The Time Machine Part two, A Velma Adventure

Part Two

The sun slowly creeps up the mountain side and into the cave entrance. In the distance, a rooster is crowing. Shaggy slowly wakes up and rubs his head. "Man, your not going to believe what I dreamt last night!" He looks over and sees Freddy and Velma standing at the cave entrance. "Mid 1800's ?", she asks. Freddy puts his hand to his chin. "Yea, that's what it looks like to me." Daphne is deeper in the cave, staring at where the elevator used to be, or won't be for another one hundred and fifty years. "So, why can't we just climb back in, push the lever back in the other direction, and end up back where we started?" Velma slowly walks back to the machine and looks in at the lever. "We only have enough power for one trip. Without any calibration, we could end up anywhere in time and not have any other chance to get back home." Daphne tries not to cry. "So, what do we do now?" Velma shakes her head. "We find out exactly what date and time it is, then I have to build a calibration table from that data, then we take a chance." Shaggy looks around. "How hard is that?", he asks. Velma rubs her head. "Well, it would be a lot easier if I had a computer, but that's the one thing this thing does not have. I guess he wasn't at the stage of putting one in yet. Somehow, we have to sneak into town and get a newspaper. That will be a start."

Just then, there is a shriek from inside the cave! All five run for the entrance, stopping short as a group of bats fly out from behind them. Daphne trips on a stone, landing on top of Velma. As she is knocked to the ground, her face lands at the edge of the cliff. Velma makes a desperate grab for her glasses as they come off of her face but misses. She cringes as she hears the tinkle of broken lenses on the rocks below. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, she turns to Danger Prone Daphne and says, "Wonder when the optometrist comes to town?"

Freddy, Shaggy, and Scooby explore deeper in the cave for another way out. About five hundred feet in, Scooby finds an old miner's sack that looks like it's been there for years. Freddy opens it up. Inside is a long rope and a few gold coins. "Good work Scooby! These coins will come in handy because the stuff in our pockets isn't worth anything in this time!" Shaggy laughs. "Yea, I guess they won't take plastic! Ha.. Hee hee!" "Ro Routher!", says Scooby. Freddy inspects the rope. "It looks strong... hummm... If it is, this is our way down!" Shaggy is still quite nervous. "Lets go try it before we find the old miner.. Or what's left of him!"

Daphne is sitting with Velma in the machine. Both are quiet. Daphne speaks first. "Look, I'm sorry about your glasses! I didn't mean to fall on you." Velma rubs her eyes. "I know... I know... It's just these stupid eyes I have. Everyone's depending on me to get us back, and I can't see more than a foot in front of my face!" Both fall quiet again. Daphne looks about the interior of the machine. In the corner are some cloths... Daphne goes over and inspects them. "A leather jacket and a cowboy hat.. Hummm.." Velma turns in Daphne's direction. Must be Uncle Henry's. Give them to Fred and Norvile, it will help them blend in... If they get down from here." Daphne steps out onto the cave just as Freddy and Shaggy are returning with the miner's kit. Freddy smiles. "Well, I reckon me and Shagsworth will head on into town and fetch us a newspaper!" Any requests?" As Daphne puts the hat on Freddy, Velma calls out from inside the machine. "Some glasses with minus twelve lenses would be nice!" Freddy tilts the hat back. "Will do, little lady! I'll see what I can come up with!" Freddy ties the rope to an outcropping of rock and begins to work his way down the steep hill. Shaggy follows him. When they reach the bottom, Freddy signals Daphne, who hauls in the rope.

As the two of them walk across the desert, they find the town is a lot farther away then it looked from above. "I can't make it! You go on without me", Shaggy gasps. "Knock it off", Freddy says, "We've only walked a half a mile, and we only have a half mile left to go! Just think, I'm sure they'll have a place to eat in town!" Shaggy perks up. "Well, in that case...."

Once again, Daphne and Velma are sitting in the machine. Scooby, has found a nice cool resting place in the corner. "Velma", Daphne says, "What is with Fred! All these years, I know I love him, and I think he loves me, but he never comes out and says it! It is so frustrating! Unless, of course, it's all in my head and he doesn't care about me!" Velma chuckles. "I may be blind, but I'm not that blind! He does love you. He's just chicken. He's afraid that if he moved up to the next level, and asked you to marry him, it would wreck the whole thing and break up the gang!" Daphne shakes her head. "Are you sure? Sometimes I think I'm imagining the whole thing!" Velma laughs. "Right now, I wish this was a bad dream, stuck one hundred and fifty years in the past! But when it comes to Fred, well, let me tell you something I promised not to talk about. I'm telling you this because of the situation we are in. In case we don't get out of it. You know when Fred and I were in that jewelry shop? Well.... He was checking out diamond rings. Seeing which one he would buy for you!"

Freddy is standing in the middle of the street. A horse tromps by. He can smell the wood burning steam train that is in the station. "This is really neat! I am really standing in an old western town!" Shaggy has made his way into the general store. He comes out with a newspaper in hand. "July third, 1865! Wow... And you won't believe this, everyone's talking about this strange Italian guy that just opened a shop at the end of town, and the even stranger dish he is serving! They say he calls it a pizza pie!!!!!" Freddy laughs out loud! "Shaggy, only you could find a Pizza in the old west!! Hey.. Anything about glasses?" Shaggy smiles. "Once a week, a roving optician comes into town on the train, like, his shop is ON the train! He's due in at 6:30 pm tonight!" Freddy smiles again. "Well, at least things are going good for once! I guess luck is on our side!" Right at that moment, three men run out of the general store. "There's the varmints that killed miner Bill, and stole his gold!" Shaggy spins around... "Ah.. Ah... Fred, they're pointing at us!"

"How long have they been gone?", Velma asks. Daphne looks at her watch. "Well, they left at 6:30 am, it's now 3:30 pm, so that would be nine hours." Scooby moans. Velma turns to Daphne. "That's too long, we have to go after them!" Daphne shakes her head. "How? You can't see! And what about Scooby? How do we explain two girls and a dog?" Velma scratched her head. "Ok.. Ok.. Scooby will be my Seeing Eye Dog!" Daphne looks at Scooby, who has his paws over his head. "I don't think they even had Seeing Eye Dogs back.... now..." Velma laughs. "They do now!"

Jed Potter almost fell off his chair as two women and a dog enter his shop. "We don't allow dogs in here!", he called out. Scooby growled. Daphne quickly walked up to him. "My sister is near blind, and this is her Seeing Eye Dog." Jed looked up at her. "A What??" Daphne smiled. "The dog is trained to guide her. To serve as her eyes." Jed twiddled his moustache. "Boy, they teach dumb animals to do just about everything these days!" Scooby growled again. "Well, I reckon you girls are in town for the eyeglass train." Daphne smiled. Jed continued. "It comes in about an hour, Dr. Lens will fix your sister up good! And don't forget to stick around town for the hanging! Tomorrow at 8:00 am sharp!" Velma's jaw dropped. "Er.. The hanging?" Jed coughed and laughed at the same time! "Yea, they caught those young bandits that robbed miner Bill! Do you believe they were actually spending his gold coins in this town!? What a scruffy pair! The one had these pants on like you never have seen!" Daphne was in shock. "We.... we'll do that.. Ok... Thanks for the help..." All three quickly exited the store. Velma's mouth was still hanging open. "Daphne, They're gonna hang Freddy and Shaggy!" "I know! I know!", she replied. "First, lets get you to this eye doc, then we'll figure out how to get Fred and Shaggy out!"

Dr. Lens was a fine dressed man, with a small bow tie. Velma sat in the chair impatiently waiting for him. "Ok Mam' your next!" Daphne helped Velma into the small office on the train. Dr. Lens looked over at her. "Don't believe we ever met! What can I do for ya?" Velma calmed herself down, trying not to think of the danger Freddy and Shaggy were in. "I Lost my glasses.. They had minus twelve lenses and a...." Doc shook his head. "Slow down little lady, let me check you out the right way...." He turned and opened a large wooden cabinet.

Shaggy was pacing back and forth in the cell. "We're dead! We're dead! They think we killed that old man. I didn't know the sherif could be the judge and have you hanged all in less than a day!" Freddy sat with his chin propped up by his hands. "When they asked you what your name was, why did you say James?" Shaggy laughed nervously. "It sounded more western than Rodgers. I forgot about that Jessie James guy!" Freddy shook his head. "We've got to break out of here somehow. I wish Velma was around with her lock picking skills. The sad part is, the two of them will never know what happened to us."

"Ok, I have good news, and bad news", said Dr. Lens, "Your vision is a tad better than you thought, about minus ten. The bad news is I don't have any glasses made up in that prescription for a girl. The only ones I have are these men's frames which will look a little odd on you." He handed Velma the glasses. Daphne did her best to try not to burst out laughing. The glasses he was handing her were large, black, tortoise shell frames, in short, exactly like her old ones! "Now, there is a question of payment. The glasses will cost you five dollars. I know that's expensive, but my costs to the railroad are high." Velma and Daphne looked at each other. Payment? They hadn't thought about that. Velma, with her new shiny specs on her nose, reached over and removed Daphne's watch. "Sir, this is a fine time keeping instrument, I am sure this is an equitable trade." Dr. Lens looked at the watch. "My my.. This is a wonder. The time is right.... OK, I will accept this as payment!" Daphne tried to smile as they left the train. Once outside she turned to Velma. "Are you crazy?? That watch cost over two thousand dollars!!!" Velma smiled. "Well, think about that next time you decide to break my glasses! Speaking of which, these glasses are really great! I haven't seen this well in years! Old fashion craftsmanship I guess. Besides, poor Doc Lens is going to feel a bit ripped off himself when the battery in that watch dies! When did you change it last?"

Three faces peek into the jail cell. Freddy turns around. "Daphne! Velma! Scooby! You three are a sight for sore eyes! Hey, you got to get us out of here! They're going to hang us at sunrise!" Daphne leans close to the bars. "So we've heard. What do you want us to do?" Freddy is now joined by Shaggy as he scratches his head. "Hummm.. ", Freddy says, "Sherif Ferter is out getting us our last meal. Ok, here's the plan. Daphne, you and Velma go over to the saloon and see if you can get us a couple of horses. Scooby, come in the back door and grab the keys!" Velma and Daphne nod their heads and slip off down the alley. Scooby slips in the door and sneaks over towards the desk. Shaggy turns to Freddy. "Don't you think we should wait until after our last meal to escape? Franklin promised us pizza! It would be horrible if it went to waste." Freddy is staring at Scooby as he approaches Sherif Ferter's desk. His pet cat is asleep on it. Scooby begins to growl. "Stay focused Scooby!", Freddy says in a loud whisper. Slowly, Scooby grabs the keys and heads for the cell. Freddy grabs the keys and opens the door. "So far, so good." The three slip out the back door into the alley just as Daphne and Velma return with the horses. Freddy jumps up on the horse with Daphne, and Shaggy and Scooby crowd onto the second horse with Velma. Quietly, they head down the alley and out of town, with Daphne and Freddy leading the way. Velma's horse stops at a water troth to take a sip of water. Freddy and Daphne proceed on, silhouetted by the setting sun. Shaggy looks at them. "Now, that looks like a Kodak moment! Shame I don't have a camera." Velma jerks at the rains on her horse, cutting his drink a bit short. "Some memories are best just remembered, and unless we get going, a memory is all we'll be!"

Old Jake staggered out of the saloon, drunk. He looked at the empty rail.. "Sompin missin here... My horse! Somon stealed my Horse!" Two other patrons came out to join him. "Hey! My horse is gone too! Where's Sherif Ferter! We have horse thieves!" One block down the street, the sherif is coming out of the door of Mama Purse's Pizza shop, with a large, extra cheese pizza, and hears the call. He walks over to the saloon, which is now buzzing with activity. Being a smart guy, he quickly makes a run up to the jailhouse and finds his captives gone! Within minutes, he has a posse of five men on horseback and has picked up on the fresh trail.

"Go away! Shoo! Go back to your owners!" Shaggy is yelling down from the cliff opening at the two horses below. The horses just stand there! Velma is busy working on the math to make the return calibration. Daphne is watching her. "Why is this so complicated?" Velma pauses for a second. "I have to figure out how many seconds we traveled back in time, and divide out the field acceleration rate, then take that and...." Daphne cuts her off. "Ok! ok! I just hope this works!" Velma shakes her head. "There's one other problem, we have to leave at the exact second of the day that we entered! That will be at 10:42 pm, or in about 20 minutes! Not a second before or a second after! Luckily, this machine has a very a very accurate record and clock system."

Freddy joins Shaggy and Scooby at the cave entrance and looks down at the horses. "They're going to give us away!" Shaggy turns around. "I know! Like, they won't go home! Like, I've tried everything!" With the full moon rasing over the desert, Freddy can see the dust of approaching horses in the distance. "Oh no! Here they come. OK, lets all get deep in the cave, away from the entrance." All five climb in the time machine. Freddy looks over to Velma. "How much longer?" She shakes her head. "Ten minutes from now, we have to make a try. It has to be at that time because of the earth's rotation. We could end up in solid rock!" Everyone can hear the sound of the horses that are now on the ground below the cave. A voice shouts up. "Come out now, with your hands up!" Freddy looks to Velma. "Nine more minutes", she says. Freddy gets out of the machine and walks part way to the cave entrance and shouts, "Give us ten minutes, then we'll come out!" Following a moment of silence, a voice shouts up, "You've got five! We have dynamite and we'll blast you out if need be!" Freddy takes a few steps back and glances over to Daphne. "It's a bluff! They did that a lot in the old west!", she says. He sits down and looks at his watch, then back at the machine. The floor is covered with scraps of paper, as Velma works furiously at the math. She begins entering numbers into the console. Shaggy and Scooby are huddled in the corner of the machine. Daphne is sitting in the door, looking at him with calming eyes. He looks at his watch. "Jeepers! It's gone already!" he looks toward the entrance as something sparkley flies into the cave. He quickly grabs it and throws it out of the cave as hard as he can. BOOM! With a flash, it explodes! Freddy walks near the entrance. "Sorry!", he shouts. From what he can tell, it went off safely in the air. "I thought you said they were bluffing!", he shouts back to Daphne. "Two minutes Fred!", Velma yells, "Get back in here now, we have to go!" Freddy climbs back in the machine. "They probably have more of that stuff", he says. "Yea, but they'll think twice about using it now!", Velma says, "OK everyone, hold on because here we go." Velma watches as the last few seconds elapse on the timer, she moves the lever forward, and holds her finger on the button. All hear a loud wine, followed by a bright flash!

They look at each other. Daphne speaks first. "Did it work?" Freddy reaches over and opens the door. Across the room Uncle Henry stands at the computer with his back turned toward them. He turns around and asks, "Everyone ok? I thought I heard something." The whole gang burst out in laughter! Freddy turns to Velma and says, "Velma, you're a geniuses!" She smiles. "So, I have said it before, What else is news?" As Henry approaches the machine, he begins to realize that something amazing has happened. Velma sorts all the papers together and hands them to her uncle. "Here's the calibration tables. I know they work for a fact!"

The gang is seated around a large diner table for a much needed late night dinner. Uncle Henry is still in a daze about what happened as he brings them the leftovers from the meal, which to him, they only ate a few hours ago. As he is still quite full himself, he joins them at the table, but with a book. "This is a book that was written about one hundred and thirty years ago by the old sherif, Franklin Ferter." Daphne bursts out laughing. "Hey Shaggy, you were almost hung by a frankfurter! Get it! Frank Ferter!" Scooby & Shaggy laugh. "Well, I always said food would kill me!" Uncle Henry is busy paging through the book he once read. "There's a chapter in here that I think was caused by you all..... Here it is. He relates the tail of a gang of strangely dressed men and women that disappeared into a cave, and did not leave a trace! Now, here is the real interesting part. I'll read it to you." "After almost getting our heads blown off by the gang of thugs, we camped out at the base of the cliff for the night. Each of us took turns keeping watch. When morning came, we decided to scale the cliff face. When we got to the cave, we found it empty, except for a small black box. I opened the box and inside was a beautiful diamond ring!" Freddy begins to look pale and starts to feel at his pockets, trying not to attract the attention of the others. Daphne and Velma noticed him, but did their best not to let him know they noticed. Henry continued the story. "This was a life changing event for me. I decided on the spot that this was a good omen, and that I should marry the love of my life, Lulabell. I had put if off for years, but that next week, we were wed!" Daphne begins to cry, but tries not to let anyone notice. Uncle Henry closes the book. "Now, here's the real kicker! I told you I collected antiquities, well I have that very ring in my collection!"

All six stand at the case. In it, along with other items of that time, was a ragged black box in which sat a diamond ring. The setting was quite scratched and dirty, as you might expect a one hundred and forty year old ring to be, but the diamond sparkled like it was new! Freddy, Daphne, and Velma became very choked up. Uncle Henry sighed. "I guess there is another story to this ring that I don't know about." Scooby and Shaggy looked baffled. "Us too!", Shaggy said. Freddy quietly pulled Henry aside and asked if he could talk to him in private. Scooby and Shaggy headed back to the dining area to check out the scraps. Daphne and Velma stood alone by the case. "This is it? Isn't it?" Velma nodded her head. Daphne stared at the ring. "It's so beautiful... It looks of love, and it has already brought love...." Velma could tell that Daphne wanted to be alone with the ring and left to join Scooby and Shaggy.

It took a few days for the gang to recover from their ordeal, but they enjoyed doing it. Days were spent by the pool, nights were spent in the town, trying to track their own travels from over one hundred years before. Velma had explained to Shaggy and Scooby about the ring, during one of the brief times she wasn't in the lab with her Uncle Henry.

A genital breeze was blowing as Velma led Shaggy and Scooby on an exploratory mission. The three were looking through the rocks at the base of the cliff. "I think I found something!", Shaggy yelled out. The sun was just setting as Velma walked over to Shaggy's find. She saw it sparkling, mixed in with all the pebbles. Reaching down, she picked it up. Removing her glasses, she carefully held it to her eye. "Yep!", she said, "It's from my old glasses! Been waiting well over one hundred years for me to find it!" She rotated it in front of her eye. The cracks and fissures caused the purple of the late evening desert sky to mix with the red of the sunset. It was much like looking in a kaleidoscope. In the center was a small area of focus, and in that area she saw two people in the distance, holding hands, and deeply in love! She turned it some more. As the colors dances around them, she could see the one bending down on one knee, and placing something on the other's hand. Shaggy was looking in that direction as well. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Velma, do you think this will be the end of the old gang?" It took a long while for her to answer, she continued to play with the small broken piece of the lens, having her own "Kodak Moment." Finally she spoke. "I guess only time will tell. But I have a really good feeling that this is only the beginning!"

The End!

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