CHAPTER 3
Velma had a restless night, barely sleeping. And when she finally did fall asleep, she had a horrible nightmare. She dreamed about the time some years ago in the "haunted" Funland Amusement Park where a haywire robot named "Charlie" was chasing her and Scooby. She had lost her glasses and fallen into an electric cart, which "Danger Prone Daphne" had set into motion. She couldn't control the cart, which was headed for a crossing with the park's little railroad, and a train was coming! "Rain rumming," Scooby told Velma.
"Train coming?" Velma said. "I told you I can't stop. The train will just have to look out for itself!" No sooner than she said that than the quaint amusement park train transformed itself into a powerful diesel locomotive pulling a solid train of tank cars filled with hazardous materials. The train hit Velma's cart and exploded, unleashing its load of toxic chemicals. Velma fell out of bed screaming, "NOOOOOOOO!"
"It's okay, Velma, you were just having a bad dream, that's all," Daphne said to Velma, her friend's scream had awakened her. In fact Daphne was having a dream of her own; she dreamed that Gil Lopez and Freddy was fighting over her, that is until Velma's scream interrupted it.
When morning came, the gang decided to visit Uncle John, who was hospitalized at the Springfield Medical Center. Once there, Velma was allowed in to see her uncle (in fact, John had been asking for her), but the rest of the gang had to wait outside. Scooby, of course, had to remain in the Mystery Machine.
"Uncle John?" Velma asked as she entered the room.
"Velma," her uncle said in a weak voice. "Glad you could come and see me. No bear hugs today, though." Uncle John lay in his hospital bed, his left hand elevated and in a cast, and he had a cast on over his chest. He was also covered with numerous cuts and bruises. John had suffered several cracked ribs and a fractured wrist in the wreck.
"The doctors said I'll live, hon," John said to his niece, to which Velma gave a big sigh of relief.
"I'm happy to hear that, Uncle," Velma said. "How did it happen?"
"Fifty years on the railroad, and I've never been in a wreck like this one," John told Velma. "Sure, I've put a car on the ground now and then, but those little derailments were always caused by bad track. Where were you when you found out about this?"
"Oh, we were coming out of the Casa de Salsa nightclub."
"You mean that 'bongo drum' club over in Rico?" John asked, somewhat irritated. "Well, let me tell you something. They don't like for us to blow through there when they're having one of their shows, so they throw a red board on us, and we have to sit and wait until they decide they need a break from their bongo drumming. Why, sometimes I've sat there for over an hour until they decide to have an intermission. Well, if trains bother them so much, why'd they have to put that club right next to the tracks for anyway?"
"Probably the only place they had for it," Velma answered. "And what's a 'red board?'"
"A red light, a stop signal," John said. "So when we finally get the green light, what I like to do is creep right up next to the club is, then apply full throttle and blare the horns just to annoy them."
"That's not very nice," Velma told her uncle
"Well, it's not very nice what they do to us," John said. "And I'll tell you something else. Rico, a town of thirty-five hundred and half of it is them Puerto Ricans! We blow through there and I see kids walking down the street banging on their bongo drums, or standing on the corner pounding on their 'tom-toms.' I see that, and I like to give them a little toot on the horn."
"Puerto Ricans are Americans too, Uncle," Velma informed him. "They have just as much right to live in that town as anyone else."
"I know that," John answered. "And I have nothing against those people. But, geez, I just don't like to have to sit there and wait on their bongo drum shows. I've never heard about anything else like it. And oh, did you hear that just before the wreck, my conductor, Wendell claims to have seen a ghost?"
"No, I didn't," Velma said, somewhat taken aback by her uncle's revelation.
"Yeah," her uncle continued. "He saw this so-called ghost, and I may have seen it, too. Then right after that, we got put on the siding and POW! Now they're wondering if we'd been drinking or on dope. I've given my samples, so they'll know I'm 'clean.' Well, I've never violated 'Rule G,' the rule that prohibits anyone in train service from working under the influence. I've…" Right then the door opened and the doctor stepped into the room. Knowing that the doctor would ask her to leave so his patient could get his rest, Velma said, "Uncle, I'm glad you're going to be all right. Listen, you need your rest, so I'm going to leave right now. I'll check in on you later. Love you, uncle. Get well soon Bye."
"Love you too, Velma, later," John said. "Bye." Velma stepped out into the hallway and made her way to the waiting area where the gang was. "A ghost, eh?" Velma thought to herself. "Well girl, looks like you've got another mystery on your hands!"
