Chapter 8 – Future Troubles
As George and Lorraine watched Griff's gang chase Marty around the Courthouse square, it was clear to them that the incident was glaringly reminiscent to the one from 1955. For one thing, Marty had borrowed a pink floating board without wheels – called a 'Hoverboard' – from a little girl, similar to when he'd borrowed the little boy's skateboard during the first incident. Unfortunately, the gang members pursued Marty on their own floating boards, while Marty was struggling to ride the one he had, falling on a grassy ground after nearing colliding with a boulder. After recovering and getting back on the pink board, Marty rode into the street. Just as it seemed that the gang members would catch him, Marty grabbed onto the back of a Jeep that descended near him. That moment was another aspect that reminded George and Lorraine of the 1955 chase, specifically when Marty had grabbed onto the back of the turquoise pickup truck to escape the clutches of Biff and his gang.
"Something very familiar about all this," the elderly Biff muttered as he watched the hoverboard chase that was currently unfolding, while neither George nor Lorraine needed to think twice about what exactly it was their adversary was referring to.
Both George and Lorraine winced inwardly as Griff took a powerful swung at Marty with his baseball bat. Thankfully, the bat missed Marty, while Griff inadvertently destroyed a taillight of his own car, which the McFly couple didn't deny was deserved.
After hoverboarding uncontrollably over a passing car, Marty ended up over the lake, where the pink board suddenly stopped working, leaving him stranded above the water.
"That board must not work on water, if my guess is correct," George mentally deduced, while Lorraine prayed her son would make it out of his situation unharmed.
George realized his thought was right when one of Griff's gang members confirmed such while calling Marty a 'bojo'. However, the "unless you've got power" remark from another gang member made George and Lorraine realize their son wasn't quite out of danger yet.
Sure enough, Griff fetched a huge, powerfully-built hoverboard, while his three gang members, on their own boards, hooked themselves to the tow cables from Griff's board.
"If these bastards hurt my Marty, they better not get away with it," Lorraine mused, fearing for her son's safety.
"If Griff and his no-good lackeys hurt my son, I will remember this day in thirty years and make damn sure they're held accountable for their actions," George thought sternly with some anger.
"Batter up!" Griff bellowed menacingly with his baseball bat raised before he, with his gang members towed behind him, shot forward on his rocket-powered hoverboard, which traveled at high speed and had no problem moving across the water.
George and Lorraine were on edge during the scene, until Marty jumped into the water as Griff swung the bat at him, missing Marty's head by mere inches!
"Oh, thank goodness," Lorraine thought with great relief.
"That was too close for comfort," George mused, also relieved.
Griff's hoverboard crashed against the edge of the lake, resulting in him and his gang members flying uncontrollably through the air and crashing through the glass of the Hill Valley Courthouse Mall. George and Lorraine found the damage to the future mall unfortunate, but at least their son seemed to be out of danger.
"Buttheads," Biff muttered from where he was after witnessing his grandson and the latter's gang crash into the Courthouse mall.
For once, George and Lorraine didn't disagree with Biff's sentiment.
After getting out of the water, Marty pressed a button on his jacket and its 'drying mode' system dried him off.
"I guess that's one clothing item in the future that doesn't need to go in a dryer," Lorraine mentally remarked.
As Marty offered the pink hoverboard back to the little girl he'd borrowed it from, she told him to keep it since she now had Griff's Pitbull hoverboard.
"I doubt that girl's parents will let her keep that thing," Lorraine thought. As a mother, she wouldn't have allowed any of her children, when they were the little girl's age, to keep something that was so powerful and potentially dangerous.
"Save the Clock Tower!" an elderly man announced before he approached Marty, urging the teenager to "thumb a hundred bucks".
George and Lorraine found the old man very familiar, but couldn't place their finger on who he was or where they'd seen him before.
As Marty politely declined the request, the old man insisted, pointing out that the Clock Tower was an important historical landmark. Having witnessed the lightning strike the Clock Tower and its crucial role in helping their stranded son return to the present, George and Lorraine agreed with that statement more than ever.
"Lightning struck that thing sixty years ago. November 12th, 1955 – I always remember that date, you know why?" the old man told Marty as they walked over to where Biff was waxing Griff's car. "Because this old buzzard tried to shaft me out of three hundred bucks for fixing his car!"
"Wait! That's Terry, the local mechanic!" George suddenly realized.
"Oh, shut up, Terry!" Biff snapped with pent-up anger, only for Terry to fire back with equal anger, reminding Biff that the car was filled with manure and remarking that he was a mechanic, not 'some kind of stable boy'. Biff barked back, accusing Terry of "living in the past".
Lorraine, too, realized who Terry was. She and George understood the mechanic's anger towards Biff.
As Marty noticed a holographic screen announcing the Cubs winning the World Series against Miami, Terry expressed his desire to go back to the beginning of the series and put some money on the Cubs, giving Marty an idea. George and Lorraine quickly realized what their son's intentions were and were proven correct when the video shifted to Marty purchasing the sports almanac from the antique shop they had seen earlier. While the McFly couple understood why their son would get the book, especially given what he'd learned about his future, they had very little doubt that Doc Brown would eventually find out about the decision and not be pleased.
As Marty exited the antique shop with the almanac in a silver bag, Doc appeared around a corner in the flying DeLorean. While Doc parked the DeLorean near the sidewalk, Biff spotted the time vehicle upon exiting the Cafe 80's and recognized it. "A flying DeLorean. I haven't seen one of those in thirty years."
Biff still remembered seeing the time machine take off outside their house, George and Lorraine realized.
As Marty Jr. dashed out of the cafe, accidentally bumping into Biff in the process, the elderly bully was bewildered by seeing both Marty Jr., who crossed the street and yelled at a car that nearly ran him over, and Marty, who was with Doc and Einstein at the DeLorean.
"I don't have a good feeling about this," George thought grimly.
"I strongly hope Biff doesn't find out about the time machine," Lorraine mused with a shudder. "Who knows what he would do with such a thing in his possession."
"Marty! What in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton happened here?" Doc asked his young friend upon noticing the chaotic scene at the Courthouse mall. As Marty reported that his kid had shown up and "all hell broke loose", a frustrated Doc realized, because he had used the sleep inducer on Jennifer, there hadn't been enough power to knock Marty Jr. out for a full hour. Biff suspiciously sneaking past the DeLorean without Doc and Marty seeing him didn't go unnoticed by George and Lorraine, who realized the elderly bully was clearly up to no good. On the bright side, even if Biff found out what the DeLorean really was, there was absolutely no way in hell that either Doc or Marty would allow him anywhere near it. Nevertheless, the McFly couldn't shake the uneasiness they felt for some reason.
George and Lorraine's minds shifted away from Biff as they saw the newspaper's headline change from 'YOUTH JAILED – Martin McFly Junior Arrested for Robbery' to 'GANG JAILED – Hoverboard Rampage Destroys Courthouse'.
"Thank goodness," Lorraine thought with relief. "I hope this mean my grandson won't be going to jail at all."
"I WAS FRAMED!" Griff cried out as the police escorted him and his gang away.
"Serves them right since it's just what Griff and his gang deserve," George mused, glad that Marty and Doc had succeeded in changing Marty Jr.'s fate.
"Ah, yes! Yes, of course. Because this hoverboard incident has now occurred, Griff now goes to jail. Therefore, your son won't go with him tonight and that robbery will never take place," Doc explained to Marty, while George and Lorraine felt reassured by the scientist's words.
"Thus, history, future history, has now been altered, and this is the proof!" Doc continued triumphantly. "Marty, we've succeeded, not exactly as I planned, but no matter. Let's go get Jennifer and go home!"
George and Lorraine were alarmed as Marty inadvertently dropped the sports almanac from its bag. Doc noticed the book right away and, to the McFly couple's lack of surprise, reprimanded Marty for planning to use it for financial gain. Doc stated that wasn't what he'd invented the time machine for – the intent was to gain a clearer perception of humanity ("where we've been, where we're going, the pitfalls, the possibilities, the perils, and the promise") and an answer to the universal question "why".
As highly tempting as it would be for anyone to use future information for personal gain, George and Lorraine had to admit that Doc had a valid point and admired his integrity in not abusing time travel for such self-serving purposes. They understood Marty's desire to improve his future life not just for himself, but his girlfriend and their future children. However, Marty's intended method involved cheating in a way that was dishonest and morally questionable. Lorraine, in particular, couldn't deny that, as a teenager and young adult, she would've been very attracted to the idea of getting rich through using future information to her advantage. However, having matured and learned the true values of living a contented life with her family, there was nothing she would trade any of it for, not even a future sports book that could allow one to make millions.
Doc prepared to throw the almanac away, only to discover that two female cops had found the unconscious Jennifer in the alleyway. Doc and Marty quickly hid against a nearby wall.
"Looks like they won't be going home just yet," George noted.
"What's gonna happen now?" Lorraine wondered, worriedly.
"McFly, Jennifer Jane Parker – 3793 Oakhurst Street, Hilldale, age forty-seven," one of the cops reported, while the other cop was amazed by Jennifer's youthful appearance despite her age.
Hilldale? In the present, that neighborhood was brand-new and looked like a very nice place to live, George and Lorraine noted.
"Well, I'm glad that poor girl was found by the cops instead of some criminals," Lorraine thought. She cared about her son's girlfriend as if Jennifer were her own child. In fact, since Marty and Jennifer were clearly married in the future, Jennifer was, in a way, Lorraine's child.
Marty wondered what the cops were doing to his girlfriend and Doc explained that they used Jennifer's thumbprint to assess her ID. Since Jennifer's thumbprint would never change over the years, the cops simply assumed she was her future self.
"Does this mean they're gonna take her home, to where she and Marty live in the future? I'd imagine that would be quite a huge shock for the future versions of them," George mused.
"Obviously, Marty and Doc Brown can't tell them that they're time travelers," Lorraine mentally pointed out, just as Doc told Marty that the cops would have them committed if they revealed such.
"They're taking her home – to your future home," Doc whispered in realization to Marty. "We'll arrive shortly thereafter, get her out of there, and go back to 1985."
As Marty was excited by the idea of seeing his future home and older self, Doc responded, "No, no, no, Marty, that could result in..." The scientist gasped in alarm. "Great Scott! Jennifer could conceivably encounter her future self. The consequences of that could be disastrous."
Seeing how greatly perturbed Doc Brown was made George and Lorraine wonder what was the worst that could happen in the aforementioned scenario.
"I foresee two possibilities," Doc said to Marty, who wondered what the former meant. "One, coming face-to-face with herself thirty years older would put her into shock and she'd simply pass out. Or two, the encounter could create a time paradox, the results of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe!"
What exactly was a time paradox? Whatever it was, could it really destroy the entire universe and everyone in it? Could something as simple as Jennifer meeting her older self really cause such a catastrophic event? Or was Doc simply overreacting and being overly dramatic? If there was indeed some truth to Doc's words, George and Lorraine had to wonder just how dangerous can time travel get – other than the risk of getting erased from existence or someone having their life changed for the worse, that was.
"Granted, that's a worst-case scenario. The destruction might, in fact, be very localized, limited merely to our own galaxy," Doc finished, while Marty remarked "that's a relief".
"That doesn't make this 'time paradox' any better," George mentally pointed out.
After the cops flew past in their car, Doc and Marty prepared to leave, hoping to find Jennifer before she encountered her older self.
"I can imagine that seeing an older version of yourself could possibly put you into shock," Lorraine mused, praying for Jennifer's well-being.
"And this stays here. I didn't invent the time machine to win at gambling. I invented the time machine to travel through time," Doc scolded Marty before putting the sports almanac, which was in its silver bag, on a trash bin.
"Perhaps Marty can put some money on the Cubs when 2015 does come around," George mentally suggested. "Or, in fact, I can remember this and do that myself."
As Doc and Marty headed off, George and Lorraine tensed upon seeing Biff emerged from where he had been hiding and listening in on the conversation. "So, Doc Brown invented a time machine," the elderly bully muttered after retrieving the almanac from the trash bin.
"Oh, boy, now Biff knows about the time machine," George thought with some uneasiness. "Hopefully, he doesn't get his dirty hands on it."
"Oh, God, please no... please don't let Biff get access to the time machine," Lorraine thought with a note of dread. "Definitely nothing good would ever come out of that."
The video shifted to evening, showing the police officers arriving at the McFly residence in Hilldale. George and Lorraine were surprised by the neighborhood's rundown condition, considering that the area was new and clean in the present. That made them wonder what had gone wrong and whether or not it would be entirely safe to live there in the future.
The McFly couple was fascinated by the cops using Jennifer's thumbprint to open the door before they brought her into the house. Additionally, the lights seemed to operate via voice command as they automatically came on when Jennifer said "lights on?" in response one of the cops telling her that it was dangerous to enter the house without them on. "Have a nice day, Mrs. McFly," one of the cops told Jennifer before she left the house with her partner.
"The neighborhood may not be in the best condition, but the inside of the house doesn't look that bad," George observed.
"I wonder if anyone's home," Lorraine thought. "If what Doc says is true, then Jennifer needs to get out of there before she runs into herself."
"I'm in the future," Jennifer muttered in realization, while George and Lorraine briefly noticed, behind Jennifer, a female upstairs walking from one room into another.
Who was that? Was that Jennifer's older self? No, the McFly couple figured that wasn't the case, since the female seemed different. Was that their granddaughter, Marty Jr.'s sister? Or was it someone else entirely?
Jennifer noticed her and Marty's wedding picture, horrified that she would get married in the Chapel O' Love. George and Lorraine found that to be another sign that their youngest child's future wasn't as he hoped it would be. A part of them wished that Doc had allowed Marty to keep the almanac and place some bets with it. At least it would be better in Marty's hands than Biff's, since the latter would undoubtedly become greedy with the sporting events' results.
As the female from upstairs, clearly a teenager, called for her mother, George and Lorraine were certain that it was their future granddaughter. Realizing she had to get out of the house, Jennifer went to the door as the doorbell rang, only to find there was no doorknob. Who could that be? The McFly couple wondered about whoever was ringing the bell. If it was someone who lived there, couldn't they simply use their thumbprint to get in the house?
While Jennifer quickly hid in a closet, the teenage girl came down the stairs, saying "Mom? Mom, is that you?"
George and Lorraine were astonished upon seeing the teenage girl. She looked exactly like Marty, but female!
"Grandma Lorraine!" the teenage girl, Marlene, cheerfully called out after opening the door for her grandparents. Seventy-seven-year-old Lorraine Baines McFly affectionately greeted her granddaughter back as they gave each other a peck on the cheek.
"Oh, my God, it's me! I'm an old woman!" Lorraine mentally exclaimed at the sight of her elderly self.
"Is that me? Why am I upside down on whatever that thing is?" George wondered, amazed to see the elderly versions of him and his wife.
The science fiction author got his answer when the elderly George McFly told Marlene that he had thrown his back out on the golf course. The current George and Lorraine were glad to see that their future selves were still alive and happily married, though the current Lorraine hoped Old-George would recover from his back injury.
"Are your folks home yet? I brought pizza for everyone," Old-Lorraine said Marlene, holding up a yellow plastic bag.
"Everyone?" The current George and Lorraine mentally questioned at the same time, wondering if the latter's older self was either joking or crazy.
"Oh, who's gonna eat all that?" Marlene remarked, while Old-George joked that he would.
The video shifted to Doc, Marty, and Einstein in the flying DeLorean, the scientist frustrated about the traffic as he hoped they weren't too late in retrieving Jennifer from the McFly home. Doc briefly noticed a taxi in his rear display and, for a moment, thought it was following them. George felt suspicious, wondering if the taxi actually was following them, which wouldn't surprise him. Perhaps it was Biff, given that he had learned about the time machine and planned to use the sports book that Doc threw away? If not him, maybe someone else had found out about the time machine as well and were following Doc and Marty so that they could try to use it?
Back in the McFly home, Old-Lorraine noticed that the main window was still broken and worn out, while Marlene told her grandmother that her father had thrown the scene-screen repairman out of the house after the man had called him a 'chicken' and they no longer had anyone to fix it. The current George and Lorraine felt some disappointment that Marty, even thirty years in the future, still had that particular problem.
Old-Lorraine told Marlene that her father's biggest problem was losing all self-control whenever someone called him 'chicken'. Old-Lorraine then told her granddaughter how Marty had, in an attempt to prove he wasn't chicken, ended up in an automobile accident with a Rolls-Royce.
The current Lorraine was horrified by the revelation, while the current George was concerned for his son's well-being. An automobile accident? Thirty years ago? That meant... thirty years ago was this year! Did that mean Marty was going to end up in an accident sometime in the near future? If so, they certainly hoped there was something they could do to prevent that from happening!
The video shifted to outside, showing the DeLorean landing near the 'Hilldale' sign. As they got out of the time machine, Doc instructed Marty to stay behind and change clothes, while he and Einstein went off to find Jennifer. Some distance away, a taxicab stopped as Biff, with the almanac clutched in one hand, climbed out of it.
"So the taxi was following them after all, and it was Biff," Lorraine noted. "I should've known. He clearly wants to use the time machine. I hope Marty and Doc prevent that from happening."
George, on the other hand, wasn't surprised by the scene. Well, if Biff wanted to use the time machine, he would have to get past Marty and George knew that his son would sure as hell not let the elderly bully anywhere near it.
After the taxi flew off, Biff crept near a trash dumpster, while George and Lorraine hoped their adversary wouldn't manage to get past Marty somehow.
The video returned to the McFly home as Old-Lorraine said, "That accident caused a chain reaction that sent Marty's life straight down the tubes. If not for that accident, your father's life would've turned out very differently. The man in the Rolls-Royce wouldn't have pressed charges, Marty wouldn't have broken his hand and he wouldn't have given up on his music, and he wouldn't have spent all those years feeling sorry for himself."
"That's so terrible," the current Lorraine was horrified by her older self's story about Marty's future life.
"So this is the reason Marty didn't pursue the music career he wanted," George realized with concern. "I wonder if Jennifer would've told her Marty any of this. This is certainly not the life Lorraine and I would want for them."
Old-Lorraine added her belief that Jennifer only married Marty because she felt sorry for him. That made the current George and Lorraine fear that Marty and Jennifer's marriage in the future was strained.
"Jennifer is such a sweet girl for that," Lorraine mused. "Still, this isn't the future they deserve. What would it take for Marty to get over that awful problem with being called 'chicken'?"
The McFly couple was so taken aback about the tragic turn of Marty's future life that Marty Jr. watching six channels at once didn't seem to fascinate them as much as all the other advanced stuff from the future. However, George and Lorraine were snapped out of their mood as forty-seven-year-old Marty McFly Sr. arrived home. They regarded the future version of their son, noticing he looked quite a few years older than his age. As Marty Sr. greeted his son Marty Jr., George and Lorraine wondered what his parenting was like. They hoped Marty and Jennifer were, at least, good to their children despite their unfortunate circumstances.
Marty Sr. then greeted his parents and daughter in the kitchen as Old-Lorraine gave him a kiss on the cheek. The lack of response from Marlene didn't go unnoticed by the current George and Lorraine, making them wonder about their son's relationship with his children. As Marty Sr. wondered what happened to his dad's back, Old-George claimed that he injured it on the golf course, while Old-Lorraine corrected her husband, telling Marty Sr. that Old-George was hit by a car that had fallen out of the sky.
"Oh, my goodness..." the current Lorraine mentally trailed off. Maybe riding in a flying car wouldn't be such a good idea after all.
"Obviously, flying cars are not without their share of risks," the current George mused. "On the positive side, they're faster than grounded vehicles. But on the negative side, they can fall on someone's house. It's a double-edged sword like many things."
Old-Lorraine asked her son how was work and Marty Sr. mentioned a "big promotion that is just around the corner". A promotion? That was good news! It was nice to hear something positive happening in their son's future life. The current George and Lorraine really hoped their son's older self would get the promotion from wherever he worked at.
Marty Sr. approached his son in the den, telling Marty Jr. it was dinner time. Marty Jr. complained that he was watching television, while Marty Sr. firmly reminded him that they ate at the dinner table whenever Marty Jr.'s grandparents were visiting and gave his son some goggles to put on.
"Well, he doesn't seem particularly strict as a parent," the current Lorraine noted about her son's future self. "I wonder what Jennifer is like though."
As Marty Jr. complained that the goggles allowed him to only watch two shows at once, Marty Sr. told his son, "When I was your age, if I wanted to watch two shows at once, I had to put two sets next to each other."
"That's definitely true," George noted with amusement.
"It's so strange to hear Marty say 'when I was your age'," Lorraine thought, even if the Marty shown in the video was the same age as her and George.
The video shifted back to outside, where the teenage Marty had just finished changing back into his 1985 clothes.
"Now that I think about it, wouldn't the older Marty remember this trip to the future?" George considered. "If so, given how his life turned out, I'd imagine the older Marty would try to seek out Doc in the hopes of changing his past and preventing the accident that ruined his potential music career. Then again, I'm still not sure how every aspect of time travel works."
While Marty was distracted by the sight of a floating device automatically walking a dog through the street, Biff seized the opportunity to climb into the DeLorean.
"Oh, no!" Lorraine mentally cried out in horror.
"Darn it!" George mentally exclaimed in frustration. "Why did Marty have to get distracted?"
An uneasy feeling washed over the McFly couple as they watched Biff fly off in the DeLorean. Where in time was the elderly bully planning to go? What exactly was he going to do with the sports almanac? How would Marty and Doc react once they realize their time machine was missing? Would the two of them, along with Jennifer and Einstein, be stranded in the future for a while? In any case, nothing positive was going to come out of Biff's actions. Nothing.
As the video shifted back to the future McFly family, George and Lorraine were initially puzzled by Lorraine's elderly self prepping what appeared to be a tiny pizza, but became amazed when the pizza had expanded to normal size after Old-Lorraine cooked it in the hydrator. Old-Lorraine set the pizza on the kitchen table as Marty Sr., Marty Jr., and Marlene each grabbed a slice. As Old-Lorraine was worried about Jennifer and wondered why she wasn't home yet, Marty Sr. replied he wasn't sure where his wife was and had a hard time keeping track of her lately.
"Their marriage must not be that great unfortunately," George deduced, while Lorraine feared the same thing.
Old-Lorraine asked her son if he and Jennifer were getting along, with Marty Sr. replying "we're more like a couple of teenagers". The current Lorraine noticed that Marty Sr.'s answer didn't sound too convincing, while George also doubted his son's future self was telling the truth.
As their goggles rang, Marty Jr. and Marlene told their father that Needles was calling him. Needles? Wasn't that one of their son's classmates? While George and Lorraine had never met Needles, they knew he was someone who had given Marty problems at school.
Marty Sr. headed into the den, where Douglas Needles appeared on the television screen. "Hey, hey! The big M! How's it hangin', McFly?"
"Hey, Needles," Marty Sr. replied unenthusiastically, before Needles asked Marty Sr. if he took a look at his business proposal.
George and Lorraine had a bad feeling about Marty Sr.'s video call with Needles. Whatever would happen, they only hoped their son would be smart and not make any more poor choices that could ruin his life further.
As Marty Sr. was reluctant to get involved, Needles assured the former that all of his financial problems would be solved if the proposal worked.
"Don't do it, Marty," Lorraine mentally encouraged.
"Come on, son, don't let Needles deceive you," George also mentally encouraged.
Marty Sr. pointed out that the proposal was illegal and he could get fired if it didn't work, especially if 'The Jits' was monitoring them.
"Don't do it, honey. This isn't worth risking your job over," Lorraine mentally pleaded.
Needles told Marty Sr. that 'The Jits' would never find out.
"Even if that were true, which I doubt, Marty shouldn't stoop to Needles' level," George thought.
"Come on, stick your card in the slot and I'll handle it... unless you want everyone else in the division to think you're... chicken," Needles told Marty Sr. with a smug grin.
"That bastard..." Lorraine angered.
"Oh, boy," George groaned inwardly. "Come on, son, don't sacrifice your job over a word."
"Please, Marty, don't give in," Lorraine mentally begged. "It will only get you in trouble."
"Nobody... calls me chicken, Needles. Nobody!" Marty Sr. declared angrily, while Needles challenged him to "prove it".
George and Lorraine could only watch helplessly as Marty Sr., despite some initial hesitation, gave in and scanned his employee card in a machine. "Thanks, McFly, I'll see you at the plant tomorrow," Needles told Marty Sr. with that same smug grin before he hung up the video call.
"Oh, Marty, what have you gotten yourself into?" Lorraine thought sadly.
"This will not end well for Marty," George thought with a note of disappointment.
"McFLY!" the furious shout of Ito T. Fujitsu, who appeared on the video screen, made George and Lorraine flinch inwardly. The McFly couple knew right away that the man was their son's supervisor and to say he wasn't happy would be an enormous understatement.
"Fujitsu-san! Konnichiwa!" Marty Sr. politely greeted his boss, only for the enraged Fujitsu to respond, "McFly. I was monitoring that scan you just interfaced. YOU ARE TERMINATED!"
George and Lorraine were taken aback by those last three words, despite the outcome having been expected after Marty Sr. had allowed Needles to goad him into that illegal proposal. The McFly couple recalled the older version of their son mentioning a promotion that he would've gotten soon, but now it wasn't going to happen because he was fired from his job.
Horrified, Marty Sr. protested, saying that it wasn't his fault because Needles was behind the scan. Fujitsu, however, pointed out that Marty Sr. had cooperated despite knowing it was illegal. "READ MY FAX!" Fujitsu shouted as the words 'YOU'RE FIRED!' appeared on the screen, while Marty Sr. continued his desperate protests.
As all the fax machines in the house printed out copies of the 'YOU'RE FIRED!' note, George and Lorraine felt a great deal of sympathy for their son. At the same, however, they knew that Marty Sr. wasn't completely blameless for his predicament. While Needles had goaded him into compliance by calling him 'chicken', Marty Sr. still made the decision to scan that card.
"Doc Brown told Marty that he and Jennifer turned out fine in the future," Lorraine recalled. "There is nothing 'fine' about any of this! I sure hope he helps Marty prevent that Rolls-Royce accident my future self mentioned."
As Jennifer took a copy of the fax that came out of the machine next to her, George and Lorraine wondered what their son's girlfriend was going to do about everything she'd learned about the future. Hopefully, she wouldn't break up with Marty over any it, though Lorraine refused to believe that Jennifer would resort to that.
"Oh, this is heavy," Marty Sr. groaned, crumbling the fax he was holding. "What am I gonna tell Jennifer?"
The older Jennifer was not going to be happy with the news, George and Lorraine figured as they hoped Marty Sr.'s termination from his job wouldn't lead to a divorce.
Behind Jennifer, Doc knocked on the window, getting her attention. Doc instructed Jennifer to go out the front door, promising to meet her there. At the same time, a disheartened Marty Sr. attempted to play a tune on his guitar, while Jennifer crept past, quickly hiding against a wall in another room when Old-Lorraine approached Marty Sr. with one of the fax notes.
"You can't fool your mother, Marty," the current Lorraine mused as Marty Sr. lied to Old-Lorraine by claiming that the fax was an 'office joke'.
"Welcome home, Jennifer," the computerized voice at the front door greeted as forty-seven-year-old Jennifer Parker-McFly arrived home while the teenage Jennifer was making her way towards the door. As the two Jennifers noticed each other, they widened their eyes in shock and did a double take, staring directly into each other's face.
George and Lorraine noticed that, like Marty Sr., the future version of Jennifer also looked quite older than her age. In fact, the older Jennifer's face reminded Lorraine of the version of herself who had been unhappily married to a timid George McFly.
Gasping simultaneously, the teenage Jennifer, in horror, cried out "I'm old!" at the same time the middle-aged Jennifer, in shock, cried out "I'm young!". Both of them passed out as Doc arrived just in time to catch the younger Jennifer.
"Poor Jennifer," was the thought on George and Lorraine's minds. First, their future daughter-in-law had been put to sleep by Doc with that sleep-inducer device. Now, the poor girl was unconscious again, due to the shock of seeing her prematurely aged future self.
In other words, the trip to 2015 had not been kind to Jennifer. Just like it hadn't been kind to Doc Brown and Marty. Made worse by the fact that Biff had stolen their time machine, leaving them stranded in the future... or so it seemed.