KELLY'S WINDY DAY
Based upon the episode by Phil Fehrle
Adapted by Zack Wanzer and Rachel Ravens
Work continued on the new girls' school near Brendam, and the Pack set off to work.
"Thanks for the lift, BoCo," called Kelly.
"Anytime, Kelly," smiled the big green diesel. "You might want to be careful here today; my driver says that the wind could pick up."
"Oh, blimey… Thanks, BoCo!" Kelly gasped. "I'll have to warn Murphy too." And so they drove off to do just that.
"Here's some timber for the shed!" called David; he, Alex and their sisters drove in.
"Good work, you lot," smiled Murphy. "I think that's where the sports equipment will be stored. Come on, Kelly; let's get this into place."
"You should go slowly, Murphy," advised Kelly. "There could be strong winds today!"
"Thanks for the warning," smiled Murphy. "Hopefully it won't be like the storm where Oliver the engine crashed into the level crossing."
"I doubt that," chuckled Jack. "It's probably more like kite flying weather!"
"The weather can be unpredictable, so we'd best be on our guard," said Kelly wisely.
"But we don't have guards," Nigel blinked. "We're not pulling trains; we can't even do that."
"Not that type of guard," chuckled Kelly. "I mean that we should take caution if the wind starts to pick up."
"Ohhh, right!" Nigel blushed sheepishly.
As Kelly and Murphy started to move their timber into place, things went smoothly at first. However, there were some problems…
"Oi!" cried Alfie, as he tried to dig. "Sand, stay in my scoop, please!"
"What… I don't remember putting sand in my sandwich!"
"Isn't that why it's called a sandwich?" joked Jack.
"Oops," Alfie called to his banksman. "Sorry… it's getting a bit windy over here!"
"Okay, I'll eat my lunch inside next time I hear about a windy day," sighed Alfie's banksman.
"Good idea," agreed Alfie. "Again, I apologize…"
"Seriously though," wondered Jack, "why do they call it a sandwich?"
"Now that is a fair question, Jack," Alfie metaphorically shrugged. Before they could get a decent answer, the wind started to sway Kelly and Murphy's crane arms.
"Oh no…" gulped Kelly. "That isn't good…"
"Get back, you two!" called Oliver the excavator. Jack and Alfie didn't need telling twice; they both drove out of the way as quickly as they could.
"Kelly, what should we do?!" cried Murphy.
"Lean away from the building!" called Kelly. "Get everyone else to move back!"
"On it!" Murphy tooted an emergency signal, and at that, everyone abandoned the construction site. He was just in time, as he hit the ground with a loud thud.
Kelly, however, got off even worse. The wind pushed their weight closer to the shed. "NO!" they wailed, and crashed into the Pack's handiwork. "Ugh… I've ruined hours of work…"
Once the wind had calmed down, everyone set to work in helping Murphy and Kelly upright once again.
"Was anyone hurt?" asked Murphy anxiously as Max and Monty helped to pull him upright.
"No, Murphy," said Miss Jenny. "You an' Kelly saved us all with yer warnings. We're proud o' you." She then looked over at the wrecked shed, which was now just a pile of splintered timber, and sighed. "Pity about that shed, though…"
"I am sorry, Miss Jenny," Kelly sighed as Jack, Alfie and Oliver helped them upright.
"It wasn't yer fault, Kelly," assured Miss Jenny. "It could've happened to anyone. A building can be replaced; you can't."
Once they were upright again, Murphy and Kelly were being inspected for any damage they may have incurred. Murphy got off lightly; just a few dents and scratches that could easily be fixed. With Kelly, however, one of their tires was bent out of place on its axle, and they would have to be taken away by someone else.
"I'm afraid you'll have to be out of commission fer a while, Kelly," sighed Miss Jenny. "It's no' an ideal situation, but Murphy will have to handle yer jobs until you're fixed. I'll call fer Sir Topham Hattto send one o' his engines to take ye back to Toryreck."
The engine taking Kelly back to Packard and Co's yard was Donald.
"Dinnae fash yerself, Kelly," he assured. "Ye'll be fixed up in nae time."
"…thanks, Donald," sighed Kelly. "But… we were just lucky no one got hurt. What if it's windy again and… we can't warn them in time?"
"Och, dinnae think aboot that!" insisted Donald. "Th' best ye kin dae is be prepared fur natural disasters. Thay juist happen whin we least expect it."
"BoCo warned us to take care, and even that wasn't enough…"
Donald didn't know what else to say; perhaps the accident had shaken Kelly up in more ways than one…
Despite the small setback with Murphy's and Kelly's accidents, progress on the new school had gone smoothly, and Murphy helped in rebuilding the shed.
"And… there!" he smiled. "That's one wall up again; three to go!"
"The rubble from yesterday is now taken care of," called Jasmine.
"I can't believe that th' windstorm had to put us behind schedule," muttered Patrick.
"Ah well," chuckled Buster. "It meant I had to smooth over the foundations again!"
"Speaking of which, Buster," said Nelson, "there is the music classroom to smooth out foundations for."
"Oh, goodie!" he grinned and set to work. Buster hummed to himself as the surface became flat and smooth, much to the amusement of some of the Pack members.
Just then, Miss Jenny's phone rang. "Hello? … Today?! Er… there's been a slight delay wi' the music room… Ah, okay, I'll send someone right away." She walked over to Isobella. "The piano has been delivered, and it can't wait there fer long. We need ye to pick it up."
"Of course, Miss Jenny," said Isobella. "It won't be a problem."
Isobella soon arrived at where the piano was waiting to be picked up. The location in question was at Music to My Ears in Suddery. The piano was carefully loaded into her trailer.
"Ugh…" strained one of the workers. "I think we need to add wheels to this thing!"
"If whoever built this intended for it to be moved around," said another, "they would've had the courtesy to install wheels in the first place!"
"What kind of person doesn't put a piano on wheels?!" remarked a third.
"Maybe someone who doesn't trust them?" scoffed the second worker.
Isobella rolled her eyes. "Wait until Elizabeth hears about this," she muttered. However, at the mention of her sister, she couldn't help but smile. It hadn't been long since Edward had found Elizabeth, who she assumed was scrapped long ago. I'll have to make plans to see her soon, she made a note in her mind.
Once the piano was loaded on board and safely secured, Isobella drove off back down the road. However, what she didn't realize was that a car had been leaking petrol, and the road was now very slippery.
"Ohhh, dearie me!" she gasped as she felt her tires losing their grip. "Help! What's happening?!"
"Isobella!" Her driver tried to steer her as best she could. "It's alright. We'll… whoa!" She put her foot on Isobella's brake pedal, but it was too late.
Isobella screeched to a stop. She was still on the ground, but her front wheels were hanging precariously over the edge of a bridge.
"Oh, dent my license plate!" she cried. "HELP!"
Edward was passing by on the railway line and looked up upon hearing Isobella's cry. "Bless me!" he exclaimed. "Isobella! Driver, we'd better go and phone for help!"
"Please, hurry!" begged Isobella. "I don't know how long I can balance here! Oooh…"
Meanwhile, Kelly was sitting in the shed at Packard and Co's yard; whilst their axle and wheel had been fixed, they were still afraid of going outside in case anyone got hurt. Just then, they saw Miss Jenny drive up in her Land Rover, looking worried. Jet jumped out and raced alongside her.
"Kelly!" Miss Jenny cried. "Isobella's in danger, an' could fall off the edge any moment."
"What?!" cried Kelly. "Oh no! A-are any of the Pack nearby?"
"You're the closest one," Miss Jenny said firmly. "The others are down at the construction site!"
Kelly gulped; they really didn't want to leave in this weather. But Isobella was one of their fellow Pack members, and a dear friend that they'd known for years. "Where is she, Miss Jenny?"
Jet ran ahead and pointed with his nose, letting out a bark. "Follow Jet!" Miss Jenny urged. She got back in her car while Kelly drove after her.
Kelly, Miss Jenny and Jet soon arrived at where Isobella was hanging precariously.
"Oh, thank goodness you've arrived, Kelly!" she sighed with relief.
"Okay, Kelly," Miss Jenny said calmly; she and Kelly's driver quickly attached Kelly's hook to Isobella and secured her with chains. "Go slowly."
"O-okay, Miss Jenny," they winced. The blue crane moved slowly forward, and Isobella moved backwards, bit by bit toward solid ground. "So far, so good…"
Just then, the wind blew hard against Kelly and Isobella. "Ah!" Isobella yelped. "K-Kelly?!"
"Ohh…" they whimpered. "Th-the wind's too strong…" We could fall! Kelly gulped. I can't do that! Oh, what if Isobella gets destroyed because I make another mistake? Murphy should have come, not me!
"Kelly!" another voice called; both they and Isobella glanced back to see a familiar red steam lorry. "You can do it!"
"Elizabeth…" trailed Isobella.
Kelly took a deep breath, and pressed on with their mission. They started their winch again, and moved steadily forward, pulling hard against the wind.
"Ooh, mind my paint!" Isobella cried as she felt her wheels touch the surface. With one last effort, the yellow steam lorry was safely back on the road.
"Isobella!" cried Elizabeth. "Oh, thank goodness you're safe! Kelly, thank you for saving her!"
"Indeed," agreed Isobella. "Kelly, thank you so much! You were incredibly brave!"
Miss Jenny nodded in approval. "Well done, Kelly. You'd make a mother proud."
Kelly blushed bright red. "Ah… I'm just glad Isobella's alright." They glanced over at the broken structure at the top of the bridge. "Though I don't think I'd say the same for this…"
"It was like that when I drove this way," Isobella explained.
"Hmm, looks like we'd better get on to fixing that," remarked Miss Jenny. "Until we can get 'round to it, I recommend we close this bridge so no one else ends up like Isobella did."
"I agree, Miss Jenny," sighed Kelly. "We've had enough hair-raising adventures for one day…"
Before long, Isobella and Kelly had rejoined their friends at the construction site, and Elizabeth had joined them as well. Kelly and Murphy were helping to bring up the walls for the music classroom.
"Wow, the workmen sure work fast," smiled Murphy. "Glad to have you back, Kelly."
"Likewise," replied Kelly, "I'm just glad Isobella's alright."
"And we're glad to see you're back emotionally too," added Isobella. "You can't let fear stop you from doing your best."
"You're right, Isobella."
"I know," giggled the yellow lorry. "And hopefully I get those chips on my paint repainted soon too!"
At this, the rest of the Pack and Elizabeth laughed. "Some things never change," remarked the red steam lorry.
THE END
Author's Comments
Wow, I should've gotten back to this a long time ago! It feels like Rachel and I keep forgetting that Series 6-7 Redux is a work in progress, and it ends up being shafted in favor of other projects. Rest assured, we'll try to get this done this year and start work on Series 8 Redux. I would love to get to the Hit Model Era as soon as we can. Anyway, this rewrite of Kelly's Windy Day doesn't really diverge too much from the original episode, save for the piano still being loaded when Isobella is saved, because wouldn't most the weight then be shifted to her cabin, causing her to fall? As well as that, there's also the expansion of some plot elements like how Isobella got into that state in the first place.
Upcoming rewrites:
- The Monster of the Lake (Bad Day at Castle Loch)
- Not So Hasty Puddings
- Jack Frost (Jack Frost/Scaredy Engines)
- Toby, Percy and the Windmill (Toby's Windmill)
- Buster 1, Moles 0