DISCLAIMER: I do not own BTTF. If I did, the movies would be 10 hours long instead of 2.
The following is a possible account of what happened that day. Ever since I first started watching BTTF, this always confused me. Why George was in his work clothes, and Biff had his car. I also wanted to incorporate him and Lorraine into the story a little more, as with Biff. We don't honestly learn a lot about them in 1985. Also, notice the names of some of the minor characters, as well as a few other subtle jokes.
Friday, October 25th, 1985.
6:27 AM.
Hill Valley, California.
"They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating, and from what I've seen, I believe 'em. Now, the old boy may be barely breathin', but the heart of rock 'n roll, heart of rock 'n roll is still beatin!"
The chorus of this Huey Lewis hit woke Marty McFly as the sun was barely starting to rise. The teen groggily came to life in one of his normal outfits; a red T-shirt, purple Calvin Klein's, and blue Guess jeans. Marty's love for rock, especially Huey Lewis, was evident with a large poster from Huey's latest album, Sports, hanging on Marty's wall. However, this morning, he wished the heart of rock and roll could beat silently. Within seconds, though, Marty couldn't help but to sing along to the song that was broadcasting from Sacramento's AOR station, 93.7 (93 Rock) from 70 miles away.
"L.A., Hollywood, and the Sunset Strip, is something everyone should see. Neon lights and the pretty, pretty girls-"
The teen looked at the clock, and talked aloud as he often did. "6:30, damn! Guess I gotta get up. Can't forget to stop by Doc's place before school," he said to himself at normal speaking volume, slowly walking toward the nearest bathroom just down the hallway.
Unfortunately, for him, he'd killed too much time showering and getting ready. It was already 7:15 as he walked into the kitchen, noticing his father at the table.
George McFly was already wearing his work clothers: a plain white dress shirt and tie. He looked to be slowly eating Rice Krispie's cereal, one of his favorite breakfasts. He was also half-heartedly working on a few papers, and one could easily get the impression he didn't enjoy whatever it was.
"Morning, dad. Getting ready for work?"
It took the man a couple seconds to respond. "Oh, good morning son."
"Hey, I wondered if you could, ya know, drop me off at Doc's place this morning? If we take off soon, I'll still have enough time before school," Marty asked, although he figured he could possibly skate to his scientist friend's garage to practice some chords on his amplifier. Normally, he would just cut it close himself and wouldn't care much about being at school on time. However, in the past week, he'd gotten three tardies in a row (and a fourth meant a detention).
"I would, but, uhh, Biff wanted me to turn these reports in yesterday, so I better finish it and get into work before he gets upset with me," his father shrugged.
Marty took a step back and sighed in disappointment. He was more than used to Biff bullying his dad around, so this wasn't exactly an unexpected answer, but he still was upset hearing it.
"Dad, come on. If you don't have time to drop me off, that's fine, but what are you doing this for? That's his work, the guy's gotta learn to do it himself. Why can't you just please tell him to back off?"
George couldn't disagree, but didn't feel comfortable doing things any different.
"I don't know, son, I'm just doing him a favor," the shaky, slightly high voice said, looking down, mulling over a few figures.
Marty interrupted. "Why do him favors? He's a jerk. I mean, when was the last time he did anything nice for you?"
Deep inside, he agreed with his younger son, but didn't see any point in arguing over something he was used to. "Yes, but I can't afford to get in trouble at work. You know how he gets when he's mad, so I just as soon do it the easy way."
Before Marty could protest further, Lorraine came into the living area looking slightly depressed, as she had been lately. Ever since getting fired from her job as secretary at the Social Services building (located in the old Courthouse) a few weeks earlier for drinking, she hadn't been happy about life in general and often took it out on her family. Not to say she was ever June Cleaver, but she still tried to at least find some things to be happy about, even if that was almost nothing recently.
"Marty, are you about to run off to school like that? You know you can't go on an empty stomach," she told her younger son.
"Thanks mom, but if I'm gonna eat, it'll have to be fast. I gotta stop at Doc's. I haven't seen him all week.
Although Lorraine had grown to accept her son's somewhat unorthodox meeting and friendship with the much older man for the past three-and-a-half years, in the back of her mind, she still didn't like it, for her own reasons.
"Not more about him, Marty. I know you two are close, but don't you think it's a bit strange for you to be friendly with him like that? You already have other friends closer to your age. If he was 25 or 35, that would be different, but not 65!" she said, still rambling as she started up on breakfast. "He was almost 50 before you were even born. What could you have in common with him?"
Marty didn't want to have to say the same thing a million times to different people. Why can't everyone else just get it? Sure, Doc is a bit older, but he's a million times more interesting than anyone here is.
"Mom, do we have to talk about this again? So what if he's like 45 years older than me. Remember when he used to pay me for helping him out? Sure it was nice having money, but I did it because I wanted to, just 'cause he's a great guy. He still helps me out with homework, too."
Lorraine relented a little at that. "I know he's a nice man, but I just think it's strange how much time a teenager spends with him. Besides, I thought you didn't even like science. In Elementary school, you told me it was for boring people." Turning to look through the kitchen opening at the dining room table, she asked, "What do you think, George?"
George heard stories that everyone had, about so-called crazy old Doc Brown. He however knew Marty had nothing but good things to say about him, and often affirmed that he wasn't crazy, but just misunderstood and a bit lonely. George himself had felt like an outcast many times, so he could identify with that. As usual though, he never took sides against anyone, so he answered Lorraine sheepishly.
"Well, I think Doc is okay, but I haven't talked to him that much, so I, I can't be too sure."
Lorraine knew she wasn't going to get any support from George, so she brought up a subject that no one particularly liked; her 32 year-old brother Joey. He was due up for parole that day for a drug possession conviction four years earlier. Aside from his biggest sister, no one in the house particularly liked him.
Dave & Linda came stumbling out of their rooms, at almost the same time.
"Good morning you two," she said casually before raising her voice slightly, so as to be heard by everyone. "Listen, kids, Uncle Joey might be getting parole today. He's going to be staying here for the weekend and I expect him to feel welcome. I'm baking him a cake this afternoon."
Marty was getting impatient by now, just itching to take off. He quickly said his piece, "I know he's not perfect, but why does he have to stay here, in my room, no less? What if when I'm gone out with J--the guys--camping tomorrow, he decides to steal one of my albums, or look through my desk?"
"Martin Seamus McFly, he just made a few mistakes in the past. He's family and I don't want you or anybody else to talk about him that way," Lorraine said, tensing up a little.
He quickly backed off, knowing when his full name was used, it was usually serious. Dave had to say something though. "I always get the creeps whenever that guy is here. Ya know, every family has got a black sheep, mom; Joey's as big as a donkey!" He laughed at his own silly, yet mean-spirited joke, acting like a class clown as he often did.
Linda didn't always get along with her two brothers, but shared in their loathing for Joey staying at their house. "Yeah, how do we even know what he does all the time? What if he gets busted for coke tomorrow? Are you still gonna bail him out and let him crash here?"
Lorraine got a little more annoyed, just wanting some support. She felt like she was the only one who had any feelings for this member of their family. In fact, the way she felt about Joey was not unlike how Marty felt about Doc.
Dave interrupted her train of thought yet again. "You know what else is sad? The dude is ten years older than me and I already make more than he does working the drive-thru!"
"Shut up everyone!" Lorraine said, finally near-yelling. "Joey is staying here, like it or not, and I'm going to welcome him into our home, even if no one else cares to!" Oddly enough, despite her (especially recent) short temper, she rarely actually yelled – usually speaking in more of a semi depressed lecture tone – so everyone froze in their tracks, knowing she was seriously annoyed now.
Marty offered a quick and low, but sincere, "Okay, mom, I'm off it, I understand." The sentiment seemed mutual from everyone. George laughed nervously and backed up his chair a little. He didn't want the tirade to continue, so he offered a quick solution.
"Uhh, Lorraine, couldn't we let Joey stay on the couch? It does fold out into a bed. That's where Marty's friends have stayed before," he said, unsure of himself.
Always the first to defend his semi dorky father, Dave said, "Yeah, pop is right. I think that bed is in perfect shape, huh? Joey oughta be fine with it!"
After a few calmer minutes, Marty looked at the clock and noted it was 7:26. He could no longer take this if he had any hope of getting to school on time. He grabbed his red backpack, Valtera skateboard and guitar before leaving.
"I've really gotta go! Bye, see you guys tonight," he said, running out the front door and skating off, not even stopping to shut the door behind him.
George had been distracted again by the recent commotion and lost track of where he was with the papers. He didn't know what time Biff would be at work, but George didn't want to chance it. He thought if he left now, he'd have some time at the office to catch up on everything. Besides, right now, he would almost rather work around Biff than risk anything that would make his wife angry (which would scare him a little. She was head of the household in a way!). He clumsily grabbed his keys, a few papers and a big briefcase before heading to the front door, still left open by a rushed-off Marty.
"We're having that big conference, you know, and I want to be there before Biff arrives. I have to go too," George said, greeted with a half-hearted goodbye, as did his two other kids, as he briskly walked out.
