Back To The Future, Part II

Jennifer realised the whole family was going to sit down to dinner, all in one place, out of sight of the bathroom door. There probably wouldn't be a better time for her to get out of here.

But - even if that French door led outside - where would she go? She didn’t know anything at all about the future! What had happened to Marty and Doc, anyway? How could she possibly find them.

For the first time, Jennifer realised she might be lost in the future for good.

If only it wasn’t too late!

Doc Brown steered the car into Hilldale, a once-fashionable section of town that - to put it mildly - had seen better days.

The cops, after identifying Jennifer from her thumb print, would have brought her here - to the McFly place. It was standard police procedure. What wouldn't have been standard was whatever happened to Jennifer after she got here - especially if an older, 2015 version of that same Jennifer had been at home. The implications ...

Doc Brown didn’t want to think about these implications. This whole thing had gotten too complicated already.

Doc looked over at his passenger as he landed the car. Marty was all smiles, turning quickly from the front windshield to the side window and back again, trying to see as much as he could in the darkness.

'So I live in Hilldale?' he bubbled. 'Great! They just built it! Everybody says it's a real hip place to live.' He shook his fist victoriously. ‘Way to go. McFly!'

Doc didn't have the heart to tell Marty about what happened to the neighbourhood. The less Marty knew about the future, the better.

Doc set down the car around the corner from the McFly place - near enough to do the job quickly, but not so close as to be conspicuous.

Now. all he needed was Einstein’s nose, and a little luck, and they could keep those implications he wouldn't think about from getting any worse. He opened his gull-wing door and climbed from the car, then turned to fish behind his seat for Jennifer’s purse which, fortuitously, had been left behind in the car.

Ah! There it was, right behind that hoverboard Marty had picked up somewhere. He pulled the purse out and stuck it under Einstein's nose.

‘All right, Einie, pick up Jennifer's scent.'

The dog snuffled the purse.

‘You got it?'

The dog barked enthusiastically.

‘Good!’ Doc Brown smiled. 'Let’s find her.’

He looked over at his eager teenage sidekick. There was one more thing that needed to be taken care of.

Doc pointed to the car. ‘Marty, stay here. Change clothes. If I need you. I’ll holler.'

Marty stared back at him. open-mouthed But. Doc

Doe cut off Marty’s protest before he could begin. We can t risk you running into yourself,’ he said tirmly. C'mon, Einie.'

Einstein jumped from the car and ran straight toward the McFly house, Good! That meant Jennifer had to be inside. With luck, he and his dog could get in there, grab the young lady, and get out in a matter of seconds. If not...

Doc sighed softly and headed for the house. There wasn’t any time for ’if nots.’ There was only time to get the job done, before things got even more complicated.

So this was Hilldale?

Marty had gotten excited as soon as he had seen the twin signs by the entrance: HILLDALE - THE ADDRESS OF SUCCESS.

But here they were, in this classy place, and Doc had told him to stay with the DeLorean and change his clothes!

Marty pulled off his future hat, jacket and shoes, and fished in the gym bag for his regular 1985 clothes. He pulled out his sneakers first, put them on and knelt down to tie them. He missed the power laces already.

A dog barked behind him. Marty glanced back, and saw a dog and a leash with nobody on the other end. The leash was just sort of hanging up there in the air. Of course! Marty thought. It must be some kind of automatic dogwalker. Wow, the future!

The dog trotted obediently around the corner - the same corner Doc had taken a minute before. Maybe, Marty considered, now that he had his shoes on and all, maybe he should take a closer look at that dog, and, maybe, whatever else might be around the corner, like his future house. Sure, like Doc said, maybe it was dangerous to know too much about your future, but - hey - he already knew he lived here. What could it hurt if he went and took a little stroll?