Little Green Lie: ThomasNATION Fanstory
July 03, 2020
It was yet another busy day on Sodor, especially down at the Blue Mountain Quarry. Fresh shipments of slate were going in and out of the quarry, and the little narrow gauge engines were working hard to ensure everything was in fine order; especially Luke, the little green engine. He was tasked with filling up Owen for the day.
“That’s the last of it, Owen!” he chirped happily, as he loaded a tipper truck full of slate onto the platform.
“Thanks, Luke!”, said Owen with a smile, before lowering the platform. “Goin’ down!”
Everything was right with the world, until…
“Luke?” called out a voice. Luke peeked down to see who it was. It was Peter Sam, who was with Duncan near the turntable. “Down here!”
“Hmm, I wonder what’s up”, said Luke, and he made his way down to the turntable. “What’s the matter, Peter Sam?”
“I’ve come with a message from Mr. Percival”, exclaimed Duncan. “He says you’re to take a shipment of slate to Ulfstead Castle. The earl needs it to repair a broken platform.”
Luke beamed. “No need to worry, Duncan!” He started puffing away, but then stopped as he came to a realisation. “Wait. I thought Skarloey was going to take that load.”
“He was,” Duncan explained, “but he’s working at the slate mines all day with Sir Handel, so he’s unavailable.”
“Oh. Well, if that’s the case, I’m on it!”, he said as he chugged away. Duncan stopped him.
“Wait, Luke! Mr. Percival also wanted me to remind you that the track at Crovan’s Gate that leads to Ulfstead Castle is down for repairs”, he grumbled, “so you’ll have to take the long way round near Glennock!”
This disappointed Luke. He loved doing his deliveries as quick as possible, so that would leave more time for him to help out at the quarry. Then, he got an idea.
“I know!” Luke exclaimed. “I’ll just take a shortcut!”
“A shortcut?!” Duncan shouted. “What shortcuts are there around here?”
“There’s plenty around here.” Luke explained as he left to collect his train.
Luke had spent most of his time on Sodor hiding away in the quarry’s tunnels, so he knew a few secrets about the place, but his favorite was the multitude of different shortcuts, including one that led right to the castle. Luke collected his cargo and went through his shortcut, which was an old junction near Owen. Puffing through his shortcut, he took his time to admire the scenery; all the lush, green trees and a beautiful sparkling river.
“Wow! I always forget how beautiful this part of Sodor is!” he marvelled to himself before coming up at a bridge.
The bridge looked old, rusty, maybe a little broken.
“Fizzling fireboxes, this bridge has certainly seen better days…” he muttered. He knew it may be too dangerous to cross, but at the same time, he didn’t want to cause delay. So slowly, but surely, he eased himself onto the bridge.
The bridge creaked and croaked beneath him. The weight of Luke’s slate wagons made it unstable, but by the time he was halfway across the bridge…
CRACK! It collapsed beneath Luke! His slate wagons slipped down the tilted track, coming very close to falling into the river below.
“Oh no!” he yelled out. He tried his best to pull the wagons back onto the rails with all his might, until…
SNAP! The coupling seperating two wagons snapped off, sending the rest of his cargo falling into the river, leaving two trucks remaining. Luke was absolutely devestated!
“No! My slate!” he cried. “What am I going to tell Sir Robert?”
As Luke pulled into Ulfstead Castle, he still felt guilty about losing his trucks.
“Ooh! Hello, Luke!”, Millie called out as he passed. But Luke didn’t notice, as he was too preoccupied with trying to explain his situation to the earl, who was talking with Mr. Percival and Ruth, the inventor.
“Ah, Luke! You’re a bit early, aren’t you?” called out the earl. “Ruth, help me unload these trucks.”
But Ruth noticed something a bit off about Luke’s load. “Uh, Sir Robert?” she noted. “If you don’t mind my saying, this shipment is a little light.”
“Oh!” exclaimed the earl.
“Luke, what’s going on?” asked Mr. Percival, with suspicions.
Luke had to think fast. He was too scared to explain his situation, until…
“Uh…I accidentally left it!” he cried out. “Back at the quarry! Yes, uh, if you want, I’ll go collect it.”
“Oh, well, alright.” said the earl, as he uncoupled Luke from his truck. “Just be back with the remaining cars as soon as possible, okay?”
“Sure thing, sir...” Luke said, but as he left, he couldn’t believe what he did. He had actually lied to Mr. Percival’s face! “What have I done?”.
Mr. Percival took notice of Luke’s strange behavior. “Excuse me, Sir Robert,” he said, “but was Luke just acting strange to you?”
“Yes,” replied the earl. “He’s normally so chipper.”
Mr. Percival took notice of Luke’s strange behavior. “Excuse me, Sir Robert,” he said, “but was Luke just acting strange to you?”
“Yes,” replied the earl. “He’s normally so chipper.”
Ruth inspected the two trucks, and noticed something strange. “Uh, guys? Is it just me or is the coupling broken?”.
Back at the quarry, Luke had to get some slate trucks and fast. He sped straight to Owen.
“Owen!” he cried out. “I need a fresh shipment of slate immediately!”
“I’m sorry, Luke, but Rheneas just took the last load.” Owen said, with a frown. “It’ll take hours before we get a fresh load”.
Luke started to panic. “Oh, come on! Isn’t there any other loads?”
Suddenly, Rusty came up alongside Luke. “Luke? Is everything alright?”
“Uh…yeah!” Luke lied again in a panic. “I’m okay, all fine and dandy, all shipshape and seaworthy…I’m perfectly alright, all of my…”
Then, Peter Sam approached him. “Luke? You don’t sound okay. You always go off into a ramble when you’re nervous.”
“Uh, yeah! I just need a shipment of…” Luke stopped. He had an idea. “I got it!”
Rusty was puzzled. “Got what?”
“I know where I can get fresh slate!” Luke exclaimed, as he rushed off to the slate mines.
As Luke rolled into the slate mines, he was greeted by Skarloey and Sir Handel.
“Hello, Luke! Are you alright?” Sir Handel asked, who noticed that Luke was nervous.
“Uh…look, promise not to tell anyone?” Luke asked.
“Oh, Luke…” Skarloey sighed. “What did you do?”
“I…accidentally lost my load of slate that was meant for Ulfstead Castle, and I…” Luke paused. ”Well, let's just say hypothetically that I may have lied to Mr. Percival’s face about it...”
“What?” Sir Handel gasped.
“Luke, you should know better than to tell a lie to Mr. Percival.” Skarloey explained.
“I know, but I really need some slate!” Luke said in a hurry.
“Oh! Why didn’t you say so?” Sir Handel said happily. “There’s some trucks over there.”
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Luke exclaimed happily.
Suddenly, Mr. Percival pulled up, scaring Luke.
“Sir! Uh, what are you doing here?!” he called out.
“I came to check on how Skarloey and Sir Handel were doing, Luke,” he explained, “but the real question is what are you doing here? I thought you said you left your trucks at the quarry.”
“Uh, I…just remembered, uh…” Luke lied again. “that I actually left them here! Ha ha! Silly me! Okay, don’t mind me!”
Mr. Percival looked skeptically at Luke. “Well, if you say so…” he said with suspicions. “Now, I need to investigate a broken bridge. You stay out of trouble, Luke.”
“Okay.”
As Mr. Percival left, Skarloey looked at Luke, with a stern face.
“Luke!” he barked. “I know that you’re nervous, but you need to stop with this lying!”
“I’m sorry, Skarloey!” Luke cried out, as he raced out of the slate mines. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me today!”
“That engine.” said Sir Handel. “I never have any clue what goes through his brain.”
Luke pulled into Crovan’s Gate station. He still felt guilty about what he did. Thomas and Sonny were there, collecting passengers.
“Oh! Hi, Luke!”, Thomas called out. “What’s wrong? You look a little down.”
“I lied to Mr. Percival earlier.” Luke explained.
“That’s all?” Sonny inquired. “So you told a little fib. Happens to all of us!”
“But that’s not the problem!” Luke cried out. “My train dropped down a river, and I told Mr. Percival that I left it at the quarry, but Rheneas took the last load, and…”
“Whoa, Luke, calm down.” Thomas said. “This sounds rather serious, but I would sound more concerned about your accident than telling a lie.”
“You don’t understand, Thomas!” Luke yelled in a panic. “If Mr. Percival finds out, he might send me away in disgrace!”
“Don’t be silly, Luke!” Thomas reassured his little friend. “I’ve lied to Sir Topham Hatt about my accidents a few times, and whenever he found out, he only gave me a stern telling off!”
“Really?”
“Yes!”
Luke was still unsure, but Thomas still tried to reassure him. “Luke, if you really want this problem to clear up, then all you need to do is confess.”
“Are you sure, Thomas?” Luke asked.
“Of course I’m sure.” Thomas responded.
“Well, it’s the only option left.” Luke said, growing confident again. “Thanks, lads.”
“No worries, mate.” Sonny spouted. “And if that fails, then just team up with two criminals who will try and steal a ton of inventions and threaten to kill you if things don’t go their way!”
“Sonny!” Thomas gasped.
“Sorry,” said Sonny. “I just forgot myself, is all.”
Luke headed back to Ulfstead, destined to set things right. On his way, he saw Mr. Percival investigating the crash site. He sternly noticed Luke.
“Luke,” he bellowed, “get over here.”
Luke approached Mr. Percival, worried. “Before you say anything, sir, there’s something I need to say…”
“Say no more, Luke,” Mr. Percival interrupted. “You said that your slate cars were back at the Blue Mountain Quarry. If that’s so, then…”
The narrow gauge breakdown crane pulled one of Luke’s cars out of the river. “...what are these slate cars doing at the scene of the accident?”
Luke knew there was no way around it. “Sir, I’m ever so sorry. The truth is, I didn’t leave my cars.”
“You don’t say…”
“I tried taking a shortcut, but the bridge collapsed, and all my cargo fell into the river. I’m so sorry I lied to you.” Luke grew sad.
“You’re in quite a lot of trouble for all this, Luke.” Mr. Percival said, crossly. “You should’ve alerted someone on the Search and Rescue team.”
Then, suddenly, Mr. Percival grew a smile. “But, I do have to thank you for your honesty.”
“It’s alright, sir.” Luke said. “At least now, I’ll know never to tell another lie again.”
Luke kept his promise to never lie again from that point on, as he knew that nothing good came out of hiding the truth.
“Oi!” Duncan yelled, noticing a derailed train of tipper trucks. “Who left this train here?”
“Oops, sorry, Duncan!” Luke called out. “That was me! I’ll clear it up in a jiffy!”
Skarloey and Sir Handel pulled up alongside Duncan.
“Well, at least little Luke has learned something valuable.” Skarloey commented.
“What’s that?” Sir Handel asked. “That lying will only get you into more trouble and is never the answer?”
“No,” Skarloey retorted. “It’s to never cross an unsteady bridge with heavy stone!”
The End.
About the Author: JF the LOLZOR
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