- Schemer wants to join the Nickelaire club, so he begins behaving like the leader, Hobart Hume III. However, Schemer has second thoughts when Hume criticizes Billy, Stacy, and the Kids. When he tells Schemer to lose the curl, it's the final straw.—Anonymous
- Schemer enters the Station dressed in fancy clothes and trying to act super polite, much to the Kids' confusion. Schemer asks them if a Hobart Hume III has been asking for him, and Kara asks who that is. Schemer explains that Mr. Hume is the owner of the Snarlyville Toxic Chemical Company and also president of a club that Schemer adores, the Nickelaire Club. He adds that Mr. Hume is going to be coming by, and if he can impress him, he'll let Schemer join.
He then walks towards the Arcade and shows the Kids some sweets, Very Sticky Toffee, some gingerbread men and a cake. He then practices meeting Mr. Hume and his Wife and eats some of the Toffee, which gets his stuck in his teeth, so he goes to get his mouth unstuck. The Kids wonder why Hume would want to come by the Station, with Kara believing that Hume might want to hold club meetings there.
Mr. Conductor appears and is informed by the Kids of Schemer wanting to join the Nickelaire club. Mr. Conductor says clubs can be fun and that he belongs to 2 clubs, The messy and Clean ones, the former meets once a month to make a mess of everything at his house, while the latter meets up to clean the mess up. He says that he's the only member of both clubs and goes to a messy club meeting.
In the Juke Box, the band gets ready for their potential inclusion in the club's Lounge by getting their best clothes ready, with Didi saying she's impressed at Schemer for showing class.
Back in the station, a very refined-looking man comes in and asks in a haughty manner for someone to help him. Schemer, trying to act refined as well, asks the man if he is Mr. Hume, which he is. Schemer then introduces himself (after stumbling in the Arcade) and proceeds to show Mr. Hume the station. At that moment, Stacy and Billy appear, and Mr. Hume asks Stacy to tell the stationmaster that he has arrived, not believing at first that Stacy is the stationmaster. After Stacy makes it clear who she is, Mr. Hume states that he's familiar with her last name and how "common" it is. Billy then introduces himself, and Mr. Hume asks if his last name is translated from the French. Billy corrects Mr. Hume that his last name is actually from the Lakota-Sioux. When Mr. Hume realizes this, he makes a rather rude comment about Billy being an Indian, to which Billy states that the preferred term is Native-American.
Already feeling bored, Mr. Hume asks if Schemer and the kids can provide some entertainment. Schemer agrees but the kids don't. Schemer motions for them to cooperate, heads over to the Jukebox, inserts a nickel, and selects a song. Inside the Jukebox, the Band immediately, and excitedly, begins to play "Ol' Joe Clark". As Grace is singing, Schemer begins to dance and gets the kids to join in, so as to entertain Mr. Hume, much to his, Stacy and Billy's bewilderment. Once the song's over, Hume compliments Schemer on the dance performance, but he finds the song dreadful, the juke Box appalling and the Arcade a sad little joke. The Kids Explain how Schemer loves his Arcade, although Schemer suggests using the space to sell Toxic Chemicals, to Which Hume likes the idea of. Hume and Schemer then go and take a brief walk.
The Jukebox Band members are upset that Hume thinks their song was awful. Didi suggests that maybe someone wasn't trying and she and the male band members look at Grace. She tells them they should blame Hume. Rex then asks what'll happen to them if Schemer joins the Club. Tex believes Schemer will probably leave the juke box and the band at the Station, Tito believes he'll sell them to an antique store and have them put up for sale and real cheap, while Didi believes he'll put them in the Basement with a sheet over them until the end of time. All these thoughts cause them to panic.
Coming in from their walk, Hume is still skeptical of Schemer being one of their kind, even though the club is more tolerable of people working than they were back then. Stacy comments on how things were different 50 years ago and Hume agrees. He then realizes Stacy knows her history and requests she entertain them with some railroad stories. Stacy politely declines, even though Hume says he loves to hear tells of working people. When Stacy say she's quite busy today, Hume says he bets that She tells stories every bit as well as a man, which starts to make her lose patience as she says perhaps some other time. Billy suggests to Stacy that they finish their work in his workshop.
Mr. Hume begins to say how he doesn't like how they're not making his visit more enjoyable. As Schemer tries to show him something else, Hume asks Billy if he can do a demonstration of his culture. When Billy declines, Hume suggests he should do it some other time and calls him "Chief" which starts to make him mad. Seeing Tensions come to a head, Schemer convinces Hume that everyone's joking and the Station is a big joke. Mr. Hume then takes Schemer aside, and says that he had his doubts about him, but is now beginning to show promise and that he might just be one of their kind to Schemer's pleasure. Hume tells Schemer that he is going to return to the club and discuss the matter with his colleagues, promising to return. Mr. Hume leaves the Station wishing everyone farewell.
After Hume leaves, Schemer begins to talk about how great he thinks Hume is and how he was able to Impress him. Stacy asks Schemer when he would want to be like Hume as she found him to be the most insulting, arrogant and prejudiced person she's ever met. Schemer just insists it's his personality. Stacy asks Schemer who Hume thinks he is as they have a station to run while Hume thinks he's better than everyone else. Schemer, tells Stacy she'll get what she wants. When Stacy asks Schemer what it is, he says to get into the Nickelaire Club as he's got it all planned out: once he becomes a member of the Club, he can get Stacy and Billy in as well, much to their disgust.
Later, the Kids are in the Arcade when Mr. Conductor reappears wearing a white cleaning suit saying that the Clean Club's meeting is in session. The Kids then tell Mr. Conductor about Hume and he explains how the Engines on Sodor have the same problem and tells them about the time Oliver, the new Great Western Engine got into trouble with freight cars. Once the story's over, the Kids talk about how Oliver learned a lesson while Hume is worse. When the Kids hear Hume calling for Schemer, they head back to their game while Mr. Conductor disappears, after briefly getting stuck in the Toffee.
When Hume arrives and sees nobody to great him, he rings the bell on Stacy's desk. When Stacy and Billy arrive, Hume asks Stacy for some stories. Once again Stacy declines and Hume makes a very misogynistic comment on women letting people down. He starts to pressure Billy as well, until Stacy decides to tell him a story after all, one that he's not expecting.
In Stacy's story, there was a Station Master on the Indian Valley Railroad who everyone knew and loved. The Station Master wanted to join the local business and social club, only to be refused entry for being a Woman. Stacy reveals that the Club was the Nickelaire and that Woman was her Grandmother Gracie Jones. Hume says that was before his time, but Stacy says even though it was before his time, he's acting exactly like his Grandfather, Hobart Hume I, the founder of the Nickelaire Club. She then tells Hume how insensitive and insulting he was when he asked her and Billy to stop their busy work and entertain him. She then tells Hume the sad thing is he wasn't born Prejudice, it's learned from people like his Grandfather and that she feels sorry for him because he'll never have real friends if he retains his prejudiced beliefs and superior attitude. She concludes by saying he can use the Station to catch a train, but will otherwise like him to conduct his business elsewhere. After she leaves, Mr. Hume is about to express his offense, until Billy says where he comes from, they have a name for people like Hume: bigots. Billy describes them by saying they don't stay long when they come to Shining Time Station and they never come back. Mr. Hume is obviously perturbed by this, but remains silent as Billy leaves.
Schemer then comes into the Station and sees that Hume and Billy were talking. Oblivious of what happened, Schemer says everyone's acting out as they're nervous as they want to join the club too. Hume refuses to Admit them the as the Club doesn't allow Children while Stacy's a Woman and Billy's an "Indian". As Hume talks, Schemer, who thought he would change the rules, slowly becomes disillusioned about him and the club. When Hume identifies Schemer as one of his kind of people, he says the only thing for Him to do to be one of them is cut off the curl in his hair. At this, Schemer stops acting posh and returns to his normal self, stating his curl makes him who he is and that he'd rather throw all of his nickels away than cut his curl off. He starts questioning Mr. Hume on just what kind of club he's running, as he finds his attitude and prejudice very disturbing and that the club doesn't sound like much fun to him now. Mr. Hume states that the the club's purpose isn't fun, but to simply to provide a haven from the rest of the world, saying the club members are like a Dessert while the rest of the world is just leftovers.
At the Word "Dessert", Schemer remembers the treats he brought and briefly returns to his Posh personality as he offers Hume some Toffee, to which he accepts. When Hume realizes he can't open his mouth, Schemer in his posh manner agrees on how sticky the Toffee is then returns to normal saying he doesn't want to be is his Nickel-Nose-in-the-Air Club anymore as it's not good enough for him if it's not good enough for his friends and kicks Hume out of the Station. An outraged Mr. Hume slams his hand into the cake and then trips on the gingerbread men he knocked onto the Arcade floor. The Kids laugh at Hume's predicament and after Billy politely helps him up, the humiliated Mr. Hume angrily leaves as everyone begins to congratulate Schemer for standing up to him.
Later, the Kids find Mr. Conductor using his magic to clean up the Mess in the Arcade. When Dan asks who cleaned up the mess, Mr. Conductor said it was the clean club because a: it's their job and b: he thought Schemer deserved some help after standing up to Hume.
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