“I don’t understand— “
“It’s all right, Mrs. Baines,” Marty assured her. “My Mom’s used to my staying out late. She won’t even miss me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, ma’am. I could be away for the next thirteen years and she wouldn’t notice.”
The remark obviously tickled Milton, for he giggled hard enough to lose some of his food.
“Isn’t anybody watching this show?” Sam muttered irritably.
Another minute of silence followed. Then, as a new series of commercials started, Marty remembered that he wanted to look up Doc Brown. “Uh, could anybody tell me where Riverside Drive is?” he asked.
“Riverside?” Sam replied. “Sure. It’s on the east side of town, a block past Maple.”
“A block past Maple?” Marty repeated, puzzled. “But that’s JFK Drive…”
“J.F. what?”
“John F. Kennedy Drive.”
“Who the hell is John F. Kennedy?” Sam demanded.
“Uh, never mind.”
“Just keep heading east until you come to Maple,” Sam said. “Then the block after is Riverside.”
“Thank you.”
“Mother,” Lorraine said. “With Marty’s parents away, don’t you think he should spend the night here? I’d hate for anything to happen to him with that bruise on his head. He could faint or something…”
She directed a slightly flirtatious smile at Marty, who smiled back weakly.
“Marty, maybe Lorraine is right. Maybe you’d better spend the night. After all, Dad ran into you. That means you’re our responsibility…”
“Not legally,” Sam interjected hotly.
“Maybe not, but morally he is,” Stella retorted. She looked at Marty for a response.
“I don’t know…” he temporized.
“You can sleep in my room,” Lorraine suggested.
“Lorry’s got a crush,” Milton taunted. “Lorry’s got a crush…”
Lorraine straightened up in her chair and glared imperiously at her little brother. “I’m just trying to be hospitable,” she said.
No one really believed it, least of all Marty. He glanced at his watch, pushed his plate away. “Uh…if you’ll excuse me, I really have to be going,” he said.
“But there’s pie—” Stella protested.
“I’m really sorry,” Marty said. “I’ve got an appointment with this man…”
He got to his feet, nodded at Sam and the rest of the kids, all of whom continued eating. “Thank you for everything. I’ll see you air later. Much later.” A moment later, he was gone.
Lorraine sighed. “I wonder what we said to make him act that way,” she said.
“He’s a very strange young man,” Stella murmured. “He’s pleasant enough most of the time, but other times he just seems to drift off into another world.”