Chapter 3: An encounter while grocery shopping and night time excursions

May 24, 2012

That late afternoon, shortly after returning home from school, Shaggy was out for a grocery trip as usual on Thursdays.

Inside Mitch's Supermarket, he was pushing the shopping cart around with a few items loaded.

As he pushed the cart into the meats section, Shaggy paused as he consulted the grocery list his mother Paula had left for him.

"Quite the day to go out for grocery shopping, isn't it?" A voice directed at him suddenly said, prompting Shaggy to look up and turned around towards its source.

He widened his eyes when he saw Nan Blake, Daphne's mother, picking out a pack of chicken from the meats section. There was no one else down the corridor or nearby.

When Shaggy didn't respond to her questioning, Nan stepped forward and waved her hand at his face.

"I said it's quite the day to go out for grocery shopping, isn't it, young man?" Nan repeated her question as she stepped too close to his comfort.

In spite of feeling intimidated by the redhead's presence, Shaggy didn't step back an inch as he spoke.

"Like, other than the usual cloudiness in the sky, Mrs. Blake, the weather's fine." He said.

"Hmm." Nan grunted. "I'm not exactly talking about the weather, darling."

Shaggy swallowed as the redhead continued, "Rather, I was talking about this very day when I just happen to run into you while doing grocery-shopping here in the store."

"Er...running into me ruined your day, Mrs. Blake?" Shaggy asked meekly.

Nan almost immediately began chuckling, and Shaggy wasn't sure how to gauge the response.

Either she was laughing about the ridiculousness of his answer or she was chuckling about how he was able to deduce the source of her poor mood that quickly, Shaggy wasn't exactly sure which was worse.

Finally, Nan calmed down before she turned towards him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"Not exactly, darling." Nan said as she smiled at him, though Shaggy wasn't sure if the smile on her face was sincere. "My day was already under the weather long before you enter the picture."

"Um...is that, like, a good thing or bad thing, Mrs. Blake?" Shaggy asked.

"Good or bad, it doesn't really matter now, does it?" Nan asked.

When Shaggy stared at her in confusion and didn't say a word, Nan sighed and waved her hand.

"Never mind." Nan said dismissively. "Either way, you wouldn't believe how my night went last night."

Glancing towards his back, Shaggy was silently hoping that someone else will enter the aisle and put an end to the awkwardness engulfing the conversation.

"Though considering that you and your friends, my daughter included, have seen things, I highly doubt you're gonna be surprised by what happened last night." Nan continued.

"What sort of thing are we talking about here, Mrs. Blake?" Shaggy asked.

"Namely the fact that a flying creature crashed the charity auction I've organized last night and stole a priceless painting." Nan replied simply.

Shaggy blinked. "Like...a flying creature?"

"The creature looked very hideous and I could've sworn it had fangs like a vampire." Nan said.

"V-v-vampire?" Shaggy shuttered.

"Oh, please." Nan waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure that it's just some prank pulled by someone looking for trouble. After all, there's no such things as vampires, and besides, no one at the auction wanted to buy the stolen painting."

As Shaggy exhaled, Nan glanced at her wristwatch and added, "Either way, time's flying, and I'm sure you don't want to return home late with your groceries now, do you?"

Shaggy only shook his head, and Nan nodded.

"I've thought so, too." Nan said. "I'm sure your parents, especially your father, would appreciate you returning home with the groceries on time."

She then proceeded to take her leave as she continued, "Better not hold you up much longer, do say hi to your father for me, and try to stay out of trouble, huh?"

Without moving a muscle, Shaggy simply stood at his spot as he watched Nan Blake walking down the aisle before she disappeared around the corner.

Later that night, after dinner, Shaggy was taking Scooby out for a walk as usual.

"Like, you wouldn't believe who I ran into at Mitch's Supermarket during my grocery run this afternoon, Scoob." Shaggy said.

"Rho?" Scooby asked as they entered the nearby park.

"Daph's mother." Shaggy replied.

Immediately, Scooby looked concerned as he asked, "Rhat did rhe say to rou, Raggy?"

"Other than telling me about some vampire crashing the charity auction she organized last night and stole a priceless painting, nothing much." Shaggy frowned.

"Rait...re vampire?" Scooby asked.

"Yeah, though she dismissed it as someone who might be looking for trouble." Shaggy shrugged. "And besides, according to her, no one was interested in bidding for the stolen painting."

"Rell, whatever rit ris, let's not worry roo much about rhat." Scooby said.

"Of course, Scoob." Shaggy said. "After all, it's already bad enough that we have to deal with that...thing on the loose this past Monday, let's not get too deep into last night's mess."

"Ron't remind me." Scooby said as they continued walking in the park.

A short while later, the duo were at the water fountain in the middle of the park when they spotted a familiar-looking redhead feeding pigeons.

The redhead glanced towards their direction and paused when she spotted them, and then she got up as Shaggy and Scooby walked towards her.

"Guys." Daphne said in greeting.

"Daph." Shaggy greeted back as he opened up his arms and shared an embrace with her. "The night's young, eh?"

"You can say that again, Shag." Daphne smiled before she knelt down to Scooby and rubbed his head. "How're you holding up, Scooby?"

"Rust fine." Scooby replied. "Rafter everything re went through ron Monday."

"Don't remind me." Daphne winced. "We were all worried about you after everything that had happened."

"Ri'm sure rou all were." Scooby nodded.

Later, the trio were walking down the sidewalk as Shaggy and Scooby accompanied Daphne back to Blake Mansion.

"So anyways, you wouldn't believe who I ran into this afternoon during my grocery run at Mitch's Supermarket, Daph." Shaggy said.

"Was it my Mom?" Daphne asked as they paused. "She mentioned that she saw you at Mitch's Supermarket this afternoon."

"Yeah, it was her." Shaggy nodded. "And I take it that she told you about her charity auction last night."

"She did." Daphne nodded. "Though I'm perplexed why would someone go through the trouble of stealing a painting that no one was interested in bidding for."

"Your mom told you what the stolen painting was?" Shaggy raised an eyebrow.

"Just some old dark spooky painting known as Full Moon in Transylvania." Daphne replied. "But either way, why are we worried about some stolen spooky painting, guys?"

"Like, you can probably say that I'm surprised that your Mom told me that." Shaggy shrugged. "She also asked me to say hi to my Dad."

"Hmm." Daphne nodded thoughtfully. "Either way, let's just head home and call it a night, guys."

"Of course." Shaggy agreed as they resumed walking down the sidewalk.

After a few minutes, the trio were at the front door of Blake Mansion.

"Anyways, thanks for walking with me to home, guys." Daphne said as she held Shaggy's hands.

"Rit was our pleasure, Raphne." Scooby said.

Daphne nodded before she turned towards Shaggy, and there was some silence between the duo as Scooby wandered off.

Eventually, Shaggy broke the silence.

"Like...'night, Daph." Shaggy said.

"Night, Shag." Daphne smiled.

Another silence followed before their lips moved closer, though they would've joined if it weren't for Scooby noticing something when he wandered off.

"Ruh...guys?" Scooby asked.

Shaggy and Daphne paused before they turned towards the Great Dane and the former asked, "What is it, Scoob?"

"Rere's someone there rat re gate." Scooby said as he pointed towards the front gate.

Shaggy and Daphne turned towards where Scooby was pointing at, upon which the latter gasped when she recognized the shadowed figure.

"Mom?" Daphne called out.

Upon hearing Daphne's voice, though, Nan immediately ran off down the street, prompting the trio to glance at each other in confusion briefly before they quickly took off behind her in pursuit.

Reaching the street, the trio immediately turned right and ran after Nan.

"Mom, where are you going?" Daphne called out.

Nan didn't respond, and the trio continued with their pursuit.

"Like, your mother's fast for someone her age, Daph!" Shaggy panted as he and Scooby struggled to keep up with the redhead.

Eventually, the trio chased Nan to the outskirts of downtown when she rounded a corner.

By the time the trio caught up, though, to their surprise and astonishment, Nan Blake was nowhere to be seen down the deserted street.

"Mom?" Daphne called out once again. No response.

The trio looked around before Shaggy said, "Like, that's really strange."

"Too strange if you ask me." Daphne said. "My Mom would never go out alone at this time of the night without telling us or Dad ahead of time."

"Question ris, rere?" Scooby piped up.

"And whether or not this has something to do with the theft at the charity auction last night, guys." Daphne added.

At Daphne's last remark, Shaggy sighed.

"Knowing us, I won't be surprised one bit if that is the case, Daph." Shaggy said.

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