Mystery Incorporated, the Untold Memories
AN: Ok so there seemed to be a bit of a misunderstanding for one of my reviewers. Mary and Jane are Shaggy's twin daughters, but he has not gotten together with Mary-Jane, it was just a slip that I made their names like that ^^ Anyways, I appreciate the reviews and I give you chapter four : DFred No. One:
He had his hands in his pockets as he stood on the cliff over-looking the ocean. He drew deep lasting breaths of fresh salt air and fondly allowed the wind to caress his face at its will. Being older now, he thought he'd never have the time for the simplicities of life, but he found it quite the opposite as he stood there. Ever since he was a child he had stood on this very cliff over-looking ocean and smiled as the sea clashed against it and sent a misty spray of fresh ocean water gliding over him in the summer heat and as the wonderful sea breeze flowed through his blond hair. Not that his hair was blond anymore, really. Now it was a fine steel gray that he was proud of for a reason he could not find in himself. It was just one of the many simple things came to make him the complex simple man that he was.
Xx
It was 1989 and he was eight years old. This was the very first summer that he had ever been away from Coolsville and his friends, and boy did he hate it. Why did his parents have to drag him along on their stupid vacation when he could just as easily be staying at the Rogers' house playing Mystery with Shaggy and the rest of their friends back home? He just simply couldn't understand how a decrepit old beach house from the nineteenth century was better than a summer trying to catch Red Herring in the act. From the backseat he could hear his mother going on and on about the history of it and frankly, it made him sick.
The van came to a sudden halt and Fred let out a sigh as he unbuckled his seat belt and climbed out. Just as he'd seen in the picture his mother had shown him the previous night, the place was a complete and total dump. It was leaning slightly to one side, all of the wooden boards creaked and groaned if you simply touched them and there were scattered broken pieces of glass and sea shells all over the front yard. Even the sign marking it as a one-hundred year wonder was falling apart and absolutely covered in graffiti.
"Well," he heard his mother say, "It's a bit of a fixer-upper but I'm sure we'll get sparkling like new in no time!" He grimaced slightly as his father walked up and shook out his hair. "What do you say we get started after we finish unpacking, Skip?"
"How about we let Freddie explore for a bit, eh son?" His father said, shaking Fred's shoulders jokingly. Freddie heaved a heavy sigh and began to walk away towards the beach as his parents said this and that about what they were going to do to fix up the dump. As he wandered around aimlessly, every now and then checking to see where he was so that he could make his way back to the shack, he encountered absolutely no one. Which was odd considering it was both summer and this was a beach.
He continued to walk though, dragging a stick through the sand alongside him. "I wonder what Shag and the gang are doing now... probably solving a mystery without me." He said to himself. He walked for what seemed like forever, missing home all the way. He hadn't noticed, but he'd been following footsteps. In fact he simply kept walking until something blocked his path and that he had nearly sent diving into the waters from the cliff he had arrived upon. His face grew red as he apologized and looked up into an older man's face. The older man smiled and told him it was alright.
"What's a young thing like you doing up here anyways, Son?" He asked in his kindly voice. "Shouldn't you be off playing games with your friends?"
"I can't, my parents dragged me down here from Ohio for the whole summer." Fred explained, tossing his stick out into the waters below the cliff side. "It sucks here and all I have to do is walk along the stupid beach all day while my parents fix up this lame old shack all summer."
"Well now, I don't think walking along the beach is all too bad. I find it relaxing myself; allows you to open up your mind to the world without the interruption of everyday life. Just one of life's blessings it is to walk on the beach on a misty day."
"No offense, Mister, but I'd rather be solving mysteries with my friends." The old man smiled put his hands in his pockets as he looked out over the sea.
"I used to think like that too when I was young. I remember being your age and wanting to spend every minute of my day outside with my friends. In fact I spent so much of my time doing that that it took me until I was twenty-nine with a bullet-wound in my chest to realize all I'd missed out on. Oh, you'll see the beauty one day Son, but for now why don't you at least try to enjoy the view?" Fred nodded and the old man pat him on the head. He began to walk away, but just at the edge of the base he turned around.
"If you helps you any, just close your eyes and stand against the breeze. Believe me kid, for a sight you can't see it's sure worth the view." Fred smiled and turned to the sea as he stood on the edge of the cliff. He closed his eyes and could feel the fine salty mist dust over him from the waves of the ocean. Without seeing a thing he saw the ocean as it pulled in and out and the birds as they flew over him. The wind rushed at him and he felt he could fly and that's what he saw. He turned to thank the man for cheering him up, but he was gone. He'd simply have to settle for flying.
Xx
Fred smiled as the memory washed over him. He was older now too and still he came to the very same place that he first dreaded to go in his childhood. The shack now stands proud and sturdy, used for many years over by both him and his children and grandchildren. In a way he felt a sort of fondness towards it now. He never did that old man again, but Fred had a feeling that wherever he was, he was standing at the edge of a cliff over-looking ocean with his eyes closed, seeing what the rest of the world could not.
