9:10 PM PST
"Home sweet home!" called out Doc, as soon as the DeLorean broke the time barrier. "Why don't we just leave the DeLorean here for right now, and I'll drive it to my lab a little later? I'm sure you're all feeling a bit cramped by now."
"Yeah, I certainly am," replied Clara, sighing. "I can hardly wait to see more of what the world is like in 1985."
Doc opened up the gullwing doors. Clara stepped out right away, followed by Marty and Jennifer. They all stretched, as they were so relieved to be out of the car.
After Doc had parked the DeLorean behind some trees, Marty asked, "So where do we go, now?"
"I suppose we should head over to my garage," suggested Doc. Turning to Clara, he said, "That's where I live. It's not a very big place - but I'll try to find us a house, later."
"How about just renting an apartment?" Marty suggested.
"Well, no, that would be impractical," replied Doc. "I wouldn't be able to do my scientific experiments in an apartment - and there would be no place to hide the DeLorean. It's better to find a house. I have plenty of money."
"Well, in a way," mused Marty, "it will be strange to think of you no longer living in your garage. Still, now that Clara is with us, I guess you two will need a bigger place to live."
Clara was looking around, taking in the surrounding of this futuristic era. "So, Emmett, this is the future?"
"That is correct," replied Doc. "How do you feel about it so far?"
"Well, it's, uh, interesting," stammered Clara. "This world is definitely advanced, even beyond what Jules Verne could have predicted. I suppose I could get used to living here, though."
oooooooooo
As the quartet were heading closer to the Burger King, Marty felt his mouth watering.
"I don't know about you," Doc said, sighing, "but I'm feeling rather hungry."
"Yeah, I could go for a burger right now," Marty replied. Then, turning to Clara, he added, "I suppose you never ate a hamburger sandwich before? Am I correct?"
"Yeah, I'm not sure what they are," Clara replied. "So that's what this place serves? I have a feeling it might take me a little while to get used to the food of this era."
"I guess I haven't really thought too much of this before," Jennifer said, stunned. "So shall we head over to Burger King, now?'
"I suppose I'll try a hamburger sandwich," said Clara. "What is it like to cook food in this era? Do you still have to light up a stove, and cook on it?'
"You'll probably find cooking to be a lot easier now," Doc replied, "even though my culinary skills were never the greatest. The stoves run on electricity, though - so it's a lot easier to adjust the temperature."
"That does sound very convenient," Clara replied. "I must say that these carriages are a lot noisy, though. Also, I don't like the smell of the smoke."
"I'm sure you'll get used to it rather quickly," Jennifer said, smiling. "Each era comes with it's pros and cons, I'm sure. Anyway, we'll help you adjust."
"Yeah, it's really amazing how much things have changed in the last century," mused Marty. "I must say, it sure feels good to be back here in good ol' 1985. I think I want to take a little break from time travelling. I never thought I would say this, but I kind of am looking forward to going back to school, tomorrow."
"It is rather surprising to hear you say that, Marty," Jennifer said, smiling.
"Well, I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing Strickland again," Marty said, with a sigh. "I mean, I had to deal with him back in 1955, as well."
"So Mr. Strickland was pretty much the same in 1955?" Jennifer asked, stunned.
"Yeah, just about," Marty replied. "I tend to wonder if that guy ever had any hair."
"That is so impressive," Clara said, stunned. "Marshall Strickland had a head full of hair. I remember that his favourite word was 'discipline'. He was also telling his son to remember that word. So is Mr. Strickland a school teacher, like me?"
"No, he's the school principal," replied Marty, sighing. "Schools are really a lot bigger in this era, then they were in your era. You also have to have schooling, in order to become a teacher."
"Wow, the times sure have changed!" gasped Clara. After the quartet stepped into Burger King, Clara looked around with a very stunned expression.
oooooooooo
Later that night, Doc and Clara were cleaning up the garage a bit. Doc felt as though he was on cloud nine. He has finally found true love. He had to admit that he would really miss this garage, but he did need a bigger home for Clara and himself.
"I must say, Emmett," Clara said, coyly, "it will probably take some time for me to get used to this era. It'll all be worth it, though, for you."
"I hope you don't mind staying here for a few days," Doc said, softly. "I have some business that I need to take care of. I also need to confess that, in order to fuel the time machine, I had to make a deal with some Libyan terrorists - for them to steal some plutonium for me."
"Plutonium?" Clara asked, stunned. "What on earth is plutonium, and why couldn't you have just bought it yourself? You should no that it's wrong to steal."
"Yeah, I know that," Doc said, sighing, "and I realize that it wasn't exactly the wisest decision to make. I really needed a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity that I needed to power the flux capacitor."
"What on earth is a gigawatt?" Clara asked, with confusion.
"It's a measurement of electricity," Doc explained. "By the early 21st century, there will be something invented called Mr. Fusion. It's a very effective way of getting rid of waste and powering the flux capacitor at the same time. Here, let me show you."
Clara then followed Doc outside, and they walked over to where the DeLorean was. Doc lifted up the lid of the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor, and he started to grab some old banana peelings.
"We really don't need these banana peelings," Doc explained, "so I'll just drop these into the Mr. Fusion. The Mr. Fusion will then generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity into the flux capacitor."
"Now where would this flux capacitor be?" asked Clara.
"It's right over here," Doc explained, as he opened up the gullwing doors and showed Clara the y-shaped device. "You see, November fifth of 1955 was the day that I invented time travel. I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock, the porcelain was wet. I slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink. And, when I came to, I had a revelation of the flux capacitor,' He pointed towards y-shaped device again. 'This is what makes time travel possible."
"That's very amazing, Emmett," Clara breathed. "So Marty and Jennifer are at home, now? I would like to meet their families, sometime."
"I'm quite sure that could be arranged," replied Doc, smiling. "They both have school tomorrow, though. Marty has a tendency to be late for school a lot, so Mr. Strickland tends to really be down on him. Of course, I'm not exactly on his list of The Top Ten Favourite Hill Valley residents, either. In fact, he doesn't approve of the fact that we hang out together."
"What does Mr. Strickland have against you?" Clara asked, with concern.
"He thinks I'm a nutcase," Doc said, shaking his head sadly. "Unfortunately, he's not alone in his opinion. It seems like quite a few people in town feel that way."
"It's a great shame how judgemental some people can be," Clara said, shaking her head with dismay. "I think you're a wonderful person, and it's great that you really like Jules Verne."
"My absolute favourite is '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea'," Doc replied. "The first time I read that when I was a little boy I wanted to meet Captain Nemo and..."
"It's strange to think of you being a little boy when you read that book," Clara said, laughing. "I mean, it was first published ten years ago. Well, ten years ago from the year that I came from, that is."
"You know," Doc said, smiling, "I never met a woman who liked Jules Verne before."
"I never ever met a man like you before," Clara said, huskily.
The
two of them then leaned over to kiss. The light streaked across the
sky, leaving a trail in its wake. Doc smiled to himself, as the
shooting star seemed to symbolize their true love for each other. Doc
really could not remember the last time he felt so happy. His life
would never again be the same as it was before.