James' Funfair Attraction Nightmare
One night on the Island of Sodor, everything was calm and cool for the moment. There was no work that night, so no engines were busy at this time.
Almost every engine on the island was fast asleep. One of the engines who were dreaming is James.
In his dream, James is pulling the big express. "I am the express engine!" James called out as every engine on the railway watched him in amazement.
"The fastest and the reddest!" James added, "Faster than Gordon!" James was really happy.
Suddenly, the rails just broke apart and immediately, James drove right off the track.
"Oh no!" cried James and he shut his eyes. James ran smack-dab right into a large tree. The tree splintered upon impact.
But when James opened his eyes, however, he was suddenly at a funfair. "What?" James exclaimed, "A funfair? How?"
He saw that he had become a popular attraction at the funfair and he felt that all of his express coaches, and tender, had vanished into thin air.
"What's going on?" he asked as he saw a group of people lining up. All had play balls. James then saw coconuts next to him and one on top of his funnel.
The people threw the balls at James. All knocked the coconuts off of their places, including James' funnel.
"Oh no!" yelled James as he ended up getting pelted by more play balls. "Ahhhh! Screamed James, "Leave me alone!"
But he kept getting pummeled by the play balls.
"NOO!" James screamed, blowing his whistle, thus waking the other engines up. The scare ended James' nightmare.
"Everyone, stop throwing balls at me!" James shouted, but then he realized he was back home in his sheds, "Uh, I mean, good night?"
"James," groaned Gordon, "What are you yelling about at this time?!" "I had an accident!" James cried. "No you didn't," Henry said, "Now shut up and go back to sleep!"
"But I ended up at a funfair!" James said, "It was awful!" "A funfair?" Gordon said, "Oh, James, you were having that nightmare again, weren't you?"
"Yes?" James answered in a wimpy voice. "Oh dear," Edward said, "James, please try not to think about it." "Try not to think about," Henry repeated.
"And go back to sleep!" Gordon shouted. "Oh," groaned James as the other engines went back to sleep.
For the rest of the night, James stood wide-awake, afraid of his terrible nightmare.
The next morning, the other engines had gone out to start their days work. James followed, well, sort of.
He was almost near his first train that day when a voice startled him. "Good morning!" Percy called out.
"AHHHHHH!" James screamed, "Don't throw any balls at me!" "What?" Percy asked. "Oh, it's only you, Percy," said James.
"Yes, said Percy, "It is me and I'm not going to hit you. And I've heard you were having that nightmare again, weren't you?"
"Oh," James replied, trying to think of something to say, "That, well, I was just choosing the wrong dreams, that's all. Anyway, no time to waste. Bye!"
And James set off, but slowly.
"Wrong dreams?" Percy repeated, "I don't get it."
A long train of farm equipment that needed to go to Farmer McColl was ready for James. But before James changed track to couple up to the train, he fell fast asleep.
"James," his driver said, "Come on, sleepy engine. Time to wake up!" But James kept on sleeping, until he hit the train with a bump.
"AHHHH!" James screamed, "Funfair! Toy balls!" He blew his whistle really loudly. "What funfair?" James' firemen asked.
"Nothing," James answered. "Are you all right?" James' firemen asked, "You've been sleeping all morning."
"Nothing, really, crew," James answered, "Come on! Let's get to work!" "If you say so," James' driver said as he coupled James up to the train.
Nearby, Thomas was pulling Annie and Clarabel, but then, he saw James, looking drowsy. "I wonder what's on his mind?" Thomas thought to himself.
Minutes later, James was pulling the train of farm equipment along the line, but he fell asleep again. "All clear," his driver said, watching the signals.
But the firemen noticed something. "James!" he called, "James? Darn! He fell asleep again! Oh no!"
At that moment, the signalmen had to divert James into a siding to allow Toby and Henrietta to pass by.
"Here they come," James' firemen said, "And the points have change." That's what happened. James was diverted onto a loop to allow Toby to pass with Henrietta.
"James!" both Toby and Henrietta called out, "You're fast asleep!" But James remained asleep, until he had hit something.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!" James shouted, immediately waking up. "James," his driver called, "This is silly for you!"
"Hey!" a voice called, "Watch out!" James looked at a brake van. He saw that he had run into another train on the siding.
It belonged to Diesel, who had been diverted into the siding by accident. "Watch where you're going!" Diesel burst out, "Clumsy steam engine!"
"I am not clumsy!" James muttered.
After letting Duck, Murdoch and Arthur pass by, James and Diesel returned to the main line and were on their way again.
"Next time," Diesel scowled, "Watch out where you're going!" "I will!" James grumbled as Diesel left.
James was on his way again, only to fall asleep again some minutes later. "We have to keep him under control," James' driver said.
"We can't let him cause any more damage," the firemen agreed, "Even though no damage has been done so far."
Fortunately, Thomas, with Annie and Clarabel were hot on James' trail. "I must get to James now!" he chuffed to himself, "Faster now!" Thomas began to go faster.
"Careful, Thomas!" Annie and Clarabel called out. Eventually, James made it to Farmer McColl's farm, without further incidents.
This time, James' driver stopped James at the platform, even though James is still sleeping. "Here we are," the driver said.
Both he and the firemen uncoupled the train just as Thomas steamed up. "James!" he called, "Are you okay?" But James was still sleeping.
Thomas blew his whistle at James. "What?!" James burst out loud, "Oh, it's you, Thomas. What are you doing here?"
"I saw you this morning," Thomas explained, "It looked like you were still sleeping. Can you tell me what's going on?"
"Well," James began, "You see, I have this nightmare."
"Is it about you being a funfair attraction, isn't it?" Thomas asked. "Yes," James answered in a dull tone of voice, "It is! It was awful! I don't know what to think of it!"
Thomas was silent for a moment.
"Well," Thomas said in a sympathetic tone of voice, "Sometimes, I have nightmares. Yes, I am afraid, but I never let it get the better of me. I know it's just a terrible dream."
"Well," James thought, "Okay."
"Don't worry about it," Thomas said. "All right," James said.
"So, James," Thomas said, "Why don't you take the rest of the day off and get some rest? I'll talk to the Fat Controller about it. Don't worry, I'll do all of your work today."
"All right," James said. "You need your rest now," Thomas said kindly, "You'll be more focused tomorrow. All right?" "All right," James agreed.
So Thomas told the Fat Controller about James feeling tired and his nightmare.
"Very well," the Fat Controller said, "But tomorrow, James has better be prepared for a long day of work. Okay?" "Yes, sir," Thomas replied.
For the rest of the day, Thomas did all of James' work while James slept through the rest of the day.
This time, he did not have any nightmares about the funfair.
Even the other engines were surprised to see James fast asleep when their work was done for the day.
"Well," Henry said, "What do you think of this?" "Early bird," Gordon mumbled. "I think he's made the right choice," said Duck.
Eventually, all of the other engines were fast asleep, too and early the next morning, James woke up and was ready to go back to work.
James did his regular jobs like pulling a passenger train, taking a slow goods train and shunting. This time, he's in a much better mood.
"Well, how do you like that?" Thomas asked Harvey. "Well, I am surprised," Harvey said, "He's not complaining at all." "Right," Thomas smiled.
James was the happiest engine of all that day.
Some time later, however, when a real funfair came to the Island of Sodor, James had fun taking people to the funfair.
He'd never once had that terrible nightmare ever again, because he knows that he's a really useful engine.