Back To The Future

As they watched the two girls walk away, Marty and Doc Brown issued perfectly synchronous sighs.

“She didn’t even look at him,” Marty said.

“You’re right.”

“On the other hand,” Marty continued. “Why should she? He’s a nerd.”

“I understand perfectly what it means, but is that a 1985 word?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s interesting, and you’re probably right. This is a lot more serious than I thought. Apparently your mother is amorously infatuated with you instead of your father.”

“Are you trying to tell me Mom’s got the hots for me?” Marty asked.

“At the risk of sounding crude, yes. If we let it happen, an Oedipal situation could develop…”

“Oedipal?”

“Yes. A very undesirable attraction between mother and son. Of course, this is probably the most bizarre condition under which it’s ever occurred. Still, the psychological implications—”

“Jeez, Doc, that’s pretty heavy…” Marty said.

“There’s that word again,” Doc Brown replied with a shake of his head. “Heavy. Why are things so ‘heavy’ in the future? Is there a problem with the world’s gravitational pull?”

“Huh?” Marty said.

Doc smiled. He enjoyed confusing his young friend occasionally. But rather than explain the remark or try to add to Marty’s confusion, he leaped ahead to another aspect of the Lorraine-George dilemma.

“New theory,” he continued. “The only way those two are going to successfully mate is if they’re alone together. So you’ve got to arrange to get your father and mother to interact in some sort of social encounter, some mutually acceptable and stimulating premating ritual.”

“You mean a date?”

“Excellent, my boy. I think you’ve put your finger on it.”

“But what kind of date?” Marty asked. “I don’t know what kids do in the ’50s.”

“Kids are always kids, aren’t they? It’s the background that changes.”

Marty shrugged. “She did talk some about the kids in her day going to the Essex Theatre and necking in the balcony. How’s that sound?”

“It sounds plausible, but perhaps that might be pushing them a little. I think it would be better if we started them out on something a tad less erotic.”

“I agree, but what?”

“Well, they’re your parents. You must know them. What are their common interests? What do they like to do together?”

“Just the two of them?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing.”

“Hmmm.”

The school hallways were nearly deserted now, the vast majority of the students having gone into their next period classrooms. Doc Brown paused before a large bulletin board, hoping he would see something that would stimulate his imagination.

“Aha!” he said finally.