Disclaimer: I do not own Back to the Future.
Author's Note: This story was written in response to the BackToTheFanfic Challenge of July 2005.
November 12, 19755:00 PM PST
Seven-year-old Calvin McFly was excited about being able to eat at Pizza Hut with his parents and twin brother, Marty. Their older sister, Linda, was at a party with some friends - while their older brother, David, was putting in some extra hours of editing his school's newspaper.
'Do you know what day it is today, boys?' George asked, smiling.
'It's the twelfth of November, Daddy,' Marty said, smiling.
'Very good, Marty,' replied Lorraine, nodding. 'Do you know what's special about today?'
'Lightening hit the clock tower twenty years ago,' Calvin said, beaming, 'causing the clock to stop running. Mrs. Reader told us all about it in school today.'
'Very good, Calvin,' replied Lorraine. 'Do you know what else is special about today?'
'It was the day you two fell in love with each other, right?' asked Marty.
'And it was Calvin Klein that brought you two together,' added Calvin.
Calvin loved hearing stories about the boy he was named after. His parents knew Calvin Klein for only one week, but he was apparently the one who brought them together. Well, him and Biff Tannen - the man who routinely washed the family's car.
'That is correct, boys,' George said, smiling. 'I remember that week so well. I sometimes wonder whatever became of Calvin Klein. He was so insistent that I ask your mom to the dance. Perhaps he may have been an alien. It's almost like his existence was dependent on mom and I falling in love.'
'Could he be the same alien who threatened to melt your brain?' asked Marty.
Calvin had always been the more logically-minded of the twins. He had stopped believing in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny three years ago. When he tried to tell Marty that he didn't believe in their existence, Marty was really upset. So Calvin was forced to pretend to believe in their existence around Marty. So, as a result, he had always regarded his father's tales of his alien encounter with scepticism. He knew to be quiet about it, though.
'It could very well be possible,' replied George. 'All I really know is, he was around for one week - then we never saw him again. There was something a little mysterious about him, but he was a great friend to me.'
'We decided to name you guys after Calvin Klein,' Lorraine added, smiling. 'His preferred nickname was Marty - so we thought that one of you should be Calvin, and the other should be Martin.'
'I also had a great-granduncle named Martin,' added George. 'Your older brother would have been named Martin, but your mom promised her favourite uncle that she would name our oldest son after him.'
'So what all was Calvin Klein like?' asked Calvin, wanting to learn more about the guy he was named after.
'The interesting thing was,' Lorraine explained, 'is that Calvin Klein was the nephew of Dr. Brown, the man that you two are friends with. He a was very brave fellow. He was not afraid to take a stand against Biff, despite the fact that he was pretty short.'
'How tall was he?' asked Calvin. He and Marty often felt a bit insecure about their height, which sometimes made them the butt of various jokes.
'He was about five feet four inches tall,' explained George. 'He wasn't very tall, but he did encourage me to stand up to people like Biff Tannen. You see, back in high school, Biff used to always bully me into doing his homework for him - and he was always surrounded by three gang members. Gee, if it wasn't for Calvin Klein, I most likely would have ended up being different today?'
'Wow!' exclaimed Marty. 'He must have had a major impact on your life!'
Calvin then thought about Biff's son, Cliff. Cliff was the same age as Dave - and Dave used to be tormented by Cliff and his gang, until the day Dave gained the courage to stand up to them. Earlier that year, Dave and his gang had accosted Marty - as Marty was walking home from school. Marty might have been seriously injured, if it wasn't for the intervention of Dr. Brown. That was when the twins had become good friends with Dr. Brown.
'He sure did,' George said, nodding. 'In fact, he was the one who encouraged me to publish my stories. I used to be afraid to show my stories to anyone, because I was afraid that people might not like them. Now I have plans to write a full-length novel.'
'You're a great storywriter, Daddy,' Marty said, encouraging. 'Anyway, what's the point of writing stories, if you don't plan to show them to anyone?'
'Well, I've always had a vivid imagination,' explained George, 'so I always wanted to get my stories down on paper. Because I wasn't all that popular in school, I was so afraid that people would laugh at me. When I did finally let Calvin read my stories, though - it turned out that he really liked them. So he was the one who gave me the encouragement to send my stories in.'
'Anyway, twenty years ago,' Lorraine said, dreamily, 'Biff was taking advantage of me. Then, suddenly, your father showed up - telling Biff to leave me alone. He then punched Biff out, and he had escorted me to the dance floor. Then, as Calvin Klein was on the stage playing Earth Angel with Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, your father kissed me for the very first time. It was then I realized I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.'
'That sounds so sweet!' Calvin gushed. 'Was Calvin Klein a great guitarist?'
'I hope to, one day, play guitar in a rock and roll band,' added Marty.
'He certainly was,' Lorraine said, smiling. 'Although, when he was playing Johnny Be Goode, he got a little carried away with the stage antics. I know a lot of rock and roll musicians do that today - but this was the fifties.'
'Also, Chuck Berry didn't release Johnny Be Goode until four years later,' added George. 'Maybe Marvin told his cousin all about that song, inspiring Chuck Berry to perform that song. Calvin Klein should have considered becoming a rock and roll musician himself. He was certainly way before his time.'
'He did make some rather cryptic comment,' explained Lorraine, 'about how he guessed we weren't ready for that music yet - but that our kids would love it. That would be you guys, I guess. It looks like he was pretty accurate in his prediction.'
'If I didn't know any better,' George said, chuckling, 'I'd almost think he was a time traveller. Of course, though, time travel isn't possible!'
'How do you figure?' asked Marty. 'If aliens from other planets is possible, then time travel can also be possible.'
'It's not quite the same thing,' George said, shaking his head. 'Aliens from other planets is really no more remarkable than people from other countries. The only difference is, we know there are people from other country. We don't know, yet, about aliens from other planets. Still, this is a gigantic universe - so who are we to say that we're the only planet with life on it?'
'So then, why can't time travel be possible?' prodded Marty.
'Well, think about it,' George said, slowly. 'If we could travel through time, there would be a great risk for time paradoxes.'
'What's a time paradox?' asked Marty.
'Well, imagine that you went back to 1938,' explained George, 'and you killed me when I was a baby. That means, I would never have you - and, therefore, you couldn't have gone back in time to kill me.'
'Why would I want to kill you, Daddy?' Marty asked, confused.
'I was just using that for an example,' replied George, 'as to how a time paradox could happen. Basically, a paradox is a situation that contradicts itself.'
'Now I'm all confused,' Marty said, sighing.
Calvin, however, understood what his father meant. If you went back in time to change a major event, it could change the present in a major way.
'Well, here comes our pizza and breadsticks,' said Lorraine. 'Let's just eat, now - and we can talk later.'
Calvin smiled, as the waitress arrived at their table. One thing was certain. The major lightening storm of twenty years ago may have been a significant event to all Hill Valley residents - but that day couldn't have been more significant to anyone else but his parents. Well, except for maybe Dr. Brown. He made a mental note to ask Dr. Brown what he was doing on that day.