Chapter 5
Tuesday, July 15th, 1986
Hill Valley
8: 49 A. M.
Lorraine sighed as she spotted Dave at a picnic table, hard at work filling out forms. He'd slipped back into his workaholic ways yesterday, forgoing a hike in favor of writing out reports. Not that the hike had been all that wonderful -- the mosquitos had eaten them alive -- but it was important for Dave to relax. At home, he was so obsessed with moving up the cooperate ladder, it was scary. Why here, Dave? she thought sadly. You do all this at home, and much more. You should be resting.
She walked up to him, determined to put a stop to this behavior. "Dave, do you want to go for a swim with me? Or a hike?"
"Can't, Mom. These gotta come first." He kept writing at an almost superhuman speed. It reminded Lorraine unpleasantly of a robot.
"David, we came here to have fun. I doubt that -- that -- What are you doing?"
"Huh? Oh, these are supply order forms."
"You mean you're ordering pens and pencils?!"
Dave nodded. "We're always running low. I'm just getting a head start."
Lorraine gave an exaggerated groan. "Dave, this is a vacation. Do you remember what a vacation is? A vacation is when you put away the order forms and go out and enjoy yourself. Your company is doing fine without you. They do not need you to order ink for the copy machine. Now come along, we're going on a hike to find your father."
"Mom, I can't. I need to get this done!" He turned back to his papers, frustrated at her inability to understand, but quickly turned back around. "But first I have to go to the bathroom." He gave her a look to warn her not to comment on the irony, then headed for the pond's facilities.
Lorraine watched him go. It pained her to think that her oldest son might prefer his job to his family. She glared at the order forms that were taking away her son.
Then she smiled. Quickly looking around to make sure she was alone, she grabbed the forms and took them to the camper. Giggling a little, she stuffed them into her bag, among her "privates." "There," she said, satisfied. "He'll never to think to look in my bag. Now he'll have to be with us." Thinking she had restored harmony to her family, she left to look for George.
A few minutes later, Dave returned, only to find his forms missing. He looked all around and under the table, but they were nowhere to be found. He wondered for a moment if they had blown away, but there was no wind to speak of, and his pen was still in place. So what had happened?
Marty walked by, on his way to Jennifer's camp. "Hey, Dave, what's up?"
"My forms are missing," Dave mumbled, scratching his head. "They were right here a minute ago."
Marty snorted. "If I were you, I'd be glad they were missing. Mom's liable to have conniptions if you keep working on our vacation."
"Yeah, she was giving me grief just a few minutes ago. They were right here!" Dave looked around again. "They can't have blown away. And what would an animal want with paper?" Suddenly he turned on Marty with a glare. "What have you done with my papers?"
"Me?? Nothing! I didn't touch your papers!"
"Sure you didn't. Everybody's been complaining about me working, but only you could have taken them! Where are they?"
"I didn't touch your stinking forms! I was with Doc and Mystie, and now I'm on my way to pick up Jen."
"With Doc and Mystie? They're asleep!"
"Yeah, but Doc appeared to be having a nightmare. I was helping him calm down."
Dave's eyes narrowed. "Interesting. They're sleeping, which means no witnesses. And they're in the perfect position -- close to camp. Tell me the truth -- where are my papers? And how'd you know they were forms?"
"I heard you say so this morning," Marty said through gritted teeth, trying to control his temper. "Dave, I didn't take your shitty papers."
"Yeah, yeah, sure."
"What's going on here?" asked George, arriving on the scene.
"Marty stole my papers, Dad," Dave immediately claimed.
"Like hell! He lost 'em and now he's blaming me." Glaring at Dave, he added, "Or maybe someone else took them. Like you said, everybody hates the fact you're doing business crap on vacation."
"Who else would? Linda's down at that lifeguard's cabin every day. Your vampire friends sleep all day. Dad's either trying to think up stuff for his book or getting himself lost -- why don't you get on his case once in a while?"
"David," George said dangerously.
"He's not doing it constantly, like you," Marty snapped. "What about Mom? She's got the most motive to commit such a fel -- to steal your stupid papers!"
Both Dave and George blinked, surprised. "What was that?" George asked, confused.
"Doc," Marty muttered, rather embarrassed. "I don't know why, but lately I've started talking like him every so often. It gets worse whenever we use the blood-link, and we've been doing that a lot lately."
"That was weird," Dave admitted. Then he remembered the subject at hand and got mad again. "Why would Mom steal them? She's Mom! Mothers don't do that to kids! She may be pissed that I'm working, but she wouldn't do that. Listen Marty, just fess up, will ya?"
"Dad, help me out here. Why would I want to steal Dave's stuff?"
"To annoy your brother?" George suggested. "I used to do that with my sister."
"That's not helping."
"Marty, I don't know if you stole Dave's papers or not. David, you really shouldn't jump to conclusions."
"Much better."
"Not like anyone else could!" Dave insisted. "He's the only one without an alibi, Dad!"
"Mom's still a suspect!"
"Who's still a suspect?' Lorraine asked, returning from her travels. "Oh, hi Georgie. I was looking for you."
"Lorraine, don't call me Georgie."
"You call me Lorry. What's the difference?"
"Lorry and Georgie, huh?" Linda said, appearing suddenly.
"What are you doing here?" Marty asked, cocking his head. "I thought you were talking to that cute lifeguard."
"His girlfriend showed up," Linda grumbled. "She kicked me out."
"You're just in time, Linda," Dave said. "Funny how we all manage to show up during a crisis, huh?"
"Dave, you can't blame Marty without evidence," George said.
"Blame Marty for what?"
"For taking my papers! They were here a second ago, and now they're gone! He's the only one who could taken them!"
Uh-oh. It wasn't supposed to end up like this. What could she do? "Now, Dave, maybe it wasn't Marty. Marty, would you take his papers?"
"No!" Marty yelled, angry.
"Liar," Dave snapped. "It's obvious you all wanted to take them from me, but only he had the guts to."
"David, you can't automatically blame him!" George insisted.
"Personally, I'm just glad the fecking papers are gone," Linda said. "Way to go, Marty!"
"I didn't take the shitty papers!"
"Fecking papers? That's my job you're talking about. I don't see you with a job!"
"Marty, it's okay if you took the papers," Lorraine soothed, trying for a compromise. "But you can't lie to your brother. On the other hand, if he didn't, you owe him an apology, David."
"Lorraine, if he says he didn't take the papers, that's good enough for me. I trust our children not to lie."
"Hey, if I took the papers, you wouldn't be sticking up for me! Admit it, Dad, he's your favorite!"
"I DIDN'T TAKE HIS FECKING PAPERS!"
What had once been coherent sentences soon degraded into just general noise as everyone started yelling at everyone else. The din could be heard all the way to the next site. Jennifer, puzzled, went to check it out. When she got there, she found five McFlys not speaking to each other. "Hi?" she said cautiously.
Marty looked up. "Hey, Jennifer," he said, forcing pleasantness into his voice. "I was coming over to get you so we could sit by the lake."
"Yeah, I know, I was wondering what was keeping you. Is everything okay over here?"
"Perjurer," Dave grumbled.
"Don't start, Dave."
Mysteria and Doc poked their heads out of the camper. "What's all the noise about?" Mysteria demanded, eyes glowing.
"Nothing that concerns you two. Go back to sleep."
"That's not what I'm getting from Marty," Doc said, stepping out. "Those are some nasty thoughts about your brother."
"He deserves them."
Mysteria glared at them all. "I haven't gotten a decent day's sleep throughout this entire vacation! What is with you people?! Jennifer may I -- thank you." She hugged Jennifer gratefully. "Think when you've got this mess straightened out, baby. I know you won't be able to sleep until you do."
"Gotcha." They shared a brief kiss, then Mystie and Jennifer left together, sharing thoughts on the state of the vacation.
Doc turned toward the McFlys, looking pissed. "Let's have it. I want my sleep too."
"You can't possibly need 16 hours of sleep," George argued.
"I doubt I do, but sunlight keeps us both extremely tired in daylight hours. Unfortunately, I'm not liable to get much restful sleep if Marty's upset. So out with it."
Marty stole my papers, Dave thought, not trusting himself to speak. Now he won't admit that he did.
I didn't take his fricking papers. I was with you. You were having a nightmare, remember?
Marty could have taken them, even if he was with you. Doc thought he detected overtones of guilt to Lorraine's thoughts.
I was trying to promote peace! Why does everything go wrong for me. . . .
I'm just glad they're gone. They were going to lead to a fight anyway.
"So something happened to Dave's papers, and the automatic response was to blame Marty?" Doc summarized, looking miffed. "Why?"
"He's the only one without an alibi," Dave snapped. "How the hell could you tell if he was there or not? And besides, you'd never want to get him in trouble."
"Admit to taking the damn papers already," Linda advised Marty in a whisper. "Even if you didn't, everybody will be happy."
Marty looked at Doc helplessly. You believe me, dontcha Doc? Help me out here.
I do believe you. But I suspect no one else will unless I do something drastic.
Drastic's good. Go with drastic.
Okay. "What if I hypnotize Marty and make him tell the truth? Then will you be satisfied, Dave?"
Dave nodded, still looking at Marty venomously. Doc turned to Marty and had him look into his eyes. The teen was fascinated very quickly, his face going blank within a few minutes. It was the first time Marty had been hypnotized in front of his family, and they were noticeably disturbed. "Is he all right?" Lorraine whispered.
"He's fine," Doc assured her. "Think of it like he's gone to sleep with his eyes open."
"Christ, that's creepy," Linda shivered as she looked at her brother's blank expression.
"It scared me the first couple of times too. I can close his eyes if you like." Everyone nodded, very creeped out. "Marty, close your eyes."
Marty's eyes shut obediently. "Marty, you must tell the truth to me. You can't lie. Did you take your brother David's papers?"
Marty slowly shook his head. Dave looked chastened. "Did you see or hear who did it?" Another shake of the head. Doc turned to Dave, who was now even beginning to blush a little. "Well, Dave? I can confirm he's telling the truth if you're still skeptical. I felt his presence during my nightmare."
"Okay, okay, I believe you. But someone took them."
"We'll worry about that in a moment." Doc woke Marty up. Success, Marty. They're satisfied you're not a thief.
Finally! Marty glared at Dave. "I'm sorry I blamed you," his brother muttered. "I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."
"I'm sorry too, dear." Lorraine gave him a hug as he got up. "But, Doc? Do us a favor and never hypnotize anyone in front of us again. That was the scariest thing I've ever seen."
"Agreed," Doc said, fully understanding.
"Doc, could you find my papers?" Dave begged. "I really need to finish them. And when I find out who took them. . . ." He allowed his voice to trail off in what he felt was a menacing way.
"I'll try. Could I have a word with you in private first, though?" Dave nodded, not suspecting anything. They walked into the woods a few steps from camp. A few minutes later, Doc walked out and motioned everyone over. "I hypnotized him into think he didn't take the papers along. I know how much you all hate the fact that he's working on a vacation. So don't anyone mention them unless it's absolutely necessary."
Lorraine hid a relieved "whew." For a moment there, she had run the risk of discovery! Shoving those thoughts away so Doc couldn't read them, she said, "Thank you so much. Now he can enjoy his vacation." And I don't have to live with the fact that I got one of my own children in trouble with his siblings. Next time, Lorraine, plan these things out more throughly.
"And I can get some sleep." He sent a message to Mystie, nodding when he was satisfied she had read his mind. His look abruptly changed to one of surprise, then to one of amusement. "What is it, Doc?" asked Marty.
"Mysteria just caught back up with her twin, Jessica. The poor woman's been avoiding me because of what happened the day after yesterday. She tried to convince her I wasn't out for revenge, but she didn't believe her." He shook his head. "I doubt I'm going to be seeing her for the remainder of the trip. Which is just fine with me, actually. I'm quite content with having only one Mystie around."
He turned to go, but paused and motioned Lorraine over. "In the interest of family harmony, I won't say this in front of everyone. But Lorraine, don't immediately look for someone to blame when you do something wrong."
Lorraine blushed. "How'd you find out?"
"You smell a little like ink, and I caught those thoughts you didn't want me to read. Honestly, Lorraine, Marty and Dave are your sons. I think they deserve more respect than that."
"Don't tell me how to parent," Lorraine snapped, obviously upset. "You're not a father and never will be, so shut up. Besides, I tried to defend Marty at first. I didn't expect Dave to get that angry. You know I would never just abandon one of my own children."
"Even so, Lorraine, that was pretty selfish."
"Live with it."
Dave poked his head out of the woods. "Hey, Ma, I thought we were going on a hike. To make up for the one I missed yesterday."
"Yes we are," Lorraine said, shooting one final glare at Doc. "A very long hike." She bent a few branches to start marking their trail and shooed Dave back into the trees. George and Linda looked at each other, shrugged, and went their separate ways.
Marty walked up to Doc, having overheard. "Mom framed me?!" He snorted, his face flushing with anger. "I can't even trust my own mother. . . . I'm going over to Jennifer's. I'll try to dampen down the link so you can sleep." He stormed off.
Doc went back into the camper and flopped down on a cot. His optimism for this trip was completely gone. What catastrophe will be visited upon us next?