A SPECIAL FRIEND FOR DUCK

Written by Zack Wanzer, James Riddle and Rachel Ravens

Set during Series 20-21

Christmas and Boxing Day had come and gone, and the engines were now back at work and getting ready for the New Year. Duck was coasting up the Little Western with Alistair, Mirabel and Benjamin the slip coaches. However, as they approached Bluff's Cove, he heard someone singing to himself. It was very quiet, and he couldn't make out the words.

"Hmm?" Duck blinked in confusion. "What is that song?"

"Quack, quack, quack…"

The driver couldn't resist chuckling. "It sounds like they're singing about you, Duck."

"That's not funny!" huffed Duck. He rattled into the station and blew his whistle loudly. "Oi! Whoever is mocking me, stop it at once!"

Immediately, the singing stopped, and the person who was doing it gulped.

"I… how was I mocking you…?"

Wait… it was a child?! Duck thought, surprised. Oh… oh dear…

"You were constantly quacking, that's what!" came another voice; it was Alice Percival, storming out of the train. "You just had to do that when Duck was approaching, didn't you, Julian?"

"Wait… that's Duck?!" cried Julian. "I… I didn't… I didn't know…"

"You had a book with the engines' names in them given to you by my mom!" snapped Alice. "How can you not know?!"

"Because he hasn't had the time to read it yet!" called another voice; it was a younger boy by the name of Jake. "Alice, I know that you're incredibly loyal to the engines, and I deeply admire that. But you have to remember that Julian isn't as involved with the engines as you, nor does he know the schedules as well."

"Well, he should get out more often," said Alice, "with the way he coops himself in his room all day. He didn't even show up to the family Christmas party last year!"

"Well, perhaps he was too busy to come," insisted Jake. "Or maybe he wasn't feeling well enough. Not everybody's in perfect physical and mental conditions for big get togethers."

"You're his brother, Jake!" said Alice. "You would know why he didn't come."

"Kids, kids!" Annabelle raced over. "What's going on?"

"Well, cousin Annabelle," said Jake, "Julian was stressed out over how busy the station was, so he started singing a Wiggles song to calm down. Unfortunately, Duck misinterpreted it as mocking him, and Alice… well…"

"Ah, I see," Annabelle nodded in understanding. "Jake, you go with Julian to calm him down. I'll talk to Alice and Duck."

With an affirmative nod, Jake went to tend to his brother, while Annabelle took Alice to the side and came next to Duck so she could address them both.

"Duck," sighed Annabelle, "I can understand why you thought that song was trying to mock you, but it's really not. The song is about a character in a show called the Wiggles that had ended up on a farm and ducks were singing to him."

"Oh…" trailed Duck. "I… I see. Well… if I do see Julian again, I deeply apologize."

"Thank you, Duck," said Annabelle. "But as for you, Alice, you know that large groups of people overstimulate your cousin! That's why Julian remained at home with his dad for Christmas."

"He's not trying hard enough," insisted Alice. "He should have gotten used to large crowds by now! Jake's just my age, and he can handle large crowds just fine!"

"Not everybody is able to get used to their difficulties, Alice," scolded Annabelle. "Everyone has their own different paces they're more comfortable with as well as their own limitations. And I would appreciate it if you respected Julian's limitations."

Duck silently observed mother and daughter; although Annabelle and Alice had the same interest in railways, their personalities were like fire and ice, with the latter being more outspoken and abrasive than the former was when she was a child. However, Alice was not a bad kid; from what Duck and the other engines knew, she sometimes spoke without thinking her words carefully.

"Do you think she'll respect Julian's boundaries, Duck?" asked Mirabel.

"She's only a child, Mirabel," Duck assured. "I'm sure Alice will learn."

Later on, Duck was discussing matters with his fellow branch line runners.

"Julian?" asked Oliver. "I think maybe I saw him with his folks once or twice."

"His parents usually drive him tae schuil, richt?" asked Donald.

"That would explain it," said Duck. "But… why was he and Jake at Bluff's Cove today? And school doesn't take place at this time of year."

"I can answer that," said a female voice. The engines saw Gwen, one of Annabelle's cousins on her father's side, walk over. "I was busy with a vet house call on the other side of town, so Tyler let the boys stay with him at the station while he worked."

"That mak's sense," said Douglas. "Hmm… Tyler, Tyler…"

"Douglas?" asked Oliver. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Ah swear Ah heard that name afore tae," Douglas admitted. "Bit… cannae remember whaur…"

"It could just be one of your passengers, Douglas," Daisy assured. "We all get plenty of those."

"In any case," said Gwen, "would you all keep a lookout for Julian for me when I'm not close by?"

"Of course we can," promised Ryan. "He'll be in safe buffers with his 'engine uncles'."

"Or 'engine aunts'," Daisy put in.

"Heh," giggled Gwen. "Thank you, everyone. No wonder Annabelle greatly admires you."

The following day, Jake and Julian were at Bluff's Cove again.

"Look, Julian!" said his little brother. "I found a seashell on the beach! It looks beautiful, doesn't it?"

"It sure does," nodded Julian. "I wonder if Henry the octopus has discovered more in the ocean."

"With the way he swims, it wouldn't surprise me," chuckled Jake.

"So you're saying that a big green engine has grown tentacles now?" scoffed another voice.

"Henry's purple, not green–"

"Last I checked on the main line, he's green!" smirked the girl. "I rode on his train before jumping on one of the trains here."

"And I suppose you could tell the engines apart around here, Chantal?" retorted Jake.

"Of course I can," said Chantal, gesturing to the western tank engine resting at the station. "That quacker picked me up at Tidmouth and dropped me off here."

"Just a tip; if you're trying to mock us, at least say it to the right engine!"

"Oh, hello, Oliver," waved Jake; Chantal blushed with embarrassment. "I'm sure Chantal will apologise to your cousin as soon as she sees him."

"You're telling me they're related?!"

"Well, Duck and Oliver do have similar paint," said Julian. "Is that how you're related?"

Oliver laughed. "Goodness gracious, no! That would be like if you and the next kid across the street wore the same top. You wouldn't be related even then, would you?"

"Erm… no," said Julian.

"What I mean by us being related," explained Oliver, "is that Duck and I are different designs, but we were designed by the same person – Charles Collett. For Donald and Douglas, however, they're of the same design and have the same designer – John McIntosh – so they're brothers."

"Ohhh, I understand now," said Julian.

"It's all explained more in cousin Annabelle's book," said Jake. "I have it with me if you want to read it now."

"Sure," smiled Julian. Soon, both brothers were sitting on a bench, reading together.

"Oh, here's a fun fact – Annabelle had a toy engine she named Thomas… before the real Thomas showed up," chuckled Jake.

"And… he was the fifth engine on the railway," said Julian, "and yet became the number one?"

"I think that's something to do with them losing a previous number one… Huh?!" Jake glanced up in surprise. "Did… did one of the staff turn the radio up?"

"I was trying to listen to the music," called the stationmaster, "This is one of my favorite songs."

"Well, I can't say I blame you," smiled Oliver. "This song is really catchy." Humming to himself, Oliver blew his whistle and left the station. "Wait till Toad hears this."

A few of the passengers started to dance to the music too; not quite enough to cause a flash mob, but it was still in good fun. However, other passengers and station staff couldn't quite hear each other over the music.

"Excuse me?" called one of the passengers to a porter. "Do you know when the next train is coming?"

"No, I don't think it's forecast for rain today," he replied.

"Not rain, train!"

"N-noise… too much noise…" Julian covered his ears.

"Oh dear…" Jake gestured with his hand. "Come on, Julian. We'll go somewhere nice and quiet."

"It's too noisy!" wailed Julian. "Everyone, BE QUIET!"

"Hmph!" snorted the stationmaster. "You're ruining a perfectly good song by screaming your head off!"

"He can't help it!" protested Jake. "Julian's autistic!"

"One of the engines is supposedly on the spectrum and he can listen to music at this level just fine," the stationmaster retorted.

"The correct term is 'autistic'!" said another voice. Duck bustled into the station with the slip coaches in tow. "Beg pardon, stationmaster, but I don't appreciate you mocking poor Julian here!"

"Oh, so now I'm being seen as the villain for calling out this brat for trying it on?" argued the stationmaster. "If he can't handle this environment, he shouldn't have been here to begin with!"

"You should be more courteous towards my son!" retorted another voice; it was Tyler, who had been checking over several bags of luggage. "Just because Duck can handle the music at the volume that it is, it doesn't mean Julian can too. If you've met one person – or in Duck's case, engine – who's autistic, then congratulations, you've met one person or engine who's autistic!"

"That's so true, brother," said a female voice; the figure was turning the radio down to a more manageable level. "How's that, Julian?" she asked.

"Oh, thank you, aunt Sylvia!" The young boy hugged the dark haired woman. Duck's eyes nearly popped out when he caught sight of her familiar purple eyes hidden beneath her glasses.

"Sylvia Starkey?!" he exclaimed.

"Wait… that's the same Sylvia who bullied Annabelle as a teenager?" gasped Alistair. "The best friend of Goldie you told us about?"

"Unless I'm going blind, then… yes."

"No, Duck," Sylvia shook her head. "It's me, alright. I can't believe I ever acted that way as a teenager, but it would seem that Goldie has rubbed off on you and Chantal for all the wrong reasons… Atticus Eclair!" She and Tyler glared angrily at the stationmaster.

"If he's so difficult to control, then you should've had Jake be an only child and have that other kid institutionalized," snorted Atticus.

"In-in-what?!" shrieked Julian. The poor kid raced off as fast as he could.

"Julian!" cried Tyler, racing after him, Jake following shortly behind. "Son, come back!"

"If anyone should be institutionalized, it's you!" Sylvia slapped Atticus right across the face.

"Sylvia," called Duck. "Jump in my cab. We'll get your nephew back here safely."

"You… you trust me to do that?" asked Sylvia. "After all I've done?"

"Not the first time I trusted a former enemy," said Duck. "Come on."

Syliva hopped aboard, and the pannier tank raced off. Atticus, meanwhile, was left standing on the platform with many passengers glaring angrily at him; Chantal hid behind her father out of fear.

Duck's wheels pounded the rails, keeping a close eye out for Julian. "It's okay, Julian," Duck called. "I promise, you'll be safe and that Atticus will be fired."

"Oh… where could he be?" asked Sylvia. "Julian?! Julian, please come out."

"Ouch!"

"Julian!" Sylvia jumped out of Duck's cab and raced over. Tyler and Jake were helping the older child to his feet.

"Ow… my knee hurts," winced Julian.

"Oh, Julian," said Jake. "It's okay; dad's here, and so am I."

"And so's aunt Sylvia," she called. She leaned down to check. "Oh, it's just a small graze. You'll be alright, champ."

"Come on, son," said Tyler. "We'll go back to the station and get some ice cream."

"Ice cream?!" Julian cried. "Yummy!"

"Duck's offered us a lift back," said Sylvia.

"Could we sing 'quack quack' on the way back?" asked Julian.

"Well… Duck didn't like it last time," advised Jake. "I think we should sing something else."

"Actually," said the pannier tank, "that was because I misunderstood what the song was about. I asked my driver to look it up recently, and… it actually sounds really catchy."

"Oh, really?" asked Julian. "That's really cool! I'll start off the song, and you can join in if you like."

"Start away," smiled Duck. When the family was aboard the cab, Julian started singing.

"Captain Feathersword fell asleep on his pirate ship,

Then he woke up on a farm!

(Oh my goodness me!)

With roosters and ducks singing this song…"

"…quack, quack, quack, a-dooley-doo!"

Duck laughed as he pulled into the station and everyone disembarked. Gwen, Annabelle and Alice were on the platform.

"Oh, Julian!" Gwen rushed over to hug her oldest son and kissed his cheek. "Oh, my baby boy! Are you alright?"

"Duck sang 'quack quack quack' with me on the way back here!" Julian grinned. "He's a really good singer!"

"He did?" Alice was surprised with what she'd just heard.

"I didn't know what the song was about last time," Duck explained, "but now I do. Heh, whoever heard of sleeping on a ship and then ending up at a farm? I'll have to tell Salty that one."

"I'm very proud of you, Duck," said Annabelle. "Thank you for helping to find my distant cousin, and keeping him calm."

"That's alright, Annabelle," said Duck.

"Yeah, Duck," added Alice. "You handled the situation so well… better than I did yesterday." She then looked over at her older second cousin. "Julian, I… I'm sorry I misunderstood things yesterday."

"It's… okay," sighed Julian. "But it will take me a while to trust you again! Don't you know how stressed out I was?!"

"I understand," nodded Alice. "I thought I knew you better than you knew yourself, due to my mother being autistic and… well…"

"Your mother and Julian are two different people," said Sylvia. "Not everyone is going to cope with things in the same way."

"Exactly," said Annabelle. "Speaking of coping and dealing with things… where is Atticus?"

"Oh, Sir Topham Hatt's having a word with him," said Tyler. "All I can say is that he's throwing the book at him."

"You mean this book?" asked Julian, holding up the book that Jake was reading to him earlier.

"No!" chuckled Tyler. "I mean that he's having a severe word with him."

Indeed, Sir Topham Hatt spoke severely to Atticus Eclair over his appalling treatment of Julian, but I shan't tell you what he actually said, for it would not have been appropriate for the children to hear. I can say, however, that Atticus had been fired from his position as stationmaster of Bluff's Cove.

And who do you suppose took that spot?

"Daddy!"

"Heh, yes, boys," smiled Tyler, hugging them both. "I'm head of this place now."

"Does this mean you can put on some Wiggles music?" asked Julian.

"Well, I do have some CDs, so why not?" smiled Tyler. He quickly put one on.

"Move your arms like Henry

Move your arms like Henry

Move your arms around and around

And around and around like Henry…"

"Well, bless me," cried Duck. "A Wiggles song about a character called Henry. Heh, Henry will not believe this…"

THE END

This story was inspired by an incident that took place at Paddington station in October 2018 when, according to crime writer Sarah Hilary, her autistic son was mocked by Great Western Railway staff after she'd asked to be transferred to an earlier train due to her son being overwhelmed by the station environment.

Author's Comments

Zack: Okay, so it turns out I was wrong; this will be the last story for 2023, and it serves as a New Years special as well. A few years back, I read an article by the BBC that talked about an autistic child being bullied by railway staff at Paddington station, and it had been on the back of my mind since, and now I was finally able to weave that event into a story. Perhaps it felt appropriate to feature Duck as a leading character given his GWR heritage, as well as being one of several engines who is autistic. Admittedly, it is more focused on the human characters rather than the engines, but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing as we got to expand a little on Alice Percival as a character, as well as Annabelle's expanded family.

Rachel: This is also slightly based on… some things I've seen and heard in my life, but I won't touch upon it too much here. What I will touch upon is that there are some references to a band I loved as a kid: The Wiggles. For a reference here, this story takes place in 2006, and it's the time where Sam Maron took the place of Greg Page when he was diagnosed with orthostatic intolerance. One thing I will note, is that the boy in the story Zack referenced was a teenager/young adult (seventeen years old), but Julian here is only a couple of years older than Alice and Jake (the former of which was born in 1996, for a reference). That's another surprise you may find with this story: Jake is younger than Julian. I've read somewhere that those with autistic siblings who are neurotypical themselves mature a lot quicker because they have to "step up" so to speak. As for Alice, she's an only child who was raised by an autistic mother, so she thought she knew better… yeah, doesn't exactly work like that.

Autistic boy 'mocked' by Great Western Railway staff

Upcoming stories:

- Serious Sigrid - A new diesel is brought to help out on the Arlesdale Railway, but Rex, Bert and Mike soon find out that she'll stand for no nonsense from anyone.

- Caroline's New Friend - On one of her travels, Caroline encounters an elderly bus named Edgar, who hasn't worked under Sodor Roadways for years, so she tries to find someone who could save him from a worse fate.

- A Kyndley Gesture - When Mrs. Kyndley's cottage needs some repairs, she temporarily moves into Dowager Hatt's house at Maithwaite, but can she put up with the eccentric old lady's antics?

- Mavis and Scarlett - With the workload increasing at Anopha Quarry, Mr. Croarie brings in a new engine to assist Mavis, and she proves to be quite the buffer-full.

- The 70th Between the Lines Story