Sodor's Unusual Tales

Booted Out

If there's one thing that James dislikes the most, it's the engines constantly reminded him of his infamous bootlace incident.

While the engines found it to be a funny moment, there were two engines who are unable to get the joke.

One night, James came back to Knapford Sheds, where Xander, Corina, and Vincent were staying.

"I can't stand that incident anymore!" he groaned as he backed in.

"What incident?" Xander asked.

"I guess they didn't tell you two," chuckled Vincent. "James here once had an incident with a passenger train, where his rough treatment caused a leak in a coach's brake pipe and his only recommendation is patching the leak with newspaper and a leather bootlace. It became the biggest joke in his time on Sodor."

James just groaned in annoyance.

"And recently, Percy was waiting for some workers to patch up a leaking tanker," he added. "When I passed by, some annoying carts saw this as an opportunity to tease me about my bootlace yet again!"

"You should be lucky it wasn't an engine this time," laughed Vincent. "Then again, it's hard forget such a great joke."

But Xander and Corina were confused.

"How exactly is a simple bootlace funny?" Xander asked.

James was surprised to hear this.

"H-How would you two view it then?" he asked.

"I personally think it's a creative way to fix a leak," answered Corina. "You can't exactly think of any other way to fix a leak when you're stranded on the line."

James smiled a little.

"Oh, you two are still too young to understand," interrupted Vincent. "You don't see me with a bootlace on my trains. I'm just too good at my jobs to cause something that could result in such a thing."

The other three said no more, as they all drifted to sleep.

The next day, Vincent was still boasting.

"You just watch me, James," he said to the red engine. "I'll show you how to properly pull a train, both passenger and cargo."

"I hope it's cargo," James muttered.

Vincent just ignored him and set off to work.

He coupled up to his train and set off, with James watching nearby.

"Surely, a proper engine wouldn't dare to bring bootlaces onto their train!" he boasted.

"Showoff," James muttered.

Later that day, Xander was shunting in the yard, when the yard manager came up to him.

"Vincent has lost momentum on Gordon's Hill," he said. "Now, he's stuck up there. Edward's unavailable at the moment. So, he can't help him up. Would you like to help out?"

"I could try," replied Xander. And he puffed away to help.

By the time Xander arrived at Gordon's Hill, he saw Vincent looking disappointed.

"Are you okay?" he asked the big engine.

"Do I look okay?" muttered Vincent. "I don't know how, but I've run out of momentum while climbing my cousin's stupid hill."

Without any further comments, Xander went behind Vincent's train and began push him up. Unfortunately, Xander failed to notice that he inadvertently coupled himself up to the train.

"They could've sent for a tender engine to push me up?" asked Vincent.

"Tanks engines can do it too!" replied Xander. "Besides, Edward's unavailable. They had to call me in."

Xander pushed with all his might, until Vincent was on top of Gordon's Hill.

"We've made it!" shouted Vincent. "We've made it to the top! Now, come along!"

Unbeknownst to Vincent, that was a poor choice of words.

Initially, Xander was relieved to have succeeded, but he then look down and saw that he was coupled up.

"Uh... Vincent?" he started.

But before he could finish asking, Vincent began zooming down the mainline, unaware that Xander was still coupled to his train.

"Come along! Come along!" he shouted.

"Vincent!" shouted Xander.

But Vincent was so focused on zooming down the line, that he couldn't hear Xander.

Just as Maron Station came up, Xander could see Henry pulling a box cart on same line as Vincent's.

"Vincent!" he shouted again.

Vincent still didn't hear, but he did see the box cart.

"Uh-oh," he said meekly.

He applied his brakes, but it was too late.

*Crash!*

Vincent crashed into the box cart, sending it flying in the air, before crashing down on him.

"Ouch," he groaned.

No one was hurt, but Henry's tender was derailed, and his box cart was shattered.

But then, Vincent and Xander looked around. The box cart had been loaded with...

"Boots," they groaned.

Boots were all over the place. There were tall boots, short boots, leather boots, rubber boots, and of course, boots with laces. And some of them were all over Vincent.

"Needless to say, Sir Topham Hatt will be disappointed," Henry muttered.

Just then, they heard a whistle.

One that they all knew too well.

It was James.

Upon pulling to the mess, James can only smile at the sight of the boot-covered Vincent.

"Well, Vincent," he laughed. "Looks like I'm no longer that only engine on Sodor to have a bootlace problem. Didn't you say that a proper engine wouldn't dare to bring bootlaces onto their train? Because from the look of things, you seem to have brought more than just the laces."

Vincent pretended he didn't hear that.

Xander, meanwhile, wasn't in the mood.

"James," he started. "We're having a bad day. We don't need you making it worse."

James' smile dropped awkwardly.

"Right," he said. "I'll go fetch the Breakdown Train." And he sheepishly puffed away to do so.

Xander then turned back to Vincent.

"Don't come crying to me when Liz tears into you with one of her lectures," he said to to big engine.

"And don't get me involved either," added Henry. "I was just doing my own job until you came rushing in."

Vincent stayed silent.

And from that point on, no more was said about James' bootlace incident, or even the mere subject of bootlaces for that matter.