Stranger in a Hat
A/N: This is a small fic about a minor scene from BTTF2 which has always captivated me...the scene of the two Docs meeting! This is from the POV of the 1955 Doc...and also includes his later realisation of the stranger's true identity...
Saturday, November 12th, 1955
Dr. Emmett Brown was standing on the street in the Town's Square that ran past the famed Clock Tower, furiously at work upon what would undoubtedly be the greatest, most extraordinary experiment of his life...
Time travel!
The past week had been simply...amazing beyond belief!
To think...that he would live to see 1985! That he would invent an actual honest-to-God time machine! Out of a futuristic sports car no less!
It was staggering...beyond his wildest dreams! Just to think that that little accident of his in the bathroom would lead to such great things...
But then of course there was the sobering fact that his new invention (well, technically, not yet his invention) had already endangered the space-time continuum by stranding one Marty McFly in 1955. And now, even as Marty sought to undo the damage he'd inadvertently done to the probability of his very own existence by ensuring that his parents fell in love at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, Doc was doing his level best to ensure that Marty wouldn't do any more damage to the timeline by harnessing the power of a lightining bolt to send the teenager back to the future.
Doc simply couldn't wait to see the outcome of this experiment at precisely 10:04 pm...especially considering that so far, the preparations for it had been relatively mundane. More like some kind of strange 'weather experiment' than anything else.
He suddenly realised that he needed a five-eighths inch wrench. From the corner of his eye, he noticed someone standing a little distance of, close to the curb...fortunately enough, very close to where his toolbox was.
"Excuse me, sir", he called out.
The stranger seemed to be startled at the sound of his voice. "Yes, you in the hat", Doc continued, ignoring the man's reaction.
"Who...me?" the stranger asked in a soft voice.
"Yeah...Be a pal and hand me a five-eighths inch wrench from the toolbox", he said.
"Uh, five eighths...don't you mean...three quarters", the stranger in the hat replied in the same hesitant tone.
"Why...", Doc said, looking at his handiwork on the lamppost. Dammit, the stranger was right! It was a pretty stupid mistake...but perhaps a forgivable one given his extreme sense of anxiety and anticipation this night. "...you're right", he admitted.
"I presume", the stranger continued, "walking backwards towards the lamppost, wrench in hand, "you're conducting some sort of weather experiment".
"That's right", Doc said, taking the wrench from the man, surprised at this second lucky guess of the stranger. Though he supposed it would be the obvious assumption, given all the wires. After all, no one could possibly guess he was attempting a time travel experiment of all things! "How did you know that?" he asked out of curiosity nevertheless.
"Oh", said the stranger, whose voice Doc now felt sounded oddly familiar, gripping the cable that was connected to the lamp-post. "I happen to have had a little experience in this area..."
Must be a scientist then, Doc thought to himself. Yes, that made sense. The stranger was a fellow scientist of some sort. How else could he have known the right wrench size? Though of course, he was sure that the stranger could never in a million years possibly guess the true purpose of this particular 'weather experiment'!
Speaking of which...Doc looked up at the sky. There certainly didn't seem to be much indication of the fact that Hill Valley would be seeing its worst thunderstorm later that night. "Yes", he said to the stranger, "Well I'm hoping to see some lightining tonight, although the weatherman says there's not going to be any rain". It was true; the weather bulletin had not been very promising, though Marty had assured him that the information on that flyer he'd brought with him from 1985 was accurate.
"Oh there's going to be plenty of rain alright", the oddly familiar stranger assured him. "Wind, thunder, lightining", he said in a tone of absolute certainty. "It's going to be one hell of a storm!"
"Well", Doc said, looking down again, "Thanks. Nice talking to you". He went back to his work. "Maybe we'll bump into sometime each other again sometime in the future", he added casually, though somewhere in the back of his mind, he was starting to become truly curious about this mysterious stranger, this fellow scientist who also conducted 'weather experiments'...
"Or in the past", the stranger said softly and cryptically, as he slowly walked away, mounted his bicycle, and rode off into the night. Doc turned around and stared at his retreating figure, wondering if he'd heard the stranger's words correctly. Or in the past, they echoed in his head. What a weird choice of words! There was something strange...something oddly familiar about the man that he couldn't quiet place...
Oh well, Doc thought, perhaps he would bump into the man sometime in the future. For now, though he had a job to do...and there was no time for idle speculation...
ooo
Doc wasn't sure exactly when he realised it. Perhaps, deep down inside, he'd always known. Or perhaps at least guessed. Looking back, it seemed really obvious...the wrench, the mention of the 'weather experiment', the oddly familiar voice, the certainty about the storm, and the final cryptic comment about the past...
Yes, in retrospect, it really didn't take a genius level intellect to figure it all out...and yet the prospect being so unbelievable...he hadn't really tried to accept the obvious, if stupefying, answer!
Was it when Marty had told him about how his 1985 counterpart had come back to 1955 with him? Was that when he accepted the fact that he knew? Perhaps not...in the days that followed he had been too preoccupied with repairing the time vehicle and sending Marty back to 1885. But later perhaps, when the dust had (quiet literally!) settled on that Drive-in theatre, when he'd had the time for quiet contemplation and reflection...perhaps then he had started to see the light?
But somehow Doc knew it was something he would take a lot of time to get used to. He remembered Marty telling him, on his 'second visit', about how staggering it had been to see himself at the Enchantment under the Sea dance. But he, Emmett Brown, had gone even further than that! To think...that he had actually spoken to himself...had carried out a conversation with a thirty year older version of himself! It was quiet simply beyond all belief! 'Heavy', as Marty would put it.
And now he wondered how the other him had felt during those moments, talking to his younger self? How would he feel talking to himself, thirty years younger, and actually being aware of the fact? And did his older self remember...well, what he now remembered? Probably not, since he had been from another timeline. And what about him? Would he remember it, when the time came? But how could he, if he and his older self were one and the same, and his older self had likely not remembered?
These, like so many other questions, would only be truly answered thirty years from now when he actually invented the time machine he'd already sent through time twice now.
This...curiosity...of meeting his other self, was yet another reason why October 26th 1985 couldn't come soon enough for him...