Jinkies! Where's Dinkley!

a Velma Adventure by John Likeglass

With apologies to Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbara and anyone else who might hate this story. (although I believe any true Scooby Doo fan will love it!) All borrowed characters have been safely returned intact and healthy. This is a Scrappy free story. It's a long one, so, feel free to print it out and save it for later reading!

Part One:

Velma walks up the sidewalk to the modest one bedroom condo she has been renting. She has a small bag of groceries in one hand and her keys in the other. As she goes to put the key in the lock, the door of the adjacent condo opens. Velma is startled because that condo has been vacant for the last few months. She drops her keys. A large, hansom man is standing in the doorway. He kneels down and picks up her keys for her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you", he says. Velma stands still, awestruck by his good looks. She finally speaks, "I didn't know I had a new neighbor, nice to meet you.. Er.. My name is Velma Dinkley! ... but you can call me Marilyn.." He reaches his hand out and hands her back her keys. "I just moved in.. My name is Hank.. Hank Willcuff." Velma stands like a deer caught in the headlights of a car... "Well, Mr Willcuff, if there is anything I can do for you, let me know!" He looks into her eyes, she can feel her knees getting week. "Actually", he says, "I need to get some dinner, all my kitchen stuff is packed. Where's a good place to eat?" Velma, who has forgotten to breath for a few seconds, takes a breath and tries to rely on her logical side. "Roaster's Hut is nice.. Not fancy, but a big step up from the old Malt Shop... It's about a mile down... Tell you what, let me get my things put away and I'll take you down there in, say, about a hour?" Hank looks into her eyes and says, "Sounds good! It's a date!"

"What have I done?" Velma says to herself as she puts the milk in the refrigerator. "I told him to use my middle name! I never even tell people my middle name! What has come over me? I just asked a complete stranger out on a date! I should have my head examined! Still... There is something about him... Of course, the last guy I liked was a warlock that wanted to take over the world, so I guess that sums up my taste in men... What have I just started?"

Freddy is pacing back and forth in Daphne's study. "I've been trying to get ahold of Velma for the last three days! What is with her? I left three messages on her answering machine about the meeting this morning, I just hope she shows up." Shaggy turns around. "I think I just heard someone come in the front door." Sure enough, in a few seconds they hear a familiar voice in the hall. Velma enters the room. "Good, you made it", Freddy says, "I was just telling the gang how we got a call about a big old mansion in Germantown Penn....." Freddy stops dead in his tracks as he tries to comprehend what he is seeing. All eyes are on Velma. Gone is the orange sweater, replaced by a black blouse. Her hair is styled, she is wearing a dress, lipstick, and high heels! A small pair of oval wire-rim glasses are sitting on her nose. Freddy tries to continue, "An old mansion in Germantown Pennsylvania, that the owner claims is haunted. He wants us to find..." Again he stops as a large hansom man enters the room and grasps her hand. "Gang, I want you to meet Hank Willcuff, he is my new next-door neighbor! Hank and I have been chatting for awhile, and I have decided to sit out this next adventure. Sorry... But I'm sure you will all be fine without me!" The room is so quiet that the snowflakes hitting the roof can be heard. "Marilyn and I have to get going, but we wanted to stop by first." As the two of them leave the room, the quiet remains. All listen as the sound of the front door closing breaks the silence.

"Ri Ron't Rike Rim!" Scooby says. "Me neither", adds Shaggy, "I think aliens have kidnaped Velma and replaced her with some kind of Susy Homemaker Android! And who is Marilyn?" Daphne sits and ponders. "Hank Willcuff, I've heard of him. I think he owns Willcuff Industries. They're like an import / export business. I should ask my dad, he probably knows more about them." Freddy, who has been sitting quietly, finally speaks. "I think we should hold off on the Germantown job. I'm going to call them and see if we can put it off for a while. We have a bigger mystery to solve right now. What happened to Velma?" Shaggy looks over to Scooby. "Well, if the job is off for now, maybe we should console ourselves with a pepperoni pizza!" Scooby perks up, "Wwright!" The two of them leave as Scooby is growling under his breath, "Ri Ron't Rike Rim..."

Daphne looks over to Freddy, who is the only one left in the room. "Maybe this is just part of us growing up. Are we right to interfere? This might be the best thing that ever happened to her!" Freddy looks a lot less convinced. "Too big a change and too fast! Besides, something about this guy gives me the creeps!" Daphne thinks over what Freddy has just said. "But Freddy, maybe she has been changing and we just didn't notice it! Sometimes things like this can happen." Freddy, now sitting on a chair, closes his eyes to help think things out. Daphne wonders if this is the right time to bring up some of her own questions. "Freddy, you remember back when Velma got that inheritance. You were in this very room, about to give me something... or ask me something..." Freddy remains quiet as he tries to think out the sudden change of topics. Daphne can feel her heart beating as she waits for the response. "Yes Daphne, I remember. It was a charm that had been in my family for generations. My mother had it, my grandmother before her. It was just a good luck charm, but it had a lot of meaning to me, and for some reason, I felt the need to give it to you. I consider you to be a very close friend. Then we were robbed and the charm was gone. I guess I waited too long. " Daphne can feel her heart pounding so hard, she is sure she will have a nosebleed! Still, she tries to act calm. "Freddy, maybe we can use this time off to sort out our own feelings as well..." Freddy smiles...

Shaggy walks up to the counter. "Two large pizzas with pepperoni and extra cheese and extra pepperoni and extra sauce and extra dough and... extra everything!" Sally winks at him. "My favorite eaters down in the dumps about something?" Shaggy looks in her eyes. "You ever wonder what romance is all about?" Sally smiles. "Well, I'm a pizza girl, not a bartender, but go ahead and tell me what's wrong." Shaggy looks back at her. "Thanks Sally, I think I need a friend!" Scooby lays down on the floor and covers his head with his paws. "Ro Rother! Rot Rim Roo!"

Daphne finishes up her appetizer just as her main dish of fettuccini alfredo shows up. "Freddy, this feels really weird. I mean, eating at an Italian restaurant on a date with you. Ohhh... That didn't sound right. I don't know what I mean." Freddy smiles, "Daphne, the only logical way to find out if we should be dating is to, well, date!" Daphne chuckles. "Logical, now that sounds like Velma! Or at least how Velma used to sound." Freddy slowly turns his head. "Don't look now, but speaking of Velma, or Marilyn, or whatever she is, she just came in the front door with Rank Hank, or whoever HE is!" The two of them watch as Marilyn and Hank are lead to a table on the other side of the restaurant and sit down. Daphne pouts, "I miss Velma!" Freddy leans back in his chair. "I do too. There's something I don't understand. Why would the owner of a big company like Hank's move into a little one bedroom condo? He can afford a lot better than that, don't you think?" Daphne shakes her head. "So can Velma, with that inheritance and all, but she moved into one as well." Freddy chuckles, "But that's Velma! Or at least that used to be Velma..."

"Marilyn, how would you like to start off your meal?" Velma stares at his lips moving. Everything about him is fascinating! He's so big and strong. He has charisma and charm. All his moves serve a purpose. She realizes he has asked something, but she has no idea what it was. "Huh?", she says. "Your meal", he says, "how would you like to start it off?" She tries to pull herself from dreamland long enough to answer. "Salad, I guess. Or whatever you want." Velma playfully removes her glasses and sets them on the table, fidgets with them and tries to pretend not to be blind as a bat. "So, you used to work for NASA?" he asks. "Yes, but then they had cutbacks and I was out of a job. Moved back to town and took over the book store. Eventually, got back with the gang." He raises his water glass up and takes a sip, then asks, "And then you got the inheritance?" Velma picks her own glass up and takes a sip... of air! The glass is empty.

"Look at her!" Freddy says. "She took her glasses off! You know she can't see without them! What is she trying to do?" Daphne chuckles. "She's trying to look pretty Fred! It's a girl thing, trust me!" Freddy continues to watch every move at the table. "You know Freddy, we're acting more like protective parents then a couple on a date." Freddy groans. "You're right. Ok, I'm going to try and stop looking at them." Daphne smiles. "No Fred, don't stop. That's the one thing that is really wonderful about you. You care about us! Always have, always will." Freddy leans forward. "It's a shame that Velma is the one who's good at computers, I would really like to check this guy out. There's a growing list of things that just don't fit! And she has fallen for him like a ton of bricks!" Daphne leans forward. "Well, Velma always wanted us to learn, I say it's time to start!"

Shaggy, Scooby, and Sally are sitting in the study, hard at work on the computer as Daphne and Freddy enter the room. Shaggy turns around as they come in. "Back so soon from you date kids?" Daphne and Freddy look at each other. Daphne says it first, "Since when did you become or parents Shag? And what are you up to with the computer?" Shaggy spins totally around in his swivel chair. "While you two were out playing, Sally offered to help me do a little digging on the Internet about our friend Hank." Freddy scratches his head. "Shaggy, the mature one? Velma, a giggling schoolgirl? What's going to happen next, Scooby turn into a cat?" Daphne runs over to the computer. "Don't keep us in suspense, did you find anything out?" As Scooby growls under his breath about the "cat" comment, Shaggy leaps up from his chair. "Boy! Did we ever!!"

Velma feels drunk. Didn't have a drop to drink, but feels drunk anyway. This evening, like every evening for the last ten days, has been filled with Hank. As they finish their desert, Velma's logical side finally breaks through to he conscious mind, and she finds herself talking to herself in her mind. "Look at you! Lipstick, high heels, and those stinking wire-rim glasses that you can't see out of! This isn't you!" - "But I love him! I love everything about him! He is so intense!" - "And your going to throw away everything you like just to hang with him! Your changing yourself into something that is not you, just to please him. Throwing away your lifetime friendships! You don't even really know this guy!" - "Something attracts me to him in a way that I have never felt before." - "Remember last time? You almost got the whole gang killed! But you don't care about them anymore, just Hank!" - "That's not true! I just feel really close to Hank, I don't know why..." Velma looks up just as Hank is asking a question. "Marilyn, will you marry me?" Velma looks for guidance from the little voice inside her... It is quiet, leaving her to chose her own future... "YES!"

Will Velma Get Married?

What did Shaggy find out?

Is this the end of the gang??

Onward to Part Two to find out!