Thirty minutes later, and Cooter’s Cadiallc was still stuck behind the ever so slow Ford of old ladies.
Cooter whipped his car into the northbound lane to pass the Ford, but a northbound car blew its horn.
He whipped his car back in the southbound lane and pounded his steering wheel in frustration while he stared at the rear of the Ford Crown Victoria.
Later that day, the tour bus arrived in Key West and turned left and headed down South Roosevelt Boulevard.
Airship 3 was still on the roof of the tour bus.
Inside Airship 3, Melvin looked concerned when he spotted the Water Gauge where the needle was now on the “3/4” mark and saw it was slowly moving. He discreetly tapped Hazel with his fin then discreetly pointed at the water gauge.
She discreetly looked up at the ceiling and saw the water level was lower and she leaned over at Melvin. “Let’s hope it doesn’t drop too soon,” she whispered.
“Now, now, no romantic stuff until we get home,” Stephanie teased Hazel.
“When will we get back in the water?” Carlos asked when he saw Atlantic Ocean.
Hazel looked at the fuel gauge and it was just below the “1/4” mark. “We’ll wait until we get to the other side of this Air Alien land so we can conserve on fuel,” she replied.
“Okay,” Carlos replied while he placed a fin around Stephanie.
Melvin and Hazel looked worried while they stared at the water gauge and saw the needle slowly moving farther away from the “3/4” mark.
Meanwhile, back on the road, the Ford Crown Victoria turned left and headed down South Roosevelt Boulevard.
Cooter’s Cadiallc was still stuck behind the ever so slow Ford and he was about to blow a gasket.
The Ford followed the road and it turned and headed southbound on A1A.
Cooter tried to pass the Ford but traffic northbound on A1A was too thick.
Inside his Cadiallc, Cooter was fuming. “Movie it!” he yelled at the Ford then blew his horn.
The old ladies in the Ford jumped when Cooter’s horn scared them. They turned around and stuck out their tongues out at Cooter.
Then Cooter saw a break in the traffic and he whipped his Cadiallc into the northbound A1A lane.
He raced by the Ford and passed five other cars before he whipped his Cadiallc back into the southbound lane of A1A.
Cooter continued to pass numerous cars on A1A an eventually got behind the tour bus that was stuck behind a pickup truck pulling a boat.
“It’s about time,” he said while he followed the tour bus.
Then he saw the ladder on the rear of the bus that led to the roof of the tour bus and his eyes lit up with an idea. He flipped the switch on the dashboard and the convertible top moved upward. “Drive the car,” Cooter told Billy after the convertible top was straight up in the air.
Cooter stood up and Billy scooted over and got behind the wheel and readjusted the seat.
Cooter stood on the passenger seat and leaned over and grabbed the net pole out of the back seat.
He placed one shoe on the window sill of the passenger door and cautiously climbed over his windshield onto the hood of his car with the pole in his right hand.
“Get close to that bus,” Cooter told Billy while he crawled on the hood of his car and headed to the front end.
Billy swerved the car a little and Cooter almost tumbled off the car.
Billy moved the Cadiallc closer to the rear of the bus.
Cooter stood up and walked to the hood ornament. “Closer!” Cooter yelled at Billy.
Billy moved the car closer to the rear of the bus.
Cooter reached out and grabbed one of the rungs of the ladder on the rear of the bus.
Then Billy suddenly moved the Cadiallc away from the rear of the tour bus.
Cooter was able to hold onto the ladder and the pole/net while his shoes slipped off the hood of his car. He dangled by one arm from the ladder and his shoes scrapped on the surface of the road. Cooter was used all his strength to lift himself upward and get his shoes off the road. He placed a shoe on the bumper of the tour bus and then started to climb up the ladder.
Inside Airship 3, everybody looked out at the Atlantic Ocean to the left of the craft and they were all homesick.
Then an alarm blared on the console and Melvin and Hazel flipped switches and then the alarm turned off.
Carlos felt something was wrong and he looked up at the ceiling. “I'm not a brainiac, but is there something wrong? I mean, the water level is getting lower,” he said while he stared up at the ceiling.
Stephanie looked up and saw the surface of the water was inches above their heads. “We’re running out of water!” she screamed out in a panic, which caused Melvin and Hazel to jump up startled in their seats.
“We have a water leak,” Hazel told them.
“We’re going to die!” Stephanie cried out in a panic when she noticed the surface of the water was at the top of her head.
“No your not,” Melvin replied while he got out of his seat and rushed over to the airsuits on the back wall. “You can wear the airsuits since they’re full of water,” he told everybody.
Stephanie and Carlos quickly swam over to Melvin.
He assisted Stephanie into one of the airsuits and locked her helmet in place. She looked happy being in the airsuit that was full of water.
Melvin then assisted Carlos into his airsuit and locked his helmet in place.
There was one airsuit left and Melvin looked at Hazel. He grabbed the airsuit off the wall and swam it over to her. “Suit up,” he told her.
Hazel noticed that the water level was a few inches below the bubble helmets of Stephanie and Carlos. “But what about you?” she asked with concerned eyes.
“I'll be just fine,” he replied while he hid the fact that he was scared to death.
“No. You should wear the airsuit,” Hazel replied and looked worried.
“No! You’ll wear the airsuit,” Melvin demanded then he kissed Hazel on her lips while he grabbed her fins and pulled her out of the seat.
On the top of the tour bus, Cooter staggered while he walked across the metal roof. He smiled when he saw the airship on its landing struts. He swayed with the rhythm of the bus driving down the street and he got the net pole ready to swoop up the airship.
Inside Airship 3, Stephanie, Carlos and Hazel were dressed in their airsuits and watched while Melvin started flipping switched and turning knobs to configure the airship to fire the engine.
On the top of the tour bus, Cooter cautiously inched his way across the roof to the airship. He stepped in a puddle of water and his left foot when out from under him. He slammed his butt on the roof of the tour bus.
Inside the tour bus, the driver looked concerned when he heard the loud bang on the roof top. He saw a parking lot next to a dog park up ahead and decided to pull in there and investigate the noise.
On the top of the bus, Cooter got up the second the rear engine of Airship 3 fired and a small flame shot out of the nozzle.
The airship rose off the roof of the bus.
Cooter swung the net at the airship the second the landing struts retracted into the belly of the craft.
The rear engine of the airship shot out a larger flame and he zoomed off into the net.
The airship zoomed up into the air and dragged the net with it and Cooter hung onto the pole and dangled down below.
Airship 3 turned to the left and headed to the beach.
Cooter looked down and his eyes widened in fear when he saw that he was 20 feet up in the air.
Billy drove the Cadiallc down the street and chased after Cooter.
People on the beach saw the airship with Cooter dangling below and they gawked and snapped some pictures of this unusual sight.
Inside Airship 3, the water was draining faster and it was around everybody’s midsection.
Melvin ducked down below the surface of the water and flew the airship.
Everybody looked scared when they looked at the canopy and saw blue sky between the netting.
“An Air Alien has captured us,” Stephanie said and she shook in fear.
“I remember the day they captured me,” Carlos replied.
Hazel looked at Melvin and she moved over to Melvin. The airsuit was too big and bulky to sit down at the console so she stood by his side.
He looked worried while he looked at Hazel.
She winked and blew his a kiss from inside the helmet.
Melvin smiled then he noticed that the air speed was dropping off due to the weight of the net and Cooter.
“We're slowing down,” she said into the radio net and Melvin heard her from the speaker.
Melvin reached over the console and moved the throttle to the “Full” power setting.
Melvin then looked concerned when he saw that the fuel gauge was at the “Empty” mark.
From the outside, the flame from the airship engine doubled in size yet it still slowly flew over the beach and headed to the water.
More beach goers snapped pictures with their cameras at this unusual sight.
Billy pulled Cooter’s Cadiallc into a parking lot that had beach access. He parked and stood up on the driver’s seat to locate Cooter.
“He’s flying!” he said the second he saw Cooter hanging onto the pole while it dangled from the airship.
He quickly slammed the car into reverse and screeched backwards. He slammed the car into drive and stomped on the gas pedal.
He drove the Cadiallc toward a beach access opening.
He drove the car through the sand and headed toward Cooter kicking sand up from the rear tires.
Up at Airship 3, the flame caught the net on fire while it strained to fly 20 feet above the beach.
Cooter clung onto the pole scared to death and saw the net was on fire. “A man!” he cried out.
Then the netting gave way and Cooter’s eyes widened when he fell down to the beach.
He plunged head first into the wet sand and buried himself up to the middle of his chest near the waters edge.
The airship picked up speed and zoomed over the waves.
The pole with the flaming net dropped and splashed into the waters edge.
Inside Airship 3, the water level was a foot off the floor and Melvin was getting weak.
“We’re almost there, Melvin,” Hazel called out while she splashed water on his head.
Then the rear engine sputtered and shut off. It was an eerie silence while the airship flew through the air.
“This doesn't sound good!” Carlos said.
Stephanie looked scared to death.
Then the airship dove down to the water.
“Ahhhh!” Stephanie screamed.
Airship 3 splashed into the waves nine feet from the waters edge.
A little father down the beach, Alma, Gertie, Polly, and Zoe from the Ford Crown Victoria, walked in the sane wearing 1920 style bathing suits with big oversized purses.
“Look, it’s one of those fancy lifelike sand castles,” Alma told Gertie, Polly, and Zoe when she spotted half of Cooter’s body poking out of the sand.
They walk up to Cooter’s body and looked at him in awe.
“Help!” Cooter’s muffled voice called out from down in the sand.
“That’s cute, the sand castle can talk,” Gertie said while they all walked around Cooter’s body and checked him out.
The sound of a car engine was heard and the ladies turned around and saw Cooter’s Cadiallc while it raced to the waters edge.
Billy slammed on the brakes of the Cadiallc and it slid through the sand and the front end splashed in the water.
Alma, Gertie, Polly and Zoe were soaking wet and their blue hair drooped down also soaking wet.
Billy jumped over the driver’s door in a panic to rescue Cooter and he also forgot to place the car in park.
Billy ran over and immediately dropped to his knees and started digging around Cooter’s body with his hands.
The four ladies curiously watched while Billy dug about a foot deep trench around Cooter’s body.
“Is he going to steal that sand castle?” Zoe asked her soaking wet friends.
“Looks like it to me,” Polly replied.
They watched while Billy quickly stood up and grabbed Cooter’s right shoe. He used all of his little strength and pulled on Cooter’s right shoe.
Cooter moved a little in the sand.
Billy jumped down on his knees and proceeded to dig out some more sand from around Cooter’s body.
He jumped back up and grabbed Cooter’s left shoe and used all of his strength while he pulled.
Alma, Gertie, Polly and Zoe all inched closer to Billy to watch him steal the sand castle.
Then Cooter’s body suddenly broke loose from the bonds of the sand.
Billy flew backwards and knocked Polly and Zoe down on their butts.
Cooter sat in the sand and looked dazed and confused for a few seconds.
After a few more seconds, Cooter remembered what he was doing and he jumped up on his feet.
Cooter looked in the air and got depressed. “My spaceship's gone!” He looked curiously at Billy. “Where my car?”
“Over there,” Billy pointed.
Cooter strained, as he didn't hear Billy. “What?” he replied while he smacked the side of his head and sand flew out of his ear.
“I said, where's my car?” he asked again.
Billy pointed at the water.
Cooter looked and saw his car floating out to sea. “Aw man!” he cried out and looked depressed. Then his eyes lit up when he saw the airship in the waves while he was moving back to shore. “I can buy a brand new Cadiallc with the spaceship toys I’ll be selling,” he cried out then ran into the water after the floating airship.
Polly and Zoe stood up and along with Alma and Gertie, they watched while Cooter headed out to deeper waters.
“You the Uncle!” Billy cried out and jumped up and down in joy did performed a little victory dance that Cooter was going to get the airship.