Chapter 44: Dirty Work

Diesel was miserable. All of the sledgehammers thought his accident was funny and sang rudely at him.

Trucks are waiting in the yard,

Tackling them with easel,

Show the world what I can do,

Gaily boasts Mr. Diesel.

In and out, he creeps about,

Like a big black weasel.

When he pulls the wrong trucks out,

Pop goes the Diesel.

Duck was horrified.

"Shut up!" he shouted, and pushed a sledgehammer hard. Seeing this and not wanting the same thing to happen to them the rest scattered. "I'm sorry they are rude to you, Diesel."

Diesel was furious.

"It's your fault," he said crossly, "You made them laugh at me."

"Duck would never," said Henry. "We may have our differences, but we would tell jokes about each other behind our backs."

"No, indeed," put in Gordon. "That would be Disgraceful."

"Disgusting," added James.

"Despicable," finished Henry.

Diesel didn't care, and wanted to get rid of Duck at any cost. Then, a naughty idea came into his head.

"Yes," he thought. "This will do nicely."

At lunch, he found some sledgehammers lounging around the yard.

"I see you like to tell jokes," he told them, "You told a good joke about me earlier. I laughed and laughed. Duck told me a good one about Gordon. I'll whisper it."

And so, he did. The sledgehammers thought it was funny. They didn't realize (or didn't care) that Diesel was lying.

"Don't tell Gordon I told you," Diesel finished, then left.

"That was a funny joke," said one of the sledgehammers.

"Indeed," said another one. "Why don't we tell Gordon and get Duck in trouble. That'll show them who's boss."

And that was what they did. Gordon didn't want to believe, but he had no evidence to the contrary.

This continued for two more days, where Diesel would tell the sledgehammers jokes about James and Henry and would claim that Duck was the one who told him. Then they would laugh rudely at the engine drivers and say Duck told them the jokes.

During their free time the three held a meeting.

"Out of all the people, I never would have thought Duck, of all people, would stoop so low," Gordon said.

"But Diesel confirmed that it was Duck who spread those nasty jokes," said James. "And he hasn't given us much reason to distrust him."

"But we've known Duck much longer than him," Henry said, "And he's never done such a thing."

"Done what?" came a voice. The three men turned to see Sir Topham Hatt behind them.

"Please sir," Gordon began, "but we have heard that Duck has been telling nasty jokes about us, which Diesel has confirmed. We don't want to believe it, but we don't know for sure."

"Really?" Sir Topham Hatt asked incredulously, "What jokes?"

"That I drive a Galloping Sausage," Gordon said.

"And I drive a pile of rusty red scrap iron," put in James.

"And he called my engine old square wheels," Henry finished.

Sir Topham Hatt pondered for a minute.

"Don't worry, I shall speak to Duck about this," he said at last, "I will be sure to get to the bottom of things."

He found Duck shunting in the yard.

"Duck," said Sir Topham Hatt said, "Gordon, James and Henry have told me that you have been telling nasty jokes about them behind their backs. I'm only going to ask this once, did you do it."

"Of course not, sir," Duck said. "That would be disgraceful."

It was at that moment that Diesel walked up.

"Diesel," said Sir Topham Hatt, "Gordon, James, and Henry claim that you confirmed that Duck had been telling jokes about them behind their back. Is that true."

"I'm as shocked as anybody, sir," said Diesel. "But I must sadly say yes. I overheard him talking to some yard workers the other day about Henry."

"I see," said Sir Topham Hatt. He then turned to Duck.

"I'm sorry, Duck," he said. "But until this is sorted out I'm afraid I must send you to Edward's branchline. I'm sure he will be happy to see you."

"Yes, sir," Duck said sadly, and drove his engine away, as Diesel smirked proudly to himself.

A/N: And another chapter finished. Yes, I know I changed the ending, but I did so for a good reason. As I have grown up I began to realize that the ending of the story wasn't very realistic. Earlier in the episode the three engines defended Duck when Diesel accused him of making the trucks laugh at him, but at the end the believe the lies without a second thought? Yes, without it there wouldn't have been the next story, but it still doesn't make much sense, so I changed it where they are skeptical but not willing to accuse anybody due to lack of evidence. Anyway, thanks for reading and I will see you next time.