Hi everyone,
I've been absent for a bit, huh? You must, however, believe me that I wasn't slacking. :D
And now – feel welcome to read!
VerMa
Two days later, on Saturday, Marty, Jenny and Chris showed up in the Rogerses' house under the excuse of playing with Rose and Scooby. In fact, however, they wanted to finally meet the now legendary ancient friend of their parents'. Since it was the brunch time, they were treated to plum pie and cocoa with whipped cream.
"You baked this pie just by yourself, mister?" Jenny asked.
"Yes" Mr. Rogers confirmed. "Rose and Scooby have extremely sweet tooth; I didn't want them to eat all of the plums" he added with a mischievous smile.
"Will you give me another piece?" his daughter slightly lifted her plate and smiled sweetly.
"For me, too, please!" Jenny and the boys spoke instantly.
Shaggy Rogers didn't have the heart to refuse.
"Do you work in a pastry shop?" Marty asked curiously after swallowing the extra piece of cake.
"For now, only in a hamburger bar" came the answer. "I once had a restaurant and now, I want to earn money for a new one."
"And what happened to the old one?" Chris inquired. Jenny kicked him under the table, but it was too late.
"I lost it" Mr. Rogers frowned for a second. "Well, my little flower, show your friends your room and play all together" he said, having shaken off his thoughts.
"Can we take Scooby?" Rose asked.
"Only if you don't try to put a dress on him."
"I won't" the girl promised.
x
"It's nice in here" said Marty when he and the rest of the team were in Rose's room. "You have a lot of space."
"You haven't seen my dad's room yet" the girl grinned. "He has in there plenty of old discs and comic books, and this funny lamp; Daddy calls it the lava lamp."
"You said something about comics?" Chris perked up.
"Yeah."
"What are they about?"
"Rarout Rommanrer Rool rand Rellow Rutt" Scooby spoke.
Jenny and the boys, who hadn't understood a word, looked pleadingly at Rose.
"About Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt, super heroes" the girl explained. "My Granny says Daddy's been collecting them since kindergarten. They're very cool: wicked thugs kidnap beautiful ladies or want to destroy the world, but suddenly Commander Cool and Mellow Mutt come and..."
"Do you have any dolls?" Jenny asked, not really interested by the comic talk.
"I haven't yet taken them out of the box after we moved" Rose smiled apologetically. "But we can play super heroes."
"Can I be Batman?" Marty jumped with excitement. "Please! He's great! He has the Batmobile and Batarangs, and he's very smart, and..."
"Hold it, I want to be Batman!" Chris protested.
"You can be Robin or a thug who kidnapped the girls and Scooby" Marty offered.
"I don't want to be a thug!" Chris stamped his foot.
"And I don't want to be kidnapped!" Jenny announced.
"Me neither!" Rose echoed. "And I want to be a hero!"
"So do I!" Jenny called out immediately.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Mr. Rogers asked, peering into the room.
"We wanted to play super heroes but nobody wants to be a thug or a hostage" Marty explained.
"Oh" the man didn't look surprised. Suddenly, he smiled wickedly and lifted Scooby. "I'm Dr. Broccoli! I'll make everyone in the world eat only broccoli! And even you, super heroes' team, won't stop me because I have your doggie! Hahaha!" he exclaimed, running out of the room.
"Get him!" Rose squealed, rushing in pursuit of her father. Jenny and the boys, without a second thought, followed her.
After a few minutes of chase, Dr. Broccoli was pinned to the couch, and the liberated Scooby licked the cheeks of all four of his rescuers.
"It's not easy to be a super thug these days" Mr. Rogers sighed with feigned sadness. "Well, super heroes' team, you deserve a reward. The only question is what would make you happy..."
"Can we come one day and play like that again?" Marty asked immediately.
"Sure thing. Drop by whenever you want, kids."
"And do you still have some of this plum pie?" Chris inquired.
"Why? Are you hungry?" Mr. Rogers grinned.
"No, but... but I'd like to take some home... for Mom and Dad..."
"As far as I know you, you'll eat everything yourself" Jenny muttered. "I swear that I'll eventually start calling you Puffy."
"Shut up" Chris snapped.
"Hey, hey, don't you argue" Marty decided to intervene. The last thing he needed was these two embarrassing themselves and him. "You're not at home. Apologize to Rose and her dad for your behavior, right now" he added sternly.
"I'm sorry" Jenny and Chris said simultaneously, dropping their heads meekly.
Rose's eyes widened. She never thought that Marty, the resident joker in their team, could be so adamant.
"Well done, buddy" Mr. Rogers patted Marty's shoulder. "Who taught you this?"
"My grandfather."
"Then you'll go give him a big piece of cake as congratulations for such a clever grandson" the man slightly ruffled the boy's black hair. "Chill out, there's enough for you, too" he added, noticing the worried glances of Chris and Jenny.
x
"Hi, Grandma" said Marty when the door of his grandparents' house had finally opened. "Is Grandpa home?"
"Right now, he's a bit busy, dear" Mrs. Dinkley replied, letting her grandson into the hall and discreetly making sure that the kitchen door was closed. "What happened?"
"I have some plum pie for him" the boy announced proudly.
"Where did you get it?" Grandma didn't hide the surprise.
"I was with Jenny and Chris in the house of our new friend, Rose; she has her own large room and a very nice dad. And, of course, at some point, Jenny and Chris almost had a fight, but I calmed them; and Rose's dad asked who'd taught me that, so I said it was Grandpa, and I got for him a large piece of plum pie, and... and you know, Grandma, I'll put it in the fridge."
Having said that, Marty quickly opened the kitchen door – and stopped short. Inside, there was his mom, weeping on his grandfather's shoulder. But before the boy was spotted, Grandma had taken his hand and led him to the living room.
"Wait here" she said.
"Why? What happened?"
"I think it will be best if your mom explains it to you herself. She should calm down soon."
Indeed – a few minutes later, the sobbing subsided. Marty glanced uncertainly at his grandmother; when she nodded, he ran to the kitchen and took his mom's hand.
"Mom... what's happening?" he asked shyly.
"We're in trouble, darling" Velma whispered, hugging her son tightly and hiding her face in his black hair. "I lost my job."
"How?" the boy was surprised. "You said your boss liked you!"
"Even being pals with the boss doesn't help when bankruptcy is involved "Mom said, looking into his gray eyes, which he'd inherited from his grandmother, and smiling sadly.
"What is bankruptcy?" Marty wanted to know.
"Ruin; a situation when there's no money left. Our motel had gone bankrupt, so the owner had to fire us all."
x
A few days later, Jenny called Rose, asking to take Scooby and come to her house as soon as possible.
"Why?" Rose was surprised.
"My mom says" Jenny lowered her voice "that she needs to talk to you, Scooby and Marty. It's about Aunt Velma and your dad."
"You think your aunt has already figured everything out?" Rose whispered.
"Not really; Marty and I know how to keep a secret."
"Then what happened?"
"My mom doesn't want to tell me too much, but it certainly isn't good news. So when will you come?"
"Depends on where you live" Rose remarked.
"29 Reagan Avenue."
x
"The situation is serious" Mr. Clark said, walking around the living room with his hands clasped behind.
"What happened?" Rose inquired.
"My mom lost her job" said Marty before any of the adults could speak.
"Oh! So that's why she's so upset lately?" Jenny exclaimed.
"Yes" her mom confirmed.
"But what does it have to do with our mission?" Chris asked.
"Well, for example, a few months ago, Aunt Velma had gotten a job offer outside of Coolsville" Mrs. Jones replied. "Back then, she'd rejected it, because she'd thought she'd work for a long time in this motel, but we don't know what she'll do now."
"And this is why" Mr. Jones cut in "we must immediately begin the second phase of our mission. I call it 'Operation: Reunion'."
"What this phase is about?" Marty asked hesitantly.
"Check this out, everyone" Mr. Jones unfolded the city park's plan, with a few marked spots, on a table. "We'll do this: Scooby and Rose will take Shaggy here and..."
x
"Way to go, honey, you're doing great" Shaggy said when his daughter had finally managed to throw the frisbee strongly enough to make it fall by his feet, not hers.
"Res, rou're raking rogress" Scooby agreed and approached his muzzle to his little lady's cheek. "Rarty ris rose" he said softly and, to hide this, he licked Rose's cheek. (Tr.: Yes, you're making progress. Marty is close.)
"Okay. We start the 'Operation: Reunion'" the girl whispered back.
"Raggy, row ro re row!" Scooby walked over to his master and looked at him pleadingly. (Tr.: Shaggy, throw to me now!)
"Alright, but only once; remember that you're no longer a puppy" Shaggy replied. "Go fetch, boy!" he exclaimed, lightly tossing the disc.
Scooby caught the frisbee with his teeth, but instead of giving it to Rose or Shaggy, he began to run off.
"Scooby Doo, come back here, now!" Shaggy shouted, taking off after the dog.
Meanwhile, Marty came out of his hideout in the bushes and went up to Rose.
"For now, everything's going as planned" he said.
"Your mom doesn't suspect anything?" Rose asked.
"Of course not" Marty reassured her. "She didn't even notice when I disappeared, because Jenny had pulled her towards ice cream. Now, hop on" he added, pointing to the carrier of his bike "or we'll miss the best part."
x
'I'll demand five boxes of Scooby-snacks for this' Scooby thought, running towards the fountain, by which (according to Fred's plan) Jenny and the unsuspecting Velma were to wait.
Suddenly, someone grabbed him by the collar.
"Got you!" Shaggy exclaimed triumphantly, putting the dog on the leash. "Come on, old pal, we're going back to Rose."
Scooby, however, wasn't going to give up. He gathered all his strength – which he had little due to his age – and abruptly took off towards the fountain. Shaggy, who still held the leash, had no other choice but to follow him.
"What are you doing?" he shouted in surprise, trying to stop his pet. "What's gotten into you? Stop!"
All in vain – Scooby didn't pay attention to him. Soon, the man saw the fountain, by which stood a woman and a little girl. To make matters worse, the dog dashed straight at them, and the crash was now inevitable.
"Watch out!" Shaggy yelled and instinctively let go of the leash.
Then, Scooby made a sharp turn. His master was unable to stop; he ran into the woman and fell into the fountain with her.
After a moment, though, he got up and helped up the lady, while saying:
"I'm sorry, Miss, something must have possessed my dog; he hasn't acted like that since he was a puppy..." at this point, the woman looked him straight in the eye.
"Sh-Sha-Shaggy?" she stuttered.
"Velma!" Shaggy exclaimed.
PS – Of course, feel welcome to review, too. ;)
VM