Chapter 9

2025

Chet's trip to the local grocery store was rather shocking upon seeing the prices. He could not believe how much food cost. He walked with Roy who pushed the cart. "How does anyone afford to live anymore?" he gasped.

"You are looking at fifty years of inflation, Chet." Roy reminded him. "To be honest with you. Many can't. Me and Johnny are lucky. Our pensions are through the city and we get a good retirement. Many don't have that. Some live off Social Security alone." He motioned towards the meat department. "Check out the price of a steak."

Chet walked over to the beef and picked up a nice steak. His eyes popped upon reading the price. "I could buy a whole meal at a nice restaurant for that."

Roy told him. "You can't buy a drink for that at a nice restaurant now." He then stated. "Since you are doing all the cooking for me and Johnny. You pick out what you want to cook. I'll buy."

He looked over the section. "Pork seems cheap."

"For now." Roy shrugged.

"Bacon is how much?!" he gasped.

"Don't focus on the price. Just focus on what you are cooking." Roy reminded him.

"Alright." Chet agreed fearing how big the bill will be. He picked out a number of meat items to cook.

They soon made their way to the frozen food section. Roy found the familiar T.V. dinner. His eyes scanned over the rows of boxed dinners. "This has really changed. Where is Swanson?"

"Haven't seen that brand in decades." Roy replied.

"It all sounds so…fancy." he noted.

Roy shrugged. "Always looks better on the box than in real life. It is an easy option. Just pop one in the microwave and there you have it."

"Microwave?" Chet asked. "Those are expensive."

"Oh, they have come a long way." Roy informed. "Sam bought one for the station along with a Keurig coffee machine."

"What is that?" Chet wondered.

"I show you how it works. You brew individual cups of coffee." he explained.

Chet asked. "How about ice cream? Where is the ice cream? I'm sure that is still pretty basic."

Roy cracked a grin. "Down there." He pointed ahead know the ice cream section was full of fancy flavors and deserts to help sooth Chet's culture shock.

1975

Rescue 51 returned to base after the call for young Bobby Brady. With Chet trapped in the future the men of the station wondered who should take over as station cook. Roy led Johnny and Sam into the kitchen only to find the men waiting at the table.

Johnny was hungry and wondered who was making lunch since Chet was not there. "What's for lunch, guys?"

Firefighter Mike Stoker spoke up. "We all had a little discussion about the situation. Since Chet is not here and apparently is in some distant future thanks to Sam. We think Sam should take over his job as cook."

In reality, the guys felt it would be best to leave Sam in the kitchen cooking than have her on any calls.

Roy's eyes narrowed. "What?" he grew angry.

Johnny wasn't angry. He understood what the men were doing. He also knew Sam was not much of a cook. Her cooking was terrible. He simply bit his bottom lip and looked down for a moment as he nearly laughed.

Sam blinked. "You guys want me to cook?"

Roy huffed angry. "Apparently, they think you should be in the kitchen." His dream was for Sam to become an actual firefighter, like himself.

Johnny looked at Roy. "Let her cook, Roy."

"What?" he growled.

"Let her show the guys what she do." he hinted.

Sam pondered. "I suck at cooking."

Roy gathered himself. "Okay. Sam can cook."

Johnny added. "And no one helps her or…" he paused for a moment. "No one makes their own. You think Sam should be in the kitchen. Fine! But you have to eat what she makes whether you like it or not!"

Sam didn't like cooking. She would rather just pop something in the microwave for cooking was a bother. But, she also needed time to focus on finding the rogue wormhole and find a way to fix the mess she created. She agreed. "Alright. I'll cook!" She pondered. "How hard can it be?"

Roy made a mental note. "I may have my wife pack me some sandwiches."

Johnny then added. "And Sam still gets to ride with me and Roy as an observer. She won't be riding on the engine. Can we all agree to that?"

Mike agreed. "She's your problem. When will you be talking to Chet again? We all want to talk to him. Make sure he is okay."

Sam explained. "You can radio him at any time. The wormhole is moving but always open. Radio transmissions can get through."

Marco Lopez sat with a radio before him at the table. "So, how do we radio him? Any special code or anything?"

"Just press the button and talk." she instructed.

Marco picked up the radio and keyed the microphone. "Chet. You there?" He waited.

In short time Chet's voice came over the radio. "Hey Marco!"

"Hey buddy." he sounded relived to hear his friend's voice. "Are you okay?" The men were all very worried for Chet.

He assured. "I'm fine. I just got back from the store with Roy. Boy, you will not believe the prices here."

"Hey man! We are just glad you are okay. You just went missing here." he explained.

"I fell into a wormhole." he replied. He then stated. "They have this neat little coffee maker here. It's can brew one cup at a time and you get these little coffee pods and can make all these fancy kinds of coffee. It's neat! Oh, and they have those microwaves here. Like everyone has one. And you should see the t.v.'s! They are flat and hang on a wall like a huge picture frame. And those new computers. You will be just blown away by the ones they got here. They are so small. And Roy has a camera in his car so he can see as he backs up."

"That does sound neat." Mike replied over the radio.

Sam approached. "Can I speak to Chet?"

Mike handed her the radio. "Sure."

"Chet! It's Sam. I got an idea. You got one of those coffee pods?" she asked.

"Right here." he replied.

"Go to the area where you came through and put that pod right there." she instructed.

Chet asked. "You want me to put the coffee pod in the back of the engine bay?"

"On the exact spot you came through." she nodded.

"Okay." he wondered why she wanted him to do that. He replied over the radio. "Okay! I put the pod on the spot and it just disappeared on me."

"It entered the wormhole." she stated. She looked at Roy. "We need to find that coffee pod. That will be show us where the other end of the wormhole is."

"I'll go check the bay." Roy told her. He left the kitchen to check the garage bay. Johnny followed along with Sam. The men all followed one by one as well.

Roy shook his head. "Nothing in the bay."

"I'll check the sleeping quarters." Johnny volunteered. Before he could leave, Captain Stanley entered.

The Captain had suddenly emerged from his office. "Hey! What is this thing? I heard a humming sound then found this little cup the floor of my office." He held up the little white pod.

Sam cheered. "Yes!" She radioed. "We found it, Chet. The other end is in Cap's office." She then requested. "Send another pod. I want to see if it's moved."

Older Roy's voice came over the radio. "Can we send something else? Those pods are expensive!"

"It doesn't matter what it is, Grandpa. It's a breadcrumb trail." she explained. "Send candy. Anything!"

Chet replied. "How about some empty water bottles? You got a lot of those here."

"Sounds good." she agreed.

"Sending." Chet stated.

On the floor of Caps office appeared the empty water bottle. She bent over and picked it up. "Got it." she radioed. "This is what I want you to do, Chet. Send an empty water bottle every day. That way I can track the wormhole on this end."

"I can do that." he agreed.

Feeling a bit more confident, Sam let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Chet. This is a huge step in getting back home."

Chet stated. "I hope I get to meet you in person, Sam. I know I won't be here when you get back. Older me died last year."

Roy closed his eyes and held his breath as it was most painful to hear Chet speak such a way.

Sam looked to Roy. "How did he die?"

"Complications from surgery." he told her.

"Interesting." she pondered. She keyed the radio. "Do you know anything about timelines, Chet?"

"No." he replied.

"Well, with me back here and you in the future, the timeline is now fluid. Things can change." she told him.

"You mean I could live?" he asked.

She agreed. "Hell, you could not only live. You could be the city Mayor. Don't write yourself off. The timeline has not solidified. We are going to have a new timeline as a result of this."

Johnny asked. "But in Back to the Future, Marty nearly died when he broke up his parents."

Sam asked. "And what was the timeline when Marty got back? He changed things. That can actually happen. Of course we could make things worse but who knows." she shrugged.

Johnny told her. "Let's not make things worse."