The Farmer's Story (short story)

The Farmer's Story was the eleventh short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: Repercussions. It was written by Todd Green. It featured the Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield.
== Summary ==
Thomas Watson is a farmer in East Ridge, Texas. Oil has been discovered on his land, and oilman John Glassman wants to buy Watson's land, but Watson has refused him.
Watson is under pressure by several townspeople, who want the money Glassman says the oil trade would bring. Watson meets the Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield, who befriend him.
One night, Watson runs two trespassers off his land. He discovers that they left behind a scrap of material from their clothing, which is like nothing worn by native Texans. He accuses Glassman, in front of Sheriff Wilson, but Wilson supports Glassman.
The Doctor makes plans with Watson to capture the trespassers if they come on his land again. The plan works, and this time the sheriff arrests the men.
The next night, Glassman incites the townspeople against Watson, and a dozen people go to his property, armed. The Doctor contacts the sheriff, and Watson and the Doctor retreat into the nearby TARDIS to wait for him. When the sheriff arrives, he takes the men in and tells Watson and the Doctor that he will need their statements. The Doctor, Jamie and Victoria sneak away unnoticed.
Glassman is eventually run out of town, but because the Doctor saved Watson's life, the Web of Time is affected, and the Doctor has to remove Watson from his time and take him to the time vortex.
== Characters ==
* Second Doctor
* Jamie McCrimmon
* Victoria Waterfield
* Thomas Watson
* John Glassman
* George Dayton
* Martha Dibble
* Sheriff Wilson
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Doctor tells Jamie that motor cars run on processed oil.
* Thomas thinks the blue shed that has appeared on his land belongs to the sheriff. The Doctor stops Victoria from claiming it as the Doctor's.
* Glassman claims that everyone involved in the Houston railroad benefited, but the Doctor reminds him that the Indians were banished.
== Notes ==
* Each story in Short Trips: Repercussions includes a character or characters being taken out of their time by the Doctor to avoid harm to the Web of Time. In this story, it is Thomas Watson.
* This story is a "pure historical" featuring no science fiction elements apart from the presence of the Doctor, Jamie, Victoria and the TARDIS.
== Continuity ==
to be added
Category:Second Doctor short stories
Category:Stories set in Texas
Category:Short Trips: Repercussions short stories
Category:Stories set in the 19th century