Beth I know you're lonely
And I hope you'll be alright
'Cause me and the boys will be playing all night.
Rolling her eyes, Velma reached forward to turn off the radio as the closing melody of Beth droned on. Surprisingly neither Fred nor Daphne objected to the action as they drove on. The backroads of central California were hard enough.
"I still think it was probably all just holograms." Said Velma.
"We're not having this conversation again." Said Fred.
"I'm just saying it's not out of the realm of possibility. A few special effects, bright lights, a touch of theatricality." It was not a point Velma was ready to let go yet.
"Are you okay Velma?" Asked Daphne.
"It can't be the drive." Said Shaggy. "The new engine has been running smooth and quiet all the way."
"You've seemed a little on edge since the Rockies. We drove right past WWE City, we only stopped in Las Vegas for gas. We've barely stopped at all this whole trip." Said Fred.
"I just don't like California much is all. I want this trip to be over already." Said Velma, shifting in her seat to look out the window.
Shrugging his shoulders, Shaggy rubbed Scooby-Doo's head and relaxed in his seat. "As long as we make it to three more In 'N Outs while we're here. I need to even out the towers back here, shake shack is running away with the lead."
Looking over her shoulder, Daphne gazed into the back of the van where Shaggy had stacks of brown fast food bags stapled together leaning against the wall resembling some sort of trashy city skyline.
"Yeah, about those Shaggy. I was fine with how those kept you busy on the trip, but we're almost there and you are throwing those away at our next stop." Said Daphne with a look on her face that silenced any potential objections Shaggy was thinking of raising.
The backroad came across the highway and Fred guided the Mystery Machine up the onramp somewhere outside of Santa Clarita.
"Oh-ho Magic Mountain Scoobs!" Said Shaggy, exciting the old hound, who leaped up to the front seat to get a better view out the window. The dog's eyes immediately locked upon the restaurants on either side of the freeway.
"Fratrurger! Ran we strop rere?" Asked Scooby-Doo.
"Not there Scooby." Said Daphne, giving the dog a scratch. "We're stopping at a gas station before dropping by the Country Club to freshen up."
"Rountry Rub?" Asked Scooby-Doo.
"You know what that means Scoob? Club sandwiches like this high?" Said Shaggy, spreading his arms as wide apart as he could, which got the dog excitedly wagging his tail as he got into the rear of the van, knocking over all of the carefully stacked bags he and Shaggy had spent the better part of two days making look like the skyline of San Francisco.
"Rawwww… rhe Ransamerica Ryramid." Said Scooby, realizing he had missed the opportunity to play the role of a movie monster.
Pulling off the highway, they stopped at the gas station, allowing everyone a moment to stretch their legs, fill the hybrid engine's gas tank, and dispose of trash. Staying in her seat, Velma got out her notebook to scribble down a detail on a chemical formula she was tinkering with back home. Realizing her legs were nearly asleep, she left the Van and took a short walk to the north sidewalk to look out on the scenery. The Santa Clara River was just out of sight, not that there was any water in it. What passes for rivers in Southern California are dry beds where trees grow because when there is any rain that is where the water collects underground. Even though she understood why it happened, it seemed so strange to her.
The footsteps coming from behind were clearly Daphne's, probably come to call her back to the can. However, her friend merely stood next to her and gave her a playful nudge on her arm.
"So, have you called him to say you're in town?" Asked Daphne.
"Called whom?" Velma could see a coy look in Daphne's eyes.
"You know very well who I mean." Said Daphne, running her fingers through her hair, lifting her bangs up to resemble a pompadour.
"No." Said Velma, letting out a sigh and shifting as she stood. Daphne did not need clarification as to what that answer meant.
"You have thought about it though?" Asked Daphne.
"Of course, I have." Said Velma. "We're solving a mystery given us by his dead aunt. I know the odds are high we're going to run across or have some contact with him, but I guess I'm not really sure what to say."
"Wouldn't hurt to start with 'hi Johnny.'" Teased Daphne, which prompted an annoyed look from Velma. "I'm just saying you're probably overthinking it."
"And which part am I overthinking? The ridiculously intricate bronze key sent to us by a dead woman we knew for one evening, or the part where I'm nervous about running into my ex-boyfriend who I broke up with the night he proposed to me?" Velma took a deep breath to work out her frustration.
"Sorry, I forgot about that part." Said Daphne, looking down.
"It's been four years, one of those things that doesn't bother me unless I think about it. That's my secret Daphne, I have a hundred things to think about at any given moment to keep me focused, keep my wits sharp."
'And your heart cold.' Thought Daphne, feeling a little sorry for her friend, she gave Velma a pat on the shoulder before walking back to the van.
As soon as everyone was gathered back at the Mystery Machine, and Fred with satisfied with his job cleaning the windscreen, they drove south a couple of blocks to the nearby country club. A flash of ID from Daphne and they were waved through to the parking lot. Getting to the front desk, Daphne was seen to by three overly eager lobby attendants. The woman behind the desk waved everyone else over, rolling her eyes at her fellow employee's actions.
"You're welcome to use the showers in the gym, if either of you gentlemen are planning on having lunch in the dining hall we will ask you to wear our club's jackets which will indicate you as guests of a member." With a free hand, the employee motioned to a tidy rack of blue sports jackets around the corner of the desk.
Without missing a beat, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo were already donning the jackets and strolling towards the dining hall.
"Always count on those two to know what their priorities are." Said Fred, smiling. "I'm going to take a quick jog before a shower."
"That's where I'm headed." Said Velma, grabbing a towel and determined to find her way without help.
"Let's meet back here in an hour then." Said Daphne. "Don't want to spend too much time here."
Ear turned back to Daphne, Scooby-Doo raised a paw to indicate that he heard the instruction as he imitated the distinguished walk of an upper-crust gentleman. Being seated by a waiter, Shaggy raised his hand and refused the menus.
"We would like sixteen club sandwiches, my good man. Pile them in stacks of eight and check on us again after we have finished those." Shaggy's confident nod was met with a look of utter confusion, but the waiter shrugged his shoulders and muttered something about that not even being the strangest order he had ever received.
"Roah Raggy, rhis prace ris rosh." Said Scooby-Doo.
"You said it Scoobs. I know Daphne doesn't like to rely on her family, but if she wants to take pit stops at places like these more often, well like it wouldn't bother me none."
"Reck rat ruy rout." Said Scooby-Doo, pointing over at two men seated at the bar. The one on the left was adorned in orange plaid, golfing clothes but the other was the textbook image of a lawyer in a suit, though the two, great blue-feathered wings sticking out from his back were rather unique. Despite their best intentions, Shaggy overheard a bit of their conversation as he looked in their direction.
"Listen, Harvey, it's just a retainer payment in case I need your help if something arises." Said the golfer, who looked like a young man with a narrow nose and sunken cheeks.
"But if I accept it, it's as good as a contract. You know that as well as I do Chancellor. I don't know if I want you to have something waving over me. Besides, you had me drive all the way up here just to ask me this? From what you told me this was an open and shut estate deal." Said the man with wings.
"It's going to be a big deal though Harvey. At least hold on to the envelope if you change your mind you can get started right away." Said the golfer that the birdman had called Chancellor.
Losing interest in eavesdropping, Shaggy looked up at the ceiling before busying himself with making cloth origami shapes out of his napkin. As he finished folding a dove, he saw the birdman leave the restaurant as the waiter brought out their sandwiches. Stopping at the side of a table for a moment, the waiter nodded approvingly before serving the sandwiches.
"Let's take a moment to remember San Fran-paper bag-co." Said Shaggy, lowering his head for a moment in tandem with Scooby-Doo before he removed the toothpick with an olive at the top of the sandwich and chomping into the tower of bread, turkey, cucumber, lettuce, and thousand island dressing.
A shocked gasp arose from the other side of the restaurant, as the other patrons sat agape at the sight of man and dog tearing through their sandwich towers at record speed. A young child giggled at the sight but stopped at the disapproving gaze from his parents.
With only one sandwich left in front of him, Shaggy sat back feeling full, but somewhat unsatisfied.
"Romering rong Raggy?" Asked Scooby-Doo.
"Oh, you know Scoobs. It's just that you know I've been flirting with going vegan off and on the past few years. I always tell myself it's fine to eat whatever I want on the road, and just be more conscious with the food I cook at home. But it still bothers me a little I guess." Shaggy admitted.
"Rell, rif rour're reeling ruilty." Scooby-Doo leaned across the table to put his paw on his friend's shoulder, before swiping up the last sandwich and scarfing it down in a single bite. "Rat rould rease rour ronrince. Ree-he-he-he-he."
Unable to hold back a chuckle, Shaggy gave Scooby's head a pat.
The girls were back from their showers and sat down at the next table over. Velma had her magnifying glass out and was going over the bronze key they had gotten.
"Looking at, like, anything in particular Velma?" Asked Shaggy.
"Just the key we got in the mail. There are some weird markings on this internal cog, but I'm not sure if they're just scratches or not. So, I'm writing them down to see if there's a pattern or if there is a maker's mark or perhaps they are letters. Truth be told I'm more curious about the inside of this key than anything else." Replied Velma. "Kind of wish we had time to run it through a scanner or an x-ray, but Fred was way too eager to get on the road to test out the new engine."
"Well, you remember that old Bravo manor. It was a lot like all of those other spooky mansions we've been to over the years." Said Daphne.
"I guess that's part of my problem." Said Velma, because it meant that this was going to be another mystery floating around in her head with everything else. But she was unsure whether that meant it was going to be easier, or harder to not think about Johnny.