Author's Note: Remember Jackson Nero from my double feature episode "When Scientists Collide"? Well ever since the science-off, Jackson decided that something just wasn't right with the Brown family. There was something weird about them and he suspected that they were hiding something… please read and review.
Disclaimer: Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale wrote Back to the Future (Bob Gale wrote parts 2 and 3) and created the characters. THEY own the rights to the movies not me.
Hill Valley, California
October 20, 1992
11:21 AM
BOOM BOOM BOOM
The time train burst into the present year of 1992 with the classic sonic booms and sound of its whistle. It flew through the air and soared down towards the barn lab like it always did after time trips. The second time machine landed in the lab and the steps came down so the time travelers could exit.
Verne, Jules, Doc and Marty exited the time train all containing a buzz from the exciting time trip. They were all dressed in the gear Americans wore during the fighting of the Revolution. All of them were clad in blue uniforms and even had the hats with curly white wigs.
"My the American Revolution was certainly fascinating," Jules said happily, still clutching his notes.
"Yeah but the British weren't too happy about it," Marty said and paused to itch his head. His white wig was really annoying him and he yanked it off.
"Did you get all the notes you needed Jules?" Doc asked his son. Since his hair was already white he hadn't needed a wig. They had gone to 1770s so Jules could get some first-hand notes and observations on the Revolution for his report.
"Affirmative father!" Jules said and gave a thumbs up. "And I am sure my paper will be one worthy of being magnetized to the refrigerator."
"Speaking of the fridge," Verne piped up and rubbed his growling stomache. "I'm starved! Let's get something to eat."
The revolution observers headed out of the lab and towards the kitchen. Doc had recently invented a device that created sandwiches minus the mess. Clara, of course, was the queen of sandwich making but Doc didn't want to bother her with egg salad requests.
Right when they were about half-way to the house, Jackson Nero came running toward them. His eyes were wide and he seemed sort of jittery. Doc rolled his eyes and wished to god that that man had never moved in next door.
"I…I was raking leaves a few seconds ago," Jackson began. It was true because he still had a rake in his hand. "I looked up and saw a steam locomotive suddenly appear in the sky and fly into your barn."
Doc gulped and shared a look with Marty.
"Excuse me?" Doc asked, deciding to pretend like he hadn't heard his neighbor correctly.
"I saw a FLYING TRAIN Brown!" Jackson yelled, waving his arms so hard that the rake flew from his hands. "What's going on?"
"Well... um, perhaps you were hallucinating," Doc said. He reached up and smoothed his hair but just knocked the cap off of his head. Jackson saw the cap fall to the ground and now noticed the Brown's American Revolution clothing.
"Why are you wearing those clothes?" Jackson demanded and pointed at the blue uniforms. Doc looked down at his clothes and tried to think of a lie.
"Uh," Doc said but his mind was going blank.
"We were rehearsing for Jules and Verne's school play," Marty explained. "It's called 'The British are Coming' and we thought it would be more easier if we were in costume."
Jackson nodded when Marty had talked and seemed to buy the lie. He also seemed to be contemplating the idea that the Browns were actually practising for a play.
"Okay sure," Jackson said slowly and turned to leave. "Ta ta Bro-"
"Emmett!" a voice called from a few yards away.
They all turned to see Clara coming towards them. She had a small tray of freshly baked sugar-free cookies with her.
"Did you enjoy your time trip?" the wife asked before she bothered to notice Jackson. Doc, Marty, and the boys looked at her stricken. Clara then noticed Jackson and her eyes widened.
"Time trip?" Jackson repeated slowly.
"My wife means uh... the re-living of the American Revolution via scenes from the play," Doc stated and put a hand around his wife. He put the other arm around his sons and started herding them toward the house. "Goodbye Jackson."
Marty and the Browns fled the scene and practically ran to the safety of the Brown household. Jackson, however, remained where he was and stared after the family. His eyes were squinting and he had a scowl on his face. There was something funny about his neighbors... and not in the hilarious way.
Doc, Clara, the boys, and Marty were together in the kitchen with an uncomfortable silence. The boys and their mother were sitting at the table and Marty was leaning against a bare wall. Doc was pacing back and fourth in his nervous manner not saying a word. Finally he spoke up.
"That was much too close," Doc said.
"I'm so sorry Emmett," Clara apologized and shook her head in embarrassment. "I didn't notice Jackson before I asked-"
Doc cut her off right there.
"No, no, Clara it was not your fault," Doc assured. "Jackson has been getting more and more curious about us lately. Last week he kept calling me complaining of sonic booms and the flashes of light in night. Unfortunately his curiousness has become suspicion. Galloping Galileo it is such a bother to have gained a new neighbor!"
"How about we just erase Jackson's mind?" Marty suggested.
"Oh Martin that would not be a wise idea," Jules said from his place at the table. "The ELB Memory Wiper would erase his short-term memory but not his suspicion. Besides if Jackson woke up on his porch with a blank memory that would just make things worse."
"My bad," Marty said and shrugged. "Okay how about laying low."
"What do you mean Marty?" Clara asked.
"Resist going on time trips for awhile," Marty explained. "Then Jackson's suspicion will go down and he will stop bothering you guys."
"Yes temporarily stop the time trips and behave like a typical 90s family," Doc muttered and tapped his chin in thought. "Yes that would suffice."
Hill Valley, California
October 21, 1992
9:35 AM
Clara and the boys were situated in the kitchen eating a breakfast of scrambled eggs. Jules and Verne were seated at the table eating their eggs while they each read their individual readings. Jules had his new issue of National Geographic and Verne had a classic issue of Western Willy. They liked to read at the table but were only allowed to at breakfast.
"So boys what are you going to do today?" Clara asked. She was at the sink and furiously scrubbing a frying pan. Eggs always stuck to that thing like mud on a boot.
"We're going to toss the Frisbee around," Verne said after swallowing a mouthful of eggs. It was actually a bright sunny day today and the first sunny autumn day they had had in weeks.
"Sounds like fun but remember to wear your sweaters," Clara reminded. She looked up from the sink and out the window. Immediately she noticed something outside the Brown household.
A man in a white beard was walking to and fro in front of the Brown farmhouse. Even from the distance, Clara could see that he had puffy gray hair and a long thick beard like Santa Claus. Clara stared at the man walking in front of their house and called to her husband.
"Emmett!" Clara called without looking away from the window. "Come here please."
Doc came into the kitchen and went up to his wife. He had been trying to fix the television in the living room when his wife had called him.
"What's wrong?" Doc asked.
"There is a strange old man outside our house," Clara said and pointed out the window. Doc looked out too and saw the man walking to and fro. The scientist dug out his small binoculars from his lab coat's pocket and brought them up to his face.
All of a sudden Doc started laughing.
"It's Jackson," Doc said between chuckles and handed the binoculars to his wife. "He seems to be patrolling our house incognito."
It was true. Jackson had put on a wig and fake beard and was pretending to use a cane to walk in front of the Brown's house. The disguise wouldn't have been so unconvincing if he had bothered to wear different clothes. Jackson still had on his regular clothes and lab coat.
"Well he sure is odd," Clara remarked and started laughing a little too. "And he certainly isn't good at disguises is he?"
They both looked out the binoculars together to see Jackson again. The nosy neighbor took out a camera and released a flash of light as a picture was taken. He then pulled out a notebook and wrote something down.
Doc and Clara's smiles faded as they watched the man take more pictures.
0 0 0
Later, Doc was in the lab working on a new invention. He was having trouble however with attaching a shower head to it. Doc was inventing a Pet Washer/Groomer for his fateful dog Einstein. Jules and Verne would always forget to bathe Einstein and the scientist thought that this device would be helpful.
As he screwed on the different nozzles, Doc thought about the "Jackson Problem". He wondered how long his family would have to act "normal." It bothered him that they had to lay low just to protect the secret of the time machines.
Something else was bothering him right now too. This annoying buzzing sound kept gracing his ears while he was working. Doc tried to ignore it but it was consistent. Sometimes he would see some small flying object in the corner of his eye but the next second it would be gone.
Doc heard the buzzing louder and caught a glimpse at the object again. This time he decided to see exactly what it was. He whipped around but there was nothing behind him.
"Holy Marconi I must be hallucinating," Doc said and shook his head. He pushed the mystery out of his mind and went back to his work.
Meanwhile, Jules and Verne were playing a game of classic Frisbee. They were playing one of their made-up games where they would shout a name of a movie with each toss.
"I don't like this 'no time travel thing'," Verne said and tossed the Frisbee down low. "Home Alone!I wanted to go sail with pirates today but can't because of Mr. Skunkhead next door."
"I don't like it either sibling," Jules agreed and actually caught the frisbee. He had dropped the toy several times since they started the game. "Weird Science!"
Jules tossed the Frisbee high into the air and it soared over his brother's head. The boys watched it and expected the toy to keep going but something interrupted the flight. The frisbee had struck something in the air and knocked itself out. It fell to the ground and the boys looked up to see what had disturbed their Frisbee.
A bright yellow copter was hovering in the sky in front of Jules and Verne. It was a fairly large flying toy that looked like the one from the Hasbro commercial. The only difference was that this one had a built in camera lens in its side.
"It's recording us," Jules said and pointed to the coptor toy.
"Whoa," Verne said, a little interested in the toy. "Camera copter!"
The "camera copter" flew toward the boys and nose dived at them. Jules and Verne ducked to avoid being struck by the piece of plastic. The copter began circling them with more speed and the boys moved closer together. Just when it was diving down to hit them again, Verne picked up a bat and swung hard at the toy.
WHAM!
The camera copter was knocked out of the sky with Verne's hit. It dropped to the ground like an injured fly with its propellers broken. Jules picked the toy up and examined it closely.
"It has been modified to function as a spy device," Jules explained and he shared a look with his younger brother.
"Jackson," they said together.
"Man-o-man," Verne said and scratched his coon skin cap. "That skunkhead is getting more and more annoying."
The boys decided to take the camera copter to their father in the lab. They ran toward the barn and saw that their father was trying to push the DeLorean onto the elevator platform. He was sweating and their were sweat stairs on his shirt. The boys guessed that DeLoreans were heavier than they looked.
"Sons assistence please!" Doc asked, straining clear in his voice. Jules and Verne rushed over and began helping to push the car-turned-time-machine onto the elevator platform.
"Pop why are you moving the DeLorean?" Verne asked as they pushed from the hood of the car.
"Because Jackson is watching us and I don't want the time machine revealed on tape," Doc answered.
"You saw the camera copter too?" Verne asked and his father gave him a funny look.
"You mean that flying object? Yes I have," Doc said as they started pushing hard again.
"Father the copter was documenting us too," Jules revealed. "Verne destroyed it with a baseball bat, though. It is scary to think our neighbor is really watching us. Perhaps you should lock up the lab."
"Perhaps," Doc said. They finally got the DeLorean on the elevator platform and stepped back from it. Doc moved to his little control box and pulled the red lever. The platform began lowering slowly to the basement and the boys watched it before leaving the lab with their father. Doc quickly closed the doors behind them and hurried to the house with his sons.
Jackson sat on his knees as he observed the three male Browns leaving the lab.
"They must be hiding something good if those brats destroyed my camera copter," Jackson remarked out loud.
Later that afternoon, Clara was in the study dusty all of the books on the shelves. Her teaching manuals, Doc's science textbooks, their collection of Jules Verne novels, and the boys Goosebumps books, all collected dust like a magnet. The school teacher was kind of half dancing half dusting because she was listening to cassette player.
Clara wasn't quite good at memorizing lyrics so she just hummed along. When she finished the last row of books, she remembered that she had to clean the windows. Clara moved over to the window and yanked the curtains apart.
She let out a loud scream of surprise.
Jackson was pressed against the other side of the window. He apparently had been trying to see through the curtains and into the study. He too had been frightened and fell back from the window after Clara screamed.
The woman fled the study and bumped right into her husband in the hallway. Doc grabbed Clara and immediately noticed her frightened state.
"Clarabelle what is the matter?" Doc asked as he touched her cheek.
"Jackson was in the window," Clara informed and gestured to the study. "He was trying to peek in and gave me quite a fright. Emmett I don't like being spied on."
"I do not either, dear," Doc agreed.
0 0 0
Jackson sat in a lawn chair re-cooperating from sprinting back home after Brown's wife caught him. Biff Tannan was near him working on Jackson's truck. Jackson had hired the buffoon because he wanted his truck to look shiny if he could get a news crew down here. But so far, the man hadn't gotten any solid evidence of the Brown's weirdness.
"I cannot believe a skilled and smart person such as myself hasn't obtained evidence yet," Jackson said aloud and turned around. "Hey, watch it with the wax!"
Biff grunted and continued waxing Jackson's truck. Jackson turned back to his thoughts.
"I need to find a way to get in that barn," Jackson thought aloud and scratched his greasy hair. "But after being caught, Brown would most likely call the police if I were in his lab. However, if somebody else broke into their barn then it would seem like a random crime."
The conceited scientist was brought out of his loud thoughts when a greasy rag fell onto his face. He pulled the disgusting thing off of his face and tried to rub the excess oil off his skin. The rag must have slipped out of Biff's hands.
"You klutzy idiot!" Jackson yelled and faced Biff. "How dare you drop this wretched thing on my face! Why-"
Jackson stopped right there when he realized something. A creepy smile broke out on his face and he quickly changed his tune.
"Sorry for yelling," Jackson fake apologized. "Mr. Tannan I require more of your services."
"Okay," Biff said and crossed his arms. "But anything more than waxing is gonna cost ya."
Hill Valley, California
October 21, 1992
9:49 PM
Jackson and Biff were standing outside the Brown family farm. They both were dressed all in black like they were secret agents going to rob a museum. Jackson had handed Biff a camera and flashlight and was in the middle of telling him what to do.
"Okay I'll explain this again," Jackson said, his annoyance of Biff's stupidity growing. "I want you to go in Brown's barn and take pictures of anything you find strange or abnormal."
"Sure," Biff said and flicked on the flashlight. "Listen can I have the money up front."
"Just go!" Jackson yelled angrily and pointed to the barn. Biff started jogging over to the structure and entered the unlocked building. Jackson rubbed his hands together evilly, thinking that he would finally find out what his neighbors were hiding.
Biff moved around the lab and shined the flashlight on the machines and uncompleted inventions.
"Boy Brown sure has a lot of do-hickeys lying around," Biff commented and wandered further into the lab.
In the Brown house, Doc and Clara were sleeping fairly well in bed together. However, Clara's eyes popped open the second a loud bang was heard from outside. She sat straight up and turned over to her husband. Doc was snoring softly and she shook him gently.
"Emmett! Emmett!" Clara whispered urgently. Her husband bolted into a sitting position and looked around wildly.
"Wha- what?" the scientist asked but Clara put her hand over his mouth.
"Someone is outside," she whispered. "I heard a very loud noise and I know it was not the wind."
Doc got up and reached under the bed for something. He brought out a wooden baseball bat that served as their burglar weapon. With the bat in hand, Doc headed out of his bedroom with Clara following close behind.
The parents crept along the hallway as if expecting someone to jump out. The hallway was dark and the lightswitch had not been working for days. So, Doc and Clara walked along in the dark until they bumped right into two other people.
Everyone yelped and Doc swung the bat high over his head before he recognized the shadows.
"Jules? Verne?" Doc asked and brought the bat down safely to his side. Indeed his two sons were standing there in their pajamas.
"We heard noises," Verne said. He and his brother started following their parents downstairs in the quietest way possible.
No one was downstairs and the family heard another noise come from outside. Doc guessed that the source of disturbance was coming from the lab barn.
"I'm going out there to see what is happening," Doc said and opened the front door. Jules moved forward.
"Father let me come also," Jules said but his mother grabbed him and pulled him back with her and Verne. She obviously did not want her children out there with a possibly armed stranger.
"Be careful Emmett," Clara said as her husband went out the door.
Doc sprinted toward the barn as swiftly as he could. He did not want the stranger to hear him coming so he was sure to hardly make a sound. He reached his lab and saw the light of a flashlight move to and fro by the windows.
Doc crept to the side of the barn and ducked below the window. He didn't dare look inside because he knew the stranger would see him. So, the scientist crawled under the window line and toward a small metal box on the wall. It looked sort of like a circuit box people have in their basements. However this metal box was something Doc had created especially for the lab's security.
"Code red section C," Doc muttered as he typed in the number code. As soon as he was done, he shut the box and hurried away from the barn.
Biff was still inside the lab wondering how to get the stupid camera to work. He figured the thing must have been jammed or something and he was trying to pry it open. Biff was getting frustrated.
Suddenly a light breeze blew toward him.
"Hey that breeze feels nice," Biff remarked and quit fussing with the camera. The breeze continued to blow but it was getting stronger.
And stronger.
And stronger.
And stronger.
"Hey what's going on!" Biff yelled as the breeze turned into a forceful wind tunnel. He was blown off of his feet and backwards toward the entrance. Biff grabbed hold of a support pole and gripped for dear life. Too bad for him because the wind tunnel was still getting stronger and his hands were greasy.
With a shout, Biff lost his grip of the pole. He was blown backwards from the force of the wind tunnel toward the entrance of the lab. The wooden doors opened and Biff flew right through the open entrance. He kept going until gravity finally pulled him back to the ground. Fortunately, a bush broke his fall.
Doc had saw a person be blown out of his lab and ran over to the bush. He picked up the flashlight from the ground and shined it on the unconscious person.
"Biff Tannan?" Doc said aloud. "Why would Biff break into the lab, I thought for sure it would be J-"
Right there Doc figured it out.
He headed back to the house to tell everyone what happened.
Hill Valley, California
October 22, 1992
11:09 AM
Today had been a very busy morning. Doc and Clara had called the police to pick up Biff (whom had to face the consequences of breaking and entering), Doc had went over to Jackson's house and had warned the man that if he continued to bother his family then he would press charges. Hopefully that would scare the annoying neighbor off.
Right now, the Brown family was doing a little yard work. Jules and Verne were raking leaves and Clara was harvesting the very last of her home grown vegetables. Everyone was a little unnerved about what had happened last night so no one was laughing or even smiling.
Doc looked up from the garden and towards their neighbors house. Clara looked up to and followed her husband's gaze.
"Emmett do you think everything is going to be all right?" Clara asked. Doc didn't stop staring at the house next door when he answered.
"Yes," Doc said. "But I do think that we will have to be ninety percent more careful with the time machines. Time travel should remain an absolute secret."
END