TEDDY MAC, OTTER and the WASPS’ NEST

   "Ooh!" said Grandad, waving his arms in the air.  "What a lot of wasps!”  Teddy Mac  watched the wasps circle around Otter as they waited for the whistle to blow. At last Station Master Rod waved his green flag. The whistle blew and  Otter puffed out huge clouds of smoke to drive the wasps away.

    They hadn’t gone very far, before they had to stop at a red signal by White Falls Halt.. Beside the track Teddy Mac heard a low buzzing sound. It came from the bank. It grew louder and louder until a dark cloud of wasps swarmed out, hovering over the train.  "So THAT’S where they live” he thought. Grandad spoke on the radio to the Station Master. "I’ve found the wasps’ nest ,” he said. Looking up,  he tapped the regulator, before they set off again. 

    Back at Much Natter Station, Grandad  stepped out of Otter’s cab to stretch his legs. ."Bump”  Teddy Mac looked down. A shiny red apple rolled across the cab floor. It stopped directly underneath him.  Grandad looked puzzled.  "I can’t seem to find my apple.” he said. "I thought I brought one with me this morning.”  Teddy Mac pointed to the cab floor,  but Grandad wasn’t looking.  Trying to be helpful, Teddy Mac pushed the apple out of the cab on to the platform itself. But the apple had a mind of its own. Gaining speed, it trundled along the platform away from Grandad until finally, it wobbled sideways, landing on the track just as Finn MaCool and Driver Jones steamed into the Station.. SPLAT!

     Meanwhile, the gardeners arrived. "The wasps are being such a nuisance,” they said. " We will have to destroy the nest.” 

   Teddy Mac’s ears drooped.  He remembered how he felt when he didn’t have a home. Looking at the squashed apple chunks lying by the track, he lifted his head and pricked up his ears again. "Ooh!" he thought. 

Finn MacCool was waiting on the other platform for the next train ride. 

Everything was quiet. Teddy Mac knelt down and scooped  the remains of the apple into his pocket. Climbing back into Otter, he waited patiently.

   On the next run, when Otter reached White Falls Halt, he had to stop again for the signals.. Teddy Mac heard the gardeners clumping down the hill towards the platform.  Standing up in the tender, he took the little pieces of apple out of his pocket and threw some towards the angry wasps. "Quickly!” he shouted, "Come and find another home before you lose this one!”  The curious wasps flew towards the juicy apple pieces.

   "Now!" shouted Teddy Mac to Otter " blow your whistle and hurry UP! The gardeners are coming!”  But Otter had to wait for the signal. The Gardeners were almost on the platform when the signals changed and just in time the wasps started to swarm behind Otter.     

   By Deepwater Halt, Grandad stopped to let the ducks cross the track, Teddy Mac saw a fallen tree trunk that would make a good place for a wasps’ nest. He threw the last of the apple into it. The wasps, calmed by Otter’s smoke grumbled to each other but they went off to have a look at their new home.        

  Back at the Station, every one was happy. "Want to hear a joke” steamed Finn MacCool as the Engines waited side by side in the Station. "What wears dark glasses, is stripey and flies?” "I don’t know” said Teddy Mac "What does?". "A bad tempered wasp with the sun in his eyes!” screeched Finn MacCool. Teddy Mac beamed, as wasp free, they waited for the next train of the day.

© Margaret Edmonds 2010