Chapter 2 – Temporal Experiment
George and Lorraine were puzzled by the mall's sign reading 'Twin Pines Mall' instead of 'Lone Pine Mall' as the video showed their son arriving there on his skateboard. What was the meaning of that? First, their own lives were very different, and now, the mall's name... it was like the video was showing them glimpses of a reality that was, in several ways, different from the one they knew. Like a parallel universe or something of that nature, George mused.
Lorraine was touched by the brief gesture of Marty greeting Einstein, the dog, before the video showed a modified DeLorean backing out of Doc Brown's white enterprise truck. The McFly couple were stunned by the coils and other odd components mounted on the silver sports car, while George noticed the license plate read 'Outatime' and wondered if it could mean something. As Doc Brown climbed out of the DeLorean, George and Lorraine recognized the white radiation suit he was wearing, which reminded them of the Plutonium. It looked like they were about to find out what the inventor needed the radioactive material for.
What exactly had Doc done to the DeLorean and what was so special about it? Those were two of the questions on the McFly couple's minds as Doc eagerly announced to Marty that it was a huge experiment he'd been waiting for all his life. As Marty started recording with the video camera, Doc introduced himself: "Good morning, I'm Dr. Emmett Brown. I'm standing in the parking lot of Twin Pines Mall. It's Saturday, October 26th, 1985, 1:18am, and this is temporal experiment number one."
Temporal experiment number one? George and Lorraine recalled Morgan's mention of a 'Temporal Learning Experience' right before they ended up in their current situation. Did it have to do with whatever Doc planned to use the DeLorean for? They had no clue what the video's purpose was, only that it involved something that Marty would apparently be up to. It wasn't unnoticed by George and Lorraine that the video seemed to specifically follow their son's point of view so far, as if Marty's life was a movie or television series.
Their curiosity about the DeLorean increased as the video showed Doc putting Einstein in the vehicle. The McFly couple watched the scene with interest as Doc used a hand-held device to remotely drive the DeLorean to the other side of the mall's parking lot while Marty caught it on film. "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit," Doc stated to Marty in the video.
Eighty-eight miles per hour? Why did Doc Brown need the DeLorean to reach that speed and what was the 'serious shit' that was going to happen once it did? The McFly couple was concerned for Einstein, hoping the poor dog would be okay and that Doc Brown knew what he was doing. The fact that Doc had placed Einstein in the car instead of getting in it himself indicated that the experiment was not without its dangerous risks.
George and Lorraine watched tensely as Doc revved the DeLorean's engine. The gleeful, wild-eyed look on Doc's face made them feel a bit uneasy, since they had no idea what to expect from the strange-looking DeLorean. As the DeLorean accelerated towards Doc and Marty, the teenager tried to move out of the way, but Doc grabbed Marty's arm, eagerly urging him to "watch this". That moment made George and Lorraine feel a sudden mix of shock, horror, and anger. What the hell was Doc Brown thinking?! Was he trying to get himself and their son killed?! At that point, they had to wonder if the people who regarded Doc as 'the local nutcase' actually had a valid point. If the McFly couple ever saw the inventor again, they were definitely going to give him a piece of their mind for recklessly putting their youngest child in a danger like that.
The unexpected sight of the DeLorean lighting up with bright flashes and suddenly vanishing in what looked like an explosion upon reaching eighty-eight miles per hour, leaving a pair of fire trails behind, filled George and Lorraine with unadulterated astonishment. An ecstatic Doc shouted, "Ha! What did I tell you?! Eighty-eight miles per hour! The temporal displacement occurred exactly 1:20am and zero seconds!"
But what happened to Einstein? Had he, along with the car, been disintegrated? Marty's parents shared their son's concern about the poor dog's fate, only for Doc to explain that the molecular structure of both Einstein and the DeLorean were completely intact.
Then where were they? George and Lorraine mentally echoed their son's question. Doc corrected Marty, saying the appropriate question was "when the hell are they".
When? George and Lorraine wondered what Doc meant by that.
"You see, Einstein has just become the world's first time traveler!" Doc announced to a confused Marty.
Time traveler? George and Lorraine thought incredulously, though the former was intrigued by the possibility.
"I sent him into the future!" Doc continued. "One minute into the future to be exact. At precisely 1:21am and zero seconds, we shall catch up with him and the time machine!"
One minute into the future? Time machine? "Did Doc Brown really invent a time machine... out of a DeLorean" was the question on George's mind. Lorraine, on the other hand, wasn't really sure she was ready to believe that time travel could actually exist. Nevertheless, she, along with her husband, continued to absorb her mind in the video.
As the DeLorean suddenly reappeared and skidded to a halt, Doc and Marty approached the ice-covered vehicle cautiously. George and Lorraine winced inwardly at Doc briefly hurting his hand while attempting to open the extremely cold car door. After Doc managed to open the door with his foot, the McFly couple was relieved that Einstein was fine.
Doc explained to Marty that Einstein was completely unaware that anything had happened because, as far as the dog was concerned, the trip was instantaneous, with Einstein having skipped ahead one minute to arrive at the current point in time. "That makes sense," George mentally noted with fascination. Although still skeptical, Lorraine understood Doc's explanation as well.
Doc then showed Marty how the time machine worked. First, he turned the time circuits on. Next, he explained the 'Destination Time', 'Present Time', and 'Last Time Departed' readouts. After that, he inputted two 'Destination Time' dates: July 4, 1776, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and December 25, 0000, the alleged birth of Christ. George and Lorraine highly doubted there was actually a such thing as the year 0. From their understanding, 1 BC was immediately followed by 1 AD. As for the actual date that Jesus was born on, that was a different debate altogether.
Doc entered November 5, 1955 next, calling it a "red-letter date in the history of science" and "the day I invented time travel". George and Lorraine perked up, since that was the day they had met Calvin Klein. It was also exactly a week before the most momentous night of their lives. "I remember it vividly," Doc said to Marty. "I was standing on the edge of my toilet hanging a clock. The porcelain was wet. I slipped, hit my head on the edge of the sink. And when I came to, I had a revelation. A vision. A picture in my head. A picture of this." He pointed to an encased Y-shaped component in the DeLorean. "This is what makes time travel possible. The flux capacitor."
George and Lorraine took in Doc's explanation as much as Marty in the video did. They were reminded of their youth as Doc recalled that the land currently occupied by the mall had once been farmland owned by Old Man Peabody. The McFly couple also remembered Peabody's claims of encountering an alien 'space zombie' who had destroyed one of his pine trees. George, in particular, wouldn't be surprised if the claims had actually been true. He had always been more than willing to give Peabody the benefit of the doubt.
As Doc revealed that the time machine required Plutonium – or, accurately, 1.21 gigawatts of electricity – to operate, George and Lorraine finally understood why he had the material in his possession. Still, Plutonium was a substance that powered nuclear bombs. As fascinating as the idea of traveling through time was, George and Lorraine couldn't help but wonder if riding in Doc's DeLorean would actually be safe. Then again, Einstein had apparently turned out all right and Doc was a genius scientist who could find solutions to problems that most people wouldn't even consider.
Next was Doc's admission to double-crossing a group of Libyan nationalists who wanted him to build them a bomb. Instead, he had given them a shoddy bomb casing full of used pinball machine parts, while keeping the Plutonium for himself. The McFly couple was taken aback by that discovery. On one hand, it was good that Doc kept the Plutonium out of The Libyans' possession. On the other hand, working with a terrorist organization in the first place, regardless of the reason, was not only extremely dangerous, but morally questionable. While Lorraine only hoped that Marty wouldn't get caught in the crossfire of whatever was going on between Doc and those terrorists, George somewhat understood Doc's actions, since it wasn't too surprising that an invention like a time machine would require immense power to work.
As the video shifted to Doc loading the DeLorean's fuel chamber with a Plutonium rod, George was reminded of both the alien character in his novel A Match Made in Space and the alien known as 'Darth Vader' that he had a vivid dream or vision of back in 1955 at the sight of Marty fully garbed in a yellow radiation suit. The resemblance was quite uncanny.
Once the Plutonium was fully inserted, Doc announced his plan to travel twenty-five years into the future, having always dreamed of seeing a time beyond his years and the progress of mankind. So he was going to the year 2010, when George and Lorraine would be seventy-two years old. They had no doubt that their marriage would still be as positive and joyful as it was in the present. As Marty requested that Doc look him up in the future, Lorraine couldn't blame her son for that, since just about anyone, including herself, would be quite curious about how their life would later turn out.
"I, Dr. Emmett Brown, am about to embark on a historic journey," the inventor announced, while George and Lorraine wondered if the video would show Doc Brown's trip to the future, which would be amazing for them to see.
As Doc suddenly realized he almost forgot to bring extra Plutonium, Einstein barked at a blue and white Volkswagen that arrived in the parking lot. The mere sight of the vehicle perturbed George and Lorraine. They knew right away whoever was approaching couldn't be up to any good.
"Oh, my God, they found me. I don't know how, but they found me," Doc muttered in horror. "Run for it, Marty!"
George and Lorraine's blood ran cold as the Libyan terrorists' gunman opened fire. The McFly couple admired Doc's effort to protect their son from harm by attempting to fire back at the terrorists with a pistol, even if the weapon didn't work. Their horror increased to the roof as the terrorists' gunman shot Doc dead. While George and Lorraine were extremely worried about their son being in the crossfire, they didn't want anything terrible to happen to the uncle of their late once-upon-a-time good friend either. Besides, unlike certain other Hill Valley residents, all of their interactions with Doc Brown over the years had been nothing short of positive, which was why they felt a great deal of sympathy upon seeing their son's best friend get brutally gunned down. Their hearts really went out to their poor son as a grief-stricken Marty yelled "NOOOOO! BASRATRDS!".
Pure terror flooded through the McFly couple's brains as the terrorists' gunman fired at Marty. Their terror reached an all-time when the Libyans cornered Marty and the gunman aimed the assault rifle at him.
"No, no, no, no, no! Please, no! Not my Marty!" was the frantic thought that dominated Lorraine's mind, while George was also highly on edge.
A wave of relief washed over George and Lorraine as the gun jammed. "Oh, thank God," they thought at the same time.
Marty dashed into the DeLorean and took off in it, while the terrorists pursued him around the parking lot. The gunman fired at the moving DeLorean, only for the bullets to miss the car. George and Lorraine watched the chase intently, praying that Marty would get away the from armed and dangerous terrorists. On the bright side, DeLoreans were much faster than Volkswagens, which should provide Marty a considerable advantage in terms of speed.
The time circuits in the DeLorean came on as Marty pulled back the lever. The 'Destination Time' displayed NOV 05 1955 06:15AM. For George and Lorraine, it would be so strange if their son actually ended up going back to that date. The McFly couple wondered what would've happened had they encountered Marty as teenagers without knowing he was, in fact, their future son. Such an experience would be awkward for Marty, that was for sure. George wondered how Marty would react to seeing firsthand how much of a pushover he had been prior to that fateful evening, while Lorraine felt slightly embarrassed by the thought of Marty seeing how wild she had been as a teenager. They then wondered how their son would react to meeting Calvin Klein, the young man that Marty was partially named after. Their personalities were similar in several ways. Marty even physically resembled Calvin to an extent, though the latter had clearly been taller. George and Lorraine figured that their son and old friend would've easily become instant buddies upon meeting each other.
As the intense chase went on, with Marty desperately trying to gain speed, the terrorists' gunman produced a rocket-propelled grenade, to the teenager's horror.
"Oh, no!" Lorraine mentally cried out.
"Come on, Marty, your vehicle is a lot faster than theirs," George silently urged his son to pick up speed.
"Let's see if you bastards can do ninety," Marty declared as he accelerated the DeLorean, rapidly gaining quite a bit of distance between him and the terrorists.
"That's the spirit, son," George mentally cheered, while Lorraine, although still worried, felt optimistic that Marty would escape his murderous pursuers.
But wait! Was Marty actually going to... their question was answered as soon as the DeLorean hit eighty-eight miles per hour, prompting the flux capacitor to glow brightly, while a blinding flash of light appeared outside the windshield. In the blink of an eye, the entire mall transformed into an open field!
George and Lorraine were in stunned disbelief by the sudden change in scenery. Had their son just traveled through time? If so, according to the time circuits, he had ended up on November 5, 1955 – a week before the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and the famous Hill Valley lightning storm. Was it actually true that their son had time-traveled or were the events in the video a fictionalized, movie-like account of their lives that, so far, seemed to follow Marty's perspective? The latter would definitely explain why certain things, like their lives and the mall's name, were different from reality.
As the DeLorean crashed inside a barn, Otis Peabody and his family came out of their farmhouse to investigate the incident, staring at the futuristic vehicle in complete awe. Upon seeing the Peabodys, it was clear to George and Lorraine that the video was, indeed, in the 1950s. Otis and his family were much younger than what they were in present. Also, from what the McFly couple knew, Otis' wife had died years ago.
Otis commented that the DeLorean looked like an airplane without wings, while his son showed the rest of the family the front cover of a comic book titled Tales from Space, which contained an illustration with a figure clad in a yellow space suit standing next to a spacecraft. The yellow figure and spacecraft's resemblance to Marty's radiation suit and the DeLorean respectively didn't go unnoticed by George and Lorraine, who were amused by the coincidence. In fact, George remembered owning a copy of that same comic in his youth.
As Marty, fully garbed in his radiation suit, climbed out of the DeLorean, the Peabodys screamed in utter horror at the sight of him and rushed back to their house. While George and Lorraine felt bad for their son, they also held some sympathy towards Otis and his family, since it was clear that they truly believed that Marty was an alien from space and were, thus, genuinely frightened.
The sound of a gunshot startled the McFly couple as Otis returned with a shotgun and fired twice at Marty, who wasted no time dashing back into the DeLorean. "Oh, poor Marty... my poor baby," Lorraine expressed inwardly. Her son had just escaped from a pair of dangerous terrorists who were trying to kill him, and now he was getting shot at again. She wished that Marty hadn't gone to the mall to meet up with Doc Brown in the first place. Marty would've been safe and sound had he stayed home and remained asleep in his bed.
The DeLorean smashed out of the barn right through the doors and raced past the Peabody family at high speed, mowing down one of the two pine trees on the way out of the ranch as Otis furiously yelled "You space bastard! You killed my pine!"
So that was what happened, George realized. It looked like the Peabodys had mistaken Marty as the 'space zombie', due to the radiation suit and the DeLorean (which resembled a spaceship by 1950's standards), and tried to kill him, leading to Marty accidentally running over the pine tree. An intriguing thought suddenly occurred to George. Was there any chance that Marty had been... him? The one who had appeared in his bedroom in the middle of that night while he'd been sleep? If Marty had really gone back to 1955 and had the radiation suit with him, perhaps his encounter with 'Darth Vader' hadn't been a dream or vision after all. It could've really happened. Maybe Marty, while dressed as 'Darth Vader', needed to ensure that George got together with Lorraine so that he would be born.
That was when another idea came to his mind. What if Marty wasn't just 'Darth Vader', but actually... he couldn't believe it! After all this time, so many years, three decades, it all seemed to make sense! Granted, George and Lorraine had noticed the uncanny resemblance ever since their son was in his preteens, but neither of them could never had possibly figured out that time travel was somehow involved. Of course, it was just a theory at the moment and it had been thirty years since the last time he'd seen Calvin Marty Klein. Doc Brown had informed him and Lorraine that Calvin perished overseas, but in light of the time travel revelation, what if that was merely a cover story? George wasn't sure if he was merely grasping at straws, but it seemed as though the video showing Marty time-traveling specifically to November 1955 made certain things about that fateful week from his senior year make sense all of a sudden. Maybe he needed to keep watching to find out if the puzzles really did fit in place.
Lorraine was in disbelief of everything the video had shown her so far. The idea of Doc Brown inventing time travel and, more so, one of her children going through time wasn't easy to accept. If all of that truly did happen, it was going to take quite a bit of getting used to for her.
Marty pulled over in the middle of a road and stepped out of the DeLorean, completely shocked that the entire area of his home neighborhood was an open field stretching as far as the eye could see. George and Lorraine felt a mix of amazement and nostalgia at the sight of their neighborhood as it was in 1955. The scene, especially when they saw the billboard sign, brought back various memories from that time.
Marty tried to get help from an elderly couple who drove past in a red car, but the woman freaked out, urging her husband to keep going. Because of that radiation suit and the DeLorean, everyone in 1955 who saw their son was terrified of him, George and Lorraine noted. Admittedly, they would've been apprehensive, albeit also fascinated, too had they encountered a stranger dressed like that with a futuristic car that looked like it came straight from outer space.
Marty climbed back into the DeLorean, which failed to start and was out of Plutonium. How was their son going to make it back home? That was the question on George and Lorraine's minds, since the case of Plutonium had been left behind in the mall's parking lot. They hoped Marty wouldn't end up stranded in the past. Then again, they had seen Marty last night, so that couldn't have been the case. Most likely, their son would seek the help of the Doc Brown from that time, who could probably figure out a way to return Marty to his proper time.
After taking off the radiation suit, Marty hid the DeLorean behind the billboard and headed to downtown Hill Valley. As the video shifted to an awed Marty exploring the Courthouse square, immense nostalgia and a myriad of memories flooded through George and Lorraine's brains on seeing their beloved town as it was back in their high school years. "Mr. Sandman" by The Four Aces playing in the background added to the nostalgic atmosphere, especially since neither of them heard that song in so long. The McFly couple felt like they were really in the past with their son, who looked lost and puzzled by everything around him. To be fair, any 1980s teenager who ended up in the 1950s would have the same kind of reaction. Although the layout was easily recognizable, Hill Valley had changed considerably in the last three decades. George and Lorraine couldn't help but admit that, while the town was still quite a nice place to live in 1985, it looked noticeably cleaner in the past. The sight of the grassy park that eventually became a parking lot, along with the sound of the Clock Tower's chime, added to the McFly couple's surreal experience. It was quite odd to see the Courthouse clock working and showing a time other than 10:04.
As a re-election campaign vehicle for Mayor Red Thomas drove past, George and Lorraine remembered him and were reminded of the unfortunate fate that befell his son Red Thomas Jr., who had become 'the local bum' of Hill Valley.
After seeing the date on a newspaper and wondering if he was dreaming, Marty asked a female pedestrian to pinch him, only for her to angrily smack him instead. George and Lorraine were taken aback by the woman's reaction to their poor son. They recognized the local policeman who approached Marty as Officer Harris, who was no longer alive in the present.
The McFly couple felt yet another wave of nostalgia as Marty entered Lou's Cafe, reminded of the days when the local diner had been the main hang-out spot for local teens and young adults. Lorraine used to spend a lot of time in the cafe with her best friends, while George had only gone there sometimes, not being as sociable as most of the other students back then, though he'd started visiting it more often after Lorraine became his girlfriend.
As the cafe's owner Lou Caruthers commented on Marty's vest, George was stunned to recognize who was clearly... himself... eating cereal at the counter. His teenage self's back was turned, but it was him all right. He'd recognize his own clothes and hairstyle anywhere. Now that he thought it, the science fiction author remembered that morning clearly. And with Marty having gone there, that could only mean... his suspicion could be true! His son Marty... and Calvin Klein, who preferred to be called Marty... had been the same person all along! The idea was astonishing, yet it seemed to explain quite a bit, especially Marty's insistence that George take Lorraine to the dance. Also, not only was the morning of November 5, 1955 the first time he'd encountered 'Calvin' in Lou's Cafe, but he recalled that 'Calvin' had been wearing a distinctive red vest much like the one Marty often wore. He then recalled Calvin's – or Marty's – remark about setting the living room rug on fire, which Marty had really done when he was eight years old. The thought of that incident strengthened his suspicion. If George was right, he wondered what his wife's thoughts and reaction would be. After all, Lorraine had been madly in love with 'Calvin' that whole week. Obviously, the revelation that her former 'dreamboat' had been her own future son wasn't going to bode well for her.
Meanwhile, Lorraine had also noticed the cereal-eating teenager in the cafe. Unlike George, she didn't recognize him immediately, but did find the teenager very familiar somehow.
As Marty attempted to contact Doc on the payphone, the former's parents wondered how their son would convince the younger version of the scientist that he was a time-traveler from the future. The McFly couple imagined it wouldn't be easy. They also wondered if Marty would warn Doc about the terrorists.
Unable to reach Doc, Marty headed back to the front counter and asked Lou about the location of 1640 Riverside Drive, but Lou demanded if he was going to order something. Lou's confusion to Marty requesting a "Tab" or "Pepsi Free" were not lost on George and Lorraine, who understood those were drinks that hadn't been invented at the time.
"Here comes Biff and his cronies," George thought upon noticing the bully and his gang members approaching the cafe's entrance. Biff was about to confront him about homework. He definitely remembered that Saturday morning all-too-well.
"Hey, McFly!"
Lorraine mentally sighed. She knew exactly whose voice that was. As Marty and Teen-George turned around simultaneously, Lorraine was surprised to recognize the latter as her husband. Her surprise was then mixed with annoyance when she also recognized the teenage version of Biff Tannen, whom she wasn't exactly fond of to this day. Granted, Biff's behavior had seemed to somewhat mellow out over the years, but Lorraine would never find herself truly trusting that man.
The sight of teenage Biff in the video didn't intimidate George in the slightest. He had nothing to fear from someone who had really been an insecure coward who picked on perceived weaker individuals to feel better about himself. That was what Biff had been all along.
Lorraine felt a great deal of sympathy towards her husband as the video showed Biff harassing Teen-George over his homework. She was glad that George had eventually put Biff in his place. George was ashamed of his teenage self's lack of courage and inability to stand up to Biff, but took full pride in the knowledge that the dynamics between them would drastically shift a week later.
"I'll get kicked out of school. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?" Biff grabbed Teen-George in the video. "Would you?"
"Actually, Biff, it wouldn't have been my problem at all if you got kicked out of school," the current George mentally glowered, wishing he had told Biff that back then.
As one of Biff's gang members teased Marty about his 'life preserver', a thought briefly occurred to Lorraine. What if Marty was... no! No! That couldn't be true! That was just downright ridiculous! Even if Marty had, indeed, gone to 1955 in a time machine that Doc Brown miraculously invented, her son couldn't possibly be him! Yes, the two shared an uncanny resemblance despite being unrelated, but the other guy had been taller with green eyes instead of having blue ones like Marty.
As Biff and his gang left the cafe, Marty stared at Teen-George in awe, realizing the latter was his future father. George couldn't blame the way Marty in the video was reacting to him, since he would've certainly done the same upon meeting teenaged versions of his own parents. At that point, George was a hundred percent certain that Marty was Calvin Klein, especially since it explained everything about that strange, eventful week.
The next part of the video showed Goldie Wilson urging Teen-George to stand up for himself and not let others walk over him. George felt guilty for not paying much attention to the future mayor's advice back then. Goldie had been right, but George, at the time, was too scared to take a bold stance against Biff and other bullies. Lorraine, too, appreciated Goldie's words towards her husband's teenage self. Both McFlys agreed that the former busboy truly deserved his current position as Hill Valley's mayor.
As Marty blurted out that Goldie was going to become mayor, the busboy expressed his sudden desire to make that idea a reality someday. George and Lorraine were caught off-guard by Lou's "colored mayor" remark. They remembered the cafe owner being rough around the edges, but his verbal treatment of Goldie was crossing a line. Goldie shot back at Lou, declaring he was going to "be the most powerful man in Hill Valley" and "clean up this town". Lou retorted with "Good, you can start by sweeping the floor". The irony that Goldie had eventually accomplished more in life than Lou, his former boss, ever did was not lost on George and Lorraine, who both approved of Goldie not allowing Lou's belittling words deter him.
After Marty rushed out of the cafe to find his teenage father, the video shifted to a residential area that instantly gave the McFly couple another feeling of nostalgia. George immediately felt a pang of embarrassment from seeing his teenage self in a tree using binoculars to spy on a young woman getting dressed from inside a house. Oh, boy, why did the video have to show that moment? Since Lorraine was also viewing the events shown, he was busted. His wife was going to bring that up to him for sure. She probably wouldn't let him live it down.
Lorraine couldn't believe her eyes as she instantly recognized herself – as a teenager! – through one of the upstairs windows of the house she had grown up in. Wait, George had been... spying on her? Her husband never mentioned that once in the last thirty years they'd been together. But, considering that it happened a long time ago, she wasn't upset. However, she definitely looked forward to teasing him about that later.
George winced inwardly as his teenage self fell from the tree and into the street below in the path of an oncoming car. Lorraine instantly recognized her father's old car as the video showed Marty shoving George out of the way, while the car hit Marty instead, knocking him down. As Sam Baines rushed out of the car to check on the unconscious Marty, Lorraine was amazed to see her father younger, albeit middle-aged, compared to the elderly man he currently was. George in the video rushed off with his bike, while Sam called for his wife, Stella, to help him bring Marty into the house.
"Poor Marty," Lorraine thought at the sight of her youngest child's unconscious form. At the same time, it was sweet and brave of Marty to save George from her father's car.
Suddenly, that same thought occurred to Lorraine again. At first, she believed the idea couldn't possibly be true. However, after seeing Marty, her son, get hit by her father's car just like what had happened to him thirty years ago on that specific date... plus, now that she really thought about it, his attire had been very similar to what her son was wearing in the video, the red vest particularly standing out... then there was the fact that he had preferred to be called 'Marty', his apparent nickname...
She wanted to deny it... she wanted to deny it with every fiber of her being... especially considering her strong attraction towards him during that week… the conclusion she'd come to made Lorraine very uncomfortable, yet, despite her lingering feelings of denial, the logical part of her mind realized it was like pieces of a puzzle that were finally forming together thirty years later…
All she could do was continue watching the video and hope against hope that her 'newfound relevation' – one that would irrevocably alter her and George's perception of their seemingly deceased old friend – would not turn out to be true…