Chapter Eleven: The Long Way Home

03:48

Tidmouth Station

In the end, everything was perfectly sorted out.

It took an hour for the storm to pass over, and dim sunlight shone through the light grey clouds that remained overhead. The rain and wind had been able to put out the fire in Wood's engine, but the diesels was no beyond repair. Black smoke continued to rise out, and he looked very injured and pathetic. His driver and the workers had been too afraid to run across the bridge in the storm, so they were sitting trucks by the time Henry arrived with a breakdown crane and a coach with Gordon's crew, the diesels owner and local policemen. The men were quickly rounded up, and several ambulances arrived to take care of Bark's crew, who had been injured when he fell over.

Harvey soon arrived with another breakdown train, which was used to move Gordon's tender and the fallen signal. Henry's crane lifted the two destroyed diesels onto flatbeds, their owner shouting at them during the rescue operation. Two friendly diesels than arrived to take the crane, coach and the disgraced diesels away. Henry took the remaining fireworks trucks away, and Harvey offered to take Rocky with him, who needed to have his arm fixed after hitting the diesels.

"You were splendid Rocky!" Edward had said as Harvey took him away.

"Thank you for stopping those diesels!" Gordon called.

"I hope that let me go to the fireworks display, I'd like to see our hard work pay off!" Rocky cried in his final words, and Edward and Gordon had laughed as he disappeared.

And then there was silence.

The two blue tender engines weren't quite sure what to say to each other, and Edward began to push Gordon home in silence. Their crews talked amongst themselves, and other engines whistled and honked at the two as they passed, having heard the heroic story from Henry. But the engines weren't sure what to say properly to each other: despite having been part of this heroic rescue together, they still had had a big fight only earlier that day.

So the two travelled in silence, mulling words over in their minds, waiting for the other to say something first. Several times their eyes met, but then they would quickly look away, still thinking of what to say. But as they passed through Knapford and disappeared into the tunnel, Gordon decided he had to say something. Not just because of this incident, but because of all the other times he had mocked or upset Edward and never said a thing.

"Edward, I'm sorry." The big blue engine said, his voice echoing inside the tunnel. "I never should have been so selfish. It was my own fault that I got taken by those diesels." Edward went to say something, but Gordon interrupted. "I'm also sorry for all those times that I ever teased you about not being able to push me up the hill, or when I went against your advice, or anything like that. I think today proved how useful, reliable, strong, fast and grand you really are." The two emerged out of the tunnel into glorious sunlight, and Edward was red in the face: not from being tired, but due to blushing.

"Thank you very much Gordon, that was very kind." The old engine said. "I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I can understand why you wanted to have a break, sometimes I imagine taking a short break from here." And the engines laughed. Suddenly, there was a loud chorus of whistles, horns and cheers, and the two looked around. They had arrived at Tidmouth Station, and the passengers on the station must have heard the story, as many of them were cheering their arrival. James, Duck and Bear were all at the station, and they too celebrated the victory the two had done. Edward and Gordon both blushed as they moved into Platform 3.

"Great work Edward, sounds like you did an amazing job!" Duck called.

"I'm amazed you two were able to escape them!" Bear added.

"Looks like you can still save the day then Edward!" James said happily from alongside them. Edward and Gordon just beamed and blushed, and their crews climbed onto the station. Gordon's crew thanked Edward's crew, who had their photos taken by a reporter from the local paper.

"It's always good to make the front page." Gordon said, and Edward chuckled loudly. Then, all of a sudden, The Fat Controller emerged out from the crowd, nodding to the reporter before speaking briskly to the crews. He then walked forwards and stood in between the two engines, who could do nothing but smile at him. The controller laughed and clapped, and there was another flash from the reporters camera.

"Edward, excellent work today! I'm very proud to see you are still working well and appreciate your heroic actions." The Fat Controller said, and there was a smattering of applause for Edward.

"Thank you sir, though I did think I was close to collapsing!" The old engine said, and everyone laughed. The Fat Controller chuckled, but he turned towards Gordon, and his face went stony. Gordon looked nervously down at his buffers, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Gordon, your driver's said that you appeared to be faking illness, and they wanted to punish you by leaving you in the cold." The portly man explained. "I would punish you myself, but I think that after what happened today, you've been punished again. Just don't try and pull any more sick acts again!"

"Yes sir!" Gordon replied quickly, and he tried hard not to look embarrassed. The Fat Controller nodded, and then he turned to face the crowds.

"I must say, for once I was glad there was an issue with the points!" The Fat Controller announced. "I received a call from the signalmen near the bridge, saying that some water got onto the controls, causing the point controls to become damaged when they tried to divert Edward." The two blue engines looked at each other and laughed, glad to see they hadn't done something wrong there. "So, who is ready for some FIREWORKS!" He boomed, and everyone cheered.

Many hours later, Edward, Gordon and all the other engines were lined up in the station and sidings, their eyes fixed firmly on the skies. They counted down with all of the spectators, and then blew their whistles loudly as different coloured fireworks exploded brilliantly and beautifully above their funnels. Edward and Gordon smiled at each other as they entered the New Year, wondering what exciting adventures it would hold.

But they could both agree on one thing: they hoped it wouldn't end the like the last one.