Big-Top Scooby

by Kate Howard

  Fred scratched his head as Oliverio stormed away. “Nice to meet you, too. I’m Fred.”

  Outside the big top, Marius led Daphne toward the clown trailer. “Clowns are fun!” she exclaimed, following Marius.

  “Fun like head lice,” Marius muttered, then turned to go. “Got to go! They’re right in there….”

  Daphne peeked into the clown trailer. A sad-faced clown was applying his makeup. He was dressed in a red and purple costume covered with stars and moons. “Um, hello?” Daphne said.

  The clown grumbled. “Maybe I don’t feel like hello.”

  Daphne stepped inside the trailer. “Are you one of the clowns?”

  “No! I’m an actor! I have merely undertaken the role of a clown.” The clown stared her down. “That is a clown.” He pointed.

  Daphne looked at where the clown was pointing. All she saw was a pile of old rags. Then a head popped out of the rags, and the pile stood up. It was another clown. He honked a horn, making Daphne laugh. “Hello! I’m Daphne Blake.”

  “Yes,” the first clown said, studying Daphne. “The motorcycle girl. Marius told us about you. This” — the grouchy clown pointed to the clown that had been posing as a pile of rags — “this buffoon here is Sisko.”

  “Pleased to meet you!” Daphne said.

  “And I … am Shmatko!”

  “Shmatko! What a great clown name!” Daphne said.

  Shmatko stomped angrily. “It is NOT a clown name! I am Svyatopolk Stanislavevich Shmatko! Sisko — that is a clown name. Shmatko is a name of great dignity! Once I toured the Soviet Union performing the classics. Chekov! Pushkin! Turgenev!”

  “Bulgakov?” Daphne said helpfully.

  “You know Bulgakov?” Shmatko asked. He looked delighted. “At last, a person of culture! I like this motorcycle girl.”

  Sisko honked in agreement.

  “Okay,” Shmatko said happily. “I go make smoothie. Who wants smoothie? One strawberry for Sisko …” Sisko honked in agreement. “Motorcycle Girl?”

  Daphne shook her head. “Oh, no thanks.”

  “Fine, suit yourself. Back in a littles.” Shmatko skipped happily out of the trailer.

  As he hurried away, a shadowy figure followed him, its red eyes glowing. Shmatko turned a corner just as a clawed hand reached for him….

  A few hours later, the gang gathered in Marius’s office.

  “So,” Fred said. “The circus is a little different than I’d imagined.”

  “How so?” Marius asked.

  “It’s fully of crazy people! Oliverio threatened to pop my head off!”

  Daphne nodded. “Marius, I don’t know if your werewolf is real or not, but if you’re looking for someone with a grudge against the circus, there are plenty of suspects.”

  “Like, that Doubleday guy says he doesn’t mind losing his job, but I don’t know about that….” Shaggy said thoughtfully.

  “And Shmatko has a lot of bitterness about being a clown,” Daphne added.

  Velma said, “Archambault seems nice, but he sure looks like a werewolf!”

  “I know, I know,” Marius said, sighing. “And there’s one more suspect….” He held up a Wûlfsmöóon poster. It showed a huge picture of Wulfric Von Rydingsvard rocking out.

  “Wûlfsmöóon?!” Shaggy said, gaping at the picture of his favorite band. “Like, no way!”

  “They’ve performed in every town where the werewolf has appeared,” Marius said sadly.

  “Actually,” Shaggy said thoughtfully, “their lead singer does say he’s a werewolf.” He laughed. “But he also says he’s from Sweden.”

  “And he isn’t?” Fred asked.

  “Duh,” Shaggy answered, laughing. “Sweden’s just a made-up place, like fairyland or Australia. I bet you think kangaroos are real, too!”

  Fred looked at the others. “Uh, Shaggy …”

  Shaggy and Scooby both giggled. “Sweden!” Shaggy said, wiping his eyes. “Duh …”

  “Rangaroos!” Scooby chuckled.

  Marius stared at Shaggy. “Has he been kicked in the head or something?”

  Fred shook his head. “Not yet.”

  “Like, all this speculationing is making me hungry, Scoob,” Shaggy said. Scooby nodded and licked his lips. “Guys, we are heading for the legendary Cap’n Fatty’s Rib Ranch, home of the more-than-all-you-can-eat special. You eat as much as you can, and then they force dessert down your throat with a spatula!”

  “Rum, rum!” Scooby said.

  “Anyone care to join us?” Shaggy offered.

  Daphne looked disgusted. “We’ll catch up with you.”

  Shaggy and Scooby strolled out of the circus and toward town. “Scoob, after this we’ll have visited almost all of the greatest rib joints in America,” Shaggy said, rubbing his stomach.

  “Reah!”

  “All that’s left is that one where the ribs come with a coupon for free heart surgery. What’s it called?”

  “Rhe Rib Reaper,” Scooby said.

  “Yeah, the Rib Reaper. Some day, Scooby-Doo, some …” Shaggy’s voice trailed off as the sound of footsteps echoed behind them. Shaggy and Scooby swiveled around to look behind them.

  In the shadows, just a few steps behind, red eyes glowed back at them. Something growled. It wasn’t Shaggy’s stomach.

  Shaggy stared at the beast and said, quietly, “Okay, Scoob … when I say run, I want you to —”

  Scooby ran as fast as his feet would go.

  “I didn’t say run yet!” Shaggy called, chasing after him.

  Shaggy and Scooby raced into an old museum. Under ordinary circumstances, neither of them would have dared to venture inside a creepy old museum at night, in the dark. But when they had to choose between that and a growling werewolf, their decision was obvious.

  The two buddies dashed through the front doors. They were in such a hurry that they failed to notice that the door had already been ripped off its hinges. As they plowed through the front hallway, they tripped over something — and the something groaned.

  “Aghhhh!” Scooby and Shaggy screamed, realizing there was a security guard lying in a heap on the floor. The sound of breaking glass made them jump up and look around. That’s when they noticed a werewolf reaching into a smashed glass case. The werewolf snatched up an emerald necklace. Then it turned and pounced at Scooby and Shaggy.

  Scooby and Shaggy were on the run again. They sprinted out the museum door, down the front steps, and back into the street.

  “Like, how did that werewolf get in there so fast? One minute it was out in the street with us, then the next it was …” Shaggy trailed off.

  Scooby shrugged. “Ri ron’t row!”

  The werewolf was gaining on them.

  “Like, run again, Scoob!” Shaggy cried. He and Scooby sped across the street. As they dashed and darted, the Mystery Machine came swerving around the corner. The van drove right up onto the sidewalk, knocking into some garbage cans. The cans crashed down on top of the werewolf.

  Fred, Daphne, and Velma jumped out of the van. “Shaggy! Scooby! What’s going on?”

  “Werewolf!” Shaggy gasped, pointing to a werewolf that was between the gang and the van.

  Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby stared at the werewolf. It was dressed in ripped red and purple clothes, with a vicious snarl on its face. They backed away as it drew closer. That was when they heard a second growl behind them.

  “There’s two of them!” Fred cried. The second werewolf was holding the stolen jewels in its gnarled fist.

  “And that one …” Daphne said, staring at the first werewolf. “I think it’s Shmatko the clown!” She held out her hands to the werewolf in purple and red. “Shmatko, it’s me. Motorcycle Girl!”

  The werewolf snapped at her.

  “He doesn’t seem very friendly,” Fred noted.

  “Well, he wasn’t all that friendly before he turned into a werewolf,” Daphne said with a shrug.

  The werewolves were closing in. Frightened, t
he gang ran. As they zoomed past a fruit stand, Fred kicked one of the shelves free. Apples spilled everywhere, tripping the werewolves and giving the gang a few extra seconds to escape.

  “This way!” Daphne cried, pulling Velma along behind her.

  “No, this way!” Fred called, dragging Scooby and Shaggy.

  When the werewolves finally scrambled to their feet again, they caught sight of Velma and Daphne first. The girls were peeking around a corner, trying to hide.

  “Uh-oh,” Daphne muttered. She and Velma ran again, squeezing between some bags of trash down a dark alley.

  “Over here!” Velma yelled. She pointed to a manhole on the street below them. Daphne pried up the cover and they both scurried inside. But the werewolves spotted them! They reached their horrible claws out to pull the lid off.

  A screeching noise stopped them just in the nick of time. The Mystery Machine was charging toward the werewolves … and it was pushing a huge dumpster full of garbage!

  “It’s time to take out the trash!” Fred cried from behind the wheel.

  The werewolves leaped away from the manhole and skittered up the side of a building. From the roof, they looked down at Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby, and howled.

  “Dang,” Fred moaned, climbing out of the Mystery Machine. “They’re fast.”

  “Rikes! Rhut’s rhat?” Scooby yelped, startled by a loud banging sound from below.

  Shaggy sighed. “I’m gonna guess it’s Daphne and Velma, pounding on the manhole cover that we just buried under a ton of garbage.”

  “We’re in the sewer!” Velma yelled.

  “Get us outta here!” Daphne whined.

  Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby looked at the huge pile of garbage and groaned.

  “Well,” Fred said reluctantly, “I guess we better start digging….”

  After Daphne and Velma had been dug out of the trash, the gang returned to the circus. They rushed into Marius’s office, ready to tell him all about their encounter with the werewolves.

  “Thank goodness you’re here!” Marius cried, as soon as he saw them. “Shmatko’s missing! Sisko hasn’t seen him since early this morning.”

  From the corner of Marius’s office, Sisko honked sadly.

  Daphne glanced at Sisko. Then she said, “He’s a werewolf.”

  “What?!” Marius shouted.

  Sisko honked in alarm.

  “We just got chased by two werewolves,” Daphne replied. “And one was wearing Shmatko’s clothes.”

  Shaggy nodded. “They broke into a museum and stole an emerald necklace.”

  “He’s collecting jewels,” Velma said. “And he’s making more werewolves! It’s just like in Ingolstadt!”

  Marius shook his head. “I know this is bad, but we’ve got a show to do in half an hour!”

  Sisko honk-honked in response.

  “Nothing is impossible, Sisko! Daphne, you’ll stand in for Shmatko,” Marius declared.

  “I’m doing what now?” Daphne asked.

  “We’ll need to fill some time. Fred, can you walk a tightrope?” Marius looked worried.

  “Of course I maybe can!” Fred said happily.

  Archambault popped into the office just in time to hear the discussion. “And Archambault can do cowboy routine!” He was wearing a cowboy costume that looked especially strange on his huge body.

  “Not the cowboy routine …” Marius grumbled.

  Archambault pouted. “Why you no like cowboy routine? Is best superb! I can make it space cowboy for this ‘Celestia’ thing.”

  “Fine, do it,” Marius sighed. “Come on everyone.” He waved everyone out of his office. “Get into costume. It’s showtime, folks!” He paused, sniffing at the air. “What is that smell ?”

  Velma pointed to Daphne. “We were in the sewer….”

  “And we were digging through garbage,” Fred said, pointing to Shaggy and Scooby.

  Archambault doubled over with laughter. “You Americans really know how to party!”

  A short while later, everyone was dressed and ready for that night’s circus. Velma twitched nervously in her Human Comet outfit, and Daphne looked uncomfortable in her clown getup.

  “Everyone ready?” Marius asked, rubbing his hands together.

  “No!” Daphne and Velma both cried.

  “Great,” Marius said, heading out toward the center of the big top. “I’m going to start the show.”

  Within seconds, fog began filling the performance ring, and music blared through the speakers. Marius leaped out of the fog and strode to the center of the ring. “Ladies and gentlemen! With the finest talent from five continents, the Brancusi Circus presents … Celestia!”

  The audience cheered madly. The show was underway.

  Archambault was up first, stuffed into the cowboy outfit he’d paired with a space helmet. “Yippee-ki-yay, I am the space cowboy, oui ? But in Quebec, cowboy don’t do things the easy way, ha-ha!” He reached over and lifted a horse off the ground. The audience stared at him as he trotted around the ring, carrying a horse.

  “See what I mean?” Marius whispered to Fred in the wings. “His cowboy act makes people uncomfortable.”

  “Totally,” Fred muttered.

  Luckily, things improved from there. Fred was a hit on the trapeze, and Daphne turned out to be a much better clown than she would ever have imagined.

  Finally, Marius stepped out into the ring to say, “Ladies and gentlemen, may I present … Scooby and Shaggy!”

  The audience applauded as Shaggy and Scooby paraded out of the fog.

  “Hello, Atlantic City!” Shaggy cried, waving to everyone wildly. “I give you … Scooby-Doo!”

  Scooby took a bow. Then he began his act. He juggled, he danced, he spun plates, and he rode a giant unicycle upside down and backward. When no one thought it could possibly get any more amazing, Scooby began his real show: fire eating, throwing knives, and a dozen other tricks that no one had ever seen before.

  “Ra daaaa!” he cheered at the end. He was barely even out of breath.

  The crowd went wild.

  Shaggy looked at Scooby and grinned. “Thank you, thank you!” he shouted at the audience. “I’m Shaggy, his, uh … trainer!”

  Somehow, the crowd got even louder then. “Shag-gy! Shag-gy! Shag-gy!”

  Scooby looked at Shaggy, and then pointed to himself. “Rhut rabout re?”

  Shaggy just soaked up the cheers.

  “That went well,” Marius called as they bowed and stepped out of the main ring.

  Now it was Velma’s turn. “You’re up, Human Comet!” Marius told her.

  Velma shook with nerves. “I can’t do this!”

  “Don’t worry,” Archambault reassured her as he carried her toward the cannon. “You’re going to be fine.”

  “You think so?” Velma asked.

  “Eh.” Archambault shrugged. “Fifty-fifty.”

  But before Velma could be shot through the air, a scream tore through the big top. “Werewolves!” a woman in the audience shrieked. “Werrrrrewolves!”

  Everyone turned in time to see two werewolves dash across the center of the main ring. The audience began to applaud. “Those costumes are awesome!” someone yelled.

  Shaggy and Scooby peeked out to see what was going on. The werewolves that had chased them out of the museum were now snarling and snapping and running through the circus.

  The audience laughed. “Werewolves! What a great idea!” they called. Everyone thought the werewolves were just actors in the circus!

  “Everybody out!” Marius called out to the audience. “Follow the ushers. Please evacuate in an orderly fashion!”

  The crowd still believed the werewolves were just part of the act. They cheered and clapped as they left the big top.

  “Aahhh!” Shaggy yelped as the werewolves drew closer to him and Scooby. “Like, don’t bite us! I don’t wanna be a werewolf!”

  “Ri’m ralready a dog!” Scooby whimpered. He and Shaggy hopped onto Daphne’s motorcycle,
trying to outrun the werewolves.

  “Get away. Shoo!” Shaggy snapped at the werewolves. “Go chase a cat.”

  The motorcycle tipped as Shaggy and Scooby zoomed awkwardly around the big top with the werewolves right behind them. “Ahh! No bitey!” Shaggy scolded. “Like, I am not a chew toy!”

  “There has to be something we can do,” Marius said helplessly.

  Fred thought for a moment. “Usually I drop a net on —” He looked up and saw the trapeze act’s safety net. “Ooh, that’s a big net! Shaggy! Scooby! Lead them over this way!”

  “I’ll try,” Shaggy yelled, shaking his leg at the werewolf. Scooby’s arms were wrapped around Shaggy’s head, blocking his view. When he realized his buddy couldn’t see, Scooby reached his feet around Shaggy and steered the bike toward Fred.

  “Now!” Fred yelled to Marius. They pulled at the ropes on either side of the safety net and it dropped on the two werewolves. “Got ’em!”

  Everyone ran over and began to dig through the piles of netting — even Sisko, Oliverio, and Lena. “Come on,” Marius said as they dug through the trap. “They have to be here.”

  But when they got to the bottom of the pile, it was obvious that the trap had failed.

  “How could they just disappear like that?” Doubleday asked, appearing out of nowhere to help with the search.

  Sisko honked twenty-six times.

  “Maybe …” Doubleday said. He obviously understood what Sisko had been trying to say. “But where would they hide the forklift?”

  Velma paced near Marius. She was still trying to figure out why the werewolves had attacked during the circus. “Why did they attack now? They weren’t stealing jewels. They went right for Scooby and Shaggy….”

  “You think they were trying to scare us off?” Fred asked.

  But before anyone could answer, Shaggy and Scooby zipped by on the motorcycle. “How do you, like, stop this thing?!” Shaggy cried as they sped into the wings.

  Daphne winced as a loud crash echoed through the big top. The motorcycle’s motor came to a sudden stop. “That’s one way….”

  That night, everyone slept in Marius’s office, just in case the werewolf came back. They woke with a start the next morning when Marius hollered, “Unbelievable!”