CHAPTER 6: Three Months Later
"Happy birthday, Victoria," Daphne cooed, sweetly.
"Six months old," added Velma, "you're a big girl now." She tickled the
baby under her chin, eliciting a gleeful squeal from the infant.
"Heavy, too," grunted Fred, as he lifted his daughter out of her high chair
and placed her into the stroller
"I hope this outing will be a little less eventful than our last one," said
Daphne, recalling their initial encounter with Marc Wyndham, his champion dog
and his ex-wife.
"I agree," echoed Velma. "Petty criminals in masks, we can handle, but
certainly not a vengeful ex-spouse. Thank goodness that that case resolved itself
before getting any worse." Daphne and Fred nodded in agreement.
"Like, I suppose we could say that Scooby had more fun on this case than
on any of our others," said Shaggy. "Except maybe that one at the Scooby Snack
factory." He paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, I think that was one of
my favorite cases as well!" The others looked at the skinny man, then burst out
laughing.
* * * * * * * * * *
**Go…go…she needs you now.
Try as he could, Scooby could not ignore that primal voice from within.
**I can't, my humans need me.
**They will understand, especially Fred and Daphne. You must go. She
needs you.
The call was too strong resist, and Scooby knew he had to answer it. He
cautiously crawled away, making sure that his human friends did not notice his
departure. Once he was far enough away, he stood up and began to run, his long,
powerful stride guiding him to his destiny.
"Scooby?" The skinny man looked around him, a look of panic on his
bearded face. "Scooby? Scooby-Doo, where are you?" he called. Turning his
head, he saw the unmistakable form of large dog, running down the sidewalk, its
tail streaming behind it. He recognized it as the unmistakable silhouette of a
Great Dane. **Oh no, he thought to himself. **Like, not again! "Scooby!" he
yelled, his voice filled with panic. "Come back here!"
He looked desperately at Fred, Velma and Daphne. "Like, we gotta go,
now! Scoob's disappeared again, and we have to follow him!" The skinny man
promptly took off after his dog.
"We'll catch up to you in a minute," yelled Fred, placing his daughter into
her stroller. "Come on gang," he ordered. "Follow Shaggy."
The blond man took off in pursuit of his friend, but his gait was awkward and
unsteady, since he was pushing a stroller. Victoria giggled, enjoying the ride.
When Fred, Velma and Daphne finally caught up with Shaggy, he was
standing in front of a large apartment complex. Velma surveyed the environs.
**This place looks oddly familiar, she thought to herself. **But I can't recall
where I have seen it before.
Shaggy approached the main door and prepared to enter. "Can I help you
kids?" a deep voice interjected. The skinny man jumped back in fright.
"Excuse me, sir," panted Fred. "But did you happen to see a large, brown
dog with black spots run past here?"
The burly superintendent nodded. "As a matter of fact, I did. He walked
in through the doors as if he was going to take the elevator up, then did a double
take, headed back outside and went around the back, to the fire escape."
Shaggy chuckled at the man's account. "That's our dog," he answered, as
he and the others headed back out the door, preparing to scale the fire escape.
"It might be easier to take the elevator," suggested the burly man.
"There's only one guy in this building who owns a dog, and he lives on the fifth
floor."
Fred rang the doorbell, and was surprised when a familiar looking man
answered.
"Kids," said Marc Wyndham. "I had a feeling you would be stopping by.
Come on in."
Shaggy stopped in his tracks shortly after entering the apartment.
"Zoinks!" he announced.
Daphne echoed the skinny man's sentiment, putting her hand over her
mouth, as she stepped back in complete disbelief of what she saw. "Oh…my…"
* * * * * * * * * *
The large, fawn colored female lay on her side, nursing a litter of four
puppies. Scooby sat beside her, wagging his tail and looking at his human
companions.
Sensing the approach of a stranger into the nesting area, Kala raised her
head and whined softly. "Rit's rokay," Scooby grunted to his mate, before getting
to his feet and approaching the gang.
"Ooh, Scooby," cooed Daphne, patting him gently on his head. "So that's
why you've been disappearing--you wanted to see her." Daphne looked at the
female Dane. "Congratulations, Kala," she added. "You have such a beautiful
family."
Velma leaned forward, just far enough to see the tiny animals. "They
can't be more than four weeks old," she surmised. "Oh, but they are so adorable."
She shifted her gaze to Scooby. "Congratulations, there, Scooby," said the
bespectacled girl.
As she reached down to pet one of the puppies, her serene thoughts were
interrupted by a violent banging on the door. Startled, she drew back. Victoria
screamed; Scooby barked, protectively.
The banging intensified, as if someone was trying to forcefully enter the
apartment.
"Quick, gang," whispered Fred. "Duck out of sight!"
Scooby refused to move from his mate's side.
"You too!" the blond man commanded, grabbing the Great Dane by the
collar and ducking behind a couch.
Laura Whitney banged fervently on the door to Marc's apartment. "Open
the door, dammit!" she screamed, angrily. "Open this door, NOW!!"
Marc Wyndham opened the door just wide enough to stick his head out.
"Calm down, Laura," he scolded. "What the hell's gotten into you?"
"Where's my dog!" she yelled, vehemently.
"She's not your dog," the dark haired man countered. "And I have no idea
where she is!"
"The hell you don't," Laura screamed. "You have her and I k now you
do—I could hear the barking." She leaned forward, trying to force her way into
the apartment; Marc stood his ground, firmly.
"Even if I had her," he continued, "I wouldn't let you take her. The judge
said that Kala was to stay with me."
Laura Whitney's eyes grew red with rage. "The hell with what the judge
said, I want my dog back!"
The brown haired man stubbornly refused.
Laura's anger intensified and was visible on every inch of her body.
"Damn you, Mark," she started. "If I have to come in there…" She cut herself off
mid sentence. "Forget it! I am coming in! We are not legally divorced yet, so I
still have the right to…"
The woman stopped dead in her tracks, in front of the dog. "NO!" she
gasped in horror as she saw the litter. "Oh no," she muttered to herself. "I am not
really seeing this."
She grabbed the female dog by her collar and pulled harshly. The large
dog yelped loudly, partly in pain and partly as a warning to her brood.
Shaggy cringed as he witnessed the woman's cruel actions against the dog.
"Oh man," he whispered. "Like, I don't even want to see this."
"I don't believe this," Laura growled in disgust. "You don't get pregnant
unless I specifically want you to, you understand?" The giant dog cowered at the
sound of the angry woman's voice.
"What's more," Laura continued, her voice rising, "I'll tell you who to
mate with and when!" She snapped a leather leash onto the dog's collar and
pulled sharply. "Move it dog!" she ordered, angrily.
The giant Great Dane refused to move. Her anger seething, Laura raised
the loose end of the leash over her head like a whip and brought it down sharply
onto the dog's hindquarters. Kala yelped in pain as she felt the leather leash bite
into her skin.
Scooby couldn't stand to watch the scene any longer. Uttering a low
growl, he jumped defensively in front of his mate, barking and snapping at her
insane owner. "No, Scoob!" Shaggy whispered, loudly, trying unsuccessfully to
restrain the dog.
Scooby's sudden appearance caught Laura off guard. Dropping Kala's
leash, she focused her attention on her assailant. "Get back!" she yelled, swinging
her foot in front of his chest. "Get back you mangy mutt!"
As she fought off Scooby's onslaught, her gaze inadvertently fell on one
of the puppies in the litter; on top of the golden yellow coat were several small,
irregularly sized, black patches. Laura shifted her gaze from the whelping box
back to the giant dog that was accosting her. NO! she muttered to herself. It
can't be!
Scooby continued to bark, trying to protect his mate; he stopped only
when the heel of Laura's shoe grazed his chest. With a yelp, he stopped his
attack, and retreated back to the gang, resigned to his defeat. With Scooby out of
the way, Laura focused her attention back to Kala. "Get moving!" she yelled,
aggressively, forcefully tugging the leash.
Marc Wyndham tried to reason with his ex-wife. "Laura, you can't just
take her away like that, she's nursing, for God's sake. What you are doing is
cruel."
"I don't give a shit if it's cruel or not," retorted Laura. "As far as I am
concerned, those little rats don't even look like great Danes; they are worthless,
and I could care less if they die!"
The four humans listened in horror to the woman's tirade.
"Worthless?" replied Marc. "Those pups have just as much of a right to
life as you, me and Kala; and if all you care about is the salability of a litter and
the presence of a potential champion, then you are even colder and more heartless
than I had thought!"
The blonde woman cackled, evilly. "Oh, Marc," she cooed, sarcastically.
"You're so flattering, but flattery will get you nowhere." The tone in her voice
changed dramatically, as she continued her tirade. "You're a disgrace to Great
Dane breeders everywhere, letting a champion dog mate with a mutt like that."
On that note, she shot her ex-husband a dirty look, then stormed out the door,
dragging the 120 pound animal behind her.
Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy watched the scene in disbelief,
emerging from their hiding place only after they had heard the door slam.
"Dude," said Shaggy, "like that woman is nuts!"
"Psychotic," said Fred, shaking his head in disbelief. As stoic as the blond
man was, even he was shaken by what he had just witnessed.
Daphne handed Victoria to Velma and quickly moved towards the nesting
area, as if to replace the absent mother dog. "How can anyone be so heartless?"
she asked, trying to imagine how it would feel if someone were to forcefully
separate her from her own daughter. "Those poor, little creatures."
Marc Wyndham turned and faced the gang. "I'm sorry you kids had to see
that," he said, apologetically. "It doesn't really concern you."
Shaggy looked at Marc Wyndham, a bewildered expression on his bearded
face. "Like, I still don't understand why she's so upset about Scooby mating with
Kala. He's a perfectly good dog, and he is a purebred Great Dane."
Marc shook his head and began to explain. "Among breeders, your dog is
what we would call a 'non-standard color' and a 'pet quality' animal. There is
nothing wrong with these dogs, except that their external appearance is less than
perfect. Kala is a champion Great Dane; she is almost perfect as far as the breed
standard is concerned. These near perfect dogs can only be produced by mating
the top specimens, and we breeders adhere to a strict code of ethics when mating
our animals. One part of this code of ethics states that we must never mate a
champion dog to a pet quality specimen, and we must never breed a non standard
color dog."
"Like, I don't think Scooby and Kala really cared about this code thing,"
said Shaggy.
Daphne and Velma chuckled in response to his comment.
"No, but my ex-wife does. And even though Kala is now my dog, Laura
still has some say in what happens to this litter because she is the co-owner of the
mother dog."
Fred looked Marc squarely in the eye. "Then, theoretically, we have a say
in what happens to these puppies as well, because our dog is the father of this
litter."
"Theoretically," said Marc. "But this incident should not concern you.
Laura is using Kala and this litter as a negotiating pawn in our divorce, and this is
our business, not yours."
The blond man shook his head. "On the contrary, it is our business.
Those pups are just as much ours as they are yours, and we fear for their lives.
And if your ex-wife had tried to destroy a litter before, I'm almost certain that
she'll try again."
"It's plausible," said Velma, "especially since she knows that you have a
weakness for these dogs."
Fred turned and faced the others. "Well gang, it looks like we've just been
handed our next case; and this time, we have more of a stake in the outcome than
ever before."
"Happy birthday, Victoria," Daphne cooed, sweetly.
"Six months old," added Velma, "you're a big girl now." She tickled the
baby under her chin, eliciting a gleeful squeal from the infant.
"Heavy, too," grunted Fred, as he lifted his daughter out of her high chair
and placed her into the stroller
"I hope this outing will be a little less eventful than our last one," said
Daphne, recalling their initial encounter with Marc Wyndham, his champion dog
and his ex-wife.
"I agree," echoed Velma. "Petty criminals in masks, we can handle, but
certainly not a vengeful ex-spouse. Thank goodness that that case resolved itself
before getting any worse." Daphne and Fred nodded in agreement.
"Like, I suppose we could say that Scooby had more fun on this case than
on any of our others," said Shaggy. "Except maybe that one at the Scooby Snack
factory." He paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, I think that was one of
my favorite cases as well!" The others looked at the skinny man, then burst out
laughing.
* * * * * * * * * *
**Go…go…she needs you now.
Try as he could, Scooby could not ignore that primal voice from within.
**I can't, my humans need me.
**They will understand, especially Fred and Daphne. You must go. She
needs you.
The call was too strong resist, and Scooby knew he had to answer it. He
cautiously crawled away, making sure that his human friends did not notice his
departure. Once he was far enough away, he stood up and began to run, his long,
powerful stride guiding him to his destiny.
"Scooby?" The skinny man looked around him, a look of panic on his
bearded face. "Scooby? Scooby-Doo, where are you?" he called. Turning his
head, he saw the unmistakable form of large dog, running down the sidewalk, its
tail streaming behind it. He recognized it as the unmistakable silhouette of a
Great Dane. **Oh no, he thought to himself. **Like, not again! "Scooby!" he
yelled, his voice filled with panic. "Come back here!"
He looked desperately at Fred, Velma and Daphne. "Like, we gotta go,
now! Scoob's disappeared again, and we have to follow him!" The skinny man
promptly took off after his dog.
"We'll catch up to you in a minute," yelled Fred, placing his daughter into
her stroller. "Come on gang," he ordered. "Follow Shaggy."
The blond man took off in pursuit of his friend, but his gait was awkward and
unsteady, since he was pushing a stroller. Victoria giggled, enjoying the ride.
When Fred, Velma and Daphne finally caught up with Shaggy, he was
standing in front of a large apartment complex. Velma surveyed the environs.
**This place looks oddly familiar, she thought to herself. **But I can't recall
where I have seen it before.
Shaggy approached the main door and prepared to enter. "Can I help you
kids?" a deep voice interjected. The skinny man jumped back in fright.
"Excuse me, sir," panted Fred. "But did you happen to see a large, brown
dog with black spots run past here?"
The burly superintendent nodded. "As a matter of fact, I did. He walked
in through the doors as if he was going to take the elevator up, then did a double
take, headed back outside and went around the back, to the fire escape."
Shaggy chuckled at the man's account. "That's our dog," he answered, as
he and the others headed back out the door, preparing to scale the fire escape.
"It might be easier to take the elevator," suggested the burly man.
"There's only one guy in this building who owns a dog, and he lives on the fifth
floor."
Fred rang the doorbell, and was surprised when a familiar looking man
answered.
"Kids," said Marc Wyndham. "I had a feeling you would be stopping by.
Come on in."
Shaggy stopped in his tracks shortly after entering the apartment.
"Zoinks!" he announced.
Daphne echoed the skinny man's sentiment, putting her hand over her
mouth, as she stepped back in complete disbelief of what she saw. "Oh…my…"
* * * * * * * * * *
The large, fawn colored female lay on her side, nursing a litter of four
puppies. Scooby sat beside her, wagging his tail and looking at his human
companions.
Sensing the approach of a stranger into the nesting area, Kala raised her
head and whined softly. "Rit's rokay," Scooby grunted to his mate, before getting
to his feet and approaching the gang.
"Ooh, Scooby," cooed Daphne, patting him gently on his head. "So that's
why you've been disappearing--you wanted to see her." Daphne looked at the
female Dane. "Congratulations, Kala," she added. "You have such a beautiful
family."
Velma leaned forward, just far enough to see the tiny animals. "They
can't be more than four weeks old," she surmised. "Oh, but they are so adorable."
She shifted her gaze to Scooby. "Congratulations, there, Scooby," said the
bespectacled girl.
As she reached down to pet one of the puppies, her serene thoughts were
interrupted by a violent banging on the door. Startled, she drew back. Victoria
screamed; Scooby barked, protectively.
The banging intensified, as if someone was trying to forcefully enter the
apartment.
"Quick, gang," whispered Fred. "Duck out of sight!"
Scooby refused to move from his mate's side.
"You too!" the blond man commanded, grabbing the Great Dane by the
collar and ducking behind a couch.
Laura Whitney banged fervently on the door to Marc's apartment. "Open
the door, dammit!" she screamed, angrily. "Open this door, NOW!!"
Marc Wyndham opened the door just wide enough to stick his head out.
"Calm down, Laura," he scolded. "What the hell's gotten into you?"
"Where's my dog!" she yelled, vehemently.
"She's not your dog," the dark haired man countered. "And I have no idea
where she is!"
"The hell you don't," Laura screamed. "You have her and I k now you
do—I could hear the barking." She leaned forward, trying to force her way into
the apartment; Marc stood his ground, firmly.
"Even if I had her," he continued, "I wouldn't let you take her. The judge
said that Kala was to stay with me."
Laura Whitney's eyes grew red with rage. "The hell with what the judge
said, I want my dog back!"
The brown haired man stubbornly refused.
Laura's anger intensified and was visible on every inch of her body.
"Damn you, Mark," she started. "If I have to come in there…" She cut herself off
mid sentence. "Forget it! I am coming in! We are not legally divorced yet, so I
still have the right to…"
The woman stopped dead in her tracks, in front of the dog. "NO!" she
gasped in horror as she saw the litter. "Oh no," she muttered to herself. "I am not
really seeing this."
She grabbed the female dog by her collar and pulled harshly. The large
dog yelped loudly, partly in pain and partly as a warning to her brood.
Shaggy cringed as he witnessed the woman's cruel actions against the dog.
"Oh man," he whispered. "Like, I don't even want to see this."
"I don't believe this," Laura growled in disgust. "You don't get pregnant
unless I specifically want you to, you understand?" The giant dog cowered at the
sound of the angry woman's voice.
"What's more," Laura continued, her voice rising, "I'll tell you who to
mate with and when!" She snapped a leather leash onto the dog's collar and
pulled sharply. "Move it dog!" she ordered, angrily.
The giant Great Dane refused to move. Her anger seething, Laura raised
the loose end of the leash over her head like a whip and brought it down sharply
onto the dog's hindquarters. Kala yelped in pain as she felt the leather leash bite
into her skin.
Scooby couldn't stand to watch the scene any longer. Uttering a low
growl, he jumped defensively in front of his mate, barking and snapping at her
insane owner. "No, Scoob!" Shaggy whispered, loudly, trying unsuccessfully to
restrain the dog.
Scooby's sudden appearance caught Laura off guard. Dropping Kala's
leash, she focused her attention on her assailant. "Get back!" she yelled, swinging
her foot in front of his chest. "Get back you mangy mutt!"
As she fought off Scooby's onslaught, her gaze inadvertently fell on one
of the puppies in the litter; on top of the golden yellow coat were several small,
irregularly sized, black patches. Laura shifted her gaze from the whelping box
back to the giant dog that was accosting her. NO! she muttered to herself. It
can't be!
Scooby continued to bark, trying to protect his mate; he stopped only
when the heel of Laura's shoe grazed his chest. With a yelp, he stopped his
attack, and retreated back to the gang, resigned to his defeat. With Scooby out of
the way, Laura focused her attention back to Kala. "Get moving!" she yelled,
aggressively, forcefully tugging the leash.
Marc Wyndham tried to reason with his ex-wife. "Laura, you can't just
take her away like that, she's nursing, for God's sake. What you are doing is
cruel."
"I don't give a shit if it's cruel or not," retorted Laura. "As far as I am
concerned, those little rats don't even look like great Danes; they are worthless,
and I could care less if they die!"
The four humans listened in horror to the woman's tirade.
"Worthless?" replied Marc. "Those pups have just as much of a right to
life as you, me and Kala; and if all you care about is the salability of a litter and
the presence of a potential champion, then you are even colder and more heartless
than I had thought!"
The blonde woman cackled, evilly. "Oh, Marc," she cooed, sarcastically.
"You're so flattering, but flattery will get you nowhere." The tone in her voice
changed dramatically, as she continued her tirade. "You're a disgrace to Great
Dane breeders everywhere, letting a champion dog mate with a mutt like that."
On that note, she shot her ex-husband a dirty look, then stormed out the door,
dragging the 120 pound animal behind her.
Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy watched the scene in disbelief,
emerging from their hiding place only after they had heard the door slam.
"Dude," said Shaggy, "like that woman is nuts!"
"Psychotic," said Fred, shaking his head in disbelief. As stoic as the blond
man was, even he was shaken by what he had just witnessed.
Daphne handed Victoria to Velma and quickly moved towards the nesting
area, as if to replace the absent mother dog. "How can anyone be so heartless?"
she asked, trying to imagine how it would feel if someone were to forcefully
separate her from her own daughter. "Those poor, little creatures."
Marc Wyndham turned and faced the gang. "I'm sorry you kids had to see
that," he said, apologetically. "It doesn't really concern you."
Shaggy looked at Marc Wyndham, a bewildered expression on his bearded
face. "Like, I still don't understand why she's so upset about Scooby mating with
Kala. He's a perfectly good dog, and he is a purebred Great Dane."
Marc shook his head and began to explain. "Among breeders, your dog is
what we would call a 'non-standard color' and a 'pet quality' animal. There is
nothing wrong with these dogs, except that their external appearance is less than
perfect. Kala is a champion Great Dane; she is almost perfect as far as the breed
standard is concerned. These near perfect dogs can only be produced by mating
the top specimens, and we breeders adhere to a strict code of ethics when mating
our animals. One part of this code of ethics states that we must never mate a
champion dog to a pet quality specimen, and we must never breed a non standard
color dog."
"Like, I don't think Scooby and Kala really cared about this code thing,"
said Shaggy.
Daphne and Velma chuckled in response to his comment.
"No, but my ex-wife does. And even though Kala is now my dog, Laura
still has some say in what happens to this litter because she is the co-owner of the
mother dog."
Fred looked Marc squarely in the eye. "Then, theoretically, we have a say
in what happens to these puppies as well, because our dog is the father of this
litter."
"Theoretically," said Marc. "But this incident should not concern you.
Laura is using Kala and this litter as a negotiating pawn in our divorce, and this is
our business, not yours."
The blond man shook his head. "On the contrary, it is our business.
Those pups are just as much ours as they are yours, and we fear for their lives.
And if your ex-wife had tried to destroy a litter before, I'm almost certain that
she'll try again."
"It's plausible," said Velma, "especially since she knows that you have a
weakness for these dogs."
Fred turned and faced the others. "Well gang, it looks like we've just been
handed our next case; and this time, we have more of a stake in the outcome than
ever before."