//------------------------------//
// Eels on Wheels 
// Story: Thomas and Friends: More Tales from Sodor 
// by The Blue EM2 
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Summer is always the worst time of year for steam, and this year was no exception. British summers are characterised by long periods of very dry weather with little rain, and a few weeks in June and July where the temperatures and humidity match (and sometimes exceed) those of Florida. The lack of rain makes the lineside vegetation extremely dry indeed, and sparks from a steam engine's funnel can ignite a fire if the crew are not careful. As a consequence, some days had to be operated using diesel traction, and today was one such day. Daisy rolled down the branch line with the passengers onboard. It was an incredibly hot day, and the passengers had rolled down the windows to let some fresh air in.

"I'm glad they're using MK2s out on the main line!" called a passenger. "Those have air conditioning!"

Daisy paid no notice to the conversations going on. For a few days now, she had noticed strange creatures basking on the lineside, taking in the summer sun. However, whenever she got close, they would vanish into the undergrowth, hiding from view. "How on Earth do those things move about?" she asked Trixie at the next station. "They have no legs!"

"Neither do you!" Trixie laughed. "They are grass snakes. They move by wriggling their bodies."

"How clever," Daisy said, as Percy rattled in with a goods train. He had a spark arrestor fitted to his chimney, and looked extremely silly. "Oh, hello Percy! Trixie was just telling me about these grass snakes. They're very clever and move by wriggling their bodies!"

"They sound scary," said Percy, looking at the floor.

"Don't worry!" Pinkie said, putting a soda to her lips and starting to drink. "They're completely harmless! Besides, we're more of a threat to them than they are to us!"

Percy looked noticably relieved, and puffed away. Now that the line was clear, Daisy finished her journey to Ffarquhar station, and Trixie switched ends to the rear cab. This was done so she could see where the train was going, but Daisy had the rather odd experience of watching the world whistling away from her instead of towards her.

"Excuse me?" called the station master. "Can you take a delivery for us?"

"Of course!" Trixie replied. "The grrrrrrreat and powerful Trixie and the grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat and powerful Daisy are more than happy to oblige!"

"Excellent," the station master continued. "A shipment of boxes has just arrived from a local farm, and needs to be taken to Knapford Junction. According to the owner, the boxes contain live eels."

"What are eels?" asked Daisy. "I've never seen nor heard of an eel!"

"An eel is a real delicacy," Trixie explained, as she changed the headcode box to indicate the number of the return branch train (2B24). "They are often eaten as part of posh meals at high end restaurants."

"Yes, but what is an eel?" Daisy asked again. "Telling me that people eat them is not very helpful, especially given people also eat plants."

"Ooh!" Trixie smiled. "Well, an eel is rather like a water snake. It's a ray finned fish that belongs to the family Anguilliformes, and contains eight suborders, 11 families, 111 genera, and more than 800 different species!"

Daisy smiled. "Thank you for the information dump. I daresay that Twilight has rubbed off on you! I wouldn't be at all surprised if she told you that."

"Trixie does not do 'Twilighting'," Trixie said. "Besides, Twilight is still at the works helping with Thomas' overhaul, so she could hardly be here!"

The boxes were being carefully stacked on the platform so they could be loaded into a van, which was normally used for moving milk churns. The stack of boxes were now next to the platform, and right where Daisy could see them.

Suddenly, a small boy ran down the platform.

"No running on the platform!" shouted the Station Master. "You'll cause an accident!"

The boy paid him no attention, but caught the top box with his arm. It fell off the stack and burst on the track below. Eels wriggled about on the track like worms, trying to get free and wriggle into the undergrowth.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Daisy cried. "Help!"

The Station Master and Trixie ran over. The Station Master was very cross. "Look what you've done, you stupid boy!" he snapped at the child. "Get as many staff over here as we can! We need to get this mess cleaned up!"

The Guard and the Porter hopped down with a bucket, loading the eels into nice water. Daisy continued to look on in disgust. "I must say that these small creatures are very odd indeed."

"They can't harm you!" said Trixie. "Besides, you've stalled as is. You're more of a danger to the eels than they are to you!"

"Rather like those snakes, then," Daisy said. She was beginning to feel very silly indeed. Trixie tried to get her engine started again and put her back into gear, but it rapidly proved to be a fool's errand. The equipment was stuck so badly they would need to look at it at the shed. Edward had to come up and work her train instead, which was by now very, very late. Toby had the 'honour' of towing Daisy back to the sheds for maintenance. When they arrived, Percy was there, and Toby told him all that had happened.

"So, Daisy freaked out at the sight of wriggly things, eh?" Percy laughed. "I thought she wasn't scared of anything!"

"So did I," Toby laughed. For much of the rest of the night, the pair made a lot of jokes with bad eel themed puns, which Daisy found most annoying.

"Could you please stop with the puns?" she asked. "It's getting eely annoying."

"It's funny you should mention such a place," said Toby. His mouth was now a smirk. "Only 47 miles away from where my old railway met the mainline, there's a town called Ely! It has a nice cathedral and everything!"

That was the last thing Daisy wanted to think about.