Thomas and Friends: The Adventure Begins

Reunion with Wilbert

June 5th, 1915

In Le Havre, with some assistance from the Inman Liner City of Paris, the HMHS Brighton IV was carrying a sad cargo of 140 wounded soldiers. Several of these patients were taken back to Newhaven while those who had died during the journey were to be buried in the nearest cemetery. The ship's crew would pay a small fund to the up keeping of their graves. When Vere Awdry received a telegram from the Dieppe mentioning his name, he was overjoyed and a little distressed about the mention of his son.

"They have my boy!" he cried to Captain James Ellis throwing the telegram in his face. Captain Ellis' initial thought was that the son had been captured by the German before Vere corrected him that Wilbert was safely on Sodor and that he had to see him for the sake of his own safety. The ship's junior officer saw on a map that Sodor was only 330 miles away, on the bridge he told Captain Ellis that such a journey seemed meaningless unless if there were any troops on the island in need of transportation. After a slight agreement, Captain Ellis ordered the Brighton IV's crew to change course. As he prepared for a welcoming committee of the Sodor Regiment, the ship's wireless telegrapher tapped out a message to Sodor:

"We are coming to your island for troop transportation. Have your men ready, Captain Ellis."

On the island, Thomas was just about waking up in the shed. He noticed that Wilbert was by his side and wondered what he was doing there.

"How are you holding up Wilbert?"

"The Fat Director says that Daddy's gonna come. Or least it's what he says."

"If you want to know something," Thomas answered. "You father is a very busy man, I'm sure he is tired of being around you all time, but I suppose he's gone to war for a more important reason."

"Well, he did say goodbye," Wilbert thought to himself. "But I just wanted to be near him."

Thomas heard his every word.

"War is not something for child," he replied. "It is meaningless, and people can get killed for only one reason: honour."

"He's a good man," Wilbert said abruptly. "The best father I've ever had, but I'm going to wait for him."

He walked off to the seaside and that is when Thomas decided to occupy the boy's time. He wanted to surprise Wilbert at the very moment his father would arrive.

"Have you thought of a school you wish to attend when you're older?" he asked.

Wilber thought about it. it was something he and his parents had discussed two months ago.

"Yes. Dauntseys School. He says that I should honor God and become a reverend, but I'm not sure."

"What about before the war, when I was built?" asked Thomas.

"I missed him when he went away in August, but in May, when you were built, all I had was you."

Only then did Thomas notice a ship's horn, but he needed to make sure that Wilbert and his father were reunited face to face.

"Is that him?" the boy asked.

"Probably another ship," Thomas lied. "What else can we share?"

Puzzled, Wilbert recalled a stage play.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor, he told me about it once. It had a lady named...Madge Kendal."

"Driver's heard of her," said Thomas. "Mrs. Kendal is a very good actress. So is her husband, but her children...that I do not know."

The boat was drawing closer to the bay, the sounds of it's engines had silenced and footsteps were heard, faint at first then louder. Thomas made one last effort to make the reunion more emotional.