Chapter 11 - SAPS
Vince called Flim-Flam. "I've got a new deal lined up. There's a guy in Pasedena who wants to use their plane for a few days. The rule waivers that come with the plane will make smuggling easy."
"How do we get them to fly there? Pasedena's not that far from Crystal Cove," said Flim-Flam.
"That's easy. We get them to hunt for ghosts from the air with a spook detector, and then say there's a big concentration of ghosts in Pasedena," said Vince.
"Why would ghosts be there?" asked Flim-Flam.
"I don't know, say a spook convention. The Spook and Poltergeist Society," Vince.
"That's SAPS," said Flim-Flam.
"I know. It's a little in-joke. Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby have certainly been saps to fall for this nonsense," said Vince.
"We're pushing the credibility here. But anyway, what happens in Pasedena? Are you going to stage a whole ghost convention?" asked Flim-Flam.
"No, because we'll decoy them away from there with an emergency. I'll accidentally get a slow-acting curse that is turning me to stone. They'll have to make a run for the east coast for the cure," said Vince.
"They'll want to use their plane," said Flim-Flam.
"No, because they'll have a run-in with two fake FBI agents first, which will cause them to have to abandon both their car and their plane. We'll get a stunt pilot to fly them east, with some appropriately scary adventures along the way," said Vince.
"Sounds do-able," said Flim-Flam. "Any other twists I should know about?"
"We'll handcuff Scooby and Shaggy to two stupid ghosts, that is, make them believe they're handcuffed to two stupid ghosts, by hypnosis. That will keep them occupied so they won't cause any extra complications."
"Oh brother," said Flim-Flam. "That's already extra complications."
"I know you can do it. I'll be out of the picture, slowly turning to stone. You'll have to do the hypnotic suggestions. But you're an expert at that by now."
"So I am," said Flim-Flam.
The plan went off perfectly. The gang was left in Salem, Massachusetts without their car or plane, but happy to have captured Rankor the vampire in the Chest of Demons, and to have saved Van Ghoul from the curse of the Eye of Eternity.
"What do we do now?" asked Daphne.
"We get hotel rooms for the day, and then plan our trip back," said Shaggy, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
"I have an idea," said Scooby. "We could go back by rain."
"Rain?" asked Daphne.
"He means train," said Shaggy, who was an expert interpreter for Scooby-talk.
"On the way back we could visit Dooville," said Scooby. "See Mumsy and Dada Doo."
"Great idea, Uncle Scooby," said Scrappy. "I wanna see my grandparents again."
"It'll be a nice break from ghosts, too," said Shaggy.
He was wrong about that, of course.