Kneeling down, Fred put his knees to the slightly wet tarp to look at the damage. He sighed as a small puddle seeped into his pants, but sadly he was going into this knowing that he would be soaked by the end of it. At least with what Shaggy and Scooby had done, it was less. But well, they couldn't get all of it, so he had to brace himself that this was going to be one of those times. Just slightly cold and wet. Making him want to rush the job fast enough to do it properly, but not dawdle about it like he might normally. It was cold out!

"Sigh."

"Everything ok, Fred?"

"Yeah. Though looking at this, the old girl really took a beating. That Ski Ghost of the Eastern Coast was no joke! That snowmobile under the monster really got a good hit on her. I'm surprised she didn't take more damage in the chase. She did really good without her snow treads."

"Didn't we like', use those on another mystery? The one with the flying moth man? Or was that a really dull butterfly... I forgot." Scratching his scruffy chin, Shaggy had wandered over to look at the damage as well. Trying to recall the mystery that Fred had used them on. Crouching to peer at the damaged rim beside Fred, his knees sticking out like a frog at the side of a pond.

"It was a moth. West Virginia is covered in Mothman legends... I think we have busted like twelve of them so far. But the snow tire chains make for a really nice climbing ladder when all strung together. As well as keeping the tires from slipping. But besides some cosmetic damage here by the tire... The rim is the main issue that I can find so far. So, if we can get the tire off, I can get a look at what else might be behind as damage. Hopefully nothing we have to worry about."

Fred ran his hands across the scratched up paint. Trying to feel the metal and test the depth of the scratches with his finger tips. The wheel well took a bit of damage, but thankfully nothing structurally that he could see or feel so far. He might need to get a bit of car body filler to help for anything more surface to make it look like new. And a coat of fresh paint. Thankfully no area he saw that he really needed to remove and bang out a dent for. Well, beyond the tire rim that looked bad.

But that was easily solved with a tire change. And thankfully they have those in stock at home. A benefit for having connections in Nascar, after they helped them once with a rowdy car wrecker of a mutated race car monster that showed up one day they were visiting. Always nice to have friends in helpful and high places. As well as Scooby getting his own Monster Truck styled after him.

Speaking of Scooby...

"Hey Scooby, can you do me a favor and get the car jack from the back of the Van?" Fred asked over his shoulder, taking a moment to look away from his baby to see what the Dane was up too.

Besides making himself an igloo from all the snow that he and Shaggy had dug out. Five small balls of snow seemed to be sitting in a line next to it. Around the size of a basketball. Fred assumed that he was making something out of the snow, but it was too early to tell what he was exactly up to. But the Abominable Snow Scoob was more then willing to pull himself away from his project to help get the device Fred needed. Trotting his snow covered self from where he was working to the back of the van. It only took a short bit of digging, and waiting before the Dane made a sound of accomplishment. Coming over to the pair to drop off the jack and get rewarded!

"Thank Scooby"

"You're the best, Scoob! Best buddy, best pal! Thanks for helping out!"

While Fred moved to get the jack in place that he asked for. Shaggy showered the dog with praises as he knocked small chunks of snow from Scooby's back and side. Trying to unearth the brown fur from under the coating of white. Well, at least till it built up again. Just enough to let Scooby go back to his own project, satisfied for helping out and getting in some pets. Before the Dane went back to work and Shaggy moved to aid Fred.

"Hey Shaggy, can you fish out that old board I keep in the garage for jacking up the van? And my socket wrench set. They grey one, should be right on my tool box."

"Sure Fred!"

Tool box was an understatement... Fred had a what might be closer to a tool drawer, or a tool cabinet. It was almost as tall as Shaggy was! With a set of rolling wheels, it was portable and usually lived on the edge of the chaos that was the inside of the garage. While it had drawers and drawers of individual tools, there was also a few tool cases that sat on the built in workspace, or tucked into the larger sections at the base of the tower of tools. The perfect toolbox for an auto mechanic or at least overkill for a hobbyist like Fred.

But this was not the first time he had been around Fred's tools container, and wouldn't be the last either. As he and Velma would aid Fred from time to time on the old girl when she needed some TLC. So, the scruffy man knew exactly where he was going to find the case. Well, as long as Fred put it in the same place as last time.

"Hey Fred. I'm glad you didn't wake up Velma... Here" Shaggy wandered back over to where Fred was peering under the van. Handing over the case he asked for, and the board. "Like' she would be all grumbling about the cold and keep going blind and nabbing your ascot for a wipe. Hehehe."

Fred joined Shaggy in his light laughter, slightly picking on the glasses dependent pal of theirs. But Fred knew exactly how that could go with his own. So, he would have felt bad if she had been the one who snuck out and dug the van from its snow embankments. Glad it was the duo, over the poor foggy Velma. Plus the pair had an advantage with the pair of giant digging paws of Scooby.

"Yeah, I would have felt bad. Though my Ascot might have made her glasses worse, being wet like this. But thanks for all this work you guys did for me!"

"No problem Fred. We also made sure to get Mr. McNallie's driveway, and Mrs. Johnson's after his."

"Oh man, how early did you guys get up to do this? I hope it wasn't that bad?"

"Well, we were already up for Hashbrowns. But nah, it was really only up to their cars in the driveway, and the way from their steps to the sidewalk. Just so they can get to their own cars ok, if they needed it. And Scooby was having fun pretending to race the nearby plow that was cruising down the street. Helping get the sideway taken care of for our side of the block. Before coming back to help me with our driveway and clearing out the passenger side here."

Using his fingers, Shaggy counted off all the amazing things the pair had taken care of that morning. Talking about it with the casualness as if he was recounting a grocery list. And not a huge amount of effort it would have taken the duo to pull off.

"Oh yeah, and the tarp. But you came just as we were finishing tying that down. Oh, I should check on that."

Taking a few steps out of the overhang that was the tarp, Fred watched Shaggy lean up and pawed at some snow to knock it off. Lessing the weight. Fred shook his head, but this was just Shaggy being Shaggy. The humble and selfless, great role model that was his best friend and pal.

"You know, Mr. McNallie is going to make sure he gets back at you."

"Yep!" Shaggy replied chipperly. "He already threatened from his front door that he will get revenge later. Shaking his fist and everything. Though I bet Mrs. Johnson will send some cookies again. Those were the best!"

If it wasn't Shaggy, it was probably one of the gang that was helping out. So, most of the block had a pretty good idea when something nice happened, it was probably the their fault. From mowed lawns in the spring and summer, to cleared snow for winter. And even sometimes fall leaves from time to time. But it was less, since the duo was banned from using the leaf blowers without gang supervision.

"Well, you'll have to check in the mail box later, if they don't knock on the door to drop it off personally. And Wally will be happier to have less snow to trot through to deliver the mail in. So, thanks for the effort Shag. Alright... Let's get this girl in the air!"

Taking in a deep breath in and out, Fred nodded and then laid himself into the tarp and accepted the wet. Using his shoulders, he wiggled his head under the van to find where he needed to put the board. Since the driveway was still under a bit of snow. There was only so far the shovel could get, leaving a bit more snow that hid the driveway. Needing the board to provide a more stable place to fit the jack for the van. Tracing the axel, Fred found the spot he needed to brace the jack against.

"Board."

Waving his hand, he only had to wait a second before Shaggy realized what he wanted and put the board into the open and closing fingers of Fred. With the board in hand, he then had to weasel it under the van with him, and into position. Using a closed fist to pound it into the snow. Once that was secure, he asked for the jack.

"Jack,"

"Yep!"

"Thank you."

It seemed that Shaggy was ready, as he handed the first half of the bottle jack into Fred's hands. It was a two handed pass, as the hydraulic jack had some weight to it. But Fred was ready for it, though let out a small grunt as he took it one handedly. Placing the jack under the van, he made sure to position it in the right spot on the board to line up to the spot he needed to raise up. Hand twisting the top of the jack to get it into as close as he could, before sticking his hand out to get the handle from Shaggy. Making sure the handle angled out from under the van. Fred would be able to jack up the wheel without any worry of bodily harm to himself, if the jack broke or slipped. He would have loved to put down some jack stands under it as well for extra stability. But with the snow, it made that harder. So, he would just have to be extra careful with her being raised up.

Wiggling himself out from under the van, Fred used the handle to pump it till it connected to the right place under the van. Clunk after pump, slowly the pressure came off of tire. With Fred stopping just right for him to be able to loose the lug nuts before he raised the whole tire off the group. Which would make it harder to get them out if he had raised them all the way.

Rolling from a laying position, Fred pushed up and went cross legged to be a bit more comfortable. As comfortable as he could, being in wet pants. Though at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and his socks were still dry... so far. And he found Shaggy perched on an empty plastic bucket for a seat, ready with the grey case for Fred. As Fred needed the socket wrench contained inside of it, to get those lug nuts off.

"Ah, thanks Shag."

Placing the case on his lap, Fred leaned his arms back to allow him to crane his neck to look past the tarp to the light snowfall that was all around them. Lightly drifting down, to join all the rest of the snow that was pilling up around them.

"Will be nice to enjoy the snow... once we get finished with this. Though might be a good idea once the Mystery Machine is good, to back her up. Closer to the street. So, there will be less clean up later, if we have to go anywhere."

"Oh, yeah. That might be a good idea." Came a nodding agreement. Agreeing with Fred's suggestion. Less for them to dig out, unless they wanted too. Especially since the snow was supposed to stick around for the next few days. Though lighter, and easier to deal with and to clean up after.

Thinking about it, as cool as it was to have a driveway as long as the side of the house was, for parking. It made more sense to not have to shovel the whole driveway, but only the short length of it to get to the road to be able to drive out of. And well, that would help prove if the wiggle was only the tire, or if they had more trouble that might need an expert to help fix. Fred was good, but some things you need professional help for.

"Ok, I think this was a..." Trailing off, Fred zoned out as he looked through the various socket sizes that sat in the open case on his lap. They have owned many different vans over the years, and not all of them had the same lug nut dimensions. So, eyeballing the nuts and then the case he made his best guess. And worse case, he would have to go up or down a size if he had missed it.

"Ah! got it first try!" Fred cheered as he placed the piece on the nut and it fit perfectly. Snapping it into place on his socket wrench, Shaggy clapped his hands in celebration that Fred had guessed the right size. Tossing Shaggy a beaming smile of pride, he then turned back to the task at hand.

With a grunt, Fred put some muscle into twisting the first lugnut off. It resisted for a bit, before easing up and letting the man get the first of the six off. He did like them on there tight, but what he was really worried about was closer to the bent bits of the rim. He was hoping that with others off, he would have more wiggle room in case the last ones proved to be a problem. One by one, the others came off till it was up to the last two he figured might give him trouble.

"Hup! Hrnnnnngggggh!"

The effort Fred had used for the previous ones, weren't enough for the man to get it to even budge. Rotating out of a cross legged posture to raise up on his knees, Fred hoped that a better bracing would do the trick. But still, it didn't want to move.

"Maybe we should have gotten Velma up... She would pop that sucker off easy." Shaggy joked from his seat on the bucket. "Want a hand?"

Getting to his feet and heaving one more, Fred strained till he went red in the face. Afraid he was more likely to pull the whole van off of the jack, then manage to get the lug nut free. Letting up for a sec, he panted to regain his breath from the cold and exertion. Waiting till he evened his breathing before looking up through his mussed coif. A casualty of his efforts.

"...Yeah, I think I could use a hand."