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Jun 18th, 2019
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  1. As always, the yard was ever changing.
  2. To say that the most recent coming and going of race season had shaken up the rail yard at Apollo-Victoria, and the Apollo, London, and West Gate Railroad as a whole would be a massive understatement.
  3. As hard as it was to believe, steam had emerged victorious in the final and left both the former world champion and shiny new electric engine in shambles; wallowing in their own defeat. It was strange to some, not having to see Greaseball showing off wherever he went and giving anyone who crossed paths with him a headache anymore.
  4. There was still the occasional crowd of race and rail fans at the fences that divided the yard from the rest of the world, trying to catch a glimpse of the current world champion at work. While they previously attempted to spot the bright, shiny passenger diesel, the title of "world champion" now belonged to Rusty the steam shunter.
  5. Rusty didn't mind the additional attention at first, he was happy anyone was paying him any mind at all. Of course, this soon turned to trying to ignore the hollers and flashes of cameras that seemed to follow him like a swarm of angered bees, even if he didn't look as flashy or attractive as the engines that preceded him. The crews in the workshops had tried their best to solve his corrosion problems in order to make him look the part of the railroad's poster boy, but nothing had seemed to work. Rusty expected nothing more, as they'd already tried to correct the issue when he was much younger to no avail.
  6. Pearl had stuck closely by her mate since the final, not wanting to lose him again and having to worry. If there was a competition in the yard for "cutest couple", Rusty and Pearl would surely emerge victorious, as strange it as it seemed for a ratty old steam engine to be accompanied by a shiny first class carriage.
  7. The saying went that when one door closed, another door opened. In reality, however, it had come to be that one relationship blossomed while another had withered and died.
  8. Not even old Poppa McCoy, with the memory of an elephant, could remember the last time Dinah the dining car wasn't following Greaseball like she was the big engine's shadow. Despite their relationship looking like something out of a hollywood movie, most of those who bunked at Apollo Victoria knew how it was when the shed doors had closed for the night. Sometimes you could hear how it was from the other side of the yard.
  9. Ashley and Buffy had kept a close eye on the power couple, and had tried to convince Dinah to exit the relationship several times. Just when it seemed that they'd finally gotten her out of it after the events of the first heat, she'd gone running back the moment she'd seen her mate all smashed up following the crash in the tunnel. It seemed that Greaseball had finally sobered up after that night, but Ashley and Buffy knew better than that. It was going to take more than a little hiccup (Okay, a big hiccup) at the races to get him to change his train of thought.
  10. As much as they tried to patch things up in the days following the end of race season, it all proved to be for naught. Dinah had ended up choking out that she didn't think they could fix anything after what she'd been through for all of those years. The sight of the usually cheery coach returning to the carriage shed in hysterics told the other three coaches all they needed to know about what had just happened, and they had spent the rest of the night soothing the dining coach until she cried herself to sleep.
  11. In the end, while still shaken by the sudden change in her life, Dinah had gotten over having ended it with the former champion. In fact, she felt free - though still closing her mouth tight and trying to avoid even glancing at him whenever they crossed paths.
  12. At last, it seemed that her life had found a steady rhythm once again, as it had for all of those living in the yard.
  13. Of course, a state of normality never lasted long around the A-V.
  14.  
  15.  
  16. Flat Top scowled at the pallets of bricks that rested against one of the old goods sheds, the three Rocky brothers standing behind him and trying to figure out what exactly what had drawn his attention to them. Flat Top sure loved his bricks, to the point of drawing a smiley face on one and naming it Mortimer (they were pretty sure he slept with that thing), but the boxcars were drawing a blank on what was up with whatever he was looking at.
  17. "Topper-" Rocky II broke the silence, trying to get an answer.
  18. "Freight blankets." The brick truck finally replied.
  19. "What?"
  20. "Freight blankets on pallets. Keeps the bricks from flying off when I'm movin'."
  21. Rocky I finally chimed in. "...and that's relevant because?"
  22. Flat Top turned and glared at the three brothers. "Do ya see a freight blanket on any a' these?"
  23. "Well, no." Rocky III answered what was intended to be a rhetorical question. Flat Top's grimy face curled further.
  24. "Well, we got a problem 'ere then, don' we?!"
  25. The three brothers stepped back. Flat Top was by no means the calm type, but it was rare to see him this agitated about something as miniscule as a freight blanket. Rocky II had gone out on trains with a faulty door latch for several weeks before Control had noticed and sent him into the workshops to have it repaired.
  26. As tempting as it was to try and push for definitive answers. They decided it would be for the best if they left Flat Top alone for now. Backing away, they could hear the brick truck mumbling under his breath again.
  27. "Lousy hobos. I'd show 'um a piece 'a my mind if they didn' hide like cowards."
  28.  
  29.  
  30. "...and after all that, poor girl's bearing seized up! I hear they had to lift her off her wheels and take her back by flatbed."
  31. Dinah was more than used to what Ashley and Buffy considered ladies night. It consisted of an hour or two getting drinks at what Joule had insisted was called The Firecracker: a tiny bar she'd set up once Control had Electra repaired and purchased him for extra motive power following race season. While Joule, Volta, and Wrench had more than warmed up to the other occupants of their new yard, tensions were still high with Purse, Krupp, and Electra himself.
  32. When they'd first suggested going out for refreshments once a week, Ashley and Buffy had called it singles night. Of course, things had changed now that Pearl spent her time with Rusty when she wasn't out on trains. Dinah couldn't consider the two other members of her party 'single' either. Ashley and Buffy were in a serious relationship and weren't subtle about it. The entire yard knew that by now.
  33. Despite all the changes, the tradition continued on.
  34. "Dinah?" Buffy asked from the opposite side of her mate, prompting Dinah to sit up and bring her attention out of her thoughts.
  35. "Chin up girl! Let loose." Ashley placed her pointer finger along the bottom of Dinah's chin and pushed it upwards, getting a tiny laugh out of Buffy. "Remember, you gotta keep it going all night!"
  36. "Sorry, you're right." Dinah replied as Joule returned from the back room with their drinks, placing them in front of the three coaches.
  37. "You gals hear the rumor on the vine?" The dynamite truck commented while beginning to polish a few used glasses behind the counter.
  38. "Spill." Buffy took a long swig of her drink, needing it after a long week of being out on trains and having to hear them get rowdy with the poor employees working in the buffet car that day.
  39. "Oh, is this about the freight supplies going missing? I've heard from the Rockies." Ashley piped in.
  40. "Boom goes the dynamite." Joule laughed and placed a clean glass aside before moving onto the next one. "It was the freight blankets at first, then it was the shipping boxes being emptied out and the boxes themselves going missing. This yard have a bum problem? One of our old yards did, and boy, was it a hassle."
  41. "Not that I know of, but I don't know who else would be stealing things like freight blankets?" A voice prompted from further down the bar, causing the two chatty coaches to turn and see one Wrench the repair truck. "My usual, Joule."
  42. "Comin' right up!" Joule laughed and set down the glasses to get Wrench her drink. "I take that working on GB after a crash like that is as taxing as I expected?"
  43. "You bet your couplings." Wrench's comment roused a small giggle from all coaches but Dinah, who didn't notice the stares directed at her until it had been a few seconds.
  44. "Girl, maybe you should head back to the shed early toni-" Buffy began to suggest before being suddenly interrupted.
  45. "I'm fine!" Dinah retorted, taking a sip of the drink that she'd barely touched since Joule brought it out. "I'm just thinking about... stuff."
  46. "If you say so." Ashley replied, although she and the others wore a concerned expression. Sure, Dinah had finally left her less than stellar relationship with Greaseball, but she'd been... different ever since that night. Like what had happened was still hanging over her head like a persistent rain cloud.
  47. Dinah smiled as the four went back to their conversation, although taking only one more sip of what they knew she usually chugged down in the time before the three coaches returned to their shed.
  48.  
  49.  
  50. A sudden shout of "I saw it!" announced the return of Pearl the observation coach to the carriage shed after having been hanging around at Rusty's place for most of the day. Despite Rusty's new title, they hadn't made too many changes to the little shed he called his own. A lick of paint here and there and the replacement of a broken latch were the most anyone could call an upgrade.
  51. "Slow down, girl! Saw what?" retorted Ashley, who had removed her mate's shoulder boxes and was gently massaging the pain out of the buffet car's system. Dinah laid on the opposite couch, idly looking up at the ceiling of the unit.
  52. "The thief!" Pearl had to bring herself to sit and take a few deep breaths to avoid hyperventilating and passing out on the spot. Being the youngest of the coaches bunking in shed 47A, it came to no surprise that the milky pink carriage was easily excitable. Dinah swore that she acted no older than a trainlet at times.
  53. "Calm down, sugar. Then tell us everything." Buffy perked up immediately before melting back into the gentle massage of the coach perched up behind her. Not even drinking could seem to rid her of the pain caused by the hard and sudden braking of the diesel engine that had been pulling her along that day. Even that incompetent French engine, Bobo, had known that you had to apply the brakes gently when with coaches.
  54. It took a few minutes for Pearl to get a hold of herself. "I was coming back from Rusty's and I saw something move over by the goods sheds. I thought they might see me, so I ducked into one of those bushes so I could watch. They took the freight blankets off that coil shipment they brought in today! I think it's that no good Caboose, back at it again."
  55. "Can't be Caboose." The until now quiet dining car finally piped up, almost as if only because the dastardly brake truck who'd nearly spoiled the final had been mentioned. "I've seen him around. He's in one of the freight sidings sulking until his ban on going out on trains is lifted. Who knows when Control is 'gonna lighten up on that."
  56. As Dinah finished speaking, something prompted a laugh out of the two mates. "What's so funny?" She and Pearl asked in unison.
  57. "Pearly-Girly, I think you brought some of your hiding spot back with you." Ashley chuckled, seeming to have tuned out from anything the coach had just said. Pearl ran a hand through her now frizzy hair, retrieving a thorny twig from within the forest of pink strands. With a gasp, she disappeared into the washrooms to thoroughly clean herself off. It was funny to the two mates, seeing a coach with a zero-tolerance policy against dirt and grime be head over heels for a dusty old steam engine.
  58. Dinah, on the other hand, didn't seem to be head over heels for anything at the moment. As much as they'd tried to make her happy again, all they could do now was wait and hope this was just a phase.
  59.  
  60.  
  61. The last train of the evening had returned much later than anticipated. Gook hadn't gone into the shops to have his moving parts oiled when he should've, and his engine had overheated and seized in the middle of the mountain pass. Wrench had to be called out to lift the out of commission diesel onto a flatcar, and Electra, for his grand return to active service following the crash with Greaseball and Caboose, was the only one available to finish the trip and then escort the coaches back to the A-V.
  62. Dinah had been putting up with chaos all day. Whether it was Gook himself trying to pin the blame on his crew for something he should have remembered himself, or the angry passengers shouting about how they would be late, she hadn't gotten a break from the bedlam. She'd had enough.
  63. So here she sat, on the old platform of one of the disused freight sheds, as far away from the chatty coaches and angry passengers as she could bring herself to go. Everything was happening so fast. Finally cutting ties with Greaseball, her friends constantly asking if she felt okay even when she felt fine, and putting up with her duties as a coach were proving to be too much to handle.
  64. For just a moment, Dinah could feel the tears beginning to well up in her eyes and fog up her vision.
  65. Then she heard the sound.
  66. It wasn't very loud, but it was the distinct shuffling and crunching on sandals on the gravel. It was sound she'd heard a lot during the summer months, when lots of people took the train to their beachside vacation spots. The shuffling was soon followed by the clanking of metal clasps being undone, like when goods were unloaded from the trains and put onto trucks.
  67. Wait... goods? It couldn't be.
  68. Dinah stood up and wiped the tears from her eyes, sneaking over to the side of the shed. As much as it was a burden on the residents of the yard, she couldn't help but want to get a peek at the freight thief. Perhaps she'd be able to help bring him in, now that she'd know what he looked like. Control might even reward her with some time off.
  69. Poking her head around the side of the old building, her suspicions were confirmed. A shadowy figure stood above a recent shipment of lumber, undoing the straps that held it together and slowly lifting the freight blanket from atop the stack. While someone was definitely there, Dinah couldn't make out anything more than their silhouette. She felt around the brickwork she was perched against, looking for the switch to the work light conveniently positioned above the two of them and hoping it still worked. At last, she felt the metal box and plastic switch beneath her hand.
  70. Dinah inhaled sharply and opened her mouth to speak. "Who's there?!" She shouted, flicking the switch on the wall upwards and flooding the area with the flickering glow of the old lamp.
  71. ...
  72. A human child?
  73. Sure enough, the thief hadn't been some aging train bum or Caboose relapsing into his mischievous ways. No, it had been this tiny, scrappy child. His clothes were well worn and ripped in several places, and the dirt on his skin indicated that he hadn't had a bath in some time now. Dinah had seen plenty of children come through on trains, but they were always with their parents, and none looked quite like this boy did. It was almost hard for her to believe that she was looking at the thief, yet all the evidence she needed sat there in front of her.
  74. The coach and boy shared a long silence with only the crickets and the occasional distant whistle from a late night train for company. The thief looked at Dinah with a horrified and somewhat guilty expression, like a trainlet that had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. He looked almost ready to cry. In only a few moments, Dinah's attitude towards the thief made a complete one-eighty.
  75. "Were you taking that blanket?" She asked with as comforting of a tone as she could, trying to avoid scaring the boy off.
  76. Unfortunately, Dinah's words seemed to have no effect. The boy dropped the corner of the freight blanket and stepped backwards a few feet. As he was turned towards the coach, he didn't see the stray toolbox behind him until it was too late. His sandal caught on the metal case, sending him falling backwards. He attempted to catch his own fall, but still hit the gravel below quite hard.
  77. As he attempted to stand himself back up, Dinah could see the scrapes and cuts on the boy's legs, a trickle of fresh blood oozing towards his feet.
  78. "You're bleeding!" she exclaimed, reaching into a side pocket and retrieving a small package of band-aids. Having a box on her at all times was an old habit that had come from how often Greaseball would try to fight other engines that threatened his ego, and needing to put something on any wounds he might've received in the process. Like many old habits from those days, it had yet to die.
  79. "Let me put something on it." She offered kindly, beginning to roll towards him. The boy, unfortunately, had other ideas. Before Dinah could get any closer, he turned on his heel and sprinted into the night as fast as his legs would carry him.
  80. "Wait!" she called in the boy's direction, but was only met with fading sound of his footsteps on the gravel until he was out of both sight and hearing.
  81. Dinah stood beneath the flickering lamp in silence, gazing out in the direction the boy had darted until the ancient light bulb finally flickered and died.
  82.  
  83.  
  84. "Where were you?" inquired Ashley, who had been on the same train as Dinah that day, but had returned to the coach shed immediately after getting back to the yard.
  85. "Nowhere important. Collecting my thoughts." Dinah sighed and took her seat on the chair by the front door of the unit, looking out into the dark. Her demeanor and actions seemed very different to how she'd been acting recently. Ashley tried to make an explanation.
  86. "Those Hip Hoppers didn't give you trouble, did they?" she groaned, not wanting to think about the semi-regular group of coal wagons. "They're back in town if you haven't heard. They're trying to bait the Rockies into having some kind of-"
  87. "No." Dinah cut off the smoking car abruptly, not wanting to hear any more chatter after what she'd been though that day.
  88. "Something out there is bothering you, Dinah. I can tell." Ashley stood from her seat and came up alongside, staring out the same window. The yard looked same as it always did, and she couldn't tell what exactly Dinah was looking at. "What did you see out there? It wasn't that freight thief, was it?"
  89. Dinah had tuned out her friend's questions, the events of the previous half hour repeating in her head. Something about the encounter with that boy had her mind racing. It reminded her of when when she used to daydream about Greaseball as a younger coach, yet it was completely different. She couldn't describe what was drawing her towards it if she tried.
  90. Whatever it was, she'd think more about it tomorrow. For now, the only thing calling out to her more than the look in the young thief's eyes was the siren song of her bunk and the opportunity to sleep away the day's events.
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