The Return of the Doc

It had turned midday by the time Marty had finally set off to see his old friend. He would have liked to set off sooner if it weren't Mom insisting that he should eat something before he left the house. So after chewing a sandwich as fast as he could, Marty ran out of the house grabbing a jacket and his skateboard.

Skating down the street he felt like he did in the old days when he went to visit Doc after school or at weekends. He could have driven there with his black truck, after all he could get to his destination a lot faster by driving, but his instinct made him take the skateboard instead. Thinking of Doc he wondered how long he had been home and what adventures he had with Clara and the kids. Marty couldn't wait to tell Jennifer that he was back, and at least now he wouldn't have to keep the time travelling a secret. He had told her everything that had happened the year before, which she could only believe because she had witnessed some of the adventures herself.

As he came to the end of a road he saw Doc's house. Marty had avoided passing by since Doc had left since the sight of the place made him miss his friend even more, but now the house looked welcoming again. As he approached the end of drive Marty stopped, placing one foot at the end of the skateboard it moved upwards as he grabbed it with one hand and opened the gate to the house with his other.

He walked towards the front door, stood a moment, and then knocked. There was no response, so he knocked again. Waiting a few minutes he came to the conclusion that there was no life coming from within the building.

A little doubt crept over him. Had the letter he received been genuine? Maybe it was some prank and he allowed himself to believe it. Looking down at the doormat he was standing on, he knew that there was a spare key that lay underneath it. Maybe he could go inside the house and have a look just to be sure.

Taking a step back he moved the mat over. It wasn't exactly the most secure place to hide a spare key but it sure came in handy. Seizing it he turned the key in the lock and the door opened.

'Hello?' Marty called as he stood at the door, 'Doc?'

Looking around he could see no one. Taking a step inside it appeared that there had been no one living in the place for ages. Disappointment spread through Marty as he realised Doc hadn't returned after all. The letter he confirmed must have been a prank after all. Looking around the room memories sprang back to his mind, he remembered how he first met Doc. He had a small advertisement in the local paper asking for an assistant to help him out with experiments for a few hours a week. Not for one second did Marty think he would get a response when he applied for the job, but when he rang Doc seemed enthusiastic enough. Then the rest was history.

Although he admired the Doc a lot for his intelligence, he had never thought he was capable of making a time machine. It was nearly a year now that the time travelling adventures had taken place, but it felt like a lot longer to Marty. Moving towards the desk full of Doc's old paper work he started to look through them; most of it didn't make sense to him but it was obvious it was for some random scientific experiment Doc had come up with at the time. He wondered if there was any paper work kicking around that was for the time machine.

He was going to start looking when suddenly there was a noise coming from the other side of the room. Marty hadn't noticed but there was a boy standing at the doorway.

'Dad there's some strange man in our house.' called the faired haired boy.

'A strange man?' asked a rather familiar voice.

Marty stood up now as an older man appeared now appeared at the door.

'Marty!'

A smile spread across his face as he replied 'Good to see you Doc.'

Walking past his son, Doc moved towards Marty smiling as they hugged each other. He looked a little older than the last time they had met, but other than that he hadn't changed at all.

'It's been a while.' said Doc as they withdrew from the embrace.

'You can say that again.' laughed Marty.

'I didn't hear you come in. Have you been here long?'

'No not really. I did knock but no one answered.'

Doc turned towards his son who was still watching from the doorway, 'Verne didn't you hear him knocking on the door?'

'I didn't know who he was. You were upstairs and I didn't want to answer.' he said, his cheeks going red.

'It's ok,' replied Marty, 'I would have been the same if some random guy I didn't know was knocking on my door.'

At that Verne smiled and didn't look embarrassed anymore.

'Well this is my good friend Marty,' smiled Doc looking from his son to him, 'you met him in 1985 but you may have been too young to remember properly.'

'I remember now.' said Verne, 'we met him at the railway track, and you gave him a photograph.'

'That's right.'

'Where did you go when you left?' asked Marty, 'Have you been home long?'

'I'll answer your questions all in good time,' replied Doc, 'but first we must wait till Clara has come home with Jules. She has made a cake especially for you, she's a great cook.'

'Get out of town! You're telling me you went all the way to France?' exclaimed Marty nearly choking on his piece of cake.

'Precisely,' Doc said matter of fact as he sat opposite him, 'you know how me and Clara love Jules Verne. Well we wanted to experience the culture he lived in. So we journeyed to France and went back in time to the 1870's'.

'It was wonderful.' sighed Clara, 'I got to shake his hand…'

'You met him?'

'Yes, only briefly.' replied Doc, 'He was in a hurry so we told him how much we loved his work then let be on his way.' Marty smiled as he imagined Doc and Clara asking Jules Verne for his autograph.

'So are you guys back for good now?' he asked hopefully.

'Yes,' answered Doc, 'we figured that we needed to settle for the sake of Jules and Verne. Plus although I love travelling I do get home sick from time to time.'

'So what's happened to the time machine?' he asked curiously.

'I've dismantled it; a train is not very practical since it will cause attention in this time period.' he paused as he took a bite of his own cake, 'But I am currently working on building a time machine out of another Delorean. Then at least Clara and the kids can go back and visit the old West if they want to.'

'Sounds good to me Doc. Just be more careful with the time machine this time, OK?'

Laughing he answered, 'Don't worry Marty, you won't have to time travel again.'

How wrong he was.