The Parker Tales: Days of Future Past

Part 1

The screen opens to a close up view of the bedroom. Hanging from the walls are posters of Star Wars and Star Trek, along with pictures of famous scientists.

"Once a nerd, always a nerd," Harry joked. All of them laughed at the words. Even people like George, Charles, and DeWolff smiled.

"I don't know how he holds world changing scientists and sci-fi in the same category," Gwen commented, amused.

"They're both equally important," came the response from Harry, Johnny, and Bobby simultaneously. They both looked at each other, and glared.

'Peter is my friend first,' Johnny told Bobby and Harry with his eyes.

'Tough,' Bobby replied through his heated gaze. 'He's my pal.'

'I knew him before you guys, so he's my best friend,' Harry put in.

Gwen, Susan, and Kitty slapped the three upside the head at the same time.

The camera focuses on a few pictures. The first picture shows a young boy smiling next to an older man and woman, clearly his parents.

"He still has pictures of us," Mary whispered to Richard.

"He never took that one down," May said, having heard her sister-in-law from where she sat.

"I wanted to move it to a different place when he was young to help him move on, but he wouldn't stop crying," Ben added.

The next picture shows the same boy, but a little older, winning a math competition and showing the medal proudly to the camera. An older man is standing with his arm around his shoulders.

Ben laughed heartily. "I see he still has that photo."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Peter winning a math competition. What else is new."

Mary and Richard turned to her. "So I take it that Peter's smart, then?" Mary asked.

Simultaneous snorts echoed throughout the room. "Smart?" Ben Grimm asked sarcastically. "He's quite possibly the smartest person I've ever met."

"No way!" Gwen exclaimed. "Peter's smart, yeah, but I'm just about as smart as him! No way he's that intelligent." The rest of the Midtown students agreed with her.

"Clearly, you don't know him very well at all," Emma cut in disdainfully. "Even I know that Peter is exceptional at anything he puts his mind too. Do you know how many of his inventions we use in our school? He's going to be joining Frost Pharmaceuticals when I take over."

"Absolutely not!" Susan shot back. "Peter will be a member of the Baxter Foundation when he turns eighteen. He's already close to all of us, and he'd be a valued colleague."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see, won't we?" Emma smirked challengingly. Sue narrowed her eyes at that, accepting the challenge.

"I know where he gets his brains from," Mary whispered to Richard. "And his charm, too." Richard stifled a laugh.

"Clearly from you," he whispered back.

The last picture shows the boy even older than before, around middle school age, with the same man as before, and another woman too. All of them are laughing at the camera.

May and Ben smile at the memory, but May frowns sadly at what followed for their family.

The screen then pans to the desk where we see a messy situation. It is covered with papers, some with markings and scribbles, others with lots of text. A half open laptop is sat in the middle.

"Will he never clean up after himself," Ben muttered, sick of having to repeat the same instruction again and again. "How he sleeps in a pigsty like that, I'll never know."