Chapter 6

On the way to the motel, Buck and Wilma passed many small shops, bars, a fire station, and a funeral home. Just as the motel came into view, Buck stopped and snapped his fingers.

"What's wrong?"

"Money."

"Money?"

He nodded, grinned wanly. "Yeah. We don't have any. I need to find a MAC machine."

"Mack machine?"

"MAC, ATM, something. We won't get anywhere in this world if we don't have any money."

Once more he started down the street. They passed the motel about two blocks before Buck smiled, pointed to a building. "That's what we need. A bank."

Wilma started to say something, but decided against it. She simply decided to follow. They walked down the dark street to the side of the building. They stepped into the tiny cubicle.

"So how does this Mack machine work?"

Buck reached into the breast pocket of his flight jacket and pulled out the electronic manipulator.

"What is that?"
He grinned. "Theo gave it to me to fix my computer. I'm gonna see if I can get a couple hundred dollars."

"Isn't that called stealing?"
"I'll pay it back. Well, here goes."

He aimed the pen toward the ATM machine and tapped the top. Money instantly began to stream out of the machine. It poured out for several seconds before Buck realized he was getting more than he'd asked for.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

The money stopped streaming. Quickly he counted how much had come out.

"Do we have a couple hundred?"
Buck looked at Wilma sheepishly. "Oh, yeah. We've got a couple hundred…or a couple thousand. But who's counting?"

"Buck!"
"Don't worry. What we don't use I'll pay back. Besides, it's for the future of mankind!"

He quickly stuffed the money into a pocket and headed for the motel.

Buck entered the motel room and dropped the key onto the nearby table. Wilma entered behind him slowly and unsurely, not knowing what to expect. Buck turned on the television and hopped on one of the two beds. He pointed to the other one.

"That one's yours."

He grabbed the TV remote and randomly searched the channels until he found some music videos. He then grabbed the paper and began to read the classifieds.

"So what is our plan?" Wilma asked.

He put the paper on the bed. "We need to do a little shopping."

"Shopping?"

"We're gonna need some different clothes. These flight suits kind of stand out. And we're going to need some kind of transportation. I might be able to find a decent car in the paper."

"Transportation to where?"

He shrugged. "Anywhere." He grabbed the phone book off of the nightstand. He studied it for several minutes before setting it back down. "We're in luck. There's a shopping mall about a mile from here. We should be able to find some new clothes there, and maybe get something to eat. Unless you want to take a shower first," he said, indicating the bathroom door.

She shook her head. "Something to eat sounds really good. Lunch wasn't all that appetizing," she reminisced.

Buck smiled. "Okay. Let's go shopping."

They left the motel and walked the mile to the shopping mall. Just outside the mall was a Steak and Sea restaurant. Wilma followed Buck inside the restaurant. They were met at the door by a woman who led them to their booth seat. She then gave them a menu to look at and said that someone would be by soon. Buck opened his menu and smiled.

"I know what I'm getting right now. I'm going for the sixteen ounce T-bone steak with the baked potato."

Wilma stared blankly at the menu for several minutes before setting it down.

"What are you getting?" Buck asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know what most of this is."

He nodded. "I know what you'd like."

"No more rabbit!" she warned.

He grinned. "Trust me."

When the waitress returned to take their order, Buck looked up at the girl. "I'll have the T-bone, medium well, baked potato with sour cream and the salad bar."

She wrote the order on her pad and then looked at Wilma. "And for you, ma'am?"

Buck pointed to an item on the menu. "She'll take the broiled haddock with steamed rice and vegetable platter… and salad bar."

"And to drink?"

Buck thought for a moment. "Iced tea… for both of us."

"Sweetened?"

"Yes."

She smiled pleasantly. "Thank you. You can help yourself to the salad bar. Can I ask you a question, if you don't mind?"

"Sure."

"Where did you get those clothes? Those are so hot! You look like you just walked out of a Howard Jones video!"

Buck pretended to look down at his flight suit. "What, this old thing? Oh, we picked these up in Chicago the last time we were there."

The girl smiled broadly. "Awesome!" she commented as she walked away.

When she was gone, Wilma glanced at Buck. "What is haddock? And who is Howard Jones?"

"It's a fish, and he's a musician. Don't worry, I think you'll like it, the haddock, that is. And as far as Howard Jones, I won't make any guarantees on that. Well, shall we go to the salad bar?"

When the meals came, Wilma looked at her plate dubiously while Buck nearly jumped onto his steak. She cut off a small piece of the haddock and put it into her mouth. Her eyes widened in delight.

"Hmmm, this is good!"

Buck nodded, smiled. "I told you you'd like it. You want to try a piece of my steak? I promise you it's nothing like the rabbit."

"Maybe just a small piece."

He cut off a sliver of meat and placed it onto her plate. Tenderly she forked it and tasted it. She smiled and nodded approvingly. "Not bad!"

Buck leaned his elbows on the table, smiled, and stared at Wilma. "What?" she asked.

"I'm gonna make you a meat eater yet!"

After dinner they walked across the parking lot to the mall. Wilma spent several hours walking around the mall, going into and out of several stores. Buck managed to talk her into trying on several new outfits, which she seemed to really enjoy. After several hours of shopping, they took their many bags of clothes, shoes, jewelry, and other necessities back to the motel room. Wilma sat down on the bed with several bags and slowly went through them to decide what she wanted to wear tomorrow. Buck grabbed a pair of sweat pants and a tee shirt and went into the bathroom.

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm gonna take a shower."

Before he went into the bathroom, he turned the television back on. Wilma sat back to watch the music videos and revel in her new purchases. When Buck came back from his shower, she looked at him oddly.

"What?"

She shrugged. "I've never seen you in such… odd clothes."

"Sorry."

She shook her head. "No, no! I… like it!"

He grinned. "Well, you're gonna have to get used to wearing 'odd' clothes too. As long as we're stuck in 1987, you'll be wearing them too."

"I know."

Buck crossed the room and sat down in the bed. He picked up the paper and began to scan the classifieds again.

"Buck?"

He glanced up over the edge of the paper. "Huh?"

"What is a 'Duran Duran'?"

He smiled. "It's just the name of a musical band back in my day."

Wilma turned to face the television. "This… music… is… interesting," she managed to say.

"It sure is."

Another song came on. Wilma's eyes were glued to the small screen. "What is a 'Whitesnake'?"

Buck resisted the urge to giggle. "Just another band."

She watched the video, cocked her head to one side. "What is that… woman… doing to that vehicle?"

Buck looked up and glanced at the television. "Anything she wants to," he mumbled.

Wilma shot a look at Buck. "What?"

He shook his head once. "Huh? Oh, she's just dancing."

Wilma turned back to the television. "Interesting."

Buck raised the paper to cover his face, but left room for him to still see the TV screen. "It certainly is," he said almost inaudibly. "It certainly is."