3:00 PM PDT
Family Ties Universe
Marty and Alex were in the living room, playing Nintendo, when Nick walked into the living room and interrupted them.
"What did you do, Alex?" Nick asking, chuckling. "Did you find a way to clone yourself?"
"Shut up, you punk!" Alex snapped, as he stood up. "This is my friend, Marty McCoy. You leave my friend alone, you hear me?"
Nick then turned to Marty, and he said, "Well, Marty, it's so nice to meet you. You seem a bit cooler than your twin over here. Say, do you have a motorcycle?"
"Uh, no, I don't," replied Marty. "I think motorcycles a bit overrated, in my opinion. I think they're a bit too dangerous. I mean, I've heard of people getting seriously injured, or even killed, by them."
"Oh, what's the matter, Marty?" Nick asked, smirking. "Chicken?"
Marty then stared Nick straight in the eyes, as he said, "Nobody calls me..." Then, with a little grin, Marty finished, "... chicken."
"Then prove it," Nick smirked. "Come with me on a motorcycle ride."
"No, Marty, please don't," pleaded Alex, as he grabbed Marty's arm.
"You stay out of this, Alex," Nick snarled. "So, Marty, how about a ride? Come prove to me that you aren't a chicken."
"Marty doesn't have to prove anything to you, Nick!" snapped Alex. Then, turning to Marty, he pleaded, "Please, Marty, I don't want you to get hurt. I would feel so responsible for you, if you did."
Marty was silent for a moment. It's been about nine months ago that Marty last let someone goad him into doing something, by calling him a "chicken". There was something a little unnerving, though, about being called "chicken" by someone you regularly saw on TV and was a TV character to you. He then remembered the how the race with Douglas Needles had almost led Marty down the road to an unhappy future.
Marty took a deep breath, and he said, "No, Nick, I am not interested! Besides, why should I value your opinion of me anyway? You're nothing but a punk!"
"Aw, such a shame," Nick said, shaking his head and feigning disappointment. "I guess you're a loser then, just like Alex."
"Hey, Alex is not a loser!" Marty snapped. "He happens to be a very unique individual who is not afraid to be himself. He's not an insecure punk, like you!"
"So I guess you're a Ronald Reagan lover, too, eh?" smirked Nick.
"Well, I may disagree with some of his policies," Marty said, quietly, "but I don't really have anything against him. Look, just because I'm Alex's friend, it doesn't mean that I agree with him on everything. We can still agree to disagree on various issues and get along, you know? Anyway, we both believe in global peace and harmony."
"Alex for peace and harmony?" Nick snorted. "Haha, that's a very good one, Marty! Thanks for making me laugh. I certainly could have used a good chuckle."
"Come on, Marty," urged Alex, "let's get out of here. We don't need to stay here and put up with Nick's condescending attitude."
'Where shall we go?" asked Marty. "Should we stop by the lake again?"
"Yeah, sure," replied Alex, "it's a nice day to go swimming. Skippy can't join us this time, though. He has a dentist appointment to go to."
"Oh, that sounds like fun," Marty teased, laughing. "Well, I guess you and I can float on the inner tube together."
"Oh, yes, let's go!" Alex said, excitedly.
oooooooooo
"Okay, Marty, here we are," announced Alex, as the two of them arrived at the lake. "It is a nice day to go swimming, isn't it?"
"Oh, my, it certainly is," replied Marty. "Let's float on our backs for a little while, shall we? That is always relaxing."
"We don't we talk for a little while first?" suggested Alex. "I am a little concerned about you, Marty, you know?"
"Oh, in what way?" Marty asked a bit nervously.
"Well, I mean, your reaction, to when Nick asked if you were a chicken," Alex said, gently. "I was so worried you actually would join him on that motorcycle of his. Marty, he is a very reckless driver - and I swear that, one of these days, he's going to get himself hurt. I also fear he might hurt Mallory."
"Oh, yeah, I used to have a huge problem with losing my judgement whenever people called me a chicken," Marty said, blushing. "It almost cost me my future. I could have broken my hand by crashing into a Rolls Royce, when Douglas Needles challenged me to race him."
"Oh, really?" Alex asked, shocked. "That crash never happened, though?"
"Uh, fortunately, no," replied Marty. "You see, after I returned to 1985 from 1955, Doc had decided to take Jennifer and I over to 2015. I was supposed to pose as my son, Marty Jr - and I was supposed to stand up Griff Tannen and say no."
"Whoa, Griff Tannen?" Alex asked shocked. "Biff's grandson, I presume?"
"Right, exactly," Marty said, nodding. "Cliff and Miff Tannen are the bullies of my generation. Cliff is the same age as my older brother, Dave - while Miff is the same age as me. Cliff and his gang usually picked on Dave - but they did once pick on me, when I was six. That was how I met Doc."
"Whoa, that's awful!" gasped Alex. "I did kind of wonder how the two of you became friends. So does everyone in your town really regard him as a nutcase?"
"Unfortunately, quite a few people do," Marty said, shaking his head. "There are many others who don't, however. You see, he used to teach third graders - so many of his former students have spoken real positively about him. Once you get to meet him, it's pretty hard to not like him. It's a shame that many will believe everything that they hear and read."
"Right, I understand what you're saying," Alex said, nodding. "So does every generation of the Tannen bully have a name that ends in -iff?"
"Pretty much since Buford, yeah," Marty replied. "Actually, his daughter, Tiffany, wasn't a bully - but she was usually called Tiff. She decided to name her son Jiff, and Jiff ended up taking after his grandpa, Buford."
"Oh, so that's why you don't like the name Jiff?" asked Alex.
"Right, exactly," Marty replied. "Jiff ended up being the father of Biff - and Jiff got arrested not long after Biff was born. Jiff's wife, Emma, died a few years later - so Biff ended up growing up with his grandmother. At the point, Tiffany started going by her middle name, Gertrude - as she was so ashamed of her son."
"Wow!" breathed Alex, "So the Tannens have a history of bullying your family?"
"Pretty much, yeah," agreed Marty. "Tiffany never bullied William, though. Buford did have it in for my great-great-grandfather, Seamus, though."
"What was Seamus like?" asked Alex. "It's a pretty nice name, by the way."
"He was very mild-mannered and not one to give into fights," Marty explained. "He told me about how he also had a brother named Martin, who ended up being stabbed in the gut with a bowie knife - because he let everyone goad him into dangerous things."
"That sounds so sad," Alex said, shaking his head.
"Anyway, it was during then that I realized how I shouldn't lose my judgement every time someone calls me a name," explained Marty. "Also, a few months later, I ended up going back in time to prevent my namesake from meeting such a tragic death - so he's now lived a long and fulfilling life."
"Well, that sounds nice," Alex said, smiling.
"So, yeah, anyway," continued Marty, "I have decided to forfeit my duel with Buford, and I made it a point that I no longer cared if people thought me a coward. However, Buford then started threatening Doc's life - so then I tricked Buford into thinking he shot me dead. I had used a piece of a stove as a bulletproof vest."
"So just who was Buford, anyway?" asked Alex.
"He was a trigger-happy outlaw," Marty replied. "He had no qualms about shooting people who got in his way."
"Oh, wow, that isn't good," Alex remarked. "Both you and Doc were saved, though?"
"Yes, fortunately," Marty replied. "Doc then had to make the train go 88 miles per hour, so that the DeLorean could take us back to 1985."
"Oh, what happened to the DeLorean?" asked Alex.
"Okay, well, it'll be a pretty long explanation," said Marty. "I'll start with the trip that we took to 2015."