Disclaimer: The characters of Marty McFly and Marty McFly Jr. and all other mentioned canon characters belong to Universal Studios. Certain quotes that appear also belong to Universal and Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II writer Bob Gale. I merely own this vignette.


Vignette Seven: Questions and Answers

"Welcome to the Café 80's, where it's always morning in America…"

"I want to watch Power Rangers and CSI!"

"Those ancient telecasts? No way!"

"Gimmie the remote, Marlene!"

The boy made a mad grab for the remote control, but sent the potatoe chip sized object into the air. Marlene stalked after it, giving her brother the death glare. From this viewpoint it really reminded the father of his sister. They grow up so fast, he thought. He and his siblings hadn't been at each other's throats until their twenties. Times were changing.

"Jesus, he looks just like me…"

There was that word again. Time had gone against him and gone with him. It was enemy and friend. Marty looked over at the TV screen, in the corner was a digital clock. Again, time. He read the time of day and the date.

October 21, 2014

Yup, in one whole year it would happen. The trip to the future, or the present. That morning, he had called up the Doc. They spent a whole hour talking about whether or not he should keep watch. The answer had been a fair no. Even Jules agreed and he was already a Doc too.

Times were changing.

"Ace, watching a little TV for a change…"

Marty put down his coffee cup and rubbed his forehead. His hair was still there and not going anywhere. It was not a greased-up retro mess. He listened to the memory of Jennifer telling him a complete recap of her view of the future. He almost threw up the first time he heard it. Him and his son like that? It brought up more memories actually.

"Dad, did it ever occur to you to say no?"

His father refused to make any kind of eye contact. "Look son, uh, I know it's hard for you to understand but the fact is, I'm just not a fighter."

Marty was exasperated, but took another wack at it. Although, he couldn't do it without groaning. "Try it once, okay? For me, just say no. N. O. No."

The front door opened and Marty thought it was perfect timing.

"Hey McFly," Their neighbor greeted quickly. His daughter stood next to him, dressed up like she was pitching an ad for Babe Ruth Munchies. "My kid's selling peanut brittle for her team. It's five dollars a box and I put you down for a case. Okay?"

Marty rolled his eyes at how the "Okay?" was more like a demand than a question. Jeez, people around here sure knew how to work Dad. Too easily: Just put a little force in your voice and his tail will go between his legs. Last month, Marty caught his father washing the windows of Mrs. Lander's house while she sat in a lawn chair reading Cosmo. Yup, no guidebook had to be written. Now George had the perfect opportunity. Maybe, just maybe he'd grow a pair in the next two seconds. Marty nearly found himself actually praying.

"Well, um…" George started.

Marty answered the needed answer in his head: Say it. No. Nope. Sorry, no. No way in hell. No. Buzz off. No. Everyone hates peanut brittle. No. NO!

"… Okay."

Marty shook his head. This is the last time, he thought. I'm never trying that again, he's a lost cause.

That was before the change. The Doc had described it as: "A new alternate timeline existing as a result of temporal interruption caused by your initial visitation to 1955." To which he, after all these years, replied with: "In English, Doc." The translation to actual words turned out to be something Marty had learned about in seventh grade.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

It made more sense now than it did in seventh grade. He went there, screwed up, fixed it, then went home. Yeah, went home to a totally new family. At first, he had to put on an act whenever Mom asked how Jennifer was or whenever someone came up to him and asked if Dad had written anything about wormholes yet. Marty was the one that felt like he was in a wormhole. It took a month to get used to the "new" McFlys. Doc was the same, Jennifer was the same, and the Pinheads were the same. That was a mercy from space-time.

"Dad?"

Marty stopped rubbing his forehead to see his own son two inches from him. "Jesus!" He launched backward so far that his head smacked against the wall.

"Are you okay?" His son asked.

There was the kid. His kid. Marty Seamus McFly Jr. in flesh and bone. He wasn't a memory anymore, or a prediction. He was full fledged reality.

"He's a complete wimp…"

"Dad!" The boy said with more urgency. "I asked if you were okay?"

"Yeah," Marty said, now massaging the back of his head. A bump was throbbing into growth. "I'm fine. I was just thinking."

"'Bout what?" Marty Jr. asked. He plopped down next to him on the couch.

"'Bout time." Marty answered.

"'Bout time for what?"

"No, I was thinking about just time." Marty said. "And space."

Marty Jr. gave his father a weird look. "Doc getting some science into you?"

Marty laughed. "Trust me, I'm a music lover through and through. I was just, well, remembering something that made me think about time and the future…"

"Hello? Hello? Anybody home?" The old geezer version of Biff Tannan growled as his fisted cane did the knocking for him. "Huh? Think McFly! Think! Your old man, Mr. Loser?

"What?" Marty asked. How could Dad turn out a loser again after all he went through?

"That's right," Biff sneered as he sat down. "Loser with a capital L."

"Look, I-I happen to know George McFly is not a loser-" Marty began, his head throbbing then too.

"I'm not talking about George McFly, I'm talking about his kid!" Biff said, somewhat anxious to get to his planned insult. "Your old man, Marty McFly Sr.? The man who took his life and flushed it completely down the toilet."

Marty felt his heart sink, his mind go blank, and his whole body turn numb. Him? That was what happened to him in the future? And the way Biff said it was like he was repeating a bad review of a movie he hated. More questions came and the one who could answer them was off doing unknown that raised other questions. It took long to recover from that, but he knew he was on a mission.

"I-I did?" He muttered, then caught himself. "I mean- he did?"

What he didn't know then had been told to him. It wasn't a dream. It was a warning. One that was so damn obvious that it really shook him up when it finally sunk in.

"Grandma, when it's ready, could you just shove it in my mouth?"

"Don't be a smartass!"

Oh God…

It was a curse! McFly sons and McFly fathers just never seemed to get it right. There were cowards and screw-ups. All awkward. The first time he met his son, all he could think of was one word: George. It was frightening to know that his future (now present) son had been so screwed up that he ended up a reincarnation of George Douglas McFly. At least, in the old timeline. Well, that wasn't going to happen this time. He knew this since he was seventeen and it was re-asserted every October 21st.

"Hey Dad, Huey Lewis is up for hologram feed. You wanna watch it?" Marlene asked from the floor. She was laying on her stomach and was glued to the TV screen and its various screens.

Not with her either.

"Sure." Marty said and slipped an arm around his son. Marty Jr. gave him a weird look, in his mind, he was a little too old to be hugged by his old man. He gave his father a look but then leaned against Marty's shoulder while Huey Lewis and the News sounded through the room.