Chapter 189: Rosie's Rough Day

Rosie had made a great first impression on Sodor. No matter what job she was given, she carried it out to her best extent, and made the time table run like clockwork. Not even Gordon could think of anything negative to say about her!

One morning, Sir Topham Hatt came to see her.

"You've done good so far, and I'm proud of you. After lunch, I'd like you to help out at the China Clay Works on Edward's branchline. They have a lot of china clay to move, and they need all of the help that they can get."

"Yes sir!"

Thomas was nearby and had overheard everything.

"Be careful, Rosie. Bill and Ben love to play tricks, especially on newcomers. Be on your guard."

"Don't worry, Thomas. I've dealt with worse. Remember when we had to babysit the Tibble twins?"

"Don't remind me. I was picking toy cars out of my hair for weeks."

Meanwhile, Bill and Ben were worn out. They'd been up since dawn moving trucks to the docks and were exhausted.

"Who needs this much china clay anyway? I've never taken this many trucks before, and its not even noon."

"I don't know, but we could use a break. Anymore of this and I'm gonna be sick."

This gave Ben an idea. A rather devious idea.

"What if we were? Then we wouldn't have to work."

He whispered his idea to Bill, who was on board but skeptical.

"But who can we pull it on? Boco's helping on the mainline, and Edward's too wise to our tricks."

"That new girl Rosie is supposed to come and help us. Boy, won't she be in for a surprise."

They put their plan into motion once Rosie arrived. When she walked over, she saw Bill looking rather green in the face.

"You two must be Bill and Ben. Everything alright?"

"No. My stomach's acting up. I don't think I can take my next train."

Rosie smiled sympathetically.

"Don't worry, I can take it. Just couple them up to my train."

"Are you sure? It'll be very heavy, not to mention the hill."

"I'll manage, thank you though."

The Clay Pits manager agreed, and soon Rosie set off with a huge line of trucks. Once they were sure no one was looking, Bill and Ben snickered to themselves.

At first her trip went well, and Rosie enjoyed the view as the scenery rolled past. But as she crested over a hill, disaster struck. As she applied the brakes, she failed to take into consideration the extra weight, and the trucks pushed her and her engine down the slope. A quick thinking signalman diverted the runaway train onto a siding where it landed on a jetty, sending it and the engine flying across the lake before smashing onto the other bank. Rosie was dazed and embarrassed, but unhurt. A toad lazily watched her flop onto the wooden dock.

"And to think," she sighed sadly, "Today was going so well, too."

Edward soon arrived with the breakdown train, and she was back on dry land in no time. When she returned to the clay pits to find Bill and Ben sheepishly looking at the ground, their manager glaring at them.

"We're sorry, Rosie. We didn't mean for this to happen."

"Yeah, honest. We just wanted a break, is all."

"Well, then you'll love this," their manager put in bluntly, "because once you've finished all of you work ALONE, I'll be suspending you for a week without pay. Maybe that will teach you to pretend that you are ill."

Bill and Ben blushed in embarrassment, while Rosie smiled.

"Ah well," she said to no one in particular, "All's well that ends well."

The toad, who was looking forward to a ride home, noisily agreed.