Chapter 5 – Night of Enchantment
A wave of intense joy and nostalgia coursed through George and Lorraine as the video shifted to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, showing Marvin Berry and the Starlighters performing "Night Train" while the crowds of students danced to the instrumental song in the school's gym. Once again, the McFly couple felt as though they were actually back in the past like their son. Who would've thought they would've ever gotten the chance literally re-witness the one event that resulted in them falling in love? It made George and Lorraine feel special to observe that particular school dance again.
"There I am, waiting for the big moment to arrive," George mused upon seeing his teenage self dancing in a corner of the gym. "I have no idea how much my life will change after that night."
"George looks so handsome in that tuxedo," Lorraine noted at the sight of her husband's younger self. The video shifted to the parking lot, showing Marty and Lorraine arriving in Doc's car. "There go me and Marty. Little did I know, this was part of a plan to make George appear as a hero in my eyes. Well, it worked better than expected in the end... thanks to Biff of all people."
Marty asked Lorraine if she was okay with them parking for a while. To his surprise, Lorraine eagerly agreed to it, telling Marty she was almost eighteen years old and "it's not like I've never parked before".
"Now I know the real reason Marty was so nervous that evening," Lorraine mused. At the time, she'd chalked Marty's nervousness up to him experiencing his first date, but now... she knew the truth. "My poor son..."
"Now that I think about it, my plan with Marty would've probably gone down the drain if it wasn't for Biff showing up," George realized. "Lorraine, at the time, probably would've allowed Marty to touch her anywhere without the slightest protest, including..." He decided against finishing that sentence. It didn't matter anyway, since, at the end of the day, George won Lorraine's heart in the end, while Dave, Linda, and Marty ended up being born years later.
As a stunned Marty caught Lorraine taking a sip of liquor, she told him that she'd "swiped it from the old lady's liquor cabinet". Marty advised Lorraine not to drink because she would likely regret it later in life.
"He was right, and I was wrong," Lorraine thought. "It was naive of me to ever think it was cool to drink simply because everyone else did it. I'm glad I stopped drinking and smoking a long time ago."
She shuddered at the memory of her worn-out, alcoholic counterpart who was unhappily married to a George McFly whose confidence never emerged.
"Geez, you smoke too?" Marty asked Lorraine incredulously. In annoyance, Lorraine remarked that Marty was beginning to sound just like her mother.
"He's only being helpful and making sure my future turns out well," the current Lorraine realized. At least she had grown out of her rebellious phase after settling down with George and becoming a mother to their three children.
Teen-Lorraine told Marty that she would let her children do anything they wanted. Anything at all. "I'd like to have that in writing," Marty responded.
"Does 'anything' include, for instance, burning the entire house down?" George mentally joked in response to his teenage wife's comment.
"Well, not exactly 'anything'," the current Lorraine thought. "Certain rules and boundaries are always important."
The video shifted back to the dance as Marvin and his band, after finishing their tune, announced that they were taking a break. Hurrying off, George headed into the phone booth to ask the operator for the time. A group of bullies, led by a redhead named Mark Dixon, placed a pitchfork in the door handles, locking George in the phone booth. As the bullies headed off, Mr. Strickland appeared. George told the principal what the bullies did to him, but Strickland harshly responded with "you see what happens to slackers, McFly" before walking off, leaving the trapped George desperately begging in vain for Strickland to let him out of the booth.
"Mr. Strickland was no better than Dixon and his friends here," the current George mused firmly. "In fact, Strickland's even worse than them since he's the principal and should've really known better. But at least Dixon's behavior improved considerably after high school."
"Unbelievable!" Lorraine thought angrily. "It's a wonder that Strickland lasted so long as the school's principal if he's capable of behavior like this. He's just as bad as those students, if not worse."
The video shifted back to Marty and Lorraine in Doc's car as Lorraine wondered why Marty was so nervous. "Lorraine, have you ever been in a situation where you knew you had to act a certain way, but when you got there, you didn't know if you could go through with it."
"I had no idea what he was really talking about at the time," the current Lorraine mused.
"I wouldn't be able to go through with it either if I and my own mother were in Marty and Lorraine's place," George thought. "No one would."
"You know what I do in those situations? I don't worry," the teenage Lorraine in the video said to Marty. Immediately after that, she leaned forward and threw herself on Marty, kissing him passionately while Marty whimpered helplessly.
The current Lorraine felt sick to her stomach and would've possibly fainted or at least collapsed if she weren't in the trance-like state, while George was thoroughly taken aback by Teen-Lorraine's bold move on her future son. Lorraine shuddered in disgust at the brief thought of her father's younger self kissing her in that manner.
Teen-Lorraine pulled away from the utterly stunned and wide-eyed Marty. Eying Marty strangely, Teen-Lorraine said, "This is all wrong. I don't... I don't know what it is... but when I kiss you, it's like I'm kissing... my brother."
"That's even more true than I always thought," the current Lorraine mused.
"That couldn't be more true," George thought at the same time.
As Teen-Lorraine wondered if it made any sense, Marty replied it made perfect sense.
"Oh, it definitely makes sense all right," George thought.
Just as Teen-Lorraine noticed someone coming, the door on Marty's side was opened before Biff grabbed him out of the car. "You caused three hundred bucks' damage to my car, you son of a bitch," Biff snarled at Marty. "And I'm gonna take it out of your ass."
The current Lorraine tensed, remembering all-too-well what would happen next, while George knew right away that was the incident that led to him knocking Biff out with one punch.
After handing Marty over to his gang, Biff climbed into Doc's car to sexually have his way with a fiercely protesting Teen-Lorraine and closed the door, while Match, Skinhead, and 3-D carried Marty away. The scene made George feel as though his blood began to boil, while the current Lorraine felt a bit uncomfortable having to see what Biff had almost done to her. At least George would soon come to her rescue and teach Biff a lesson the bully never forgot.
After Biff's gang members threw Marty into the trunk of a car, which belonged to one of the Starlighters, Marvin Berry and the rest of the band members stepped out of the car after one of Biff's gang members insulted the driver. George and Lorraine mentally cheered with great satisfaction as some of the Starlighters chased off Biff's cowardly screaming gang members.
Marty begged the Starlighters to let him out of the truck, but, unfortunately, the keys were inside with him. That made George and Lorraine sigh inwardly. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.
The video shifted to Teen-George rushing into the parking, nervously approaching Doc's car as Teen-Lorraine and Biff continued struggling inside it.
"This is it," George mused with pride. "The moment that served as my turning point is about to arrive."
A relieving feeling washed over Lorraine, who, quite fittingly, felt the distress her younger self was going through in the video.
Teen-George opened the door on the driver's side. "Hey, you, get your damn hands off..." He sighed at the sight of Biff, who told George he had the wrong car.
The current George remembered the intense fear he had felt upon seeing Biff instead of Marty in the car with Lorraine. He had considered walking... no, running away in that instant, but his good conscience, combined with seeing the terrified expression on the face of his dream girl and the lessons he'd learned from Marty during that week, proved more than enough to make him hesitate.
As a fearful and teary-eyed Teen-Lorraine pleaded for Teen-George to help her, Biff warned him to turn around and walk away. George, however, was conflicted. Should he walk away to avoid getting beaten up by his tormentor, or should he do the right thing by standing up to Biff and protecting the girl he had a crush on for a while?
The current Lorraine felt a pang of sympathy for her younger self and wished she could comfort the terrified teenage girl, while the current George felt the urge to put a comforting arm around his wife, which he would do if they were watching the video in-person.
"No, Biff, you leave her alone," Teen-George told the bully with a mix of firmness and nervousness. The current Lorraine felt proud of her husband's younger self, knowing that was the moment George had begun to show some assertiveness.
"All right, McFly," Biff stepped out of the car, towering over Teen-George. "You're asking for it, and now you're gonna get it." As Teen-George tried to punch him, Biff seized the smaller teenager's arm and twisted it, while Teen-Lorraine, concerned that Biff would break George's arm, shouted at the bully to stop.
The current George winced inwardly upon remembering the pain he had felt. Fortunately, it didn't matter in the end, because he would turn the tables on Biff and it would remain that way for the rest of their lives.
Meanwhile, Marvin managed to pry the trunk open with a screwdriver, but accidentally cut his hand in the process. Marty climbed out of the trunk, tossed the keys to the car's owner, and hurried off. George and Lorraine were relieved that their son was okay, while feeling a mix of gratitude and sympathy for Marvin.
The video shifted back to the parking lot, showing Lorraine, in a mix of anger and determination, attempting to defend George from Biff's attack, only for Biff to shove Lorraine to the ground. As Biff laughed at Lorraine, George's expression shifted from pain to intense anger. Clenching his free hand into a fist, George swung it forward, decking Biff directly in the face. Biff spun around before falling to the ground, out cold.
A surge of joy shot through the current George upon witnessing the event he owed all his confidence and science fiction author career to. Seeing his teenage self lay Biff out with a single punch was every bit as satisfying as when he had actually done it thirty years ago. The scene made George and Lorraine feel like they were seventeen all over again.
As Teen-George helped Teen-Lorraine to her feet, some of the students in the vicinity watched the scene with amazement, while Marty checked the photo of him and his siblings before rushing off. The current George and Lorraine's concern for the children's existence suddenly returned as Dave was completely gone from the photo, while the upper portion of Linda was missing. Shouldn't everything be okay now that George had taken down Biff and was escorting Lorraine to the dance? Or did they need to actually participate in the dance – and perhaps kiss first – before their children's existence was secured? They would find out soon enough.
After a brief scene of Doc Brown exiting the Courthouse and noticing the storm upon hearing a rumble of thunder, the video shifted to Marty running back to Marvin and the Starlighters, urging them to finish the dance. Unfortunately, since Marvin's hand was injured, he couldn't play the guitar and the band couldn't perform without him. So the dance would have to end early – unless Marty knew someone else who could play the guitar.
So that was why Marty had unexpectedly performed on stage at the dance, George and Lorraine finally realized. After thirty years, it made total sense. They were actually glad it happened, since the McFly couple had a feeling that Marty's performance made the dance even more exciting and memorable than it would've been otherwise, with all due respect to Marvin and his band of course.
George and Lorraine felt yet another rush of pure nostalgia as the video shifted to a nervous Marty playing the guitar on stage while he and the Starlighters performed "Earth Angel". Knowing that it was their own son who had been the 'life of the party' at their school dance made the event all the more special in hindsight. It made them feel special compared to all the other students there. The McFly couple's nostalgic feelings immediately shifted to worry as Marty saw that he was the only one left in the photo of him and his siblings.
On the dance floor, as Teen-Lorraine wondered if a nervous Teen-George was going to kiss her, they were interrupted by Mark Dixon, who grabbed Lorraine and took her away while a disheartened George started heading off in the opposite direction. At that same time, Marty on stage started playing some dissonant notes on the guitar before he doubled over as if a severe illness suddenly washed over him.
The current George and Lorraine were horrified, instantly realizing what was happening to Marty. Their son was getting erased from existence! Was it due to Dixon cutting in on their dance? While the McFly couple was sure that Marty would be fine in the end, since they remembered talking to him one last time after the dance, the mere thought, let alone the sight, of any of their children suffering was perturbing.
Teen-Lorraine desperately cried out to Teen-George as Dixon laughed wildly with the former in his grasp, but Teen-George's mind was in a state of conflict. Meanwhile, Marty on stage saw that his image in the photo had turned transparent and he raised his hand, which he could literally see right through!
"Oh, my goodness, that is so horrifying!" Lorraine mentally cried out. "I hope it didn't hurt Marty too much..."
"I feel like this is partially my fault," George mused with feelings of guilt as Marty in the video feebly called out to Teen-George. "Maybe Marty wouldn't have gone through this if I'd just kissed Lorraine instead of letting fear get to me."
"Excuse me," Teen-George in the video said with sudden courage, before shoving Dixon to the floor.
The current George remembered the satisfaction he had felt during that moment, considering that Dixon had, not too long ago, locked him in the phone booth. It was then that George realized, if he could put Biff to sleep with a single blow, he could handle just about anyone from that point on. And, unlike a true bully like Biff, Dixon was merely a class clown who was not much of a threat in the first place.
Teen-George grabbed Teen-Lorraine's face in his hands as the new couple gazed directly into each other's eyes. The current George remembered how mesmerized he had been by Lorraine's beauty. Thirty years later, his wife was just as gorgeous.
As the teenage versions of George and Lorraine kissed each other for the first time, Marty on stage suddenly got up, feeling whole again! The current George and Lorraine were utterly relieved and thrilled as Marty, Linda, and Dave reappeared in the photo, their images clear as day. Their children's existence was set. If that wasn't a sign that George and Lorraine were truly meant for each other, they didn't know what was.
"It was then that I realized I was gonna spend the rest of my life with George," Lorraine thought with love and affection.
"It was then that I realized Lorraine was officially mine," George thought happily and proudly.
After "Earth Angel" finished, everyone in the crowd cheered excitedly, while Marvin eagerly suggested to Marty that they do another one. Specifically, "something that really cooks". After a bit of reluctance, Marty gave in. "All right!" he announced to the crowd. "All right, this is, uh, this is an oldie, but, uh... well, it's an oldie where I come from."
That explained why the song performed after "Earth Angel" sounded unlike anything anyone had heard back in 1955, George and Lorraine realized.
After giving Marvin and the Starlighters some instructions, Marty kicked off his performance of "Johnny B. Goode" as all the students in the crowd immediately enjoyed the upbeat tune. George and Lorraine felt like they were on cloud nine as their son began to sing. Marty had such a wonderful voice – one his parents really hoped many people around the world would get to hear someday if he successfully pursued a music career. Speaking of "Johnny B. Goode", the McFly couple recalled when they had heard Chuck Berry's version of the song for the first time, back in 1958, and found that it sounded distinctively familiar for some reason. After hearing it several more times, it was Lorraine who had pointed out that the song sounded quite similar to the one 'Calvin Marty Klein' had performed at their dance, which eventually led to her and George deducing that Marvin must've recorded the performance and sent the audio to his cousin Chuck, who was inspired to make his own variation of the song. What neither George nor Lorraine realized until now was that Marty's version of the song had the exact same lyrics, which was, obviously, due to Marty being a time traveler from the future. That would seem highly suspicious under ordinary circumstances, but the McFly couple realized that Chuck had to have come up with the song somehow in order for Marty to know about it in the first place.
As Teen-George received compliments from a couple of other students, the current George remembered how good all the praise and words of encouragement from his classmates felt, which only fueled his determination to maintain his newfound confidence forever. He had, indeed, considered running for class president back then, but ultimately decided against it, since he preferred to focus mainly on pursuing his writing career.
When the video showed Marvin calling his cousin Chuck to let him hear the "new sound" that Marty was playing, George and Lorraine realized they had been right all along about Marty's performance inspiring Chuck to compose the song.
Marty's guitar performance shifted into a hard rock-style instrumental as he imitated the moves of several rock musicians from the future, including doing the 'duckwalk', skillfully strumming the guitar behind his head, contorting himself on the ground, and kicking over the amplifier, all while the members of the Starlighters gave him odd looks. George and Lorraine, unlike back in 1955, understood their son's enthusiasm and, although a bit amused by the antics, didn't really blame him for his seemingly weird performance. After all, Marty had every right to still enjoy life, despite being stranded thirty years in the past, although George and Lorraine couldn't deny that their son, specifically during the last parts of his performance, might've came across as unhinged to not only the band, but most of the students in the gym. It was as though Marty had temporarily forgotten he was in the fifties instead of the eighties.
By the time Marty ended his performance on an erratic high-pitched note, everyone in the crowd had stopped dancing and were staring at him in stunned silence. George and Lorraine weren't particularly surprised to see Mr. Strickland covering his ears with an unimpressed expression.
"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet," Marty announced to the crowd. "But your kids are gonna love it."
George and Lorraine had no disagreements there. It was true. Especially for their youngest. The next part of the video showed their teenage selves' last conversation with who they thought was 'Calvin Klein'.
"We will definitely see Marty again," Lorraine mused after her younger self asked Marty that question. "Though not for another thirteen years, when he'll be a newborn baby."
Teen-George thanked Marty for all his good advice, which he promised to never forget.
"And I haven't forgotten any of it to this day," the current George thought. In fact, the advice meant even more to him now, since it all came from his own son.
"One other thing," Marty said to his teenage parents. "If you guys ever have kids, and one of them, when he's eight years old, accidentally sets fire to the living room rug, go easy on him."
The McFly couple felt like laughing, given that they now knew the comment had neither been a joke nor a coincidental prediction. When the incident happened nine years ago, when Marty was actually eight years old, they had, indeed, not grounded him for it. Instead, they merely lectured him in a way that wasn't unnecessarily harsh and made sure he would be mindful of avoiding something similar happening again.
"Marty – such a nice name," Teen-Lorraine remarked.
"It sure is," the current Lorraine agreed with her younger self. There was a time that she had considered naming her and George's first son 'Marty', but Lorraine ultimately insisted on honoring the promise she once made to her Uncle Dave, whom she was very fond of, while saving 'Marty' for her second male child. However, not only was Marty named after 'Calvin Marty Klein', but also his great-great-great-uncle Martin McFly.
The video shifted to the Courthouse square, where Doc was impatiently waiting for Marty until the teenager, having changed back into his 1985 clothes, arrived in the scientist's car. George and Lorraine realized they were about to witness how the process of Doc getting their son home would go. Did that mean they were going to actually see the lightning strike the Clock Tower? The McFly couple thought back to the conversation they had right before Morgan transported them to their current location and realized they were possibly about to get their wish.
As they uncovered the DeLorean, Marty reported to Doc that the plan to get his parents together worked, with his father having laid out Biff in one punch, despite the fact that George had never stood up to Biff in his life. "Never?" Doc questioned worriedly as Marty showed him the fully restored photo.
That was when the current George suddenly thought of something. It was clear that the Marty in the video wasn't exactly the one he and Lorraine knew. Video-Marty had come from that other reality, where Lone Pine Mall was called Twin Pines Mall while George and Lorraine's lives were... disgustingly unfulfilled. But how exactly did that work? When Marty returned to 1985, would there be two versions of him? Would the Marty in the video replace the one that was their son, or vice versa? That was one confusing aspect of time travel. George recalled Morgan reminding him and Lorraine about Marty's seemingly strange behavior on the morning his novel had arrived. Specifically, the science fiction author recalled Morgan saying "he reacted as though he didn't recognize either of you". Could that have been because it wasn't exactly the Marty that he and Lorraine had raised? If so, that raised the question of what had happened to their Marty. Would their Marty have also gone back to 1955, likely replacing the version they had seen throughout the video? And what about when their Marty returned to 1985? Would there be two of them? George imagined something like would undoubtedly make things very complicated. Or, if there was truly only one Marty, regardless of how the timeline had changed, maybe his memories would simply take time to transform, similar to the photo of George and Lorraine's children. Perhaps the video would eventually answer those questions.
Doc inputted OCT 26 1985 01:35AM as the 'Destination Time' in the DeLorean, matching the 'Last Time Departed' readout so that Marty would return to the exact time he had left.
"Now, I pained a white line on the street way over there," Doc stated. "That's where you'll start from. I've calculated the precise distance, taking into account the acceleration speed and wind resistance, retroactive from the moment the lightning strikes..." Doc looked at a small alarm clock clutched in his hand. "Which will be in exactly seven minutes and twenty-two seconds. When this alarm goes off, you hit the gas."
"It's good Doc Brown seemed to have thought of everything so far," Lorraine mused. "I just hope Marty won't get hurt in all of this."
After setting the alarm clock on the dashboard in the DeLorean, Doc and Marty thanked each other before sharing a hug. "Don't worry," the scientist told the teenager. "As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely eighty-eight miles an hour, the instant the lightning strikes the tower, everything will be fine."
"I'm sure Marty already knows that, Doc Brown. He just hopes you will be okay," George thought. "And so do I."
"It seems Doc Brown is completely oblivious to how distressed poor Marty clearly is," Lorraine noted as her heart went out the latter. "I sure wish he'd get the hint already and let Marty warn him."
As Marty got in the DeLorean, Doc noticed the letter in his jacket pocket and pulled it out. George and Lorraine tensed, wondering what Doc was going to do now that he'd discovered the letter.