"Is it possible, I wonder, for a man to truly change? Or do character and habit form the immovable boundaries of our lives?"

-The Wedding

-Nicholas Sparks

Chapter One:

Original 1985

"Oh, yeah? Well, I love you too." she screamed at me with tears pouring down her face. Jeez, I thought to myself, has anyone ever been so dramatic?

"Calm down!" I said aggravatingly, taking a sip of my beer as the both of us stood in the kitchen- if you could call it a kitchen. "And tell me what the hll is wrong with you."

"Happy anniversary, Biff Tannen." she said with a sniff, and then she threw the beer bottle I had given her down on the floor. I expected her to get out of the room as quickly as possible, but instead she stood there, watching me as if to see if I'd throw mine at her. Instead I set it down the table calmly and rolled my eyes.

"I know you're upset I forgot our anniversary..." I said, not mentioning the 'again.' "But that's not a reason to throw away a perfectly good bottle of beer, is it?" She avoided eye contact with me, but I put my index under her chin so I could lift it up and force her to look at me. Then I used my other hand touch her. "I can still buy you something nice tomorrow, right?"

"Like you've done every year?" she said angrily, and she started to squirm in my arms, but I pretended not to notice.

"And right now you can get another bottle of beer, and we can settle this in a mature, grown up fashion on the couch in the living room." I released my finger from under her chin, expecting her to obey me. Instead, she started to try to push me away.

"I won't fall for that again, Biff." she said angrily. "You did that last year, and the year before that, and it did nothing for us! Nothing at all!"

"What are you talking about I thought we had a wonderful anniversary!" I said, about to take another sip but she grabbed it from me, causing it to spill. "Oh great, now look what you did! You better be paying for this." I pointed at my shirt, which was now covered in beer.

My wife didn't say anything to me after that. She dropped my bottle of beer in the sink and barged through the kitchen door and into the other room. For a moment I was alone in the kitchen but moments after my wife left my two kids came through the door.

"What's going on?" my daughter asked, looking through the door.

"Mom and Dad are fighting again, obviously." my son said and then they both through dirty looked at each other, and then at me.

I shook my head at them and started to head for the door. "Your mother is just having some issues. I'm heading over to the McFlys now."

My daughter rolled her eyes. "All right, Dad."

"Don't forget to tell your mother that." I headed out the door and into my car, believing that my wife was just having an issue. She acted this way a lot over the years of our marriage, but I just thought it was one of those times when women start acting like buttheads. Whenever this happened, I left her alone for a little while and I'd go to the McFlys, or sometimes I'd shut her up with some romance and beer. Tonight, I had no beer so I had no choice but to leave.

I didn't even knock when I entered the house, as always. When I entered only George McFly was there, but I knew maybe I'd get a glimpse of Lorraine if I stayed long enough.

"Hey Mcfly," I said as I entered the kitchen. I saw him jerk up when he heard me, but he slowly went back to his work.

"Hello Biff." he said quietly.

"The wife's been overreacting again," I said as I made my way to the fridge. "Got rid of all my beer." I looked in the fridge for any beer, and was appalled to see that there was nothing good inside. "I come all the way to your house on my anniversary and all you have for me is a Light beer? Come on McFly, you should be more generous to your pals." I shook my head but took out the beer anyway. I needed something to drink.

"Hey, there's something on your shoe, McFly," I said, as usual. It was a daily routine of mine.

"What?" The stupid butthead looked down at his shoe, as always, and that was when I hit him in the nose. In my personal opinion, it was much better when my buds were with me. "Don't be so gullible, McFly." I said.

This is how my life went these days. My life was not that different when I was a kid, except that Lorraine Baines, now a McFly, was in my arms most of the time. When she married that Irish Bug, I went ahead and married Patricia, hoping to make Lorraine realize what she could have had if she married me. It hasn't been working, however, but I'd say it's better this way, because now I have two fine women. Not that Lorraine comes easily, however. Most of the time she comes home after I leave, but then I just tell her butthead son Marty to tell her I said hello. Whether he actually does or not is beyond me.

When I got back home that evening, my wife was watching for me by the door with two suitcases.

"Where are we going?" I asked, walking up to her and I was about to put my arms around her again but she walked right passed me.

"WE are not going anywhere," she said coldly. "I am going on a vacation, and YOU are staying here."

"By myself?"

"Yes."

"What about the kids?" I asked, pointing towards the house, which I didn't notice had no lights on.

"I dropped them off at my parents' house."

"All right, let me get this straight," I said, walking down the steps against towards her just as she was about to get in my car. "You're leaving, the kids are leaving... I'm staying? For how long?"

She paused for a moment, looking at the car door and not me. "I was thinking we could stay away for at least a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks?"

"Or a month."

I couldn't believe this. Why would my wife and kids leave for that long for a vacation, and not bring me along? "Where are you going, exactly?"

"I don't have to reveal that much information to you, now do I?" she paused before she said, "You probably won't remember what I said in the morning anyway." With that she shut the door and drove away, leaving me alone in the house with no beer, no wife, no kids...

And no car.

(I know it's a little short, but I'll try to make longer chapters next time.)