The Lost Decorations
The Isle of Purbeck was now a shining land of beautiful light. Ever since the Swanage Railway had put up all their decorations for the Wonderlights season, the townsfolk of the towns up and down the line had followed their example. From Wareham to Swanage, houses were festooned with lights and tinsel. And that wasn't all. Many people had put up Christmas trees in their gardens as well as inside their homes. The local logging operation was certainly getting a good trade, that's for sure!
In response to the weather conditions, the railway had made the decision to introduce a commuter service for the locals. These trains used Alexandra to convey people travelling to and from the mainline, as many liked to go into Bournemouth to do their Christmas shopping. They would head out with empty bags, and return with bags full of items ready to be handed out on Christmas Day.
The buildings intended to cater to humans weren't the only ones being lit up. The workers of the Swanage Railway had worked on adding lights to the engine shed as well. This was appreciated by several of the engines- but only by several of the engines. Not by all of them.
Charles, as ever, was grumbling. "Why do we get so few lights?" he asked. "Surely engines as important as us deserve more lights!"
"We've got overhead lights, you half wit," Ray pointed out.
"So do the station buildings, and yet they're covered in bright lights and tinsel! Come to think of it, the Nativity scene is illuminated too! Are they trying to make Swanage visible from space?"
"I doubt it," Sophie pointed out. "We'd need a lot of lights if we were going to make this shed visible from space. We'd need more than Spaghetti Junction!"
"Where's Spaghetti Junction?" asked Bellerophon.
"It's near Birmingham. Lots of roads join up and intersect in a manner that looks like spaghetti, hence the name," Ray explained. "It's quite interesting how they build them, actually. First they need to figure out the length of the bridge decks, and then how they will fit together to make the most efficient use of space, and then they need to ensure that tall lorries don't bump into things that are going under or over the bridge sections, but before they can do any of that they need to figure out how heavy it will be, and how many steel beams will be required to..."
Charles tuned Ray out as he rambled on about bridge construction. "We need to find some more decorations. I'll ask Zipp about it in the morning."
Lady Haven yawned as she got out of bed, and brushed the awkward creases out of her nightgown as she walked over to the window to pull back the curtains. She'd had better nights sleep, to be honest. She'd woken up numerous times in the night, and not from noise. Maybe this was just a side effect of being middle aged.
She heard her husband stirring as well. "What time is it?"
"Seven, according to the clock," Lady Haven replied, as she pushed a button on the nightstand. This button caused a bell to ring down in the kitchen, and the serving staff knew what that meant.
A few minutes later, a tray arrived with a teapot and two cups on it, carried by the butler. "Earl Grey, as you requested, Your Ladyship."
"Thank you, Wadsworth," Lady Haven replied, and then opened the curtains. Their room gave them a lovely view over the terrain near Swanage, as well as much of the lands that they owned. It also gave them a nice view of the garden, which Mr Longtree has given a nice prune before the snow hit.
As her eyes scanned over it, she spotted something was missing. "The tree! It's gone!"
She looked back to the table and pushed another button before turning to Robert. "We must meet in the Great Hall at once!"
Robert sat up. "But dear, I'm still in my pyjamas."
"Doesn't matter! This is important!" Lady Haven replied, as she pulled on a dressing gown.
Everybody soon assembled in the Great Hall- including Pipp and Zipp, the former of whom was still half asleep. "These so far," said Zoom, "are the facts. The tree was there yesterday, but it is not there now. Mr Longtree was not in the garden last night, nor were any other members of the household staff. The only conclusion that we can come to is an outside agitator stole it."
"Can I go back to bed now?" Pipp asked.
"Why? It's seven thirty," Zipp replied.
"Girls! This is serious!" Lady Haven answered, before looking over elsewhere. "I suggest that we go and search for the missing tree. Zipp. As you're the closest to readiness I want you to take Charles up the line and check the sidings. Understood?"
Zipp, seeing that there was no point in arguing, nodded and headed off to get dressed.
"Pipp, can you send out messages on social media?"
"Sure thing," Pipp yawned.
Lord Haven looked over to Emma, one of the maids. "Could you prepare some coffee for Pipp?"
"Yes, my lord."
Lady Haven flipped open a laptop and began to look at security information. "All of this chaos, and before breakfast too!"
Thunder suddenly walked into the room. "Bad news, ma'am... a box of decorations has gone missing, as have a box full of percussion instruments."
Lord Haven looked over. "This is bound to have repercussions."
Lady Haven groaned. "Not now, Robert."
Zipp hopped into Charles' cab and fired him up. "No time to explain!" she said. "There's a missing tree and we need to find it!"
So they set off up the line, and before long they reached Corfe Castle. Sitting there on a flatbed was-
"That's our tree!"
Charles looked over. "And there's two boxes tied down over there. Badly, might I add."
Zipp looked over into a nearby plank wagon. "And lights from the tree as well! How did it get here?"
"Never mind that!" Charles said. "Let's get it back to Swanage before the thief comes back!"
"Not arguing with you on that one!"
Zipp put Charles into reverse and backed him out of the station, before stopping outside the station approaches. The points then changed, and Charles drew forward into the platform and rolled into the trucks. Zipp then hooked him to them, and drew them back out of the station.
Lord Haven was suddenly aware of a loud noise in the garden. He walked to take a look, still dressed for bed and a dressing gown, and looked outside. What he saw surprised him.
A huge crowd of people had gathered.
"We wish you a merry Christmas/
We wish you a merry Christmas/
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin/
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!"
"How kind," Robert said.
"Now bring us some figgy pudding/
Now bring us some figgy pudding/
Now bring us some figgy pudding/
And a cup of good cheer!
"We won't go until we get some/
We won't go until we get some/
We won't go until we get some/
So bring it out here!"
Lady Haven walked over. "What is going on?"
Lord Haven looked back. "They won't go until we give them figgy pudding! What should we do?"
Lady Haven glanced back. "Wadsworth, could you go to the kitchens and ask the cooks to produce figgy pudding 27 times?"
"Yes, Your Ladyship," Wadsworth replied, and began to head towards the kitchens.
Zipp and Charles pulled back into the yard at Swanage with the tree and the other items safely secured. "That was quite the ride," Zipp admitted. "But at least the items are all safe. I'll head back to the house and let them know."
As she walked out of the station, a large amount of snow fell on her, making her hair very wet and droopy. She pushed her way back through the crowd and was about to step through the door when-
"Excuse me, but who are you?"
Zipp looked up to see one of the security guards looking at her. "I'm Zipp. My mom's your boss."
"Doesn't Zipp have a different hairstyle?"
"This is ridiculous! I'm clearly the same person!"
Zoom walked over. "Let her through, Wallcroft. Sorry about that."
Zipp shrugged. "The tree is secure, though. It's ready for pickup from the station."
With a bit of help from a local construction firm, the tree was soon put back up, and the lights and decorations were put back on as if nothing had happened. After a rather frantic morning, things soon returned to normal within the household, and the Swanage Railway was running trains as if nothing had happened at all.
Although they never did find out who stole the tree, they were on guard in case it happened again. After all, lightning can strike twice!
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11781104
Ah. I got it now.
awesome chapter mate keep it up I can't for the next chapter
11781126
No worries.
11781170
Glad you enjoyed.
Robert*
Great... Christmas Carolers.
Whoever it was, they clearly were not thinking of Christmas.
11781234
1. I was clearly asleep when proofreading this.
2. The bane of the existance of so many people.
3. Sadly, theft is especially common at Christmas.
11781326
Yep. I've already heard of a few robberies in my neighborhood the last month.
11781334
Ouch.
Nice story! It was nice to see how the Haven's services were featured.
11782069
No problem. I felt it was time to finally feature the people behind the scenes, without whom the Duchy would grind to a halt.