#tillietugswitcher

Winter had come again to Bigg City Port and Ten Cents, Tillie, and Sunshine were hard at work transporting logs Up River to nearby campsites to be cut up and used for firewood. As it was Tillie’s first time working Up River the two figured they’d take her to see Boomer, on their journey the two Star switchers told her all about him.

“After he was renamed he became a rather unlucky tug”, Ten Cents began,

“Aye strange things happened while we were working with him, while we were transporting him over to Lucky’s one time, the lights went out and we ended up crashing into the dock” Sunshine added with a chuckle,

Tillie chuckled as well, “He certainly sounds like an interesting fellow.”

“Yeah he was, he meant well, but he was miserable because of what his jinx did to us. Captain Starr had him turned into a house boat and since then nothing bad has come from it” Sunshine chipped in.

When they arrived at Boomer’s mooring they were most surprised. Boomer was in such a state: his eyelids drooped as though they were being pulled by little anchors, he looked forlorn, and his eyes darted around as if he was actively searching for something.

“ ‘Ere, what’s going on Boomer?” Ten Cents asked,

Boomer jumped, “Oh Ten Cents, Sunshine, and… who’s this?”

“Oh I’m Tillie,” Tillie introduced,

“What’s happened with you, Boomer, is everything alright?” Sunshine asked.

“No nothing is ok Sunshine, my owners left for a much warmer climate and I swear since then some strange things have been going on.”

“What do you mean?” Ten Cents asked,

“A couple nights I swear I’ve seen a tug pull into my dock with a barge and then leave soon afterwards”, Boomer responded,

“Are you sure it's not the fog playing tricks on you, it can be like that at-”

“I’m for certain of what I saw, my dock is haunted. There’s no two ways about it,” Boomer boomed, “I thought my jinx went away but it hasn’t because I have to deal with this nonsense now”

“Boomer, you can’t be jinxed because there’s no such things as ghosts, we should know. We thought we saw Ghost Tugs, a skeleton of a Galleon rise from the ocean, as well as King Neptune last winter,” Ten Cents began,

“But the ghost tugs turned out to be the White Fleet, the Galleon wasn’t a ghost but an actual ship that had defrosted from an iceberg and wound up in the port, and King Neptune… well I’m sure the fog was only playing with me.” Sunshine added, “Well I can tell you for a fact I’m certain of what I saw,” Boomer retorted, and before anyone could continue to argue with him, Billy Shoepack and Big Mac pulled up along Boomer’s mooring.

“Ello, what are you fellas talkin’ about?” Billy Shoepack queried.

“Aye,” Big Mac scoffed, “We can hear ya arguing fer miles”

“Oh it’s nothing Billy, Boomer claims his dock is haunted but we were just telling him it’s just the fog making him see things.” Ten Cents replied rather dismissively.

Billy Shoepack looked about Boomer’s dock, “And what have you seen, Boomer?

“Well lately, as I’ve told these three, at night a tug would appear departing from near my dock and then disappear into the fog. Sometimes I’d hear the sound of some things colliding into each other accompanied by the sound of splintering wood…” Boomer recounted.

Billy Shoepack thought for a moment, his cheerful smile then turned into a frown, even Big Mac looked rather afraid. “Sounds to me as if you encountered the Moonshine ghost.”

The switchers and Boomer were all perplexed, but Tillie was the first to ask. “What’s the Moonshine ghost?”

“The Moonshine ghost is an urban legend in these parts, surely you must’ve heard about it before.” Billy replied.

“I haven’t” Ten Cents shrugged.

Tillie and Boomer both shook their wheelhouses.

“Oh I have… but it’s been a long time since I’ve heard of it.” Sunshine said, trembling.

“Could you tell us about the Moonshine Ghost?” Tillie puzzled.

“Are you sure you want to hear it, lass?” Big Mac asked carefully, “It could keep ya up at night.”

“I’ve heard plenty of ghost stories before from Tianna, I don’t think this should be any different,” Tillie reassured.

Boomer only rolled his eyes, “Go on then Big Mac, tell us about it.”

“Right, Well… in the start of the nineteen twenties, The Prohibition Act was in full effect. As the name implies, the act prohibited cities from being able to sell alcohol in any form in stores or bars, this included our own Bigg City. Despite the restriction, it didn’t stop amateur independent brewers from making their own liquor and selling them off to private businesses.

To avoid being caught by law enforcement, alcohol was smuggled and delivered incognito. One of the ways alcohol was smuggled was by Tugs. One of these was named William, he was a small tug very similar to that of Sunshine, he was painted dark teal and he barely talked to anyone.

To my understanding, he never socialized because he didn’t want anyone getting incarcerated with him should he get caught. He lived at a dock upriver all by himself where he used to work for a gang of bootleggers, they weren’t the brightest bunch as they would not only use William to smuggle their liquor, but they would also have him deliver them in barges chained to him in Bigg City.

For a time this worked as his owners also had him do regular work around the port during the day, but under the cover of nightfall, with his head lights off, he’d make his rounds of smuggling booze for his manager’s bootleg ring. One winter evening as he was making one of his moonshine runs, Port authority saw him with his barges. The coast guard tried to stop him for questioning, but William wasn’t going to be stopped, he turned hard to stern and headed back upriver to lose the coast guard cutter.

William thought he’d outrun the coast guard as he headed back up river through the fog, but as he continued to travel blindly in the dark he didn’t realize how close to shore he was. His hull ground on some rocks and his barge smashed into him as well causing him to sink. The coast guard didn’t bother trying to arrest him, the sound of shattering glass told them everything they needed and they deserted the scene choosing to instead find the dock where the bootlegging took place, leaving William alone to sink into a watery grave.

Legend has it that William, the Moonshine ghost, still makes his rounds on foggy winter nights, and it's believed where he crashed is cursed as it’s said if you get too close to the shore he sunk, rusty chains would grab hold of you and he’d drag you down to Davy Jones’ locker, and you’ll never be seen again…”

The tugs looked on at Big Mac with wide eyes, Tillie and Sunshine felt chills up their stacks but Ten Cents seemed unmoved.

“Oh my… that was a really scary story, Big Mac. But was it all true? Is the Moonshine Ghost real?” Tillie quizzed.

But before Big Mac could reply, Ten Cents butted in.

“Rubbish Tillie, everyone knows ghost stories aren’t true, they’re just made up to scare younger tugs. Scuttlebutt Pete tells plenty of stories like this and they’re all full of malarkey.” Ten Cents proclaimed.

“Hey, be careful what you say Ten Cents, all ghost stories have some truth in them,” Big Mac cautioned.

Ten Cents groaned, “Whatever Big Mac, but I think we should probably get going. I’ve heard enough ghost stories today, ” Ten Cents turned to port and chugged away.

Sunshine followed after Ten Cents, Tilllie did as well, but she stopped and turned to look at Boomer, “it was nice meeting you Boomer, sorry about all this...”

“Don’t be sorry, I guess bad luck managed to still linger with me” Boomer sighed.

Tillie couldn’t help but pity Boomer’s situation, the thought of the Moonshine Ghost weighed on her mind like an anchor as she caught up with Ten Cents and Sunshine.

“I can’t understand why Big Mac believes ghost stories are real” Ten Cents puzzled

“He’s just superstitious Ten Cents, he believes in a lot of things like legends, including ghosts. He could be onto something though.” Sunshine explained.

Ten Cents scoffed, “If I hadn’t made it clear enough already Sunshine, I don’t believe in ghosts. Have you forgotten what happened last winter?”

“But what if it is real..? I’ve heard plenty of ghost stories back on The Island Of Sodor. Tianna told me how many of the engines that work there have seen spirits all around the island, plenty that appeared on viaducts or even a tunnel. I even heard there was a ghost engine with half a face!” Tillie shivered.

“But have you actually seen those ghosts?” Ten Cents questioned

“Umm… no not really, I’ve only heard the stories but I’ve never encountered them.” Tillie answered

“Then the stories are not true Tillie, honestly all of you need to get that through your wheelhouses that ghosts are not real. There's always a logical explanation behind things that go bump in the night. More often than not it's just the fog playing tricks on us. Now can we just get on with our work and quit with the ghost malarkey?” Ten Cents snapped.

Ten Cents steamed ahead leaving Tillie and Sunshine with much to think about. The day went without a hitch, not a word about ghosts was spoken among my Star switchers. As they headed down the river, Tillie and Sunshine kept their distance from the shores, worried they would pass over the resting spot of the Moonshine Ghost. Ten Cents noticed this and said nothing, shaking his wheelhouse in disapproval. When they pulled up at the Star Pier, Ten Cents hoped to get some rest but I had other ideas…

“Ten Cents, Tillie, Sunshine, the logging camp manager has radioed, there’s one more job for you three, an extra delivery of firewood needs to be transported from the saw mills to the campgrounds down river”.

“Aw Captain Starr we just got back, can’t any of the others do it?” Ten Cents groaned.

“I’m afraid not Ten Cents, Top Hat’s transporting the rail barges, Warrior’s moving steel, and Big Mac’s unloading a tramper, OJ’s at Lucky’s Yard for his annual boiler check up, and Hercules- do I even have to say?”

Ten Cents sighed, “No Captain Starr, I understand”.

“Good, now hop to it you three”.

Ten Cents rolled his eyes, Tillie and Sunshine followed uncomfortably behind. The three headed back up the river, and by the time they reached the dock for the sawmills night had fallen.

“That’s a lot of firewood,” Tillie exclaimed.

“Well the camp grounds do have a lot of cabins, and in this winter, they’ll need as much firewood as they can get. The sooner we deliver this though the sooner we can get back to the Star Pier” Ten Cents replied.

The three tied onto their barges and headed down the river.

The fog gave everything an eerie look, despite having bright running lights, the switchers couldn’t see much ahead of them.

“Stay close beside me, we’ll be less likely to runaground in the fog!” Ten Cents called to Tillie and Sunshine.

Tillie and Sunshine grew tense as soon as Ten Cents mentioned running aground in the fog, but rather than keeping up with Ten Cents they began slowing down until Ten Cents was leading ahead of them.

“What are you doing?!” Ten Cents hollered.

“We’re just trying to… follow you,” Sunshine stuttered.

“Yeah can’t be too close to the river banks,” Tillie added.

“Get back over here, I can’t tell how far from the river banks we are while you two are meandering behind me,” Ten Cents barked.

But it was too late, Ten Cents didn’t see where he was going and grounded himself on some rocks.

Tillie called to him, “Oh no! Ten Cents are you ok?”

“No, get a crane quickly I think I might be holed,” Ten Cents groaned

Then all of a sudden, Ten Cents found himself sliding backwards into the water.

“Help! I’m going under!” Ten Cents cried.

“I’m coming, Ten Cents!” Sunshine responded.

Sunshine got as close as he could and threw a line over to Ten Cents, Ten Cents caught it but it wasn’t just Ten Cents that was sinking, his barge was also getting pulled beneath the water.

“Cast off, Ten Cents!” Sunshine grunted.

“I can’t!” Ten Cents shrieked,

“Quick Tillie, get a line on Ten Cents before he goes under!” Sunshine hollered.

Tillie chugged up beside Sunshine and got a line on Ten Cents, the two switchers pulled with all their might, once Ten Cents was above the water he was able to cut free from his barge, but there was no way of recovering it.

“Thanks guys,” Ten Cents sighed.

Sunshine interrupted, “Don’t thank us yet, Ten Cents. Tillie, get alongside him, we can’t take Ten Cents to Lucky’s yard in front of us.”

“Right away” Tillie affirmed.

The switchers rearranged themselves and hurried down the river to the camp sites, luckily there was a crane nearby so after the firewood was unloaded, Ten Cents was placed onto a barge and Tillie and Sunshine hauled their friend to Lucky’s yard.

After Tillie and Sunshine brought Ten Cents over to Lucky’s yard, they went back to the Star dock, shakened after the incident. Most of the fleet had returned from their jobs

“Where’s Ten Cents?” asked O.J.

Tillie started, “It was the Moonshine Ghost!”

Tillie and Sunshine explained everything,

Top Hat scoffed, “Come on you two, the Moonshine ghost isn’t real.”

“But Big Mac and Billy Shoepack told us about it.” Sunshine interjected.

“The Moonshine Ghost is only a legend, you two,” OJ comforted, “While it is true there were tugs that ran moonshine into the port, there has been no record of any tug grounding on the rocks and sinking. Ten Cents must’ve run aground due to the fog and the current dragged him under.

Tillie and Sunshine thought about all that OJ said, they felt rather foolish thinking the Moonshine Ghost was real. The next day however the two were relieved to find that Ten Cents wasn’t too damaged that evening but surprisingly it was Ten Cents who began apologizing,

“I’m sorry I doubted you two about Big Mac’s story, after what happened last night I don’t think I-”

“No you were right all along Ten Cents” Sunshine interrupted,

“Yeah OJ said the only reason why you were being dragged into the river was because of the strong current. There is no such thing as a Moonshine Ghost,” Tillie added.

Ten Cents blinked, “But… I could’ve sworn last night the waters were calm.”

Sunshine and Tillie paused, then Sunshine noticed something on Ten Cents’ bow.

“Uh Ten Cents, what’s with the glass bottle?” Tillie asked,

“What glass bottle?” Ten Cents was perplexed.

Ten Cents looked down and froze. The three switchers said nothing to each other as they left Lucky’s yard.

I wasn’t pleased with Tillie and Sunshine for not delivering all of their barges, and that day, they had to help the salvage fleet with recovering it from the river channel. Ten Cents, nor the other two switchers, told Big Mac or Billy Shoepack what they experienced, they simply wanted to forget it happened and go along with their work as usual. Though when they went to visit Boomer at Dun Tuggin’, he was no longer there as Billy had moved him to a new mooring Up River.

—

Also I used this as the bases:

“Good, may I have the keys back?” I held out my hand, “Oh right! I almost forgot about them.” Ten Cents searched in his pockets

“Here you go sir,”

“Thank you,” I turned my gaze towards Sunshine.

“Anything you want to report to me as well, Sunshine?”

“Me? Uh no sir. Nothing to report”

I was feeling tired myself, so I didn’t bother asking anything else and let the two on their way, “Have a good night you two.”

“You too, sir” Ten Cents and Sunshine chimed together as I walked away, Ten Cents let out a sigh of relief, “Well that was almost too close for comfort,”

“You’re telling me,” shrugged Sunshine.

“Let’s just get something to eat and then hit the sack, ay?”

“I just hope someone got us good food this time.” Sunshine grumbled.

When they entered the cafeteria, they saw Big Mac, O.J., and Top Hat sitting at one of the tables chatting amongst each other about their day. O.J. turned and noticed Ten Cents and Sunshine.

“Welcome back lads. I hope you both aren't burnt out from your last job.”

“Meh, it was just storage cleaning. Nothing that we couldn’t handle.”

“Did ye find anything interesting in that old room?” Big Mac asked

“Well actually there is.” Sunshine soon reveals in his hands, the button-eyed dolls.

“What is that?” O.J. asks, having to look closer at the dirty dolls.

“And why do they look exactly like both of ye.” added Big Mac.

“That’s what we’ve been wondering too when we found them. Do you know who made them?”

“How should we know about some filthy old ragdolls from the garbage?” Top Hat remarked.

“Oh like how your head is full of nothing but garbage?” remarked Sunshine, insulted.

The crew all had a hearty chuckle at the joke except for Top Hat who was most offended but couldn’t think of a comeback for he was feeling tired.

“Speaking of garbage, where's Warrior? I thought we saw him walk past with you, Big Mac.” Ten cents asks.

“He already went to sleep. Don’t worry, he showered before then.” answered Big Mac

“Ah well we should go get our meals before-’’

“It’s just rations Ten Cents.” Sunshine groaned,

“What?! Again?”

“Sorry boys, with the constant busy work schedule we have this whole month we don’t have time to make meals so we resorted to using rations and other instant meals. It’s not much but it’s what we’re going to have to work with for now.” O.J. explained feeling sorry for them.

Looking back at the rations, Ten Cents sighed in defeat, “Well then, I guess we’ll just grab some and go back to our bunks…”

And with that, Ten Cents and Sunshine reluctantly grabbed a ration for the both of them and headed back to the barracks. O.J., Big Mac and Top Hat could only watch as they left until O.J. spoke.

“It’ll be alright boys, it won’t be like this forever.” trying his best to give them some hope from the situation but already left out of earshot.

Once at their bunks in their pajamas, the two ate their rations, they were as dry as the sand on the beach and not very appetizing.

“You see what I mean, Ten Cents?”

“About what?”

“About wishing that our current situation was better where we don’t have to work as hard.”

Ten Cents gulps and sets his ration aside. “I get what you mean, I know it’s been hard on all of us and they’re still doing their best, but I won’t lie, I miss when we had decent food and less of a heavy workload to handle.”

“You think that’ll ever happen soon?”

“Probably not for another few more weeks of this.”

Ten Cents looked over to the nightstand next to his and Sunshine’s bunk beds. Sunshine had placed the two old dolls right next to a framed photo of their whole fleet including their captain; When times were better, especially since they took it welcoming their new recruit, one who he was very fond of since they met.

Ten Cents yawned knowing another day of hard work awaited them in the morning. The two said nothing and threw away their rations into a nearby trash bin, and got ready to sleep.

“Tomorrow’s gonna be another busy day huh?” Sunshine yawned as he began to nod off.

“Yeah, another hard day of work...”

Ten Cents answered, shutting off the lights, the room now only being dimly illuminated by the moon outside their window shining down on the dolls. As the two slept however, a black silhouette of a cat overshadowed them and observed them beyond the window.

-

The morning sun shone brightly as Ten Cents, Top Hat, Warrior, Big Mac, Hercules, O.J. and our new recruit, Tillie stood in the employee lounge waiting for me to give them their orders. Everyone except for Sunshine was present in the employee lounge.

Although it seemed all the older workers of my company were focused on getting their schedule for that day. Sunshine was trying to figure out how to bring his doll look alike to work with him that day, once he came up with a solution, he made a dash to the employee lounge.

“I’m so sorry everyone, I… nearly overslept,” lied Sunshine, “I’m not late, am I?”

“Nope you just came just in time, Sunshine.” Ten Cents assured him

“That’s a relief”

“Alright everyone settle down!” my voice rang out through the PA speaker.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do today, a tramp steamer is arriving into the port and we’ll need all hands on deck to dock and unload it. Hercules, you’re in charge of bringing the tramper in, Big Mac, Top Hat and Warrior, you three are to help guide it in,”

“Yes Sir.” Hercules, Big Mac, Top Hat, and Warrior affirmed before proceeding to their respective vessels.

“What about the rest of us sir?” Tillie queried.

“You three are to help anchor the tramper to the dock, O.J. will show you how.”

“Yes Captain Starr!” Ten Cents, Tillie, and Sunshine affirmed before following after O.J.

On their way to where the tramper was to be docked, Sunshine couldn’t help shake the feeling that they were being watched.

To confirm his suspicions, he looked behind himself and noticed something dark moving on top of some crates.

“Hey Ten Cents I think I see something?”

“Oh yeah, what's up?”, Ten Cents asked,

“It’s over there by the cra-” Sunshine pointed. But as soon as he returned his gaze at the crates, the thing was nowhere to be seen.

“What..?”

“You must've been seeing things. It's still early today but come on, there's work to be done”

They picked up their pace to catch up to Tillie and O.J. As they continued to walk past the glistening ocean, Sunshine couldn’t shake off his confusion.

He swore to himself that he wasn’t seeing things but he couldn’t figure out how even though the thing disappeared from his sight, why he still felt he was being watched.

The crew all suddenly stopped as they caught sight of Zorran, Zebedee and Zak, some of the employees of Zero Marine, our rival, were on their way to work as well.

“Well look what have we got here lads? Scrooge McDuck and his nephews?” Zebedee and Zak guffawed at Zorran’s remark.

“Shut up, we’re only just on our way to do our jobs,” Ten Cents said.

“What? off to get another contract?”

“We’re just on our way to bring in and unload a tramp steamer that’s all.” Tillie replied,

“Kindly leave us alone and we’ll be on our way-” O.J. retorted.

“Wasn’t trying to start any trouble with you, old man” oiled Zak, “Yeah, was only trying to make friendly conversation” Zebedee added sarcastically, “Also nice doll you got there Sunshine” Zebedee mused.

“What doll?-'' Tillie looked back at Sunshine and noticed in his binocular bag was a button-eyed doll that resembled him sticking out of it.

“Aw, you plan on having a tea party after your jobs of the day?” teased Zak

“Is your age now the number on your uniform, Sunshine? How cute.” Zorran joined in.

Sunshine’s face was as red as his hat as he tried to hide his doll.

“Oi leave him alone or else-!”

“Ten Cents, don’t even think about it”, snapped O.J.

“Or else what Ten Cents? You gonna fight me?” Zorran challenged

“Don’t you dare, lad” O.J. scolded holding back one of his arms.

“Let me at him, O.J.!” Ten Cents growled

“Hey calm down now… let's get going before you do something you’ll regret,” soothed Tillie.

“Yeah, listen to your little girlfriend Ten Cents!” Retorted Zorran, this was the final straw, Ten Cents won’t take any longer.

“Oh now you’re -!” yelled Ten Cents lunging at Zorran.

“That’s enough Ten Cents!” shouted O.J.

O.J. and Tillie tried to hold Ten Cents back from the Zeros, all the while poor Sunshine stood in utter silence afraid and ashamed to do anything when he turned his gaze to a rooftop of a building and saw the thing he saw earlier on the crates, which turned out to be a cat. He couldn’t believe it when he saw it clearly now as it stared at him.

“Hey there it is again!” Sunshine shouted pointing up to the rooftop making everyone, even the Zeros look up. Tillie and O.J. took it as a chance to get both Ten Cents and Sunshine out of there before things could escalate further and grabbed their arms and took off.

“Hey what are you two doing?”

“Getting us away from them” O.J. groaned

Once they weren far enough from the Zeros, Tillie heaved a sigh of relief

“Now Let's keep going, we can't be late for the tramp steamer.”

“Yeah you’re right.”

“Be a lot more sensible, will you, Ten Cents?” shouted O.J., “If we hadn’t dragged you out of there, you could’ve gotten into even more trouble.”

“He was only trying to defend Sunshine, that’s all.” Tillie explained.

“Did you guys see it?” Sunshine chimed in

“See what?”

“The black cat, I saw it earlier on the crates. It was on the rooftop!”

O.J. stood in confusion.

“I didn’t see it, Sunshine, it was the heat of the moment that distracted us.” Said Tillie

“And if we did that’s something we shouldn't worry about. Ten Cents, please learn to keep your head on straight, will you? Last thing I want is something bad to happen to you.” OJ pleaded.

“I will in future, I’m sorry O.J.”

“Good, now let's head over to the dock, that tramper should be here at any moment.”

And so they did, but the thought of the black cat still played on Sunshine’s mind.

The sound of a chorus of tugboats blowing their hooters indicated that the tramp steamer was ready to be docked. Ten Cents, Sunshine, Tillie, and O.J. had arrived on time.

They watched as Hercules, Big Mac, Warrior, and Top Hat moved the ship close to the dock. A couple sailors aboard the steamer were at the bow and stern holding ropes.

“Right lads,” said O.J., "You must work quickly to safely secure this ship to the dock. Tillie, you’re with me in securing the bow, Ten Cents and Sunshine you two are in charge of the stern. Grip the ropes with both hands and tie them to the cleats, we must work together on this, should you lose your grips, this tramper could end up floating away from the dock, understood?”

“Yes O.J.!”, Ten Cents, Sunshine, and Tillie chimed together.

The young stars and O.J. took their positions at the ends of the ropes while Warrior, Big Mac, and Top Hat stood at their tugboats in case.

“Ready lads?!” called O.J.?

“Ready!” declared Ten Cents, Sunshine, and Tillie.

“Good, release the ropes!” O.J. shouted towards the tramp steamer.

The two sailors threw down the long ropes from their vessel and they landed down on the quay. Ten Cents, Sunshine, Tillie, and O.J. ran and grabbed hold of the ropes.

“Ready to pull!” Ten Cents called out.

All four Stars on the dock did their best to safely moor the vessel, Ten Cents and O.J. were holding strong to the ropes as Sunshine and Tillie tied their ropes to the cleat hitches.

But as they worked, Sunshine thought he heard the sound of a cat meowing behind him.

Turning to where he heard it, he saw the black cat yet again from the rooftop and the crates.

“Hey Ten Cents, I see the cat again.”

“Can it wait Sunshine, I’m busy here” Ten Cents strained.

“But Ten Cents it’s only over-...”

As Sunshine pointed over to where the cat was, the rope began to slip out of Ten Cents’ hands.

“SUNSHINE DON’T LET GO OF THE ROPE!!”

(To be Continued)

{End of Chapter 2}

“Maybe this was a crazy dream after all,” Ten Cents thought to himself as he began to wake Sunshine up in a calm and gentle manner. “SUNSHINE! GET UP IT’S MORNING!!”

Sunshine jolted awake from the sudden loud voice from Ten Cents, “What?! What?! What’s going on?!” Sunshine shouted, looked around and noticed how everything was back to normal.

“Ten Cents, What was that for?!” Sunshine shouted,

“Hey, you know i’m just messing with ya” teased Ten Cents

“But not when I'm sleeping, man.” Sunshine remarked, sighing in frustration.

“Not while we’re sleeping too,” a voice suddenly spoke up accompanied by a head poking up from another bunk; It was Top Hat,

“We’re working in a difficult time, you two. We employees of Star Tug & Marine have a position to keep up, we need to get as much rest as we can so we have more energy to do work early in the morning.”

Before Ten Cents could reply, a pair of groans cut him off, “Come off it, Top Hat, at least they’re up early and bright, unlike you,” Big Mac scoffed, Warrior laughed at this.

Before Top Hat could retort, the PA speaker turned on, accompanied by small feedback from it.

“Good Morning Star Fleet, I see everyone is already up so we can skip the wake up call and get to the announcements. As of now we’re going to have to work even harder than before for this week following the accident that occurred yesterday. Big Mac and Warrior you’re going to be assisting Hercules with the docking and unloading of another tramper, Top Hat you're on garbage detail today after that you’re to transport the rail fairies across the port, and since O.J isn’t available, I’ll have to ask Captain Zero to lend one of his employees to do his duties in the meantime-”

“But Captain,” protested Top Hat, “can’t one of us do O.J’s jobs, we’re more than capable of handling his work as well as our own.”

“I would but I’m afraid O.J’s duties would be too much to handle on top of your already scheduled duties. And I can’t spare my youngest employees to do them because of what happened recently.”

“Can’t we just do O.J’s work as a punishment?” asked Sunshine.

I let out a sigh, “I would Sunshine, but I’m afraid that because of the companies you three kept waiting as well as making a fool out of the company in front of the tramper’s crew, no one at the moment is going to trust you with your duties.”

I couldn’t see the expressions of my young employees, but I could sense they felt worse after what I said.

“You three are just going to have to start from the bottom and work yourselves back to the top starting with scraping the barnacles off of pier 3, Scuttlebutt Pete will meet you there and supervise your work. That is all, best of luck to all of you.”

The P.A speaker let out a crack and a squeal as I turned it off. All of my employees set off to do their assigned jobs of the day, as they walked out the entrance Ten Cents and Sunshine couldn’t help but feel as though Top Hat was staring coldly at them.

Ten Cents and Sunshine were quiet to each other as they made their way to Pier 3. Some ways into their journey, Ten Cents decided to speak up, “I’m sorry for waking you up the way I did, Sunshine, but... do you remember what happened last night?”

Sunshine paused for a moment then asked “You mean with the Other Captain, the Other Top Hat, and the Other O.J, even the food he gave us?"

“Yeah all of that.” Ten Cents replied.

“How do you know all of that? I thought it was just a dream I had,” Sunshine asked perplexed.

“I was there with you and you were there with me. It was weird, the whole thing had to have been some dream of sorts right?” Ten Cents ventured.

“I suppose, but how do you know we’re not having a dream right now?” Sunshine asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Started Ten Cents before grabbing Sunshine’s left arm.

“Oi! not too hard, you’ll pull my whole arm off!” Sunshine yelped.

“It’s not there anymore…” Ten Cents remarked as he stared at Sunshine’s healed hand.

Sunshine retracted his arm back and slapped Ten Cents across his face with his other.

“Ow geez!” Ten Cents recoiled, “What was that for?”

“I just had to be sure you felt pain as well, just to be sure that we both aren’t dreaming.” Sunshine explained before looking back at his hand.

Ten Cents thought for a moment, “Maybe some rope burns can go away quickly,” he suggested.

“But how would that explain how we had the same dream last night?” Sunshine raised an eyebrow.

Their pondering was cut short when they heard someone running up to them, it was Tillie.

“Hello Ten Cents, Hey Sunshine! I see you two out pretty early this morning. Did Captain Starr already give out the announcement for the day?” Tillie asked.

“Yeah he did, but don’t worry you didn’t miss anything. We’re still scraping barnacles today.” Ten Cents reassures Tillie

“Oh right… Well I guess it’s lucky I have my own scrapper and gloves just in case, my sister got them for me after I told her about yesterday’s accident.” Tillie recounted

“How did she take the news?” Sunshine asked

“Well… she took it in stride, a bit better than I imagined but she understood the situation. Anyways we better get going to the Pier.” Tillie said, trying to liven up the mood.

“Yeah you’re right, we can’t keep Scuttlebutt Pete waiting for us any longer.” Ten Cents sighed.

Ten Cents led the way to Pier 3, Tillie walked in the middle humming a tune, and Sunshine followed behind looking at his now healed hand again thinking that maybe The Other Port was real, all while a black cat was following them from afar. The three found Scuttlebutt Pete waiting for them at the entrance of Pier 3.

“You three made it here in good time.” Greeted Scuttlebutt Pete.

“Thanks Scuttlebutt, we’re all here and eager to work.” Tillie exclaimed.

“Good, well here you go,” Scuttlebutt Pete started handing the scrapers, gloves, and buckets to the three, but Tillie declined her pair.

“I brought my own scraper and gloves, Scuttlebutt.” Tillie explained.

Scuttlebutt Pete was a little taken aback but smiled, “Didn’t think any of you would be eager to get to work on your punishment. At least that makes one of you.”

“Why’s that?” Tillie puzzled.

“You’ll find out why, but before we start, what end of the pier do you three want to start from?” Scuttlebutt queried

“The ne-” Ten Cents began

“The far end of the Pier!” Tillie cutted in

“The far end it shall be then,” Scuttlebutt Pete smiled.

Ten Cents and Sunshine winged at this. As they followed Scuttlebutt Pete to the far end of the Pier the boardwalk creaked and groaned as they walked along it. Tillie also noticed that the pilings were rotting and covered in colonies of barnacles. When they arrived at the far end of Pier 3, they found a strange contraption waiting for them.

“This is what you three will be standing in as you scrape the barnacles off the pilings. It’s a ‘floating platform’, once you finish scraping off the pilings I’ll come back and lift you three back up onto the boardwalk and move it to another spot.”

“Say uh Scuttlebutt, wouldn’t this be a lot easier if we were standing in a boat?” Sunshine queried.

Scuttlebutt Pete interjected, “A boat isn’t stable as the platform, if you stepped too close to the side, it would tip over and you three would end up in the ocean. Trust me, this is a safer alternative”

Sunshine still felt unsure about this. Ten Cents went in first before he helped Tillie and Sunshine get onto the platform and slowly, with the help of the pulleys holding platform, lowered the three down to one of the pilings and they got to work at once.

—

Meanwhile, Top Hat was refueling his railway tug at the coal yard when he heard a familiar whistle, it was one of the harbor tugs from Zero Marine hauling behind it a couple Star Line fuel barges, on board was Zorran. Top Hat ran over to his tug’s wheelhouse and radioed over to the passing tug,

“The refinery is in the other direction Zorran, why are you coming this way? If you’re here to gloat, I don’t want to hear it.” Top Hat huffed.

What Top Hat received as a reply however he couldn’t believe came from Zorran,

“I just wanted to come by and say that I’m sorry for what happened to OJ,” Zorran lamented, “the recklessness of your younger crewmates is unforgivable.”

Top Hat didn’t know what to say,

“What are you trying to accomplish here, Zorran? I don’t understand” Top Hat puzzled.

“I’m not trying to accomplish anything but the work your captain assigned to me. I’ve always had a deep respect for OJ. This may not mean a lot coming from me, with us working for rival companies, but I hope he recovers” Zorran consoled.

Zorran tipped his fedora to Top Hat who watched as the Zero Marine harbor tug turned around and headed across the bay to the refinery. Top Hat then walked to the stern of his tug and stared at the docked paddle steamer at the Star Pier, his eyes welling up with tears.

—

By mid-afternoon, Ten Cents, Tillie and Sunshine felt tired. Scraping off the barnacles was hard work especially to Ten Cents and Sunshine, their leather gloves were worn and the scrapers were rusty. True to his word, Scuttlebutt Pete finally decided it was time to give the three a break.

“Well lads, you’ve earned your hour long break, make use of your free time wisely because you all got a lot of scraping to get back to,” advised Scuttlebutt Pete.

“Finally, I was getting tired of scraping for this long,” exclaimed Sunshine wearily.

“Yeah, at least for now we can catch our breaths, my arms are killing me” Ten Cents sighed as he put his scrapper in his pocket.

“Well what can we do during our free time?” Tillie asked.

All three thought about it for a moment as Scuttlebutt Pete pulled the suspended platform up carefully to the pier’s surface. Once they got off the platform, Ten Cents had decided, “well we can just hang out here for the whole break and maybe have something to drink.”

“Say, Scuttlebutt Pete, are there any refreshments nearby?” Tillie queried.

“Fraid not. Sorry lads, I can go and bring some, especially to cool off from the heat of the day,” Scuttlebutt Pete apologized.

“Oh thank you Scuttlebutt Pete.” Sunshine sighed in relief

“But you three have to stay put here and try not to get into any trouble while I'm out, do you all understand?” Scuttlebutt Pete remarked.

“Yes Scuttlebutt Pete.” all three affirmed in unison.

“Good, I’ll be back as soon as possible,” and with that, Scuttlebutt left the three young harbor employees at the pier with each other’s company.

“I guess while we wait… what’s been going on with you two?” Tillie inquired.

“Well…” Ten Cents began,

“Last night something weird happened to both of us.”

Tillie perked up at the sound of this.

“Oh? What is it? Was it something interesting?” Tillie quizzed.

“Do you remember that small door we found in the employee lounge?” Ten Cents hesitated,

“Uh… yes? There was just a wall of bricks behind it, what about it?” puzzled Tillie.

“Well last night, me and Sunshine chased a mouse to the employee lounge where the small door is and-” Ten Cents was suddenly interrupted by a sudden yet faint sound coming towards them.

“Meow,” it was a cat; its fur was colored black and it looked tatty and frail, rather strangely it was missing an eye. Tillie and Sunshine turned their attention towards it.

“Oh look, a little cat!” Tillie said adoringly at the black cat.

Sunshine took one look at the cat and instantly recognized it from yesterday. “Hey I remember you,”

The cat walked slowly up to Sunshine. Sunshine was nervous until the cat started to rub itself against Sunshine’s leg affectionately, purring all the while.

“Aww it likes you, Sunshine!” Tillie exclaimed, getting closer to pet the cat.

Sunshine was hesitant about being near the black cat since it was the main catalyst of yesterday’s incident, but despite the look of the tattered one eyed cat he couldn’t resist its seemingly friendly nature as he got down to being eye to eye with the cat.

“Huh, you don’t seem bad, are you lost?” Sunshine asked the cat as he pet it.

“He must be a stray considering how thin it looks.” Tillie sighed at the feline.

“Yeah… Poor thing.” Sunshine added.

Ten Cents however wasn’t thrilled to see the black cat. He marched over to the cat

“Oi! Get lost!” Ten Cents hollored.

The black cat, frightened by Ten Cents’ sudden approach, scampered away to the entrance of the boardwalk. Sunshine and Tillie were surprised and a little offended.

“Why’d you go and scare it off, Ten Cents?” Sunshine puzzled,

“Have you forgotten it is the exact reason why we’ve gotten into this mess?” Ten Cents chastised,

“No, I haven't forgotten Ten Cents, but I don't think it warranted you scaring it off.” faltered Sunshine,

“It’s only a harmless animal, Ten Cents,” Tillie soothed, “It probably didn’t mean to cause what it did,”

Ten Cents took a deep breath, he knew Tillie was right. His thoughts were then suddenly interrupted by the sound of two pairs of boots making their way over to them.

“Well well well, looks like you three are in a spot of bother,”

It was Zip and Zug.

“Don’t you two have anything else better to do? We’re trying to enjoy our break” Sunshine hissed,

“Hey calm down Sunshine we’re only here cuz we heard what happened, and we thought we’d check up on our fellow deckhands,” Zip insisted.

“Yes,” added Zug, “after all if we had put OJ in a hospital room, we’d feel very upset ourselves”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ten Cents scowled.

“Oh nothing, it's just if we had hindered the old man we’d feel very remorseful.”

“Are you saying I don’t feel remorseful?”

“Well by the look on your face I’d say not,”

This infuriated Ten Cents, clutching his scraper in his pocket, his thoughts swirling through his head. How dare Zug accuse him of being remorseless about O.J.’s injuries.

Tillie soon saw this in Ten Cents' face, she could see how this was getting under his skin, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Ten Cents… please calm down. He’s just trying to get to you…” Tillie soothed.

“Tillie’s right Ten Cents, he’s just trying to mess with ya.” Sunshine added.

Zip and Zug turned to leave

“How pathetic,” Zug smirked, “Ten Cents can’t even stand up for himself, those smaller than him always get in his way,”

“What a disgrace to The Star Fleet” snickered Zip.

It was then Ten Cents snapped, he broke free from Tillie and Sunshine, drew his scraper from his pocket and charged at the two zeroes.

“Ten Cents, no!” “Stop!” cried Sunshine and Tillie as they chased him.

Ten Cents tackled Zug suddenly and began slashing Zug’s face with his scraper.

“DISGRACE TO MY COMPANY?! PATHETIC?!” Ten Cents shouted.

Zug squealed in agony as Zip tried pulling Ten Cents off Zug but Ten Cents shoved him off into one of the wooden railings of the pier. Tillie and Sunshine then ran up and yanked Ten Cents off of Zug, his face red with fury and tears welling in his eyes.

“I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO OJ!” Ten Cents seethed.

“That’s enough!” boomed another voice, it was Scuttlebutt Pete who was holding a crate of bottles of soda.

Zip pulled Zug back onto his feet, Zug limped to the entrance of the pier,

“You’re in for it now,” he scowled at Ten Cents.

Zip turned to the three stars, “I’m sorry about this,” he apologized before following his colleague.

“Scuttlebutt I can explain, I-”

Scuttlebutt Pete held up his hand in front of Ten Cents,

“Save your explanation, you’re going to have to give it to Captain Starr. However, either way you’re going to be in a heap of trouble with him.” Scuttlebutt Pete said solemnly.

Ten Cents let out a sigh, somehow he knew deep down, Scuttlebutt Pete was right.

(To be Continued)

{End of chapter 5}

“O.J and Sunshine, you two are to head up River to help Billy Shoepack and Little Ditcher clear any fallen trees and to see if Boomer made it through just fine afterwards you’re to go dredging in the estuary, the dump, and the quarry in case any rocks or garbage were blown into the water,”

“Yes sir!” Sunshine chirped and followed O.J to the Up River canal.

“and finally as for you Ten Cents,”

“Yes Captain Star?” Ten Cents acknowledged,

“You and Tillie are to head to the various piers in the harbor and help retrieve or take away any cargo that may have been tossed or destroyed by the storm.”

“Right then sir,” and Ten Cents headed off to the Coal Depot to reload on coal and to tell Tillie their jobs that day.

When Ten Cents arrived however, Tillie wasn’t there.

“Strange,” Ten Cents commented.

At that moment Tianna, a J50, came puffing up with a very anxious look.

“Did Tillie return to the Railhead last night?” Ten Cents puzzled,

Tianna frowned, “No, did she not end up morning at the Star dock with the rest of you tugs?”

“No, I’m afraid she didn’t,” Ten Cents faltered, “Maybe she ended up mooring off somewhere else when the storm hit.”

“Hope you find her soon!” Tianna called worryingly as Ten Cents headed to the Railhead.

At the Railhead, Ten Cents found Top Hat waiting with Frank and Eddie as Little Owl shunted cars onto the two rail barges.

“Ten Cents, have you not found Tillie yet? You two have plenty of jobs to do today,” Top Hat huffed.

“I know Top Hat, I haven’t found her yet but I was wondering, when was the last time you last saw her?” Ten Cents quizzed.

Top Hat thought for a moment, “Well, the last time I saw Tillie, she was taking her barges to the Melon Produce Warehouse. She said that it was her last delivery.

“Is that all?” Ten Cents quizzed,

“If I knew anything else I’d tell you.” Top Hat replied bluntly.

“Alright, thanks anyways.” Ten Cents sighed

Ten Cents departed from Railhead and made his way to the Melon Produce Warehouse. When he arrived, it was in quite a state: cargo had been blown off the quay and into the surrounding water, Tillie’s barges were tied in their place despite the mess however. But there wasn’t any sign of Tillie anywhere and Ten Cents was getting more worried for her.

“Where could she be?” Ten Cents pondered as he helped to retrieve any spilled cargo out of the water.

As Ten Cents finished he spotted something differently colored floating on top some splintered wood aways from him, he chugged up to it and realized it was a torn piece of a light lavender ribbon.

“That’s… That’s Tillie’s ribbon.” Ten Cents examined, looking up to the direction of where the ribbon went out in the open ocean, Ten Cents felt his boiler churn.

His crew grabbed the ribbon and in order to make haste he headed out to Dem Der rocks.

When Ten Cents arrived at Dem Der rocks, he looked around and breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t see Tillie holed on the rocks but it didn’t make any sense to him.

If she wasn’t swept onto the rocks from the storm, where else could she have been? As Ten Cents turned back to port he heard a foghorn.

He looked where he heard it and saw it was coming from Lillie Lightship.

“Lillie?” Ten Cents uttered.

“Ten Cents!” Lillie shouted trying to get his attention.

Ten Cents’s boiler bubbled and he hurried over to Lillie; As he drew closer he noticed that she looked distressed, her mascara was running as if she had been crying the whole evening.

“Lillie! Lillie what’s the matter? Are you sinking again?” Ten Cents panted out of breath.

“No, it’s not that, Ten Cents, but something awful happened last night!” Lillie wept

“What? What happened..?” Ten Cents plead.

“It’s Tillie… she was swept out to sea by the storm.” Lillie blubbered.

The news hit Ten Cents hard like a stone.

“I saw her being taken away by the currents, I tried to radio for help but… a ferocious wave swept Tillie away into the open ocean. I couldn’t make it to her if I tried… it was too late, all I could do was listen to her cries for help… I’m very sorry” Lillie lamented on the verge of tears.

Ten Cents comforted Lillie the best he could, he felt bad for Lillie but he knew he had to tell me immediately about what happened to Tillie.

Ten Cents chugged as fast as he could back to the pier. I practically could hear him panting outside my office. I went to my megaphone and called out to him,

“What’s the rush, Ten Cents?”

“Captain, Tillie’s been swept out to sea!” Ten Cents cried in exhaustion.

“Oh dear, well… I’m afraid there’s not much we can do at the moment, Ten Cents. Hercules is away working in another port and communications with other harbors are down due to trees taking out the power lines at Control. You’ll just have to carry out your duties on your own until all these inconveniences are rectified.”

Ten Cents didn’t like the sound of this but what more could be done? As he worked he thought long and hard about the current circumstances, as he was helping to clean up a pier, O.J. paddled over to him,

“Penny for your thoughts?” he queried.

Ten Cents told him what happened to Tillie and the old paddle wheeler listened closely.

“Oh dear… and there’s nothing that can be done to get Tillie back?” O.J. added,

“Not at the moment. With communications down and Hercules not around there’s nothing anyone can do, but I can't just sit here and not do anything either. Tillie’s probably out there by herself in who knows where.” Ten Cents maintained,

“And what are you going to do then, lad?” O.J. quizzed,

“Well… this might sound crazy but, I was thinking of going out to find her on my own.” declared Ten Cents

O.J. was taken aback, “Are you sure about it lad?”

“Yes, I'm sure. If no one else can, I can at least try.” affirmed Ten Cents

“Ten Cents, while I appreciate your bravery and persistence to bring Tillie back, I don’t think it’s possible to do it on your own. How would you even know where Tillie ended up or if she even did end up anywhere at all?”

“I’ll ask Lillie where she saw her swept away, then I’ll travel to the nearest port and ask around, if she’s not there then I’ll travel to the next until I reach the last possible port,” Ten Cents explained

“and if she isn’t there...” he began again before O.J. interrupted him

“It's a bold plan Ten Cents, but you couldn’t possibly last the journey out there, not without enough coal or water.”

“Then I’ll… borrow some barges here and load up on more at the ports” Ten Cents persisted

O.J was about to interject again but Ten Cents cut him off before he could.

“Even if she’s nowhere, at least I tried. And if I run out of coal and water along the way or back, so be it, I’ll still try to find a way to press on” Ten Cents vowed

O.J didn’t know what to say, he took a deep breath and chose his last words carefully.

“Alright lad, as long as you know what you’re doing, then I wish you luck.” OJ said before heading back to work.

Ten Cents continued his work as usual but throughout the day he slowly began putting his plan into action.

Ten Cents had put the first step of his plan into action. He had to be careful the best he could as if he was caught taking barges, much like Zebedee did once during the high wind season, he’d be in big trouble. Ironically though he went to the coal depot and picked up a coal barge, as he was turning to leave he heard an engine whistling trying to get his attention.

“Hey Ten Cents, where are you off to? Have you found Tillie yet?” Tianna called with a slight panic in her voice.

Ten Cents stopped and tried to think of what to say, “Uh… no I’m afraid I haven’t,” he started, Tianna’s face fell, “The truth is she had been pulled out to sea, once communications with the other ports are back on, Captain Starr will send Hercules to go searching for her” Ten Cents reassured her.

This managed to put Tianna’s mind at ease for a moment, “Okay then Ten Cents,” Tianna said with a small smile, “But where are you going with that coal barge? I thought you were scheduled to help clean up the harbor”.

“I uh… Captain Starr wanted me to take coal to one of the factories. He said it was important,” Ten Cents fumbled.

“Alright then, well good luck with that, I hope Tillie gets found soon though,” Tianna said finally.

“So do I…” Ten Cents said as he headed to the waterworks for a water barge. Little did he know however that another tug was watching him from afar.

Ten Cents crept into the waterworks and tied onto one of the water barges near the dock. As he was about to pull away he heard a voice,

“Where do you think you’re going with that?”

Ten Cents turned towards where he heard the voice and then he froze. It was Zorran.

“Shouldn’t you be clearing the docks with that other switcher friend of yours?” Zorran snarled.

“Uh no, Captain Starr took me off that for another job.” Ten Cents quivered.

“I see, did it require you to deliver water and coal to a client?” Zorran added

“Yeah.” Ten Cents replied.

“You’re lying, No one’s been giving out orders because the telegraphs are down because of the storm last night.” Zorran snapped.

Ten Cents went pale.

“I’ll be sure to report this to your Captain. I’m sure he won’t be pleased to hear one of his tugs have committed mutiny.”

“Now wait just a minute Zorran, I-”

Ten Cents was interrupted by the sound of a horn and the humming of an engine approaching. Zorran too was silent,

“Now what’s going on here huh?” quizzed Jacob,

Jacob was a Diesel Tug built at Lucky’s Yard. He did odd jobs around the port but he had no allegiance to the Stars or the Z-stacks.

Zorran scowled, “None of your business Jacob.”

“Well I’m here, so it is my business. Unless you don’t want to have a problem, you’d clear out of here.” Jacob said bluntly.

Zorran scoffed and then he puffed slowly away.

“Thank you for that Jacob, I’ll be on my way now,” Ten Cents sighed.

“Not so fast,” Jacob said, blocking Ten Cents’ way.

“You’ve gotta tell me what's the deal with that load of yours”

“Yeah? And what if I don’t?” Ten Cents growled.

“I’ll report your thefts to the coast guard. He won’t be pleased with this, nor will Captain Starr when he finds out,” Jacob dagged.

Ten Cents gave in and told Jacob his plan. The Diesel Tug was perplexed by it all,

“There, can I go now?” Ten Cents hissed.

“Not yet.” Jacob smirked,

“I must commemorate your willingness to go out and search for your work colleague as stupid as it may be. It’s no loss if you wind up lost with her, however I’ll keep this a secret under one condition:”

Jacob paused.

“Yeah? What?” Ten Cents queried.

“You let me do all your jobs in your absence.” Jacob finished.

Ten Cents was worried. He didn’t want anyone else to know he was leaving to find Tillie. He didn’t know if he could trust Jacob but what choice did he have?

“Alright Jacob, you have my permission,” Ten Cents caved.

“Good. Leave these barges with me, I’ll meet you at Burke and Blair’s yard tonight to give them to you” Diesel instructed.

“Why there?” asked Ten Cents.

“It’s the most discreet place for you to depart from. Not to mention, you have work to finish today.” Jacob explained.

“Oh uh alright then.”

The two parted ways, as Ten Cents went to see Lillie.

“The storm swept her northward,” Lillie explained through her streaking make-up,

“I only hope she’s alright.”

“So do I,” Ten Cents said before steaming back to Port.

Ten Cents helped Sunshine dredge in the estuary for the rest of the day. He didn’t talk much during the operation, he was beginning to have doubts about his decisions; Not just to go out to look for Tillie but to give his work to Jacob to keep his plan a secret.

“Everything alright Ten Cents?” Sunshine puzzled.

“Not really,” Ten Cents sighed, “Sunshine, if you had to do a good thing at the cost of something bad would you do it?”

Sunshine pondered for a moment, “Well it depends I suppose. How beneficial would this good thing be, and what would the cost be?”

“It benefits you and our fleet personally, but it costs well… I don’t know, it's hard to explain” Ten Cents stammered.

Sunshine conceded, “So something similar to what happened a couple 4th Julys ago?”

“Well yeah,” Ten Cents admitted, “We could’ve gotten into a lot of trouble with the Navy for that maneuver”

“Indeed, but we didn’t and you know why?”

Ten Cents was about to reply but Sunshine interjected, “Because Captain Starr understood our intentions and he forgave us.”

Ten Cents added, “And you said before that that friends are valuable”

“Not sure what that’s got anything to do with this conversation but if the good thing is as important as our mates then I’d say it’s worth doing” Sunshine smiled.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Ten Cents said, “thank you Sunshine”.

“Any time Ten Cents.” Sunshine winked.

That night Ten Cents crept out of the dock and steamed towards Burke and Blair’s yard where he found Jacob.

“It's all here for ya,” Jacob called in a hushed voice,

Ten Cents mosied over to his “borrowed” barges.

“I was starting to think you weren’t going to show up. Do you know how hard it was to sneak these things here without those two demons knowing?” Jacob huffed.

“Well I’m here now and I’m going through with this” Ten Cents retorted.

“You do know you’re going to be in trouble regardless if you come back with that friend of yours right?” Jacob quizzed.

Ten Cents shot him a dirty look,

“I’m just saying,” Jacob sighed, “This friend of yours must mean a lot to you if you’re willing to do this.”

“She does,” Ten Cents admitted,

Jacob gagged “You’ve got a lot of guts, a stupid kind of guts but guts nonetheless. Good luck out there.”

Ten Cents headed out of the port; he didn't know whether or not to be thankful or slightly suspicious about Jacob but he knew he had to do one thing, find and bring home Tillie.

[End of Chapter 5]

Tillie pondered for a moment, "I was thinking of going home but… come to think of it… I have no idea how far my home is. If I go out in the open ocean again I might end up getting lost out there.” As much as she wanted to go back to Bigg City Port she had absolutely no idea how she’d get back.

"Oh… well, where is your home located? I can look it up and then send you directions on how to get there." Petra offered, rather a little disappointed to hear that Tillie wanted to leave so soon.

"I said before that I'm from Bigg City Port, I believe it’s down south from here." Tillie responded.

"Alright, I'll go talk to the HarborMaster." Petra said as her radio signals beeped for communication.

"Hello!" Hank suddenly came over after his first job and wanted to see what the two boats were up to.

"How's it going? I see that Tillie is back in the water from repairs!" He beamed.

"Wanna join me and Theodore in a game of Tug O’ War?!"

"I’m afraid Tillie hasn’t the time to play Tug O’ War, Hank. She’s about to be leaving back to her home soon." Petra explained as she waited for the Harbor Master to respond. Hank was disappointed.

"Aw, so soon? But you haven't seen all of The Big Harbor yet!" Hank whined as he looked towards Tillie.

"Well Hank, Tillie has a place to return to. Besides, it's not like she's leaving forever, maybe she’ll come back and play with you two then." Petra replied as she looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"Tug O’ War?" Tillie queried, "Is that a game?"

"It’s a fun game! Ever heard of it?" Hank smiled.

"I’ve never heard of it until now. How do you play it?"

"You just take your tow rope, attach it to the other tug, use a buoy to mark the middle of the rope-me and Theodore usually use Bedford, and then you try to pull the other tug past the buoy! It’s great fun." Hank explained as he puffed rings of smoke from his stack in excitement.

"It does certainly sound like fun, I would like to have a go at it." Tillie cheered enthusiastically.

As much as she wanted to go back to Bigg City Port, Tillie figured she could hang out at the Big Harbor for just a little longer.

“Great, let's go out to Bedford, I can race you there.” And with that, Hank sped away startling Tillie, “Wait for me!” she called and chased after Hank.

Before Petra could stop her, finally the Harbor Master picked up. “Hello? Yes, can you send me directions on how to get to Bigg City Port?”

Meanwhile, Hank and Tillie were racing all the way to Bedford Buoy, Theodore was already there, ready and raring to play Tug O’ War.

Hank and Tillie rushed over to Theodore, he was glad to see them.

“I was wondering if she was able to play with us, what took you guys so long?” asked Theodore, waiting patiently for them.

“Hank was just explaining to me the rules of Tug O War.” replied Tillie feeling very excited about this.

“Ah so you have the jist for how to play Tug O’ war?” Theodore asked,

“I believe it’s about having to tie a towrope on your end, attach it to another tug, look for a marker to spot in the middle and then try to pull past the marker spot to win!” answered Tillie.

“Yup, that’s correct! So shall we play?” Inquired Hank looking to Tillie’s direction

“Let’s play!”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Theodore. Tillie was very eager to play so she went first to go against Theodore.

Bedford and Hank watched on in anticipation as the two began tying their towropes to each other.

“Are we ready?” shouted Hank

“Ready!” Theodore and Tillie called out.

Hank blew his horn and the two proceeded to pull against each other.

Tillie was taken aback, she wasn’t expecting Theodore to pull so hard but she kept her composure, tugging as hard as she could determined not to lose, “If I can pull barges, this shouldn’t be any different” she thought to herself, Theodore however had nearly pulled her past Benford Buoy.

“Come on Tillie, you can pull harder than that!” Hank cheered on

Tillie’s cheeks were nearly as red as Theodore’s cap as she put on full steam. Tillie huffed and puffed as hard as she could, Hank and Bedford watched on, amazed at how much steam was billowing out of Tillie’s smokestack as she began to pull Theodore back.

Theodore wasn’t giving up however and revved his engines as hard as he could, kicking up smoke from his stack, both tugs were now straining against each other.

Hank was worried as he saw sparks fly from Tillie’s stack.

“Take it easy on her, Theodore” called Hank

“I don’t need a handicap, Hank. I can win on my own.” Tillie wheezed.

“I really think you two should take it down a notch” Hank said worriedly.

Suddenly Tillie and Theodore shot away from each other. A shower of sparks had flown from Tillie’s smokestack causing the towlines between the two to snap.

Both were surprised, Tillie could only feel she had done something terribly wrong.

“What happened?” Hank got closer to see what happened.

“I think my towline broke.” Said Theodore worryingly.

Petra, having heard the snap, rushed over to the scene.

“Theodore, Hank what on earth happened here?” Petra asked.

“Tillie and I were playing Tug O’ War, it was going alright and then my towline snapped.” Theodore explained

“I saw Tillie’s smokestack emit sparks when it happened” Hank added

“I didn’t mean to, this hasn't ever happened to me before…”

“It’s not your fault Tillie,” Petra comforted,

Petra then went over to inspect Theodore’s towline.

“Oh dear… This is bad, Theodore I’m afraid your towline is going to need replacing. We’ll have to tell The Dispatcher about this.” Petra advised

“The Dispatcher?”

“He’s the one in charge of giving us our work orders at our dock.” Hank explained.

“Indeed, Tillie, Hank, I suggest you both come along as well to explain to the Dispatcher about the situation. Although, he won’t be happy about this.” Petra remakered as she led the tugs over to The Great Ocean Tug and Salvage Company dock.

Tillie then remembered something, and hooted her whistle to get Petra’s attention. “Petra, wait! Have you gotten any news about how to get home?”

Petra stopped and turned to face Tillie, she had an unsure look on her face and said solemnly “I'll tell you after you, Hank, and Theodore speak with the dispatcher, Tillie, Now we better keep going” responded Petra as she continued leading both tugs to the Dispatcher.

Soon enough they arrived at The Great Ocean Tug and Salvage Company dock. Tillie still felt terrible after that accident, she never meant to break Theodore’s towline, she just wanted to play a game for the first time before she left back for Bigg City Port, but even then she was still not sure if she could return.

She wasn’t prepared for what awaited her at the The Great Ocean Tug and Salvage Company dock, instead of a megaphone poking out of the building on the dock, the building actually rotated, revealing a face in front of it, this was The Dispatcher.

He looked at Theodore, Hank, Petra and… He paused when he spotted Tillie already noting how vastly different this tug is compared to all the tugboats of this harbor, He knew something’s wrong.

“Petra, what has happened? Who is this new tugboat?” The Dispatcher asked with a serious tone in his voice.

“Dispatcher, This is Tillie. She was swept into the Harbor from the storm last night. She’s from Bigg City Port.”

“I see, any particular reason why you brought her to the dock?” The Dispatcher inquired

“Well you see-” started Hank,

“I… uh burnt part of Theodore’s towline while we were playing Tug O’ War,” Tillie said hesitantly.

The look on the Dispatcher’s face seemed to drop at this, before he could say anything, Theodore decided to cut in, “It wasn’t her fault, Mr. Dispatcher… sir. Honest, I must’ve been pulling too hard and-”

“Say no more, you’re not in trouble, neither are you Tillie,” The Dispatcher said reassuringly.

Tillie and Theodore heaved a sigh of relief at this.

“However,” boomed the Dispatcher, “I’m afraid there aren't any spare tow ropes for Theodore, and with what the storm brought about I needed Theodore’s help immensely.”

“I can do Theodore’s work” Hank offered,

“I had assigned work for you, Emily, George and Foduck already though, Hank. I don't think you’d be able to handle his work on your own,” The Dispatcher said doubtfully.

Tillie then decided to pluck up courage, “I can take Theodore’s place!” Tillie blurted out

All the tugs looked at Tillie; they were all at a loss for words. The Dispatcher then turned to face Tillie.

“What makes you think you can do Theodore’s jobs?” The Dispatcher asked with uncertainty.

“Mister Dispatcher, I’ve done all kinds of work back at Bigg City Port, so I know I’m capable of doing Theodore’s work, and besides… Since I broke his towline, it’s the least I can do to make up for my mistake.” Tillie explained timidly to The Dispatcher.

The Dispatcher thought for a moment, he turned away from the tugboats, when he turned back around, he had made his decision.

“I’ve come to a conclusion, Tillie has my permission to do Theodore's work for the time being while she’s here. However, it'll be under two conditions.”

“What kind of conditions?” Tillie asked curiously

“Firstly, you’ll have to work while being looked after by Foduck, our safety tug of the Big Harbor, since you’re a steam tug I’m afraid you’re considered a fire hazard, if anything catches fire, he’ll be there to put you out. Secondly you’ll be equipped with a radio for if you find yourself in danger you can contact me or one of the pilot boats, and so that we can keep in contact with you. Did you understand all of that?”

“Uh… Y-Yes I understood all of that Mister Dispatcher!”

“Good, also there’s no need to call me mister, Tillie, you can call me The Dispatcher or Sir.”

“Okay Sir!”

“Alright you’re all dismissed for now, Petra, take Tillie to drydock where she can get a radio installed. Hank, resume your usual duties, as for you Theodore, you’re in charge of showing Tillie how to do your work.” The Dispatcher ordered.

Everyone blew their horns in acknowledgement and departed from the The Great Ocean Tug and Salvage Company dock.

On their way over to drydock, Tillie asked Petra once again about if she could return back to Bigg City Port, Petra’s answer however wasn’t what she was expecting.

“Tillie… I'm sorry to say this but unfortunately they weren’t able to make contact with your port, I can only imagine that communication services back at your port are down. I’m afraid that your stay here at the Big Harbor may be a long one.”

Tillie wasn’t pleased with the revelation, her eyes began to fill with tears, but she knew she had to make up for her mistake somehow.

“Are you okay Tillie?” Petra asked worriedly.

“I’ll be fine… let’s just… get a move on so I can get to doing Theodore’s work.” Tillie said, trying to sound positive.

“Well if you say so, and I agree, let’s get going.”

And so, Petra and Tillie continued on their way. Tillie however still couldn’t help but feel sad; The storm took her far away from her home all because of her curiosity.

She hoped though that everyone back in Bigg City Port were all okay despite the storm.

[End of Chapter 4]