"Where is it?" Stepney complained, as he rolled back and forth at Tidmouth. "Where is that truck?"
He puffed up and down, looking all over the yard. The truck he needed was missing, and it was irritating him greatly. Stepney and Sweetie Belle were on yard pilot duty as BoCo had been called away to the mainland for some reason, and one of their many duties was to marshal goods trains for the bigger engines to take away. Their first order was to assemble a mixed formation of vans and plank wagons, plus a brake van of course, but there was a problem.
Sweetie Belle checked the manifest again. "It's supposed to be in siding three, but none of the trucks in that siding match the numbers listed here! ARGGGH! This is so frustrating!"
A familiar whistle sounded through the harbour as Edward rolled to a stop with some empties. "Howdy, Sugarcube!" called Applejack. "Y'all look redder than a ripe apple!"
"Is everything alright, Stepney?" Edward asked. "You look very hot and bothered."
"That's because I am hot and bothered!" Stepney complained. "We're trying to locate a truck. Sweetie Belle has the manifest, so she can show you."
Sweetie Belle secured Stepney's brakes and hopped off the footplate, walking over to Edward's cab. "According to this manifest," she said, "we're supposed to marshal the truck numbered 7423225 into the train behind conflat 827, but when I checked the sidings there was no truck numbered 7423225. I checked the other sidings and it's not there either."
Edward rolled his eyes as two familiar whistles sounded through the yard. "Bill! Ben!" he said. "Where have you hidden this truck?"
"Why should we know?" asked Ben.
"Stepney's the yard pilot, so it's his job to find it!" Bill added.
"If we don't get the truck now, the freight will depart late," Stepney said. "If that train departs late, there's a knockon effect in the yard, as I cannot start getting the next train together. This will also slow down the arrival of new goods and supplies, which will cause everything to run late."
"Including you two," Sweetie Belle said, crossing her arms and huffing.
"Watch you don't blow the house down!" Ben snorted.
Edward suddenly spotted a truck with the correct numbers in a siding. "There it is, in siding 17," he said quietly to Stepney. Then, speaking more loudly, he addressed Bill and Ben. "Bill, Ben, I suppose I could take these trucks back to their point of origin instead of handing them over to you. What would happen if you both returned with no trucks."
"You can't actually return empty wagons to where they started," Sweetie Belle started. "It's in violation of Operational Rule 26. You'd have to leave them here for later pickup."
"Thanks for undermining my efforts at discipline," Edward grumbled. "Go and get the truck, and I'll think of something else."
Stepney puffed off as Bill and Ben rolled past, chortling. "Sorry!" shouted Babs.
"It's their new game!" Sunflower added, as Ben rolled by. "They call it 'hunt the truck'."
"You're no fun at all!" Bill retorted.
"And you're no help at all," Edward said, rolling his eyes as Applejack uncoupled him. Applejack walked around the front and decided to address him.
"Ah can't believe Ah'm sayin' this Eddie, but we need ta teach those two a lesson they won't ferget in a hurry," she said, with a sigh. "Again."
Edward sighed. "I know. It's getting very annoying. But, I think I have an idea for something that could work. Let's speak with Babs and Sunflower and see if we can organise something."
The next morning, Bill and Ben shuffled in with a train of loaded wagons from the China Clay pits. Sitting on one of the facing sidings was a fully marshalled van train.
"Look over there!" said Ben. "a fully marshalled train."
"Yep!" Stepney said, as he puffed by. "Just finished putting that together. That's for pickup later."
Bill smiled at Ben. Ben smiled at Bill. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Ben asked Bill.
"Probably," Bill replied. "Let's split the train up and mix them in with all the other wagons! That'll give them hours of fun!"
"Right then!" Babs called. "This'll take a while, so let's get to work!"
It took them about an hour to take the train apart and hide the vans in several different places. Just then, Edward arrived. "Hello!" he said. "I'm supposed to be collecting a train of vans, but they aren't here."
"That's funny," Sweetie Belle replied. "We definitely assembled one. Didn't we, Stepney?"
"That we did," Stepney replied. "What was in them?"
"According to the manifest," Applejack began, "it were full of supplies for a local hospice. Ah doubt they'll be happy when they learn that medical supplies have gone missing."
Bill and Ben were shocked! They sped off backwards into the marshalling yards to try and locate all the vans they had split up, but to their shock several of the trains they had pushed them into had gone. "This isn't good!" said Ben. "What a mess we've made."
"A mess you've made," Bill said. "It was your idea to take the train apart and hide it!"
"No it wasn't, it was yours!" Ben snapped.
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"WAS NOT!"
"WAS TOO!"
"Instead of constantly arguin', how about we track those trucks down?" Sunflower suggested. "We can play the blame game later."
"There's a slight problem with that," Babs said. "We don't know what numbers the trucks were."
The twins and their drivers spent the rest of the day whizzing backwards and forwards across the island, trying to locate any vans that could match the ones of the medical train. They looked in yards, in sidings, on the backs of passenger trains (at one point leaving Gordon very confused), and Ben even wondered if one was in Ballahoo tunnel (which made no sense as it would be obstructing the running lines). At the end of the day, they returned to the docks, tired and sad. As they rounded the bend, they suddenly saw the train of vans sitting on a siding.
"Hooray!" cried Bill. "The train of vans is safe! The hospice will get their medical supplies!"
"I hope you've learned something today," said a stern voice. Sitting on another track was Edward. "Myself and the other engines were getting tired of you two constantly taking trains apart and hiding critical vehicles, so we decided to give you two a taste of your own medicine."
"Those vans are actually completely empty," Applejack said. "Edddie an' Ah dropped off the real ones this mornin'. You'd never move medical supplies in the ones you two split up, as they ain't refridgerated."
"And you had us racing all over the island in a tizzy, looking for trucks, much like the other engines must have after our little stunts," Ben said. He and Bill looked miserable. "Sorry," they said in unison.
"You are forgiven," Edward replied, with a smile. "As long as we can all grow and learn from our mistakes, we can move forward as really useful engines."
And all was forgiven. Safe to say, Bill and Ben never hid trucks ever again.