Hank's Engine Trouble

Hank had just woken up to start a new day. "Ah," he yawned, "Time to start the work." His first job that day was to move Brunswick barge. "Time to start," Hank said to Brunswick.

"Ok," agreed Brunswick, "Will something happen?" "Well, we'll see," Hank replied. "I hope so," Brunswick said, excited for something dangerous to happen.

In an hour, when Hank had finished his work with Brunswick, Hank started to leave for his next job when his engine backfired and made a funny sound. "Oops," Hank said, embarrassed.

"That was funny!" Brunswick giggled. Hank had to laugh, too. "It was a funny sound," he said. Then Hank left to help bring in a cargo ship with George.

"Ready!" Hank called out when he got to George, with Katherine, who had a large load. "Of course you are," smiled George. The two tugs began to tow in Katherine. In 10 minutes, the tugboats got Katherine to her dock.

"Good tugging," said Katherine. After George and Hank docked Katherine, Hank's engine backfired and made the funny noise again. "Hank," George asked, "What did you do?"

"I did it again!" Hank replied. He made the funny noise with his engine again, this time, on purpose. "That is a funny noise," Katherine said with a giggle.

"Oh boy," George muttered. Hank laughed at his funny noise.

Throughout the whole day, whenever Hank had finished a job, he made the funny noise with his engine every time he'd finished and set off to do his next job.

He did it when he finished harbour patrol with Constance and Nautilus. "Careful, Hank," Constance said, "With your engine." But Hank didn't listen to Constance and made the funny noise with his engine when he's finished a research project with Rebecca. "Hank," Rebecca whispered, "You're going to damage your engine."

Then Hank did it in front of Bedford Buoy. "Funny noise, Hank," Bedford said in response to the funny noise. Hank continued on with his jobs with some of the barges and then making his funny noise when he'd finished.

"What an odd sound," Bobby said. "Silly noise," said Bonnavista. "I've heard worse," grumbled Guysborough. Before 5:00 pm, Hank had finished docking Kingston into dock 23. Hank, of course, made his funny noise with his engine.

"That's silly," Kingston said. Hank laughed, but his engine started to feel weird.

Hank left Kingston to go to the sandy beach when he heard a familiar croaky horn. "Digby," thought Hank, "Of course, he must be stuck somewhere." Hank left in the direction in which the sound of Digby's horn came from.

There was Digby. "Hello," Digby said the moment he saw Hank. "Are you stuck again?" asked Hank. "Yes," Digby answered, "On a sandbar." "I know what to do," Hank said, maneuvering into position to pull Digby off of the sandbar. "Hold on, Digby!" called Hank, "I'll get you off of there!"

"Ok," agreed Digby. Hank tied his towrope onto Digby and began to pull him off of the sandbar. "Here I go!" Hank called and he strained to pull Digby off of the sandbar.

"This is usual for me," Digby said. In a minute, Hank finally managed to pull Digby off of the sandbar and back into deep water. When Hank finished pulling Digby off of the sandbar, his engine stopped. "Hmm," thought Hank, "Wasn't I supposed to-?" "Tow me to the repair docks for a checkup?" Digby answered.

"That," Hank said in response, "But first, this!" Hank revved his engine to try and make the funny noise once more. But this time, it wasn't a funny noise.

"That's an answer?" Digby asked as the noise became an awful noise. "Uh oh," Hank replied. He turned off his engine, but it was too late as the awful sounding noise turned into a terrible crashing sound.

"No!" cried Hank as his engine completely collapsed. Thick, black smoke bellowed from his stack and engine room.

"Is this part of pulling me off of something when I get stuck?" asked Digby. "No," groaned Hank, coughing from his own smoke. Emily and George had just finished towing out Emma Sophia when they've both noticed the black smoke.

"When there's smoke, there's fire," George said as he and Emily raced towards the source. Both tugs were surprised to see that the smoke was coming from Hank's engine.

"Hank!" George called, "What did you do to yourself?!" "I tried to make a funny noise," Hank replied, sadly. "Great," grumbled Emily, "Now we have to get you repaired."

"And don't forget me, too," Digby said, "I got stuck on this sandbar." "I tried to make the funny noise in front of Digby," Hank moaned, "But now, I'm no use to anyone." The two tugs said nothing and they towed Hank and Digby to the repair docks.

The next morning, Digby was the first to leave, but it took Hank a long time to get his engine repaired.

3 days later, Hank's engine had been repaired and he was back at work. The first job he had to do was to move Barrington and Bonnavista together. Emily and George met up with Hank.

"Sorry about my mistake," Hank said, "I was just having fun." "Well," George said, "Next time, try to be more careful with your engine." "Yes," agreed Emily.

"I know," Hank said, turning to leave. But just as he did so, his engine made a funny noise. "Ok, that is a funny noise," said George. Hank agreed, but he chose to be more careful with his engine from now on.