Call Me Doc

Doc pushed the DeLorean door open, anxiously anticipating the brand new world of 2015. The second he laid eyes on the vast city that had grown in the last thirty years, he let out a theatrical gasp. Stunned speechless, he stepped out of the car and began to venture further. It was beautiful. There were cars flying high in the cloudless sky, moving across the sun like birds. Holographic images popped up here and there, advertising all kinds of different futuristic products. Young kids wore their pants inside out! As mentioned earlier, it was mind-blowingly beautiful.

Just then, the scientist thought he could hear A-ha's Take on Me playing faintly in the background. After following the sound, he gazed up at one of the newly-built buildings.

" Café '80's?" he said, reading the sign out loud. " What the hell?"

Wanting to kill his cat, the Doc went inside. A horde of teenagers were hanging around this place, sitting at the tables, happily gossiping away, downing Pepsi in oddly shaped bottles. Behind the counter were no staff members but '80's icons on TV screens that moved around. Doc's jaw dropped when he saw the recently deceased Michael Jackson appear on one as he sat in a chair by the counter.

" What is this place?" he asked himself, but then he was in for a surprise.

Two figures entered the café though Doc couldn't work out who they were. They both seemed inanely furious.

" I already told ya; I had nothin' to do with it!" the tall, tough-looking boy snapped.

" Don't lie to me!" the woman – presumably his mother – replied heatedly. " Mrs. Chapman saw you last night! Tell me again. Did you have anything to do with that McFly kid?"

" McFly's a loser. He deserved what he got," he muttered coldly.

The woman, her blue eyes filled with tears, let out a drawn out groan of exasperation. " Griff Tannen, you butthead!"

Griff? Tannen? Butthead? Hold on…The Doc whirled around and he saw that the boy looked almost identical to Biff, except with a few differences like the fact that he had brown eyes and lighter and shorter hair. He could also see the resemblance in the woman, who was identical to her father. He watched as the distraught woman was left broken-hearted as Griff stole someone's Pepsi and immediately left the café, rudely shoving passersby out of his way. The woman sat down beside Doc, paying no attention to him, and she ordered a very strong coffee. Even though she was a Tannen, the scientist couldn't help but feel sorry for her. He flashed a small smile, which she returned.

" You have kids?" she piped up.

" Uh, no. I guess I never had the time," he answered, chuckling slightly.

" Lucky you," she grumbled, staring into the bottom of her coffee cup. " As babies, they are great but then they grow up, they start to hate you, they don't listen to you, they end up going off the rails…and you can't do anything about it."

" Care to tell me what happened?"

The woman heaved a sigh. She didn't feel entirely comfortable with unloading her burdens on a complete stranger, but this old guy seemed such as a nice and kind person. She faced him and told him the whole, ugly story. " My Griff wasn't a bad kid when he was little. I had him when I was still a teenager and I never found out who his father is, so from the beginning it's always been a little hard, especially with discipline. How can you discipline a child when you're still one yourself? He hung out with his grandfather a lot of the time – they were really close – until he was about five years old when he got run over by a car. He broke his arm in several places and he got slightly brain damaged, so I had no choice but to pay for him to have bionic implants, which I don't think worked properly. After that, he completely changed. He turned nasty and started picking on his peers and everyone was afraid of him, including me and his grandpa. As he got older, he began hanging around with the wrong crowd and they all shoplifted and stuff. Then just yesterday, he bullied some kid into robbing a bank with him. I guess he needed a scapegoat in case he got caught. Now this kid's in jail – Barty or something, I think – and he didn't do anything wrong! Griff did it all, I know it! I just know it!" She sighed again, visibly becoming distressed.

" If only you could've stopped it from happening, huh?" Doc replied, wondering if it was possible to do so with the time machine.

" Exactly!" she said, slightly perking up. " I feel sorry for the family, mostly. The McFlys, I mean they're not as bad as everybody says. It's just that the dad has a really crappy job and doesn't earn that much money and they live in a dodgy neighbourhood and their kids get bullied. Now this has happened. It's really sad."

" The McFlys? As in…Marty McFly?" he asked slowly, devastated to hear what had become of his best friend and his future family.

The woman nodded her head, her light brown curls bouncing as she did so. " Yeah. Them."

Doc smiled. " What if I told you I could…you know, sort it out? In a manner of speaking."

" What do you mean?" the woman asked, curiously.

" Oh, I don't know. I could go back in time and stop it," he answered casually.

" Who are you?" she whispered. Then her mind was cast to when she was a young girl with a toddler on her hip. " You're that guy my dad told me about! The freakazoid who thought he was a scientist!"

Doc rolled his eyes, instantly recognising Biff's snide words. " Not in so many words but OK. Well, I am a scientist and I invented a time machine, in which I can prevent this incident from ever occurring!"

Miss. Tannen looked at him as if he was mad, but smiled at the thought of being able to go back in time and change history. " Why would you do that for a stranger?"

The Doc shrugged. " To be honest, I like you. Despite the fact that you're a Tannen. You're not like the rest of them."

She scoffed. " Ya got that right," she admitted. " My dad was a complete butthead when I was a kid. It wasn't until I got pregnant I got back into contact with him. Even now he can still be inconsiderate." There was a brief pause until she went on to say, " You'd really do this for me?"

" Yeah, why not?"

A wide, toothy grin of gratitude spread across her face. " Thanks. I'm Jayne, by the way."

" Call me Doc."