| abstract
| - Stacy, Matt and Tanya run to receive the mail sack that just arrived. Matt receives a magazine, Stacy a letter, and Tanya a picture from her pen pal. Harry asks if there is anything for him. Mr. Conductor quickly disappears. Finding nothing for him, Stacy asks Harry if he was expecting something. Harry replies that he wasn't looking for anything in particular and leaves. Stacy thinks something is wrong and Tanya suddenly remembers that it's Harry’s birthday. They all decide to throw him a surprise party. Tanya decides to give Harry a jump rope, while Matt decides to give him a baseball bat, but Stacy decides they ought to make an original present for him instead. The kids then go to the Jukebox to play some music to listen to while making the presents. In the Jukebox, Didi has overheard all the commotion about Harry’s birthday, and decides that the band should play a song he really likes. When the nickel finally drops, Tex suggests “A Railroader for Me”, and the band starts playing. By the time the song ends, Stacy and the kids have completed their presents. Harry asks Stacy if she can play the song again. Stacy and the kids try to hide the presents. When Harry comes out of his workshop, Stacy tells Harry that Schemer needs some Cheese Giggles from the storeroom for the vending machine, but Harry says he brought him some earlier that morning. Stacy insists that Schemer needs another one and Harry leaves. Stacy suggests the kids find a box to hide the presents in, and Matt finds an old empty Cheese Giggles box. They place their presents in the box, which Stacy then hides. Just then, Mr. Conductor appears, and says it's a relief that something is over. The kids rush over to him, asking what he is talking about, and he tells them about how the tender engines’ strike against Sir Topham Hatt ended, and how Percy almost got into an accident with Gordon. When the story ends, Tanya suggests Mr. Conductor should greet Harry, but Mr. Conductor is still nervous about how he’ll react to the idea of an eighteen-inch high man wanting to be his friend and the fact that Harry's a very private person. Stacy returns after successfully hiding the box, but just then Harry’s voice is heard, and Mr. Conductor quickly disappears. Harry arrives with a second box of Cheese Giggles, and asks Stacy to tell Schemer that he can carry his own boxes from now on. Mr. Conductor suddenly appears, trying to greet Harry, but disappears when he turns around. Harry thinks he's hearing things. Just as Harry reaches the workshop door, Mr. Conductor re-appears on Stacy’s desk. When Harry looks at him, Mr. Conductor disappears again. Mr. Conductor re-appears with a wrapped gift, and says he tried. The kids encourage him to keep trying. Matt asks who the present is for, and Mr. Conductor says it's to cheer Thomas up after he had been in trouble. He then tells the story of how Thomas got conceited when he took his driver’s comments literally and ended up crashing a stationmaster’s breakfast! When the story ends, Mr. Conductor tells the kids that there are some things that nobody can do on their own. As the kids go help Stacy, Mr. Conductor hears Schemer's voice and disappears. Schemer gives himself a big fanfare, but nobody responds. He finds the main station room empty and is mad because the station is a public place and nobody is even there. He then finds the box of Cheese Giggles that the presents Matt and Tanya made are in and decides to put them in the vending Machine. He then sees the Cheese Giggles that Harry brought up and decides to put that box in the Machine, while he'll take the other one home, completely unaware that he's taking the presents. Matt and Tanya return with more presents for Harry, but Mr. Conductor appears and asks where the birthday cake is. The kids realize that they have no cake and Mr. Conductor asks them to look down the Anything Tunnel. The tunnel then shows an animated video of how to make a cake. At the end of the video, the kids ask where the cake from the Anything Tunnel is, and Mr. Conductor magically produces it. The kids suggest they hide the cake, while Mr. Conductor has to do the dishes. Stacy returns to the station and looks behind her desk to find the Cheese Giggles box with their presents gone. She sees the second box standing on the arcade floor, but Tanya only finds Cheese Giggles inside. Stacy then realizes that Schemer took the box of presents by mistake. Just then, Schemer returns with the box of presents, he explains that he thought the box had Cheese Giggles in it when, to his surprise, there was only some “artsy-craftsy stuff” inside. Harry emerges from his workshop after hearing Schemer’s voice and is angry at him, but Stacy intervenes, asking if the ticket puncher is broken and to send it out for fixing, but Harry says he’ll fix it himself and walks away. Schemer is puzzled as he didn't ask Harry to bring anything up. Tanya mentions that the box is full of birthday presents, and she, Stacy and Matt all tell Schemer about Harry’s birthday. Stacy and the kids then retrieve their presents from the box, and Schemer realizes that he doesn't have a present for Harry. Matt suggests he give him some nickels. With the party arrangements settled, Stacy calls Harry out, and as he begrudgingly emerges from the workshop, they all shout “Happy Birthday!” Harry apologizes for his irritability, and thanks everybody for the party. As they celebrate, a passing mail train from Pelican Falls drops a sack at the entrance to the platform. Stacy retrieves it and finds the whole sack is full of birthday cards for Harry. After the party's over and Schemer gone for the day, Mr. Conductor is talking with Stacy and the kids, who still encourage him to meet Harry. Stacy suggests he talk about something they both love—trains. Mr. Conductor then goes into Harry’s workshop and greets him. Harry looks in his direction and is suspicious at first, and asks if he is real. Mr. Conductor confirms this, and the two begin to talk. Mr. Conductor mentions that he’s been at Shining Time since the President’s train ran along the Indian Valley Railroad. Harry mentions that he remembers working on that train. Mr. Conductor mentions he was on that train as well, as he was the Indian Valley’s special conductor. It turns out they were both on the same train and didn't even know it, until now. Stacy and the kids, who have been listening in on the conversation, quietly leave the two to talk, confident that Harry and Mr. Conductor are now firm friends.
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