Belle Calls In Sick
Early one morning, the alarm went off at the Search and Rescue Center.
DING-DING! DING-DING! DING-DING!
Men ran out of the building and then out and about, shouting out to each other as Rocky watched them with surprise.
"What's the emergency, Rocky?" Butch asked from nearby.
"Sounds like the barn at Farmer Trotter's farm is on fire," Rocky confirmed from having heard the men shouting.
"I know!" Flynn called, as he and Belle rolled out of his shed. "This is a job that me and Belle can handle."
Then he rolled further out, sounding out his siren, as Belle yawned, then sighed and smiled, as she watched Harold take off to the air.
"No worries, chaps!" the helicopter called. "I'll manage to locate the fire on foot!"
Belle made her way over to the water and her driver wasted no time in fixing the pipe into position.
"One quick drink to refill my cannons and then it's off to the rescue," Belle said eagerly to herself.
"Stop!"
Belle looked over in surprise as the foreman ran over, waving his hands up in the air so as to signal a warning.
"Quick! Shut it off!" he shouted.
Quickly, the driver shut off the water tower as the foreman walked further up.
"Sorry, but the men and I have done an inspection on this water tower this morning," he explained. "Something from our sewage pipes has leaked its way into the tower and now Belle has it in her tank."
"Oh dear," Belle sighed. "I guess I can't go any further in this condition."
"I'm afraid so, Belle," her driver sighed.
"I'm sorry, Belle," the foreman regretted. "You'll have to stay in your shed until whatever has gotten into the tower is cleared from your tank. Not to worry though. The men and I will look you over."
Belle sighed, reversing slowly back into her berth, as Flynn stopped just beside and gave his friend a look of concern.
"Oh, my, Belle," he soothed, as the men hopped aboard on his sides. "I hope you'll be alright."
"Thanks, Flynn! But I strongly encourage you carry on and fight this fire without me! I should be fine!"
Flynn sighed, knowing Belle was right, as he sounded his siren and headed quickly into action. Belle smiled as he watched his friend race away, then sighed as the men ran over towards the shed.
"Cheer up, Belle," her driver soothed. "You'll soon be out and about again once the sea water is cleared from your system!"
"I sure hope so," Belle sighed, as the men started looking her over.
"Hmm…" the foreman wondered from atop as he looked hard inside Belle's tank. "I can't make out what's gotten in there, Belle, but I'm pretty sure it's sea water."
"So what do we do?" one of the men asked.
"We'll have to find a way to inspect it," another replied.
"I need you boys to see and do what you can about figuring out for sure what got in there," the foreman ordered, as he stepped down from Belle's cab. "I'm going to see what we can do about having an inspector come over."
The men started chattering amongst themselves, as the foreman walked quickly away towards the building and Belle sighed with dismay.
"I just hope Flynn is able to put that barn fire in time," she thought to herself.
Farmer Trotter was waiting as Flynn and Butch arrived at the scene.
"Flynn! Butch! Thank goodness you're here!"
"Ready and raring to rescue, sir!" Flynn assured him.
"We must hurry. There is no time," the farmer cautioned.
Flynn slowly positioned his cannons into position, and quickly sprayed water towards the barn in enough time to put out the fire.
In no time at all, the fire was put out and Farmer Trotter was relieved, as Butch cleared away all the rubble.
"Phew," Farmer Trotter sighed with relief. "Thankfully, I managed to get my pigs out safely before the flames kicked in. It's a good thing you both showed up at the right time."
"Erm, no problem, sir," Flynn replied.
Farmer Trotter observed Flynn's heavy sigh and decided to speak to him himself.
"You look troubled, Flynn. Is everything alright?"
Flynn took a deep breath, deciding to explain the situation to Farmer Trotter.
"I just wish my friend Belle was here to share the victory and fight the fire with me."
"Oh," Farmer Trotter listened on. "What happened to her?"
"She took on some bad water at a water tower," Flynn explained. "The foreman claims that something from our sewage pipes has presumably leaked its way into the system through the tower, but the men don't know for sure just yet."
"Oh dear," Farmer Trotter gasped. "Is she going to be alright then?"
"I hope so," Flynn replied. "She's in her shed at the moment, and the men are doing the best they can to solve the issue and make her good as new again."
"Oh," Farmer Trotter wondered. "Well, I hope they get through with that then."
"Come along, Flynn!" Butch honked, reversing away from sight of the barn. "We must report back to the Rescue Center in case of another emergency."
"Don't worry, Flynn!" Farmer Trotter assured the fire-fighting engine as the men hopped back aboard. "I'm sure Belle will recover soon enough and be back fighting fires by your side once more!"
"Thanks, Farmer Trotter!" Flynn called as he slowly rolled away from the farm, the farmer waving at him as he watched him set off.
Back at the Rescue Center, the manager waited just outside his office as the team returned from the emergency.
The Center manager watched as Harold hovered over and landed in his pad nearby, before listening to the sound of Butch's horn and Flynn's siren as they both arrived back at the platform.
"Ah! Flynn, Butch, Harold! You're all back. Splendid! I just wanted to congratulate on the initiative you all took in acting quickly to the state of emergency for the fire at Farmer Trotter's farm. Harold, you located the scene of the fire rather quickly as Flynn and Butch jumped into action to put the fire out. In fact, it turns out that the three of you have together achieved a new record of making it to the farm and back in just under half an hour! Quite an achievement if you ask me!"
"All in the line of duty, sir!" Harold called out.
"We were just doing our job," Butch humbly added.
Belle sighed as she watched the commotion from her shed.
"I hope to be let out soon," she said optimistically to herself as she watched the men talk amongst themselves outside the shed.
Just then, the alarm bell rang once more.
"Emergency!" a workman shouted, running out from the station building. "Pair of hitchhikers injured at Bluff's Cove!"
"Then there's no time to waste!" Harold called out as he took to the air. "I can take those men to hospital myself."
He hovered over out of sight from the Rescue Center, as Captain followed along in pursuit.
Flynn rolled up beside the shed to see how Belle was doing.
"I figured I would check up on you, Belle, since Bluff's Cove isn't my emergency. How are the men doing?"
"They're planning some sort of procedure to have the problem solved, Flynn," Belle told her friend. "But driver and I have a hard time predicting how long it will take."
"Hmm…" Flynn thought, figuring out exactly what to tell his friend. "Well, look on the bright side, Belle. At least you're still standing on your set of wheels instead of sitting around at the SteamWorks."
"Yeah," Belle wondered. "I guess you're right, Flynn! All my water tanks need is a bit of cleaning out after all. Shouldn't take too long if all goes well."
Just then, the alarm bell rang again and men called and shouted as they hopped back on Flynn's sides.
"Come along, Flynn!" Butch called. "Sounds like another fire, this time at Dryaw Station."
"Keep your hopes up, Belle!" Flynn told her. "Whatever it is in your tanks will soon be drained from your system and we'll both be fighting fires alongside one another once more!"
Then he sounded out his siren and raced off into action with Butch honking and rolling quickly alongside. Belle sighed as the foreman climbed over her side with a flashlight, pointing it towards the interior of her water tank. He climbed back down and signaled a fellow workman, pulling him aside and whispering something in his ear. The workman quickly ran out of the shed and towards the Rescue Center building, Belle watching with surprise.
"What's going on, sir?" she asked her driver.
"I think the men have a solution, Belle," her driver replied. "Though we'll just have to wait and see what it is."
Belle sighed and shut her eyes as the men chattered amongst themselves, the foreman walking sternly with a serious expression fixated across his face.
It seemed as if the men had indeed devised a solution for Belle's water tanks, but the hours passed and Belle started to get very bored.
Belle let out a huge yawn as she sat in the interior of her shed, sighing whilst maintaining her patience toward the matter.
Belle opened one eye at the sound of a car reviving, then quickly opened the other as she heard the revving get closer and the horn sounding out. Soon enough, the sound of the horn got closer too and an antique automobile rolled up right beside the Rescue Center. Belle watched with surprise as the car door opened, and a figure in fancy black dress shoes walked out, revealing himself as a smartly dressed man with sunglasses and a mustache.
At long last, an inspector arrived to help out with the situation.
"Oh, thank goodness," the foreman sighed, running up quickly to greet him. "You must be the inspector we called for. We were hoping you'd show up."
"Absolument!" the inspector replied, speaking in a rather broad French accent and walked towards Belle.
"Thank you for showing up on such short notice," the foreman added.
"'Think nothing of it," said the foreman modestly. "Tis is only my job!"
The two men walked further towards Belle, before stopping right before her.
"Hmm…" the inspector wondered, removing his sunglasses as he looked right at Belle. "So t'is is de fire fighting engine I heard all about who took on a bad water. Eh?"
"Y-y-yes, sir," Belle gulped, looking rather nervous as the inspector eyed her with curiosity.
"Mmm…well, let me just take a look!" the inspector decided, walking quickly towards Belle and climbing up over her side to look inside her tanks.
He looked further in with a magnifying glass, before reaching further with a pair of pliers and pulling out something else unexpected.
"Hmm...seaweed," he thought, then sighed and climbed quickly back down.
"Oui!" he confirmed to the men. "Dis water is sea water, and well and truly contaminated!"
"So how do we get out of my system?!" Belle wondered aloud with anxiety.
"Not to worry, Belle," the inspector assured her. "I 'ave a plan."
Then he turned towards the workmen.
"Men!" he called. "Find me a hose!"
The men quickly ran about to look for the hose nearby the shed and soon began to roll it out towards the entrance to Belle's berth.
"Parfait!" marveled the inspector. "We shall use it to drain de water out of her system!"
"But...em, do you think that will be necessary?" the foreman asked.
"Trust me on dis!" the inspector told him calmly yet charmingly. "I'm a professional!"
Then he walked further towards Belle and watched as one workman climbed over her side, while two others held the hose in place and two more got the water going for the pump outside the shed.
As the workmen got to work at spraying water into Belle's tank, the inspectors watched proudly at the outcome as normal water mixed in with the sea water, which then began to emerge from her side.
Belle watched with surprise as the water flowed out from her side, the inspector watching with interest as it flowed into a stream by the side of the shed and ran through the entrance and outside the shed.
"Ah," the inspector sighed happily, snapping his fingers before shouting, "now! Turn it off!"
The two men outside the shed quickly shut the hose off, as the inspector sighed heavily.
"Dat should do the trick!" he remarked.
Then he walked further toward the foreman and Belle's driver.
"Gentlemen, I would like to have a word!" he told them both.
The three men walked slowly quickly outside the shed to talk amongst themselves. Belle watched as the men went about back about their business to await further instructions, sighing to herself.
"He said that should have done the trick," she wondered to herself. "I wonder if that means I'm good to go with going about the rails again."
DING-DING! DING-DING! DING-DING!
Belle watched as the men ran quickly about and shouted, then emerged slowly from her berth to see what the emergency was.
"What's the status report, Rocky?!" she asked.
"Smoke erupting from the DieselWorks, it sounds like," the crane replied. "Not to worry though. Flynn's still out there and should be able to locate it once he gets the message."
"Maybe I should go!" Belle thought.
"You, Belle?" Rocky wondered confusedly. "But...have you been decontaminated yet?"
"Yes, Rocky, I'm sure I have! Besides, the DieselWorks is not far from here, and Butch and Flynn may be on their way back from Dryaw by now. This is an emergency!"
She rang her bell and raced quickly into action.
"Thanks, guys!" she called to the men as she passed.
Her driver, the foreman and the inspector all ran and shouted at once to get her to stop.
"Wait, Belle!" the foreman shouted.
"We weren't fini!" the inspector called, then sighed with dismay.
"Come back, Belle!" Rocky called out.
But Belle had already rolled well and truly out of sight, and was too far away to hear.
Belle quickly and steadily made her way about the line, feeling very pleased with herself.
"It sure took a while," she thought to herself. "But it was worth the wait. All at once, I feel as good as new, ready and raring to rescue!"
Belle continued along the route towards Vicarstown, suspecting nothing, as she took the time to observe the lovely spring scenery all around her.
A blue bird stood on the center of the line as Belle passed it, ringing her bell at it and causing it to fly away up into the trees, as a cardinal stood atop another tree and flew across Belle's view.
"Ah," she sighed. "Nothing like springtime."
Up ahead, she saw Toby trundling along the line with Henrietta
"Afternoon, Toby!" she called out, ringing her bell as she passed him.
The tram engine smiled and rang his bell back at her. Next up, Belle saw Whiff coming up the line, pulling a train of late rubbish trucks.
"Hello, Whiff!" she greeted as she rang her bell at him.
Whiff smiled and whistled as he passed by.
"Good day, Belle!" he greeted.
Belle sighed as she continued along her way to Vicarstown.
"Vicarstown DieselWorks, here we come!" she said excitedly to herself.
She gradually let off steam, smoke erupting from her funnel as she did so, though all of a sudden, she started coughing and the smoke began spluttering from her funnel instead.
"Oh, dear," she wondered. "I feel funny."
She gradually slowed down to a point where she came to an abrupt halt.
"I don't understand," she thought to herself. "I thought the problem had already been resolved."
She quickly readied her cannons into position.
Belle decided to test her water cannons out of curiosity, but as she did so, sea water came out of them instead of normal water. It turned that the sea water hadn't entirely been cleared from her system after all!
"Oh, dear," she groaned. "I've been very silly to think I could leave the Rescue Center without the workmen's consent!"
At that moment, it started to get very quiet, and everything around her seemed so bare.
Belle sighed sadly, wondering if help would ever come along.
At that moment, Belle heard a familiar siren, and was more than excited when she saw who it was!
"Flynn!" she exclaimed. "Thank goodness you've come!"
Flynn stopped right across from her and looked over at her in surprise.
"Hello, Belle! Whatever are you doing way out here?"
"The alarm bell rang and Rocky confirmed a fire at the DieselWorks. I thought the operation was complete and that the sea water had been drained from my tanks when it turned out it hadn't."
"I just came back from putting out the fire at the DieselWorks," Flynn explained. "I rushed over as soon as the men and I were given the call."
Belle sighed with dismay.
"I was so desperate to be out and about performing rescues once more, and now I, eh, well, I…"
Belle was not able to finish her sentence out of embarrassment, but luckily, she didn't have to as Flynn totally understood.
"What you mean is," Flynn kindly finished for her, "you're the one who needs rescuing.
"Yes, Flynn," Belle sighed. "I am. Please, can you haul me back to the Search and Rescue Center so that the men can finish their procedure. I hope it's not too much to ask."
Flynn felt very sorry for his friend, and therefore was more than happy to help her.
"No fear, Belle!" he assured her. "I'll have you back at the Rescue Center in no time!"
He sounded his siren and soon enough switched over to Belle's track and buffered up to her.
"Thank you, Flynn," Belle smiled, blushing a little.
"Any time, Belle! Next stop, Search and Rescue Center!" the fire engine called, sounding out of his siren as he started pulling Belle along the line.
On the way back to the Rescue Center, the two friends discovered that the news had soon spread about Belle's predicament.
Thomas whistled and expressed a look of sympathy as he passed by with Annie and Clarabel, Emily doing the same as she passed by with her own coaches.
"Oh, the shame," Gordon groaned as he passed by with the express.
"Serves her right," James added as he passed by with a goods train.
Next up, they saw Diesel who obviously made the situation no better.
"Heh!" he scoffed, then remarked, "looks like you're the one who needs rescuing now. What a silly engine!"
He laughed as he continued on his way. Belle sighed sadly, as Flynn smiled back at her.
"Ignore them, Belle," he said kindly. "Everyone makes mistakes."
He thought even harder than began to chuckle, as he continued his pep talk.
"Even I've made mistakes from time to time, especially when acting to a state of emergency. The important thing about making mistakes is to learn from them."
Belle sighed, feeling a bit better as she decided to be honest with her friend.
"I've learnt from the mistakes I've made today as well, Flynn," she admitted, the fire engine listening hard as he pulled her along. "I learnt the necessity."
She coughed slightly, before continuing what she wanted to say.
"During times like these, where emergencies on Sodor happen almost every day, and rescue engines like us aren't necessarily accustomed to being absent to such urgent distress calls."
And deep down, Flynn knew Belle was right, having felt proud of her friend for the lesson she had learnt.
The two friends arrived back at the Rescue Center, and the workmen were very relieved that Belle was alright. The inspector, however, was not very happy.
"That was very foolish!" he scolded. "Runnin' off before we could do more work on your system! What were you thinking?"
"Sorry, sir," Belle sighed, then she looked across to all the workmen. "And sorry to all of the men as well. I guess I got a little impatient about being out and about again fighting fires, and I allowed the distress call at the DieselWorks to get me all fired up."
"That's okay, Belle," the foreman told her. "All that behind us, thanks for admitting your mistake. Now, Flynn, please shunt Belle back to the shed so we can finish the operation."
"With pleasure, sir," Flynn replied, carefully reversing Belle back into her berth.
Both Belle and Flynn's drivers stood aside as the inspector and the workmen continued to perform the operation.
"Mind you both," the foreman told them. "This operation could take a little while more. We'll just have to wait and see."
"Yes, sir," Belle sighed, as they watched the sun go down over the horizon.
"Alright, men!" the inspector called. "I shall take a look in da tank and see what else there is to get out!"
"Don't worry, Belle," Flynn assured her. "Surely the men will be quick enough to decontaminate your system."
Belle smiled at Flynn as the two friends to watch the sunset afar from their shed.
But of course, Flynn's words were easier said than done.
The men worked all through the night to drain the sea water from Belle's system, and both Belle and Flynn found it hard to get any sleep at all!
Water from the hose splashed into Belle's system and sea water quickly came out of it, the inspector watching as the procedure happened until he noticed that no more sea water was coming out, and quickly raised his hand to signal the men to stop.
"Arrêtez!" he called.
The men quickly shut off the hose as the inspector walked and climbed up Belle's side, looking into her tank with his magnifying glass.
"It is clear!" he exclaimed.
The men cheered as Belle and Flynn looked at each other with excitement and relief. This relief, however, was short lived.
"But that doesn't mean we are fini!" the inspector reminded them.
The men started chattering amongst themselves again and Belle and Flynn somewhat smiled at one another as the inspector climbed down.
"Belle!" he ordered. "Test your cannons!"
Belle sighed and readied her cannons into position, before testing them out by spraying water out of them, but as she did so, water emerged with sea water.
"Ah, I knew it!" the inspector thought. "Men! Ready de hose into position for Belle's water cannons!"
"Oh, dear," Belle sighed to Flynn. "I can tell this is going to be a loud procedure."
Flynn smiled at her, but was then taken by surprise at the sound of splashing water as the men got to work on Belle's water cannons.
"Keep spraying water from your cannons, Belle!" the inspector suggested. "Then we'll know for sure when all the sea water is gone!"
Belle did as she was told, spraying water from both her cannons, the one on the left side gradually becoming devoid of sea water. Belle sighed heavily, as she and Flynn tried their very bests to keep their eyes closed.
"We...would have...slept a lot better...if I'd...patient!" Belle grunted, tightening her eyes shut as she spoke.
"Don't...worry about it, Belle!" Flynn replied, tightening his eyes as well. "What...matters...is that once it's over…, I'll...have my fire-fighting partner back!"
The two friends continued to groan all through the night as the men continued working, eventually getting to Belle's right cannon.
By morning, the operation was complete, and the hose was shut off.
The inspector walked forward to give Belle the signal to test her cannons.
"Ahem!" he reminded her.
Belle readied her cannons into position, and this time, normal water sprayed out of them with no sea water merging out whatsoever. As soon she stopped, the inspector smilled.
"It is...fini!" he proclaimed.
The men clapped and cheered and Belle and Flynn smiled at one another in relief. Belle yawned as she exited her shed and made her way to the water tower, Flynn deciding to stay back in his berth and rest from the overnight procedure. Belle stopped by the water tower and waited for clearance from the tower operator as two men looked carefully inside.
"All clear," one said.
"You're good to go, Belle!" the operator said.
Belle sighed with relief, as her driver pulled the lever and she took on a large amount of water from the tank until the lever was shut off.
"Ah!" she sighed. "I feel as good as new!"
Then she rang her bell to the men as they went back about the Rescue Center.
"Thanks, guys!" she called out.
"Any time, Belle!" the workmen called.
"Je vous en prie!" the inspector called, as he hopped into his car.
Belle sighed happily, taking a moment of peace to rest when…
DING-DING! DING-DING! DING-DING! DING-DING!
Once again, men started shouting as they ran out of the building and ran over to Flynn to wake him up.
"Wake up, Flynn!" Butch honked. "Emergency!"
Flynn yawned as he slowly rolled out of his berth and up beside Belle.
"What does it look like this time, Rocky?" he asked.
"Smoke erupting from a cottage in Hackenbeck!" the crane replied.
"Sounds like a job for us, Belle!" Flynn told her.
"You said it, Flynn!" Belle agreed. "We'd better get going!"
"After you, Belle!" Flynn added, sounding out his siren as they slowly began to take off.
And with that, Belle and Flynn, the firefighting pair take off into action.
"Ready and raring to rescue!" they shouted out as they left the Rescue Center, Butch following alongside by road as Harold takes off to the air.
And so here reaches the conclusion of my standard 20 for Set 2! I'm very proud to have gotten through it, and this one was a particularly fun one to write. Originally, I thought of Belle and Flynn having swapped roles, especially since it seems like he's the one more likely to get impatient or jump in, but then I thought that he doesn't run on water since he's a fire engine and decided to write it with Belle as the star instead since she runs on water. Having said that, everyone makes mistakes and these were flaws that ended up working for me writing Belle despite being a little nervous about portraying her character that way, cuz I know she's kinda more level-headed than Flynn. All that aside, the pair's dynamic was fun to write/tackle and their little chat at the end felt like the most heartfelt scene to write...with some bits of comic relief sprinkled about with the inclusion of the French inspector overseeing the operation. Moving on, this is going to be my last entry for a while, at least until the semester ends and the summer kicks in. Till then, stay tuned for...
Thomas & Friends in Summertime Surprises…Coming June 2020!
Teamwork (based on Teamwork by Christopher Awdry) - by the time the holiday months come, Jock has proven himself worthy and starts getting ideas above his station. However, his cockiness gets the better of him when he has to double-head a train with Mike.
Arthur And Saul - a new crane named Saul arrives at Norramby and Arthur quickly takes a liking to him and his cautious ways of going about work, though finds that it eventually starts to cause delays.
A Fishy Situation - an incident at Norramby with a load of fish causes a few fish to settle inside Thomas' boiler while he's taking on water, unbeknownst to the tank engine and his crew. It causes confusion and delay for Thomas later on while taking passengers out on his Branch Line.
The Summer of George - George tries to spend a stress-free summer without getting angry at the railway, but working around Bill and Ben after they are assigned to work at the RoadWorks as punishment quickly gets him to the end of his rope.
Serenity Saul - Saul attempts to learn from his experience on his first day by rushing the engines on their way with their deliveries, but messes up when he mixes up their loads!
Daisy Crosses The Line - Toby brings the workmen up to Harwick to inspect the line in case of any buckles in the hot sun, but Daisy ignores his warnings so as to keep time with her passengers and lands herself into trouble.
I am very much beyond excited for each and every one of these stories, probably more than I've ever been to write a Thomas story before by being able to write a themed DVD with a batch of stories that I find interesting to write about. One last note, my thoughts go out to those out there who are currently battling COVID-19, otherwise known as Coronavirus. Whether you've got it or not, or have family members who have been diagnosed, my best advice to you would to stay safe, and do everything we can to prevent ourselves from getting it. Peace out, y'all!