The group were now experiencing traveling, Western style. They had ridden out to the hidden DeLorean with half a dozen horses from Doc's stable. It had only taken them a couple hours to get there on horseback; although by the end of their hard ride, Marty's saddle had felt a little top solid under his rear end. For a change, though, luck was with them when they reached the car. The bear wasn't in its cave, or even in the immediate neighborhood, and they hooked up the team of horses to the front of the DeLorean in only a few minutes. Now, with the sun setting as they were driving the car almost like a stagecoach across the open prairie. Doc was holding the reins, and Marty, who was now off the horse, was riding shotgun while Cherry and Lionel joined in the car since Cherry wasn't much of a horse rider and Atticus, Mo, Thor, and Sabrina did the horseriding. Except, instead of holding a gun, Marty was holding the car's digital speedometer. Doc urged the horses on as Marty called out their speed:
"17! 20! 22! 24!"
"Come on, horses! Go, go, go!" Atticus called out.
"22! 23! 22!" Marty continued to count before he frowned. "Can't we gallop any faster?" he then wondered to himself.
Doc read Marty's expression and shook his head. "It's no use, guys," he said with a shrug. "Even the fastest horse in the world won't run faster than 35 or 40 miles per hour."
"I don't think this is gonna work even with all of us." Cherry said out of defeat.
"Yeah, I guess I can see now why Doc had objected to this experiment in the first place." Marty replied to her.
"At least we're having a cozy ride." Lionel shrugged.
But there were only six horses pulling them now until Atticus had an idea. "But, since it's a 130 horsepower engine, couldn't we just hitch up 130 horses?" he then suggested.
Doc only shook his head. "Even if we could, it just doesn't work that way."
"Yeah, I guess that doesn't make sense either." Marty remarked to the others.
"Horses just weren't built to gallop at 88 miles an hour." Sabrina commented.
"Nope." Mo added.
"Once we get back to Hill Valley, I guess we'll need another idea and make it fast." Cherry suggested.
September 4, 1885
It had been well after midnight by the time Doc, Marty, and the others drove into town. The streets were dark and empty, they had thrown a drop cloth oyer the top of the car, and Doc had even devised these special covers for the tires that looked like wagon wheels, all to make the DeLorean look more like a wagon—a particularly lumpy wagon, maybe, but a wagon nonetheless. Of course, it didn't hurt that Lionel used his illusion magic to keep up the charade. Doc drove the team and the DeLorean right into his barn, and, after closing the door against any possibility of prying eyes, announced that they should both get a good night's sleep. They had to be alert in the morning to continue their experiments.
In the morning, Doc brought out four lanterns and placed one by each comer of the car so that they could see their way around the DeLorean, even in the barn's dim interior. Marty got the privilege of crawling under the car to get a look at the damage. The puncture in the gas tank wasn't very big at all, maybe half the size of a dime, just big enough to let all the gasoline drain out. Doc surmised that the empty tank had been dried out by the desert heat, so there'd be no fumes or residual gasoline to get in the way of repairs. Using his blacksmith's forge and some scrap metal, Doc had the tank patched in only a few minutes more. The group was impressed by how proficient Doc had become with the smithy's tools. While they let Doc's handiwork cool, the inventor pulled out a bottle of whiskey.
"Uh, is this really the right time for a drink, sir?" Mo spoke up.
"It's not for drinking," Doc explained before he opened the hood of the car and poured the whole bottle into the gas tank. "Someone get behind the wheel. The bartender said this is 180 proof," he then explained as he shook the last drops from the bottle. "If this works, we're home free."He took a step away and nodded to the teenager at the wheel. "Try it, Marty."
Marty turned the key in the ignition. The engine whined, but then it turned over! The group soon cheered and Doc whooped. The DeLorean would run on alcohol! There was a tremendous explosion at the back of the car, like somebody had fired a gun. Marty cut the ignition as Doc ran back to investigate.
"Damn!" Doc yelled as he pulled up the rear hood. "It blew the fuel injection manifold!" He looked at the bottle still in his hand. "That hooch peddler must put more in his stuff than just whiskey!" He frowned as he peered in at the smoking wreckage. "It'll take a month to rebuild it!"
"A month?" Marty despaired before he climbed back out of the car.
"Doc, we haven't got a month!" Sabrina reminded.
"She's right! You're gonna get shot on Monday!" Thor added.
Doc tossed the empty whiskey bottle in a rain barrel by the door. He sighed and looked at the younger group. "I know—" He bemused, hitting his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Wait! I've got it! We can simply roll it down a steep hill!" He paused again, and began to pace. "No; we'd never find a smooth enough surface, unless, of course! Ice! We wait until winter, when the lake freezes over!"
"We can't wait until winter either!" Atticus reminded.
The inventor was getting deeper into science, leaving reality farther and farther behind.
"What are you talking about, Doc?" Marty reminded his friend before he walked over to the wall and pointed out September 7th on the calendar. "Monday is three days from now!"
"Damn!" Doc slammed his right fist into his left hand. "All right, let's think this through logically. We know it won't run under its own power, and we know we can't pull it, but if we could figure out a way to push it up to 88 miles an hour somehow..." he then added until his voice trailed off.
"How could we possibly push it that fast?" Marty wondered.
They all stood there for a moment in hopeless silence. Then, in the distance, a train whistle blew.
"Perhaps another idea could come from the train?" Atticus soon suggested.
"No... the idea is the train!" Lionel exclaimed.
"That works too." Atticus smiled.
"You bet it does." Cherry nodded.
They had heard the whistle blow and looked out the back window of the bam to see the train pull into the station. The train was sitting at the Hill Valley depot by the time they got there and would be there for a few minutes still, while they unloaded the clock face for the top of the courthouse tower. It was an ideal opportunity for them to quiz the engineer.
Doc let Marty do most of the talking since he was the teenager who was good at that sort of thing, much more so than Doc, who did better with dogs and machines, and Marty got the engineer talking right away.
"How fast can she go? Why, I've had her up to 55 myself," The grizzled train man patted the chugging locomotive by his side. "They say that fearless Frank Fargo got one of these up to near 70 out past Verde Junction."
Marty nodded eagerly, acting impressed, which pleased the engineer no end.
"Uh... How about 90?" Atticus soon piped up. "Is it possible to get up to 90?"
The engineer frowned at that while Doc wondered if even the teenagers were being too obvious. "90?" The engineer whistled. "Tarnation, son, who'd ever need to be in such a hurry?"
"It's a bet that the kids and I have, that's all," Doc added reassuringly as he decided to pitch in. "Theoretically speaking, could it be done?"
The engineer chewed on his tobacco a moment before he replied. "Well, I suppose if you had a straight stretch of track with a level grade and you warn't haulin' no cars behind you and if you could get the fire hot enough, and I'm talkin' hotter than the blazes of hell and damnation itself, mind you, then yessir, it might be possible to get her up that fast." he then said, offering his tobacco to the kids, though they declined as he spit occasionally in his speech.
Doc and the group all glanced at each other. This was better news than Doc could have hoped for!
Doc turned back to the engineer. "Tell me, when's the next train come through here?" he then asked.
The engineer spat before he considered the question. "Monday morning at 8:00." he said at last.
The group and Doc looked at each other again.
"That's cutting it awfully close, but it will have to do." Lionel said to the others and they all nodded in agreement.
The workmen yelled down that they'd gotten the clock face loaded on their wagon. The engineer called back to them as he climbed back into the cab to start the train. Doc glanced down at the huge clock disk on top of the buckboard at the other end of the train platform. The huge circle was bordered by the numbers one to twelve, but the clock face itself didn't have any hands; at least not yet. He got the oddest sensation from the sight, as if, for that clock, at least, time hadn't yet begun.
"If we can find a long stretch of level track that will still exist in 1985, we can push the DeLorean with the locomotive!" Doc remarked as he quickly studied the terrain the train would cover after leaving Hill Valley, finding a map for them as they tried to find another solution. "Here!" he exclaimed, pointing out the spot on the map to the group. "This spur that runs off the main line three miles out to Clayton Ravine—" He paused, frowning at the map. "Funny, this map calls it Shonash Ravine. That must be the old Indian name for it, before they changed it." He grinned back at the group.
It looked like the teenagers still didn't quite understand.
"It's perfect," Doc continued. "A nice long run that goes clear over the ravine; you know, over near that new Hilldale housing development."
"Yeah, right," Marty answered, finally remembering the spot Doc described until he pointed to the map next. "Doc, according to this, there is no bridge."
"Oh, come on!" Atticus complained. "Why can't time travel ever be easy?"
"Not everything is easy... Try college." Cherry rolled her eyes.
"I was actually thinking of going to Greendale Community College after graduation." Sabrina remarked.
The map back at the station had been a little confusing. They had to go out and take a look at the actual site.
"Looks like we're riding horses again." Thor murmured.
Eventually, they reached the bridge; or, at least, what there was of it. Just like half the town of Hill Valley, the bridge was still being built. Only half the trestle had been finished, with a set of tracks that stopped midair, a hundred feet over the ravine below. There was a big sign on the edge of the ravine:
SHONASH RAVINE BRIDGE
SCHEDULED COMPLETION, SUMMER 1886.
CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD
"W-Whoa..." Cherry soon said, sounding woozy due to the height as she looked like she was close to falling over.
"Someone catch Cherry!" Atticus warned. "She has bad vertigo."
"I gotcha!" Lionel exclaimed as he grabbed her.
"Phew... Thanks, Lionel..." Cherry said once she began to calm down. "I think I just got nauseous for a second."
"That's vertigo for ya, I suppose," Lionel shrugged. "But I'll at least keep you from falling."
"Thanks, Lionel. I appreciate that." Cherry nodded.
Lionel gave a small smile before they would continue on.
"It looks just like all those highway construction signs when my family went on long trips..." Marty commented. "Except that it doesn't say anything about your tax dollars at work."
"Do they even have tax dollars in The Old West?" Mo wondered.
"I have no idea." Atticus replied.
"Whatever... It doesn't matter what kinda dollars they have out here," Marty said, shaking his head. "It doesn't matter what kind of dollars they have out here. The only thing that matters is that this bridge isn't built.
"Scratch this one," Atticus soon said to Doc. "We sure can't wait around a year and a half for this thing to be finished."
But Doc only grinned back at the group. "Children, it's perfect," he then insisted. "You're just not thinking fourth-dimensionally."
"Huh?" The group asked, not getting it.
"As you said, the bridge will exist in 1985. It's safe and still in use," Doc explained. "Therefore, as long as we can get the DeLorean up to 88 miles an hour before we hit the edge of die ravine, we'll instantaneously arrive at a point in time where the bridge is completed. We'll have track under us and coast safely across the ravine."
"We still need some extra speed for the DeLorean with something... Like a train engine... What about the locomotive?''' Atticus soon asked after giving it some thought.
"It'll be a spectacular wreck," Doc conceded. "Too bad no one'll be around to see it."
"We're gonna wreck a locamotive?" Thor pondered to himself.
Marty was about to say something else when they suddenly heard a woman scream.
"Great Scott!" Doc yelled.
There, coming right at them through a cloud of dust, were two runaway horses pulling a woman on a buckboard. Somehow, the woman had lost die reins, and now wasn't able to do much more than ding onto the wagon for dear life. And it looked like horses and a wagon were heading straight for the ravine!
"We gotta help her!" Atticus cried out.
"Won't that screw up the timeline or something?" Cherry asked flatly.
"That didn't stop him." Sabrina pointed out as Doc was already spurring his horse to intercept the runaway wagon.
"If Doc thinks that's the right thing to do, then I say we do it!" Lionel declared. "Herd 'em up, move 'em out!"
Soon, everybody else in the group got their own horses and took off after Doc who pursued the woman whose life was currently in danger, even if it might rip the fabric of time.
At great risk to her own life, the frightened woman had somehow managed to reach forward and grab the reins from where they had fallen atop the wooden beam that harnessed the team to the wagon as Doc gained on the careening buck-board! The horses pulling the wagon were galloping wildly, jerking the wagon back and forth in a zigzag line, while Doc's trusty horse, Archimedes, was heading straight and true to intercept the buggy before it reached the precipice. In mere seconds, Doc and his stead had drawn parallel to the rear of the buckboard—dose enough to see the trunk and traveling bags leap with every rut and protrusion the wagon wheels encountered. The woman yanked hard on the reins. The horses turned in response, but the wagon was traveling too fast! The sudden change in momentum caused the team's yoke to snap, and horse and wagon parted company. The horses had turned, and were galloping to safety, but the wagon was still headed straight for the edge!
Doc's horse sprang ahead until the inventor was right alongside the front of the buckboard. Doc reached down and wrapped his arm around the woman's back, lifting her from the speeding wagon and onto the horse before him. The buckboard hit a large rock, turning over and dumping its contents on the ground before it flipped over a second time, falling over the edge into the ravine. As Doc pulled Archimedes to a halt, he could hear the crash of the wagon as it smashed into splinters far below! He dismounted, then helped the woman off his horse. Doc remembered to breathe. He had seen that rescue move over and over again on Saturday afternoons, in any number of Roy Rogers and Tim Holt westerns. Still, he was glad it actually worked in real life. He took his first real look at the woman he had saved.
"Thank you, sir." The woman began as she turned her face to look up at him. She spoke in a very distinctive, motherly, and breathy voice that sounded calm and comforting to the teenagers, except for maybe Marty since he didn't know this voice like they did back home, in Greendale.
Doc stopped breathing all over again once he got a good look at the woman's face, smiling at her since her face was a shadow hidden behind a bonnet before.
"You saved my life..." The woman spoke before she soon looked to see a certain man. "Oh, Dr. Brown. It's good to see you again."
Sabrina took a look at the woman and looked a bit wide-eyed.
"You're quite welcome, Miss Spellman." Doc said after he recognized the woman as well, though he began to look at her differently.
"Aunt Zelda?" Sabrina murmured.
"Actually, in The Old West, I decided to call myself Clayton," Zelda clarified as she began to look at Doc differently as well after he had saved her life. "Clara Clayton."
"So what happened to Aunt Hilda and Drell?" Sabrina inquired.
"Your Aunt Hilda became a showgirl with a new friend of hers who is quite popular in Rock Ridge and calls herself Lili von Shtupp." Zelda began to tell Sabrina.
"And how about Drell?" Cherry asked her.
"Drell's a bit complicated, though he usually looks after Hilda if he can help it," Zelda replied. "Especially whenever that oaf Mad Dog Tannen tries to go and visit Hilda to get a private show from her," she then added and rolled her eyes in disgust. "I swear, the Tannen family tree is less than pleasant in any century, decade, or timeline really."
"Believe me, we know." Atticus nodded.
"It's an entirely rotten family tree, that's for sure," Lionel nodded. "Bearing nothing but bad fruit."
"And I thought Uncle Zamboni was bad." Zelda rolled her eyes.
"Lemme guess, a relative on my dad's side of the family?" Sabrina smirked at her aunt.
"Very funny, Sabrina, but yes," Zelda nodded to her niece. "He's the head of the family as the oldest and has an extreme prejudice against mortals."
"Yikes." Atticus winced at that information.
"It really is good to see you all again, especially you, Sabrina," Zelda said with a small smile. "I always had a soft spot for you kids even though I'm probably the last person in the entire universe who should be a mother."
"Oh, Zelda... there are worse people than you." Lionel advised.
"Hmm... Maybe I'll keep that in mind..." Zelda replied before smiling. "I'm just glad that I was saved and I got to see you guys again."
"Likewise!" Sabrina beamed as she hugged her bespectacled aunt.
"Wait a second..." Cherry suddenly said.
"What is it, Cherry?" Thor asked her.
"Clara Clayton... As in the beloved Clara?" Cherry reminded her friends.
"Y'know... it might just be." pondered Thor, rubbing his chin.
"This could probably cost us a bit in the time-space continuum." Cherry said a bit nervously.
"We can cross that bridge when we get to it," said Lionel. "In the meantime, we're still in the here-and-nowish."
"So to speak as the year is 1885." Cherry commented.
"You know what I mean." Lionel told her.
"Yeah, I do." Cherry smirked a little in response.
Doc took the teenagers over to a country cottage that was surrounded by a white picket fence. He dismounted and gallantly turned to help Zelda from the horse. "This is your house," he said, his eyes never leaving Zelda's face. "It comes with the job. The schoolhouse is just down the road." He looked away from her, at last, to nod at the teenager he was close friends with. "Clint, let's help Miss Clayton with her bags."
"Please, that's not necessary. I can take care of them," Zelda objected with a smile. "You've done more than enough already," she then looked over at the group. "And seriously, Clint Eastwood?" she then added with a slight deadpan in her voice.
"It was Marty's idea." Cherry defended and reminded the adult witch.
Marty looked a little sheepish in response.
Doc looked back to the woman in his life. "But it's really no trouble-"
Marty realized it was time to step in, before the two of them went on like this until Doc got shot on Monday once it was realized that Doc was falling for Zelda.
"Uh, Dr. Brown, we gotta get going," Cherry spoke up before nodding her head at the adult witch. "We'll see you later on, Zelda."
"Yeah, it was nice to meet you," Marty added. "Good luck with your school teaching and all."
Doc finally started to walk toward his horse.
"Finally." Cherry muttered to herself.
"At last." Marty added.
The inventor turned back to the schoolteacher. "Oh, Zelda," he began as his gaze locked once again with hers, "I'll straighten out everything with Mr. Statler for the buckboard rental, don't you worry about that." He paused awkwardly before continuing. "I feel somewhat responsible for what happened."
Zelda nodded her head. "Why, that's very gentlemanly of you, Mr. Brown... Emmett." She paused, and when she spoke again, there was a certain wistfulness in her voice. "You know, I'm almost glad that rattlesnake spooked the horses. Otherwise, we might never have met. I suppose it was... destiny." she then added with a brief pause and held out her hand.
Doc took it. They stared at each other.
"Thank you," Zelda said after a moment. "For everything."
"You're quite welcome," Doc replied eventually.
"Hopefully we'll get to see each other again before anything else." Zelda then said subtly.
Marty shook his head no. They had things to do before Doc got shot!
But Doc wasn't looking at the teenagers. "Of course," he replied. "You'll see lots of me, I'm sure. I have a shop in town. I'm the local scientist—uh—and blacksmith."
Zelda broke back into her smile. "Science? What sort of science? Astronomy? Chemistry?"
Doc blushed a bit. "Actually, I'm a student of all the sciences."
Marty almost groaned.
"This is too much." Cherry mumbled to herself.
Marty couldn't be polite anymore. "Doc, we gotta get going." His voice seemed to break the spell (so to speak since Zelda was a witch).
Doc glanced at him a little guiltily before he turned back to the schoolteacher. "Yes, well, excuse us, ma'am, we have to get going." He raised a hand to wave. "Toodle-loo." He took a step back, bumping into the picket fence.
Zelda almost giggled. "Hasta luego, Emmett," she said instead. She turned and sighed.
And Doc finally got on his horse.
"I've never seen Aunt Zelda look that way around anyone." Sabrina commented to the others.
"Wow... f'real?" Lionel asked. "I guess there's a connection between those two."
"Maybe you'll get a new uncle by the end of this adventure." Cherry smirked at Sabrina.
"Very funny," Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Like I don't have enough to worry about when it comes to Drell and Aunt Hilda."
Marty soon saw something that caught his attention. "Holy shit, guys." he then muttered.
"Well, I might see her again, just in passing," Doc explained apologetically. "And I didn't want to hurt her feelings. After all, she did have quite a scare. Miss Spellman almost ended up at the bottom of Clayton Ravine-" he then suddenly stopped in his speech once he realized what just happened. "Clayton Ravine!"
Marty began to look wide-eyed and realized what had just happened as well.
"Don't worry, buddy, we won't fall in the ravine." Thor reassured Marty.
"No, it's not that," Marty tried to explain. "Clayton Ravine was named after a schoolteacher who fell over the cliff there about a hundred years ago-" he added until he suddenly stopped once he realized what was going on and corrected himself. "I mean, this year!"
"...oh, crikey," Lionel exclaimed. "That means that Aunt Zelda is gonna be headed for a nasty fall!"
Doc stopped his horse dead. "Great Scott, kids! Are you sure?" he then asked.
Lionel nodded grimly. "Positive."
"Is there some kinda legend we don't know about?" Atticus asked Marty.
"Well, sure!" Marty replied. "Every kid at school knows that story because we've all had teachers we wish would fall into that ravine... Or truancy officers, he then added silently. "I couldn't tell you the number of times I wished Mr. Strickland could have found his way to the bottom of that ravine."
"Then she was supposed to go over in that wagon and die," Doc realized as his face paled. "And now, I've altered history. This is heavy," he then gasped and frowned until he tried to think of a solution. "I guess that means we'll have to take her back there and push her off-"
"Dr. Brown, think about what you're saying!" Atticus reminded the inventor. "You know we can't do that!"
"You're right..." Doc admitted as he ran a hand through his frizzy hair. "I don't know what to do! Damn, I wish I had never invented that infernal time machine! It's caused nothing but disaster!"
Marty had never seen his old friend this upset. "Doc, it's not a disaster," he said softly. "I mean, what's the worst that can happen? They don't name the ravine after her. It's no big deal. Everything will be fine."
Doc sighed. "I hope you're right."
Marty hoped so, too. He remembered what had happened when Biff had changed the future and turned 1985 into a place slightly worse than the black hole of Calcutta. Marty and his new friends hoped more than anything that if they could get back to 1985, it would be the 1985 they remembered.
They soon began to get settled and turn in for the night while the townspeople went about their usual days together.
"There was a peaceful town called Hill Valley, Where people lived in harmony, They never had no kind of trouble, There was no hint of misery~" A choir began to sing peacefully.
The scene then showed the local saloon where people were hanging around, even a trio of cows called Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, and Grace.
"The town saloon was always lively, But never nasty or obscene, Behind the bar stood Chester the Bartender, He always kept things nice and clean~" The choir continued to sing.
The bartender who met Marty and the others before Mad Dog stormed into the saloon was shown as he spat into his mug before letting out a gross belch.
"Then all at once, the trouble started~" The choir then sang urgently as Mad Dog and his gang were shown to be harassing the townspeople on horseback and shooting their pistols in the air. "A pack of murderers and thieves, Like swarms of locusts they descended, Their aim, to make the townsfolk flee~"
"Oh, shit!" A man called out as he ran from the incoming horses before jumping into and breaking a window before getting thrown out another window from inside. He then landed on the ground and ran again as he was still being chased.
A man was shot in his hat before he took it off to see the bullet hole before running off as the bullets kept firing. Mad Dog soon tossed out a lasso and pulled away an innocent man across the ground.
"Well, that's the end of this suit." The man complained.
Another one of Mad Dog's goons soon tied a lasso around the local outhouse and pulled it away, showing a man lathered in soap still there before he covered himself since he had been exposed to the public.
An old woman was soon shown being held back by her arms and getting punched by more goons against her will. "Ow! Ooh! Ow!" she then cried out before looking at the readers in dismay. "Have you ever seen such cruelty?" she then asked before she was still getting beat up. "Ooh! Ooh! Ow!"
"Now is a time of great decision~" The choir soon sang from inside the local church as the horses and three cows from before were waiting outside. "Are we to stay, or up and quit?, There's no avoiding this conclusion, Our town is turning into shit~" they then concluded the song after a while as Marty and his new friends were getting settled into their new Wild West atmosphere.
"...quite the colorful tune." Lionel commented dryly.
You said it." Thor agreed.
"Let's hope we can maybe help out these people while trying to get back home." Atticus suggested.
"Right, right... But for now, we rest," Cherry suggested. "We might become heroes in this timeline too like 1955 or 2015, but right now, I could use a temporary break from adventures and heroic tasks for a little while."
"When she's right, she's right," Marty nodded in agreement before shrugging. "I mean, it's not like these cows are gonna look to us for help and we gotta team up with Quick Draw McGraw or something like that." he then added as a slight joke.
Soon, the group began to get comfortable and settled with Doc until further notice as the townspeople in Hill Valley were beginning to get very concerned.
"Well, guys, we may not go to school together or anything like that, but I gotta say, it's been really interesting meeting and knowing you guys after you mysteriously showed up in Hill Valley for the first time." Marty began to say to his new friends.
"It's definitely been fun knowing you, Marty," said Atticus. "We've had plenty of adventures, and I wouldn't trade them for anything."
"You guys are pretty cool," Marty nodded. "Maybe not Jennifer Parker cool, but still." he then shrugged sheepishly.
"We can tell that Jennifer Parker is important to you, so I'll take that as a compliment." Cherry smirked playfully at the auburn teen.
"Uh, right... Let's just try to get some sleep while we still can," Marty suggested before he found some pajamas left behind by Doc for them to wear for the nights in their temporary stay in The Wild West. "I can tell that this Wild West adventure is gonna be very different from those TV Shows Laramie or Gunsmoke."
"Well, I can tell you for sue that this is no Little House on the Prarie." Cherry remarked.
"That's putting it lightly," responded Lionel. "Now let's get dressed and turn in for the night."
"We should be able to sleep decently," Atticus advised. "It's been a long day."
"Yeah, nothing says catching up on some sleep after almost getting hanged and saving someone else from certain death both in the same day." Cherry added dryly with a bit of a sardonic smirk.
And so, they all got dressed in their old west pajamas, before going to bed.
"Good night, everybody." Cherry soon said.
Everyone else then told each other good night as they got settled in for their evening at The Wild West.
Meanwhile, there appeared to be a town meeting going on without them after The Ballad of Hill Valley was heard.
"Well, I don't have to tell you, good folks, what has been happening here in our beloved town," Marshal Strickland soon told the townspeople. "Sheriff murder, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped! Now the time has come to act. And act fast!"
"I'm leaving." A citizen spoke up, sounding rather cowardly.
"You get back here, you old pious, candy-ass sidewinder!" Seamus scolded him before he stood up in front of the crowd, speaking in his thick Irish accent. "There ain't no way that nobody is going to leave this town! Hell, my son was here and he was raised here, and goddamn it, he's gonna die here! And no sidewinder, bushwhacking, hornswoggling, cracker croaker, is going to ruin our biscuit-cutter!"
"Now who can argue with that?" Another man said before standing up. "I think we're all indebted to Seamus McFly for clearly stating what needed to be said. I'm particularly glad that these lovely children were here today to hear that speech. Not only was it authentic frontier gibberish, but it also expressed a courage little seen in this day and age! What are we made of? Our fathers came across the prairie, fought Indians, fought drought, fought locusts, fought Slim! Remember when Alameda Slim came in here and tried to take over this town and run for President with his army of bulls and dairy cows he had hypnotized with his yodeling? Well, we didn't give up then and by gum, we're not going to give up now!"
"Olson Johnson is right!" Another man agreed. "What kind of people are we, anyhow? I say we stay and fight it out!"
"Dr. Samuel Johnson is right about Olson Johnson's being right," A third man even added. "And I'm not giving up my ice cream parlor that I built with these two hands for nothing or nobody!"
"Howard Johnson is right!" A fourth man soon said. "Well, if we're going to stay, and I think it's a big mistake, we're going to need a new sheriff to help old Marshal Strickland and his family. Now, who is it going to be?" he then asked the others.
The townspeople murmured amongst themselves, not eagerly volunteering.
"Why don't we wire the governor to send us a sheriff?" Howard Johnson soon suggested. "Why should we get our own men killed?"
"Howard Johnson is right." A fifth man agreed.
The townspeople even cheered in agreement at that idea.
"We'll wire the governor. Then let us pray for the deliverance of our new sheriff," Marshal Strickland then agreed before they decided to move on to other matters. "Will the congregation please rise?" he then requested. "I shall now read from the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and-"
Suddenly without warning, a church window broke as a stack of dynamite was tossed into the church, causing some of the folks to yelp.
"DUCK!" Marshal Strickland son cried out.
KABOOM! As the townspeople ducked from the explosion from the inside, the three dairy cows soon looked at each other.
"Guys, we gotta do somethin'," Maggie told Grace and Mrs. Calloway. "We can't just stand here and give out milk like a bunch of dairy cows."
"But Maggie, we are a bunch of dairy cows," Grace reminded her before smiling innocently. "And I actually quite like doing it, especially back on Patch of Heaven... Why, I heard that these other cows Duchess, Princess, and Queenie gave up some milk for some lost puppies who were very hungry." she then added peacefully.
"That's not what I meant," Maggie groaned and face-hooved. "We need to help find someone who can save this town from that annoying varmint Mad Dog who I swear is worse than Alameda Slim."
"This town doesn't need help, Margaret," Mrs. Calloway advised maternally. "It needs a hero."
The three cows then looked over in concern, wondering what was going to happen to Hill Valley if they couldn't find the proper help in time.
And so, the group awakened for a new day.
Doc had shaken Marty awake at first light, and after another of the inventor's hearty breakfasts, they had set to work with everything they had from the present blacksmith shop and the huge DeLorean. They only had two days; they had to work fast.
Marty spoke into the circa-1985 walkie-talkie he'd brought along in the DeLorean: "Testing, testing, 1,2... great, Doc, they still work!"
"So what do we do now?" Atticus soon asked.
Doc smiled tautly. "All right, kids, let me show you the entire plan and layout." He waved for the teenagers to follow him over to the far side of the barn.
There, on a weathered, rough-hewn table, was another of Doc's famous homemade tabletop models, full of wooden blocks, toys, scrap metal, and anything else Doc could scavenge from 1885. Marty realized the model was supposed to be the town and immediate surroundings of Hill Valley in 1885. Marty glanced over at his Mend. He had noticed that Doc looked a little haggard. While the teenagers had slept, the inventor must have been busy on this table. Doc's fingers ran along a miniature version of the train tracks as they left town. His hand stopped, and his index finger pointed to a location some distance outside of Hill Valley.
"How soon can we get this started?" Thor asked.
"Tomorrow night, Sunday," Doc explained, "we'll load the DeLorean onto the tracks here, on the spur." His finger moved on to a point where the track split in two. "This switch track is where the spur goes off the main line and out to Clayton"—Doc stopped to clear his throat— "Shonash Ravine." He glanced up at the group to make sure the teenagers were following.
The teenagers nodded.
Now that Doc pointed out these places, the teenagers realized they had ridden by them the day before. "The train leaves the station at 8:00 Monday morning. We'll stop it here," he began to explain to them as he indicated a spot just before the train reached the spur to the ravine. "Then we'll uncouple the cars from the tender, throw the switch track, and then we'll hijack... ahem... borrow the locomotive and use it to push the time machine," He looked back up to Marty. "You and the others will get in the DeLorean, while I open up the locomotive throttle and put her into a full highball. Then I'll climb across and into the DeLorean. According to my calculations, we'll reach 88 miles per hour just before we hit the ravine at which point we'll be instantaneously transported back to 1985 and we'll coast safely across the completed bridge."
But Marty had spotted something he didn't understand. "What's the red X on the windmill for?" he asked.
"That's our fail-safe point," Doc explained. "The point of no return. Up until there, we still have enough time to stop the locomotive before it plunges into the ravine. But once we pass that windmill, it's the future or bust."
"Fair point." Atticus noted.
Doc turned on his large steam generator, the same one he'd used the day before to make ice cubes. The huge machine chugged to life, wheels spinning, gears turning, belts whirring, as Doc attached a couple of cables from the machine to the train tracks. "Watch!" he called, glancing up at Marty. "I would have used flashlight batteries, but they haven't been invented yet."
The model locomotive started up as Doc completed the connection, pushing a roughly carved wooden model of the DeLorean. The model train chugged right along, gaining speed as it approached the edge of the table. At the last possible second, Doc snatched the DeLorean, as the model locomotive fell off the edge and onto a pillow Doc had left on the floor.
Doc grinned broadly. "It couldn't be simpler!"
"Well, it's definitely gonna at least be easy with you on our side." Mo remarked.
"I'm definitely glad that you think so." Doc smiled in response.
Somebody knocked on the door to the bam. "Emmett?" a woman's voice called.
The door opened to reveal Zelda, holding a telescope.
"Hey, it's Aunt Zelda." Sabrina told the others once she took a look.
Marty wasn't sure what else to do, so he just grabbed a horse blanket from the door to a nearby stall and quickly covered the DeLorean.
"That was kinda unnecessary, but whatever." Cherry shrugged at what Marty just did.
"Why, hello," Doc continued as Zelda stepped into the barn. "This is quite a surprise!"
Zelda smiled a bit sheepishly. "I hope I'm not disturbing you-"
"Who, me?" Doc interrupted perhaps a bit too quickly. "No, no. I was, uh, just conducting a little experiment here." He took a step toward the adult witch-turned-schoolteacher. "So, uh, are you getting settled?"
Zelda smiled, not particularly bothered that Doc had changed the subject. "Yes, I'm starting to get settled." She looked down at the long black object in her hands. "Emmett, when my bags were thrown from the wagon, my telescope was damaged, and, well, since you mentioned an interest in science, I thought you might be able to repair it for me." She stepped closer to Doc. "I'd pay you, of course," she added hastily.
"Couldn't you just fix it with magic?" Sabrina whispered to her aunt.
"Private conversation, dear." Zelda whispered back a bit firmly before smiling hopefully at Doc.
"Oh, no," Doc said as he accepted the telescope from her outstretched hands. "I wouldn't think of charging you for this." He paused as their hands brushed ever so briefly. He cleared his throat. "Let me have a look..." He extended the telescope and lifted it to his eye.
"I think a lens may be out of alignment, because if you move it like this the image turns fuzzy. See? But if you turn it this way..." Zelda explained to Doc what the problem was as she stood on tiptoe so that her head was right next to Doc's as she twisted the telescope again.
Doc turned to look straight into her eyes. "...Everything becomes clear," he finished hoarsely.
"I can't believe this... These two are getting loopy again..." Marty groaned to the group next to him.
"Whatya mean, Marty?" Thor asked.
"Look at both of them, staring into each other's eyes like that," Marty explained. "I wouldn't get involved in this sort of thing, and I'm only a teenager, for goodness' sake!"
"Aw, come on, Marty... Surely you've experienced something like that before," Lionel replied before glancing at Cherry hopefully who looked oblivious at first. "I mean... I know I have at least."
"Well, come to think of it, there was that one time when Jennifer and me had been at archery practice together." Marty soon admitted as the two adults were still staring into each other's eyes.
"Ahem!" Atticus cleared his throat aloud to break the (metaphorical) spell between Doc and Zelda.
Doc and Zelda both quickly looked away.
Doc examined the telescope with great interest. "It's a very simple repair." he remarked, not looking at the schoolteacher.
"Then I'll just come back for it in a few days," Zelda replied, avoiding Doc's eyes as well.
"Oh, I can repair it this evening and have it for you tonight-" Doc's voice trailed off as he looked at her again.
"This is going too far," Marty then groaned. "I gotta stop 'em."
Cherry then shrugged and allowed Marty to do that if he felt like he had to.
"Tonight?" Marty soon interrupted. "Doc, we were gonna check out that festival deal tonight, remember?"
"For the clock tower?" Atticus added, trying to help out.
"Oh, right..." Doc replied vaguely.
"Why, yes, the town festival," Zelda said brightly. "I planned on attending that myself." She smiled at Doc as she stepped away from the telescope. "Well, in that case. I'll see you tonight at the festival, Emmett." She walked quickly toward the door, turning once more before she left. "And thank you for taking care of my telescope."
Cherry snickered a little at how that funny sounded out loud as Zelda waved as she left the barn.
Doc sighed and turned to look at the telescope as if it were the most wonderful thing he had ever seen.
Marty sighed, too. "He's definitely lost it," he then told the others. "I don't think we're gonna be able to talk Doc out of this one."
"Maybe the town festival will be safe for everybody's sake." Sabrina suggested.
"Are we going to get back to work with the plan then, sir?" Atticus asked the inventor.
"There'll be plenty of time for that," Doc told him. "Right now, I think it's a good time for a break."
"Well, guys, we might as well try and enjoy all this." Marty suggested to the others.
"I suppose," Lionel shrugged. "But trouble can always pop up where you least expect it, so everyone be mindful of your surroundings."
"I suppose that's pretty good advice." Marty commented.
"I know it is." Sabrina added.
"I just hope it doesn't find us first before we find it." Cherry suggested.
"Likewse." Atticus agreed.