hopefully eyeing any patches of likely bare ground revealed as the winter snow melted away, just in case.

Then, to add to his joy, he saw the Doyons in the process of leaving the shed just when he was backing in himself later on, and Erich, who at that moment had to be the kindest, smartest, and greatest engine driver in the whole wide world, yelled his greetings at them, followed up with an inquiry as to whether Denise mightn't like to take Adler out that evening…it'd been such a pleasant day already and not even all that cold. And Denise had said yes! Adler's anticipation had soared to such heights after that that he'd begun to ramble on in Berlinisch while the younger Dornwirth, Dieter, tried to clean his face.

"Will you shut up a minute?" he'd finally said between laughs. "How am I supposed to get you looking spiffy for your big date if you keep babbling on? I can't even make out half of what you're saying anyway!"

Adler dutifully did as told, holding his mouth still so Dieter could complete wiping away the day's grime. At least there weren't any smashed bugs to clean up yet. That was one of the few advantages of cold-weather work—no flying insects. Once done with the washing and drying, Dieter rubbed Adler's face with a piece of chamois that had a little oil on it. It seemed to help keep the amorphous alloy surface in good condition and gave it a nice-feeling finish.

Erich himself fired in a little more coal to keep the engine's pressures up just before the two men left and Denise showed up only minutes later. She'd changed into warm civilian clothes, including a goofy-looking tuque and matching mitts, and was carrying a blanket and a thermos full of steaming hot spearmint tea, everything she needed to spend a couple of quality personal hours with one of her favourite engines. Adler watched her approach happily. She always talked to him if she saw him in the sheds just as she talked to all the locomotives, but this would be the first time this year that the two of them would go off together for one of their more private conversations, a 'date' of sorts as Dieter had put it.

Their little excursions had arisen out of Adler's need to confide in someone when he'd first come to Sodor. Turning to a human was new for him, but he'd sensed that he could trust his new driver and she'd made the offer to help and was the only person around who could speak German with him at the time, which encouraged him. Their initial talks had been hard and Adler had often become very emotional. Even if the other engines in the shed couldn't understand them, Denise hadn't wanted the others to see their new shed-mate so distraught and had begun taking him out to a quiet nearby siding for privacy's sake. To help calm things down after their sessions and if there was time, she would move her engine afterwards to one of two sidings sited north of Knapford and close to the coastline, from where they could watch the sun set to finish off their evening. The siding closest to the water offered an exceptionally scenic view and was next to a walking path which many Knapford residents used on nice evenings. The other siding also provided a nice view of the ocean, yet was distant enough from the path and any residences that they didn't have to worry about being overheard. Adler's crisis eventually faded and he did find a measure of peace. He also found himself with his first-ever human friend whose company he enjoyed so much that he never wanted their talks to end.

On this evening, Adler wanted to talk about Lammergeier and they thus chose to park in the more distant siding, for privacy. He'd told Denise about his impassioned plea to his brother up at Bridlington some time ago and was disappointed that nothing had changed since then.

"I don't know what else I can do," he related miserably. "I'm so afraid he's going to do something really stupid and be sent away. Has Christophe said anything to you at all about how he's doing? Does he have any idea of what's wrong with him?"

"I know he's got a couple of theories he's running with. The problem is, he thinks whatever happened to change Lammergeier's attitudes took place over a number of years. It may also take a long time to turn him around again, not years, hopefully, but a while."

Adler looked glum. "I just hope he doesn't get into trouble in the meantime. He just gets mad nowadays if I try and interest him in the tourist work coming up. He didn't even really like the holiday work we did around Christmas. I don't understand why. Everyone really enjoyed the way he looked and the both of us were always kept busy and got tons of compliments."

Denise stroked the engine's brow sympathetically. "Don't worry," she told him. "If anyone can figure him out, it's Christophe. You couldn't ask for a more experienced person when it comes to understanding you locomotives, and that Surendra's a pretty smart cookie too. And he can't keep up the brooding loner act for much longer—I mean, your brother was quite social when he first came here, wasn't he?"

"He is social!" Adler insisted. "He used to keep me and Habicht laughing for hours sometimes when we were stabled together back in Berlin."

"Well, there you go. We'll have that Lammergeier back eventually, I'm sure of it. He can't deny his true nature forever."

Poor Adler began to calm down. It was so good to have someone to talk to who understood his concerns and who knew Lammergeier. He wouldn't have felt right discussing his sibling with the other engines.

"Did you see the way he looked at us when we left the roundhouse?" Adler said. "He just hates it when we go off together after work."

"I saw. I hope he's not still giving you grief about it."

"No. I made it very clear last year when we had the fight that I wouldn't tolerate his trying to interfere in my friendships, even if it was with you humans. All he's done since then is give me dirty looks."

"Well, good. Let him see what he's missing out on…"

Denise rubbed his forehead some more and Adler felt his tension fading away all the more. He'd never known until coming to Sodor what power a human touch had, that it could soothe and comfort one so completely. He'd always cooperated when being groomed or maintained and had typically found such ministrations tolerable and sometimes enjoyable, depending on who was doing the work. But this was different. This was someone touching him out of pure affection and a desire to ease his pain and it was a very nice feeling indeed.

Adler could still remember the exact day when everything had changed for him. It was the day after the evening when he'd first been brought down to Knapford to start living in the new roundhouse. There had only been four other shed residents back then, the three Canadian engines and Henry, who was only living there temporarily. Adler had only been able to exchange pleasantries and a little chitchat before it got too late to say much more that first night and when he woke up again in the morning, Henry was already gone and the other three engines soon left for work as well.

Just before lunchtime, Henry was brought back with his coal and water already topped up for the following day's work and dripping wet from just having gone through the washdown over by the Knapford yard. His crew could, of course, have washed Henry themselves in the roundhouse's own washdown area, but letting the Knapford workers do the big job saved time they liked to invest in the finishing touches, like cleaning Henry's face and polishing his paintwork. Adler watched with interest as the two humans cared for their resting engine. He already approved of the idea of using the same people who drove and fired him to tend to his grooming and minor routine maintenance needs as well, rather than using separate shed workers. It just seemed like a good way to get to know his crew a little better, to be able to interact with them when they were all off duty in a sense.

As it was with himself, it was the woman, Denise, who did the job of cleaning Henry's face. Adler did not know Henry very well yet, but he already had the sense that for all his size and strength, Henry was a rather nervous engine and a little timid. He suspected that he could be easily startled, yet under the soothing hands of his two handlers, Henry was as relaxed and calm as could be and closed his eyes with perfect trust, which Adler thought a nice thing to see. All engines hoped for kind crews who could be trusted. A sure and gentle hand on one's controls made even the hardest work easier to bear and gave a loco confidence, and it seemed that Henry was lucky enough to have found that with his own crew.

But there was more to it this time, far more than Adler could have imagined. Like the 48's own running board, Henry's extended out from beneath his face and forward a good bit to cover his foremost leading axel, which made it very easy to get up close and personal with him. Denise had already set a row of backup water buckets on the edge of Henry's running board right above his buffer beam before ever getting up on him. When she briefly turned her back to Henry to exchange one of her spent bucketfuls of water for a fresh one midway through her task, Henry opened his eyes for his own brief moment and fixed upon her a look of such melting honest adoration that Adler, who was still watching, almost jolted back a wheel-turn in his shock.

Why, he loves that human! he thought, astonished. A flush of emotion tinged Adler's cheeks. He thought he must have been seeing things or had misinterpreted, but later, when Denise switched a second set of buckets, Henry did it again, gazing after her with such loving intensity that Adler almost felt embarrassed. This was simply not something which was part of his world. The humans were his masters, to be obeyed without question, and he had always tried his best to be a good and faithful servant to them and had taken pleasure in his servitude. The thought that there could perhaps be more to it than that was weird, exciting, and confusing in turn.

When Denise was finally done with Henry, she stepped over and leaned in to rest her head against the side of Henry's cheek for a moment. Then Pierre came forward from shining up the paintwork over Henry's boiler and he too rubbed the engine's forehead with obvious affection while saying something to him that made him smile. Both humans worked on his running board after that to get its surface gleaming white and clean before climbing down to finish up in his cab. Henry even enjoyed these more remote sensations. He appeared to be monitoring what his crew was doing throughout the remainder of his cleaning session, his eyes half-closed and introspective, a slight smile continuing to tug at his mouth at intervals.

Adler didn't know what to think. He'd never considered that an engine could have a personal relationship with a human being akin to what existed between engine friends. Even a partnership in a working sense seemed as though it might infringe upon the long-established conventions which existed between men and locomotives. But he wasn't through having his long-held notions rocked that day just yet…

While the Doyons were off to have lunch, Justin also came back in, done for the day as well. Adler could already tell that Justin was quite a different sort than Henry. His tall build and streamlining gave him a somewhat imposing air, yet his attractive face had such an open and friendly expression that no one was ever put off by his looks. He'd been very well spoken during the brief conversation Adler had had with him the evening before and seemed intelligent and confident, and the 48 could well believe that Justin had once served his country's top government officials, according to what the Doyons had told him. Francois, one of the other Canadians, had done the same work, supposedly, and the last of them, Guy, was a freight and snow plowing specialist; those two were still relative unknowns. Still, they'd likewise seemed friendly and Adler was looking forward to getting to know them better. For now, however, Henry and Justin were it.

Justin's crew, unfortunately, did not linger with their engine that day and Adler didn't get to observe anything out of the ordinary in their interactions. He shifted his focus to watching for Denise and Pierre to return instead. Adler enjoyed working and was enough of a newbie on the Island that every trip out still meant discovering something exciting and brand new. He hoped that he'd get to chuff down one of the lines he hadn't seen yet or maybe his crew would get him to deliver something that afternoon to a station as yet unfamiliar to him. And here his crew came, striding down the steps off the deck in front of the humans' lounge and service area, walking across the Canadians' tracks, passing by—

"Je t'aime, mon cher! Je t'aime, Pierre!"

Adler froze. What had that engine just said?

He watched in disbelief as the humans merely laughed in response and Denise briefly went over to Justin to speak with him. "Saucy thing," Adler overheard her murmur to him in French as she patted him. "We love you too." Then she scampered back over to her husband's side and carried on. Adler was far too flabbergasted to say anything about what he'd just witnessed and the humans didn't say anything about it either. He had to wait until he came back to the sheds that evening and everyone who was non-loco had cleared out for the night before he dared approach the subject with Justin himself.

"Vhat you said to Miz Denise and Mister Pierre earlier today," he'd asked. "Vhen you said you loved zem… Don't zhey mind you sayink somezing like zat in public?"

"Mind?" Justin responded, sounding perplexed. "Why on Earth would they mind? They're a good crew, I'm very fond of them, and I like to express my appreciation in the only way I can. It's not as though I can go to a gift shop and buy them a card, after all."

"I wish I could express my appreciation," said Henry in a tiny voice, which made Justin shift his attention for the moment and regard his green shed-mate with sympathy.

"Don't you worry about that, Henry," he said to him. "Everyone here can see how much you care for your crew and I'm sure that they can see it too. You don't always have to verbalize your feelings for them to be obvious."

Henry looked back at his friend gratefully and Adler felt quite impressed. He'd known more than a few engines who would have ridiculed anyone admitting to an inadequacy, especially one of a personal nature, but the locos in this shed all seemed uniformly kind and supportive of one another. The 48 was glad. He could do with a bit of kindness and support in his life himself.

Justin, meanwhile, had gone back to studying the German engine with interest and further considering his initial question. "The railroading world you were born into back in Germany, it was rather officious, wasn't it?" he guessed. "Everything very professional and businesslike? Everyone knew their place and kept it? Well, it's a little different back in Canada and here too. Our interactions with the humans aren't as formal as what you were used to and people in general take a lot more interest in us as individuals and consider us part of the community. Did Pierre and Denise give you their spiel yet about being available to talk and seeing to it that you were happy—that it was part of their jobs?"

Adler blinked. "Ja."

"I suggest you take advantage of that. It's a fine thing to have human friends. They know a lot and can broaden your world."

"I second zet," Francois spoke up. "You can learn very much from ze humans. Zey are entertaining to try and understand too."

His shed-mates' final words left Adler in a very thoughtful state. He began watching any other engines he saw very carefully from then on, noting how they related to all the people they came across during the course of their days and how the humans in turn viewed them. And it was true, what Justin had said. The atmosphere was different here, it just was. After a few days, Adler felt encouraged enough to ask his new driver for the first time if she could help him with some of his more troubling memories. It had been the start of the most rewarding—and surprising—relationship he'd ever known.

The subject of his most rewarding relationship was still caressing and soothing him now. Lammergeier had become a source of real concern for Adler, but at least he would talk to Denise about it and that, plus a little reassurance, usually served to unburden the poor engine and calm him down. What the woman wouldn't do for him was share her own concerns. She'd filled in for Christophe twice during the winter once Lammergeier resumed his snowplowing and general work and she hadn't liked what she'd seen at all. He still worked as well as ever, but there seemed an almost obsessive quality to it now; he was wound far too tight, in her estimation. And he was much cooler with her, so much so that she almost wished for a return of the days when she'd had to put up with his occasional obnoxious charm. Ah well, he was Christophe's problem now. Denise had enough on her hands tending to the fallout suffered by Adler.

Luckily, Adler was a resilient fellow, as most engines were, and once his worries had been expressed and sympathized with, he was able to move on to discuss more enjoyable subjects. He told Denise all about Erich finding the coltsfoot flower and how much he anticipated the coming spring and seeing his coach friends again. His eyes shone as he related how he'd caught a glimpse of The Flying Scotsman leaving up at Vicarstown the day before and he wondered aloud if his old Controller from Berlin, Mister Moderhack, would be able to ride on Flying Scotsman's train come summer, as he'd wanted to. Denise felt her own concerns ebb away as she listened to Adler. This was what engines were supposed to be like, easily pleased by the simplest of things.

The setting sun was nearing the horizon. The two of them gave up talking and Denise sat down on the folded blanket she'd set on Adler's running board next to his face and poured herself a cup of herbal tea. The wonderful scent of mint wafted through the cold early evening air. Denise used one hand to hold her cup as she sipped from it and reached the other over to gently trace the outlines of Adler's mouth. It was his special spot. He was the only loco she'd ever known who liked having his lips rubbed and played with.

They watched the sun sink out of sight together in perfect silence.

Once the last rays of sunlight had given way to deepening twilight, Denise sighed and got back up on her feet. She looked Adler over and was satisfied with what she saw and gave him a last scritch between his brows. The engine gazed back at her, content, his eyes beautifully soft. Adi was her earnest one. Once he'd opened himself up to the possibility of loving a human being, he'd become intensely curious and a little anxious about what such a relationship entailed and how it was meant to proceed. The anxiety was mostly gone by now, but his curiosity remained.

"I'm glad I'm a locomotive," he suddenly exclaimed.

Denise, who was just in the process of stopping up her now empty thermos and screwing on its top, smiled at her engine friend before temporarily setting her thermos back down on her blanket. Adler's impulsive statement deserved her full attention.

"Okay, I'll bite. Why are you glad you're a locomotive?"

"Because we couldn't have this if I were a human man…could we?"

The woman was pleased by his insight. She knew that the subject of human social mores was very difficult for him, although he was always asking her questions about it. Sometimes she was hard-pressed to come up with explanations he could understand.

"You're right," she answered now. "If you were the human equivalent of what you are now, male and adult, we could still be casual friends and even quite fond of each other. We could enjoy lots of chat and have coffee together at work, maybe even have lunch sometimes in a public space, especially if part of a larger group…that would all be fine. But going off like this on our own, with Pierre nowhere in sight…very inappropriate."

Adler had pursed his mouth a little and knit his brows together in his intense concentration as he followed along. Denise thought of it as his 'thinking' face and that it made him look very cute.

"It's inappropriate…because you are married," he said.

"Yes! That changes everything for us. If you knew I was married, even this imaginary human version of you trying to profess your love for me would be considered inappropriate. You'd have to keep your feelings to yourself—you remember how we talked about unrequited love. If you couldn't do that, if you insisted on speaking out regardless, I'd have to try and put you off and maybe even get Pierre involved."

The 48 sighed. Humans had so many strange rules regulating how they socialized with one another! It was so much easier for locomotives—two engines either liked each other or they didn't.

"I understand. But Pierre is all right with this as long as it's me as I am. An engine."

"Well, sure. Don't forget that he's very fond of you too. He wants to see you happy and he knows it makes me happy to have this friendship with you. And of course he's still getting his jollies out of it over at the tavern with his buddies, the lot of them still trying to fool every poor new sap that shows up into feeling sorry for Pierre because his shameless hussy wife's off running around with her German boyfriend again. In public, even!"

"The German boyfriend," Adler murmured to himself. He liked it. It made him sound exotic and a little dangerous. Aloud, he added, "I think Pierre likes being a little naughty."

"Try a lot naughty. The last guy him and his buddies tricked got so mad when he found out that you were a locomotive that he and Pierre almost got into a fistfight. Of course, he'd probably enjoy that too. I saw Pierre deck a guy once, knocked him right off his chair and onto the floor with one punch. Oh well…I love him anyway."

She looked at the engine's face and they gazed into each other's eyes, both smiling, perfectly united at the moment in their understanding of just how lovable a naughty person, whether human or locomotive, could be. Adler liked hearing Denise say that she loved her husband, even when he'd been misbehaving a little. It reassured the big 48 that she'd likewise remain fond of him no matter what he did or didn't do.

"So, Pierre is definitely all right with this," Adler persisted, just to clarify the issue for himself, and Denise regarded him more warmly than ever.

"Adi, as long as Pierre doesn't have to worry about coming home and finding you in bed with me, I can guarantee you that he will be just fine with our relationship," she said to him, and that, as far as she was concerned, was that.

The 48, on the other hand, whose machine mine processed information in a far more literal manner than did a human being's, immediately began considering what Denise had just told him, envisioning his long body trying to fit onto one of the little platforms he knew humans typically favoured for sleeping upon. The proportions involved didn't bode well at all.

"No, that would not work. I am far too large," he concluded in a sober tone. He considered the situation again, scouting about for a possible solution. "Well…maybe I could do it if I were a miniature engine. And left my tender parked out by the curb."

His eyes suddenly flew wide open as the full implications of what he'd just suggested struck him. He looked to Denise, fearful that he might have just offended her, and saw that she was wearing the same wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression as he was. Then, she giggled. And giggled some more. A moment later she was laughing so hard that she had to lean against the side of his face and brace herself with a hand on his cheek to avoid staggering back and falling off his running board. And underneath it all rumbled the deep happy chuckle of the locomotive, who was delighted that he'd finally been able to say something which so amused her.

Denise saved the story until the next time she, Pierre and Christophe were hosting Surendra for supper, and as she expected, the three men found it as amusing as she had. Once the laughter died down, Christophe said, "Now, see? This is a perfect example of the difference between those two. Adi enjoys being a locomotive because he's completely at ease with his limitations and he's also clever enough to appreciate the advantages and liberties it affords him. Lammergeier…well, the only time his locomotive self seems to bring him any pleasure is when he immerses himself in his work and shifts over into autopilot and stops thinking. The rest of the time…not so good."

"Still not any friendlier?" asked Pierre. "Even now?"

"Nope. It's still strictly business between us, especially me. He doesn't like me at all. He's a little better with Surendra. At least he'll get a little droopy and let his eyelids fall to half-mast when Surendra's cleaning him up. With me, though, he acts like he expects me to smack him any second when I'm up around his face, just really guarded all the time."

"You are the one who typically disciplines him," Surendra pointed out. "I'm the good cop."

"Well, sure, but no engine ought to resent being fairly disciplined when he's misbehaving, not that he does so very often anymore, but still… He never resents Denise trying to smarten him up."

The so-named human in question snorted. "That's because he never listens to me."

"He listened to you when we took him out that first time, although he did yank you around some at the beginning," Christophe said.

"True. And he was out moving on the rails for the first time in years… Huh." She reconsidered her words. "Guess that was him being in work mode, or locomotive mode, more like. He does listen then, more or less. It's him being in Lammergeier mode that winds me up and makes me want to crack him one sometimes, like when he made that scene later to get Sir Topham to come aboard. He could care less what I say to him at times like that."

"Heh, Lammergeier mode," Pierre chortled. His wife grinned.

"You know what I mean. It's when he forgets he's a locomotive and starts talking and acting like a wannabe human, not that I believe for one second that he actually wants to be human…" (She missed the startled glances Christophe and Surendra exchanged at that point.) "…but he sure acts like he expects to be treated like one at times."

"He does think like a human," said Surendra.

"Yet has the heart of a locomotive," Christophe added. "He must, in order to work so well. You two were right on that call. He's got all the innate programming inside him that a locomotive needs or ought to have to be a first-class working engine, but sometimes… It's like there's two versions of him, compliant and contrary. Or as you say, locomotive mode and Lammergeier mode," he concluded, smiling. "Ah well, it does make him an interesting fellow to work with. We'll wear him down eventually, I'm sure of it."

"Or he'll wear you down," Denise warned. "He's pretty stubborn and determined."

Unfortunately, she had no idea of how prophetic her words were to become…

to be continued...