Digby's Strategy

Early one morning, Digby woke up to start a new day. "All right," he said with a cheerful voice, "Time to get working! What the jibber-spigety chores shall I do today?" "How about replacing some of your old cables?" Constance suggested, "They're starting to be chafed." "Right, Constance!" Digby replied, "Replacing chafed cables!"

At the same time, the tugboats gathered around the great ocean dock and listened. "Morning," the tugboats said. "Good morning, tugboats," The Dispatcher said. "So, what's for today?" Foduck asked. The Dispatcher thought for a minute or two. "Can I blast my horn?" Foduck asked himself.

"Today," the Dispatcher said at last, "You tugboats are on cable duty with Digby." "Oh," said George. "Oh boy!" exclaimed Theodore, "I can't wait to see Digby!" "Right," George agreed in an un-amused voice.

"Come on!" Theodore said excitedly, "Let's go see Digby!" "Right!" Hank agreed. And thus, Theodore left and the other tugboats followed to meet up with Digby.

At the same time, Digby, the little cable ship to start his job. "All right," he said as soon as he saw the other tugboats, "Time to get to work!" "Right!" said Theodore. "Me too!" Hank replied as well. But George, Emily and Foduck weren't impressed. "We'll wait and see," grumbled George.

As so, Digby started work with removing his cables. First, he used his cable hook to remove the old cables. The tugboats used their towropes to hold the old cables and move them out of the way.

"Glad to be doing this job," Digby said. "Right," said Emily. "Oh, you take the old cables away, please," Digby told the three bigger tugs. The other tugs agreed and took the old cables away from Digby. "Thanks," said Digby. "We need an extra hand," suggested George. "Or barges, more like it," said Emily. "Of course," agreed Foduck, "Let's go."

As the tugboats began to maneuver around, Digby could see the damage to his cables. "Constance is right," Digby said, "These cables have been chafed." "Chafed?" Hank repeated. "Digby's cables have been rubbed against the underwater rocks and are now exposed," Theodore explained, "They could have become a hazard."

"Right," said Foduck, "And Theodore, congrats on stealing my thunder." "Theodore stole Foduck's lightning strikes?!" Hank exclaimed, "Oh no!" But no tugboats or Digby worried about that small situation and continued work.

The three big tugboats left to fetch barges to help out. That afternoon, Digby continued to remove his old cables. He was trying to reach one strand of cable, but it was out of his reach. "Uh, Digby," said Hank, "Maybe we can help you." "I don't need that kind of help now!" Digby groaned, "I can do this!" So Digby reached the out of reach cable on a marsh.

"Must!" Digby roared. "Hold on a minute!" Hank shouted, "Digby! Digby, watch out!" But it was too late. Digby managed to reach the cable and he ended up getting too close to the marsh and got stuck. "Oops," Digby groaned, "Stuck. At least I got my cable!" "Yeah," Theodore said, "But, we know!" "Stuck!" Hank said, "Digby is stuck!"

That's when George, Emily and Foduck brought Bobby Barge, Brunswick Barge and Bayswater Barge. "Well," said Theodore. "I got stuck on this marsh," Digby explained. "Imaginable," said Foduck. "I'll get him off," said Emily. "Wait a minute!" Digby said, "I think I can do this!"

"How?!" George boomed. "like this!" Digby groaned, using his crane to tug on the old cable. "What's going on?" George asked. "He's trying to use his old cables to pull himself off the marsh," Foduck explained.

"Here!" Digby roared, putting all effort into pulling on the cables."Go for it," said Theodore as Digby struggled to pull himself off the marsh. "Got to do it now!" Digby groaned until he felt movement. "Keep going!" Hank called as Digby put even more effort into pulling on the cables.

Finally, at the same time when the cables snapped, Digby was off the marsh. "Told ya!" Digby said triumphantly. The tugboats were impressed with Digby's strategy.

"Unpredictable!" said Foduck. "Wow," said Emily, "Digby got stuck, but he managed to get unstuck." "Right," said George, "I'm impressed." "Great job, Digby!" Hank shouted, "Great job!" "Thanks!" Digby replied, "Now it's back to work." "Ok!" said Theodore. It took another 30 minutes for Digby to remove all of his old chafed cables and Bayswater and Brunswick took them away.

After that, Digby, returned to his dock with an order for new cables to be delivered. "The job is now done," Digby said triumphantly. At the same time, George and Emily finished docking Annapolis.

"All right, there," said George. "Thanks," said Annapolis. "Enjoy," said Emily. At the same time, Theodore and Hank had finished docking Olympia at the oil refinery. "All taken care of," said Hank. So the tugboats decided to go and meet Digby.

"Digby," Hank said, "That was amazing of you." "Thanks," said Digby. "Yeah!" said Foduck, "You were great today!" "Amazing," said Emily. "Sorry that we were," said George. "Unimpressed?" Digby said, "It's okay."

"Thanks for finishing my sentence, "George said meekly. "Great," said Theodore, "And you really showed your skills today." "I know," said Digby, "Just wanted to get the job done." "We understand," said Foduck.

"Right," said Digby, "Well, good night, every tugboat." "You too, Digby," said Theodore, "Night."

The other tugboats said good night and returned to the Great Ocean Docks. "Oh, Foduck," said Hank. "Yes, Hank," Foduck replied, "Are you still mad that Theodore stole your lightning?"

"Not that," Foduck replied, "I mean that Theodore explained something and that is usually my job. That's what I mean when he stole my thunder." "Oh," Hank said.