The Silent Treatment

'The Silent Treatment'
Written by Jonathan Asiamah-Acheampong




It was the last day of Summer and the engines were working very hard before Autumn comes. At Misty Island, the Logging Locos were busy shunting flatbeds of Jobi wood.

ABBY: Phew! This is hard work.

MARILYN: Come along, Abby. We still have a lot of shunting to do!

Ol' WHEEZY: Jobi wood coming up!

HEE-HAW: Mind yourself!

(ABBY AND MARILYN HONK HORNS)

(CHUFFING)

FERDINAND: There's one flatbed of wood at the Saw Mill.

BASH: I'll get it!

(CHUFFING)

The shunter coupled Bash to the flatbed and Bash started to pull. Suddenly...

(BRAKES SCREECHING)

DASH: Hey! What's going on? Bash?

BASH: Dash? What are you dong?

DASH: I'm taking this flatbed away.

BASH: That's what I'm doing.

DASH: But you pulled the other flatbeds away. Now it's my turn.

(DASH WHISTLES)

(BRAKES SCREECHING)

BASH: This flatbed is mine!

DASH: No, mine!

(GRUNTING)

Bash and Dash strained to take the last flatbed. Then, Ferdinand steamed in.

FERDINAND: Stop! You'll pull the flatbed apart!

But it was too late. With one final tug,...

(CRASH)

...the flatbed was torn in half. Logs tumbled everywhere!

FOREMAN: Oh, no! Now look what you've done!

BASH: It's Dash's fault!

DASH: My fault?! It's yours!

BASH: Is not!

DASH: Is to!

BASH: Is NOT!

DASH: Is TO!

FERDINAND: Enough! You two should be working together.

DASH: Wrong! I'm never speaking to him again.

BASH: And I'm not speaking to HIM!

And the twins puffed away.

FERDINAND: Oh dear, driver. What are we going to do now?

FERDINAND'S DRIVER: I don't know.

FERDINAND'S FIREMAN: But we have to do what we can for now.

(FERDINAND WHISTLES)

Meanwhile, Thomas and Rosie puffed in with Trevor, Terence and Rocky.

ROSIE: Hello, everyone!

THOMAS: We're here to help you load some logs.

MARILYN: That's nice.

TREVOR: What do you want us to do?

FERDINAND: Well, there are some Hill logs that need loading.

ROCKY: Leave it to me!

ABBY: And there are some Sea logs at the Misty Island Seashore.

TERENCE: That's the job for me and Trevor!

ROSIE: Where are Bash and Dash?

OL' WHEEZY: There has been a little accident and Bash and Dash are not speaking to each other at the moment.

FERDINAND: Right now, they're giving each other the silent treatment.

HEE-HAW: Oh my! The old silent treatment.

WORKMAN: Come along, now! There is a lot of work to do.

(WHISTLING AND HONKING)


Soon everyone was working as hard as they could. Rocky loaded the Hill logs while Trevor and Terence pulled the Sea logs out off the Seashore and towards the flatbeds. But time it running out.

(CHUFFING)

Bash and Dash were so cross with each other, they refused to work with each other.

(BASH WHISTLES)

BASH: That Dash! Trying to steal the last flatbed and ripping it apart.

THOMAS: I think you and Dash to blame.

ROSIE: Thomas' right, Bash. Shouldn't you two apologise to each other.

BASH: Apologise? You weren't there.

(CHUFFING)

It was midday and no matter how hard everyone worked, it was no good.

HEE-HAW'S OPERATOR: Lower. Careful. That's it. You got it.

OL' WHEEZY'S OPERATOR: Easy does it. Easy does it. Careful!

FERDINAND: There must be some way to get the twins to work together.

TREVOR: How are you going to do that?

TERENCE: Bash and Dash would just refuse.

ROCKY: Terence and Trevor do have a point.

It was already midday and all the logs were loaded, but Thomas, Rosie, Abby, Marilyn and Ferdinand were exhausted. They didn't have enough breath to pull a line of flatbeds.

FOREMAN: Clementine is waiting at Brendam. She has to take some Sea logs, Hill logs and Jobi logs to Australia.

FERDINAND: All the logs are loaded, sir.

TREVOR: But the engines are exhausted.

TERENCE: And it's the last day of Summer.

ROCKY: What are we going to do?

BASH: I can help. I'll deliver the logs to Brendam.

FOREMAN: That's very nice of you, Bash. But a line of  Jobi flatbeds is too heavy for only one engine.

BASH'S DRIVER: Maybe Dash can help.

BASH: Dash?!

(CHUFFING)

FOREMAN: Dash, will you help Bash deliver the logs to Clementine?

DASH: I'm NOT working with that flatbed stealer!

DASH'S FIREMAN: Dash, if you don't work with you twin, Clementine will be delayed.

Dash and Bash looked at each other for a moment. And thought.

BASH: Dash, I'm sorry for being so mean to you. I should have let you take the last flatbed earlier.

DASH: And I want to say how sorry I am for being cross with you. I should have just helped you.

FERDINAND: Now that you're friends again, can you take the logs before Clementine leaves?

BASH AND DASH: No problem!

(BASH AND DASH WHISTLE)

So Bash and Dash were coupled up to the flatbeds and they pulled away from the Logging Station.

THOMAS AND ROSIE: Good luck!

The twins raced across the Misty Island Bridge, past the Search and Rescue Centre, across the Coastal Cliffs and towards Brendam docks.

CRANKY: It's about time you've got here.

CLEMENTINE: You're exactly on time.

Bash and Dash smiled at each other. They waited as Cranky unloaded the flatbeds.

(SEAGULLS CRYING)

(CLEMENTINE BLASTS HORN)

CLEMENTINE: Bye!

BASH AND DASH: Good luck, Clementine!

A few hours later, Bash and Dash spoke to each other.

BASH: It's not nice of us to give each other the silent treatment, was it?

DASH: No, it's not.

ABBY: And now you know that you must never blame each other for an accident, right?

BASH AND DASH: Right!

FERDINAND: Good. I hope you've learnt your lesson.

BASH: We have.

DASH: Yep. Never, EVER, give someone the silent treatment.

MARILYN: Exactly!

(LAUGHING)