Back to the Future Part II

by CRAIG SHAW GARDNER

  ‘Mrs McFIy!’

  Jennifer woke up. That’s what the police officers had called her Mrs McFly. And they had talked to her about the future. Was that where she was? The future? She remembered getting in the DeLorean with Marty and Doc, the lights and noise, and then that display that said they were in 2015. That's right! She had been all excited about being here with Marty, and had started asking Doc Brown all those questions.

  And then what?

  She must have fallen asleep. But how could you fall asleep if you had just gone someplace as exciting as the future? And why wasn’t she in the DeLorean anymore? Had something happened to Marty and Doc? It must have - they wouldn’t just leave her all alone -would they? And why had she been with the police?

  And where had the police left her?

  She stood up and looked around. The policewomen had called her Mrs McFly. Could this be where she lived - in the future?

  The first thing she noticed was a large picture window that looked out over the grounds of what must be a very large estate. There were manicured lawns, formal gardens, and row after row of neatly trimmed hedges, all leading back to a charming white gazebo in the distance. The view was all quite lovely, except for one thing. It was daylight out there. Hadn’t it been getting dark a few minutes ago, when the cops brought her in?

  Jennifer frowned as she looked at the room around her. Shouldn’t the furniture be nicer if they lived in a mansion? The things she could see, in this room at least, looked pretty shabby. There were stairs going up to the second floor at one end of the living room, right next to the front door. She wondered if she should go upstairs to see if things were any different.

  She glanced over at a book case that took up most or the wall next to the stairs. There was A Match Made In Space, the book Marty’s father had written. Jennifer walked over to get a closer look, and saw that it wasn’t a book after all - the label on its side said ‘videobook’, whatever that was. And just beyond that on the shelf were another half-dozen videobooks, all of them with neatly hand-written labels:

  FAMILY VACATIONS - 1995-2005

  GEORGE & LORRAINE 50TH ANNIVERSARY

  THE KIDS: MARTY JUNIOR AND MARLENE. VOL. 1

  THE KIDS: MARTY JUNIOR AND MARLENE. VOL. 3

  THE KIDS: MARTY JUNIOR AND MARLENE. VOL. 2

  Jennifer gasped. This really was her house that the police had brought her to - her house in the future, that is. This wasn’t just any old future, it was her future.

  But all thoughts of the videobooks left her when she took a closer look at the framed photo at the end of the shelf. It was a wedding picture - of Jennifer and Marty But she was just wearing everyday clothes and Marty was wearing a t-shirt with a tux front printed on it! What had happened to that big church wedding that she had wanted? They were both standing in front of a big neon sign that read ‘Las Vegas’ own - CHAPEL OF LOVE!’ Chapel of Love? They must have eloped!

  'Oh, my God!' Jennifer cried. 'I get married in the ?Chapel of Love?'

  She and Marty had eloped? What about their parents? What could have happened to their future?

  A girl’s voice called out from upstairs.

  ’Mom? Is that you?’

  Oh, no. There was somebody else here! What could Jennifer do?

  ‘I’ve gotta get out of here! ’ she whispered. The wedding photo fell from her hands and clattered to the floor. She ran for the front door as she heard footsteps upstairs.

  Jennifer stopped and stared at the door in horror. There was no doorknob. There were no marks of any kind, only some weird metal plate on the wall nearby. The front door was nothing but a solid slab of wood. She stepped up to the door and pushed against it. It didn't budge. How could she possibly get it open?

  Jennifer jumped as the doorbell rang. There must be somebody on the other side of the front door, somebody right in front of her. Maybe the newcomer knew the secret way to open this thing. What if the front door suddenly disappeared or something? But Jennifer didn’t want to be seen, by anybody! She turned around, looking for some other way out of here. The footsteps upstairs were getting louder. She thought she saw the girl’s shadow on the landing.

  ‘Mom?’ the girl’s voice called. ‘Mom?’

  Where could Jennifer go?

  Chapter Seven

  Jennifer spotted a louvered door beyond the bookcase, a door with a handle that she could open and close. Maybe it was a way out of here!

  She yanked the door open, and was confronted by a dozen hanging coats.

  She heard the footsteps start down the stairs overhead.

  Jennifer jumped into the closet. She eased the door shut behind her. The footsteps clumped heavily towards the front door. Who could it be? If this was her house, in her future, would it be someone in her family? Jennifer wished she could see what was going on out there.

  Maybe she could. There was light coming into the closet from the louvered door. She shifted around as quietly as possible, doing her best to keep the coats behind her. If she leaned forward just so, she could peek through the slats.

  A teenage girl stepped into the living-room at the bottom of the stairs. Oh, my God! Jennifer breathed in sharply. The teenager was the spitting image of Marty!

  The teenager disappeared from sight as she moved toward the front door. There was a soft shooshing sound.

  The teenager stepped beck into view. 'Oh, hi, Grandma Lorraine.'

  Grandma Lorraine? Marty's mother? Jennifer peeked through the slats, but the newcomer was still out of sight.

  'Hi, sweetheart,' Grandma Lorraine replied. She sounded like Marty's mother. 'I brought dinner. Are your folks home yet?'

  The teenager shrugged her broad shoulders. She was built sort of huskily for a girl. Jennifer thought, probably one of those high school athletic types.

  'Mom should be home any minute.’ the teenager answered her grandmother. ‘Dad - who knows?'

  ‘Mom?’ Jennifer asked under her breath.

  She blinked. If Dad was Marty -

  Oh my God! Jennifer realised - it would have been obvious if this future business wasn't all so new to her - she was Mom!

  The teenager stepped back to let her grandmother in. Grandma Lorraine walked past the stairs, so Jennifer could see her at last. She was Marty’s mother, older now, with grey hair. Still, she looked pretty good for a woman in her seventies. She was carrying a small, silver bag - too small. Jennifer thought, to hold dinner for a whole family. So where was the food?

  'Grandpa! the teenage girl called. 'You threw your back out again!'

  There was a humming noise as a machine coasted across Jennifer s view, a machine that held Marty’s father - with grey hair now, but still as skinny as ever - strapped in upside down! George stopped the gizmo right in front of the bookcase next to Jennifer's hiding place, close enough for her to read the ‘Ortho-lev’ name-plate on the machine’s crossbar.

  ‘Your grandpa got hit by a car,’ Grandma Lorraine explained. ‘On the golf course! It just dropped out of the sky. He could have been killed!’ She shook her head with a grandmotherly frown. 'I don’t know what this world’s coming to.’

  ‘I'll take this. Grandma.'

  The teenage girl - boy, did she look like Marty! - stepped in front of Jennifer’s hiding place and took the little bag from Lorraine.

  Grandma Lorraine walked over to the window. There seemed to be something wrong with the view now. The lawn, the gardens, the gazebo - all of it was slowly rolling, like a TV screen that was losing its vertical hold. There was also snow or static or something up toward the top of the picture.

  ‘Oh.’ Grandma spoke as if she wasn’t surprised. ‘This window’s still broken.’

  She walked back across the room and picked up a remote control unit from the bookshelf. The image in the window changed to a tropical island, then abruptly shifted to a mountain view, and just as quickly changed to a picture of a city at night, but all three flipped and were full of static. Then the city, too, blipped out of existence, replaced a mo
ment later by a night-time view that was nowhere near as picturesque.

  This, Jennifer realised, must be the real view outside, with no flip, and no static. It showed the side of the building next door, complete with half a dozen garbage cans overflowing with trash.

  'Maybe we should buy them a new one.' Grandma Lorraine suggested. 'What do you think. George? We could afford it.'

  She stepped further into the room, out of Jennifer's line of sight.

  ‘Well ..'.Grandpa George didn't sound very enthusiastic. Or very quick to make up his mind.

  ‘I don’t know.’ he said at last. His floating harness whirred as he picked something up from the floor. Jennifer’s heart almost stopped when she realised it was the wedding photo she had dropped! But old George merely put the photo back on its shelf -although Jennifer could have sworn he put the picture back upside down.

  ‘Yeah. Grandma,’ the teenage girl spoke again. Seeing Lorraine fiddle with that big video screen had reminded Jennifer about the names written on those videobooks - the ones about the kids - Marty Junior and - Marlene?

  ‘You know Dad.’ Marlene went on about her grandmother's offer. ‘He’d probably get, like, pissquanced.'

  ‘Pissquanced?’ Grandma asked with a distasteful frown.

  You know, insulted.’ Marlene answered. ‘He’d think that, well

  Her grandmother nodded, suddenly understanding. 'That we were reminding him that he can’t afford it?' She sighed as if she had heard this story over and over again. 'Poor Marty. He had always been so concerned about what people think about him. what they say about him behind his back.’ She glanced at her upside-down husband. How many times have we heard it George: "Mom. I can't let 'em, think I'm, cheap!" " I can't let 'em think I'm not with it!" “I can’t let ’em think I'm chicken!” '

  Lorraine and Marlene walked past Jennifer's hiding place, then turned past the living-room sofa to go into the back of the house, as Grandpa George once again started up his machine.

  Jennifer looked past them, through the doorway.

  There, at the very back of the house, was another French door, with another doorknob. It might be a way out. At the very least, it was better than being stuck in the closet. Jennifer bit her lip. Should she?

  She opened the closet door. The three others were busy talking as they moved away from her. Maybe, if Jennifer moved quietly enough, she could get over to those other doors without anybody noticing. It was worth a try. She really couldn’t stay in this closet forever. And, as she snuck past them, she could still hear what they had to say. After all, they were talking about Marty’s future, and her future, too!

  Jennifer crept from her hiding place.

  ‘You’re right ...’ Grandpa George slowly answered his wife.

  Grandma Lorraine sighed again. ‘About thirty years ago Marty decided to prove he wasn’t chicken - and he ended up in an automobile accident. ’

  Thirty years ago? Jennifer frowned. That would be back in 1985, wouldn’t it? But nothing like that had happened to Marty - at least, it hadn’t happened yet.

  ‘Oh, you mean with the Rolls-Royce?’ Marlene asked matter-of-factly. ‘You’re garbled on that Grandma. That wasn’t Dad's fault. He told me so himself.’

  Jennifer tiptoed out into the open. The three others had paused at the entryway to what seemed to be the kitchen. In a minute, she figured, they'd watt into that room. Then she would have a clear path to that back door, and a way out of here.

  ‘And what does your mother say?’ Grandma insisted. ‘She was there too. you know.’

  Your mother?

  Jennifer stopped moving. She had been there, too - with Marty? What could have happened? Or what - she reminded herself - was going to happen? Marlene shrugged her broad shoulders.

  ‘Mom's never talked about it.’

  Grandma Lorraine wagged her index finger at Marlene.

  ‘Well, the truth is, if your father had just used a little common sense, that accident would have never happened. That accident started a chain reaction that sent Marty's life straight down the tubes!’

  ‘Now. Lorraine...’ Grandpa George chided slowly.

  Jennifer couldn't believe what Marty’s mother was saying. Marty wouldn’t do something like that, just because he’d hit somebody’s car - would he? Jennifer had married someone whose life had gone down the tubes?

  George ' Lorraine insisted, ‘she might as well know the truth.' Her finger wagged at Marlene one more time. 'If not for that accident, your father’s life would have turned out very differently. The man in the Rolls-Royce wouldn't have pressed charges or sued him, Marty wouldn't have broken his hand wouldn't have given up on his music, and he wouldn't have spent all those years feeling sorry for himself, Complaining how life gave him such a raw deal.’ She made a clucking sound with her tongue against her teeth. ‘He wouldn’t have just given up on life.’

  Marlene rolled her eyes upward, as if she didn't want to hear all this. But Grandpa George nodded his head in agreement.

  'You’re right...' he said slowly. ‘You’re right.’

  Grandma turned back to Marlene again. ‘The real reason your mother married him was because she felt sorry for him. Such a sweet girl. She deserved better.’

  Jennifer deserved better? Marty’s life had gone down the tubes? They had gotten married in the Chapel of Love? But Marty was such a sweet guy! How could the future turn out this way? Jennifer didn't like the sound of any of this!

  There was a great clatter overhead. Jennifer froze. Someone was coming down the stairs, fast.

  But Jennifer was right out in the middle of the living-room. There was nowhere she could hide. She was right out in the open!

  Before she could think what to do, Marty Junior jumped into view.

  ‘Hi, Mom!’ Junior called as he ran past her, following the other three, who had all finally gone through the door into the kitchen.

  Oh brother, Jennifer thought with relief. Marty Junior - who also looked remarkably like his father -hadn't even looked at her! Lucky for her, he paid as much attention to most things as his father did!

  The cheerful computer voice rumbled to life:

  ‘Welcome home, Marty, oh master of the house, king of the castle, lord of the manor!’

  The computer greeting - that must mean that Marty Senior was coming home!

  She heard another noise behind her - a soft, shooshing. noise - the same sound she had heard the last time the front door opened. And she was still in the middle of the room!

  There was another door, half-open, at the far end of the living-room. She jumped inside. She glanced behind her long enough to see she was in a bathroom - not all that different from bathrooms she knew. She quickly closed the door behind her, leaving just enough space for her to peek out.

  Her heart almost stopped when she saw who walked through the living room and past her toward the kitchen. It was Marty Senior, her Marty, decked out in a business suit - although for some reason he was wearing two ties. But he looked so much older, so much greyer. Could he have changed this much in thirty years?

  ‘Hi, everybody,' he called as he walked into the kitchen, out of Jennifer's view. ‘I’m home!’

  Maybe, she thought, she should get out of here herself. But where could she go? She turned around at last to get a good look at this bathroom.

  Wait a minute. This bathroom had another door, right behind her back! She was lucky that no one had walked in while she had been looking out the other way.

  She turned to the second door and cautiously opened it a crack, and found herself looking into the kitchen.

  Grandfather George waved from his harness.

  'Hi, son...'

  Marty senior grinned at his parents.

  'Hey Dad, how're you feeling? how's the back?’

  'OK ...' his father answered after a moment's thought.

  Lorraine stepped forward with that sweet, motherly smile of hers.

  'How are things at work, Marty?' she asked gently.

 
; Marty shrugged and sighed.

  'Oh same old, same old.'

  So everyone was in the kitchen. Jennifer realised that maybe now she could leave through the other door and get out of this place without anybody seeing her.

  She turned back to the door she’d entered through, and realised, as soon as she looked through the crack she'd left there, that everybody wasn’t in the room beyond. Marty Junior stood in the next room, calling out numbers at a big screen. The screen responded by showing six different pictures for six different television programmes. The thing Marty Junior was watching was some sort of giant, multi-channel video screen - a screen that hung crooked on the wall. Jennifer had to push back an urge to rush out there and try to straighten the picture out.

  Marty Senior walked into the room behind his son. He picked up a pile of papers from a basket and quickly sorted through them.’Ah,’ he muttered to himself. ‘Nothin’ but junk fax!’

  He turned to his son. ‘Junior! Dinner time!'

  Junior didn't budge.

  ‘But I'm watching TV!' he shouted over his shoulder. ‘Well, get your glasses,’ Marty Senior insisted. ‘We eat at the table when your grandparents are here.’ Junior got up as slowly as he could.

  ‘Aw, Dad,’ he whined, ‘I can only watch two shows at once on my glasses!’

  Marty Senior laughed and shook his head. ‘Yeah, you kids really have it tough! When I was your age, if I wanted to watch two shows at once, I had to put two sets next to each other! ’

  Marty Junior didn't seem impressed. He wandered back toward the kitchen. His father straightened the video screens, adding ‘Let's have some art, please!'

  The six TV programmes disappeared, replaced by what looked like a very large, bright painting of a bowl of fruit! Marty Senior turned and followed his son from the room.

  Jennifer realised the whole family was going to sit down to dinner, all in one place, out of sight of the bathroom door. There probably wouldn't be a better time for her to get out of here.

  But - even if that French door led outside - where would she go? She didn’t know anything at all about the future! What had happened to Marty and Doc, anyway? How could she possibly find them.