Back to the Future (Sequel to Outlander Reversed)

Seven

“Dare I even ask why you’re giving me that look–and how much it’s gonna hurt for me later?”

        Laughing, Summer wasted no Time in reacquainting her male best friend with the Murrays, including Young Jamie. Her husband was obviously already familiar with him, even if he didn’t know him like the back of his hand the way she did. Once that’d been accomplished, all the adults’d settled on the front porch–be it in chairs or on the steps–while the kids ran down into the yard to play.

        “We were just telling these guys how we were gonna start teaching Jamie and Jenny how to drive before ya roared up,” she explained once everyone was settled.

        “Oh, really?” Ash’s brows rose slightly. “So, the Murrays’re here to stay, too?”

        “They literally can’t go back to 1742 now–that was one of the conditions of Äiti ja Isä letting them come through the Doorway to the twenty-first Century with Jamie and I,” the Elvin woman answered, nodding.

        “Äiti…ja Isä?” her husband queried.

        “It literally means Mother and Father in Finnish, rakkaus,” Summer chuckled.

        “I ken what ye mean now,” the ginger man said, issuing a nod of his own.

        “Back to what I was saying, though.” She turned her attention back to their guest. “Hearing ya roar up on your Dirt bike gave me an idea.”

        “Fuck me, this is gonna hurt!” the Darker-toned man laughed.

        Rolling her eyes as she mimed smacking him a good one upside the head, the Elvin woman didn’t hesitate to lay out that idea.

        Jamie and the Murrays all listened Intently as she said that Dirt bikes were another gasoline-driven machine one could use for transportation from one placeta another. But there were a couple differences between Dirt bikes and trucks like what she drove when she went to Town. Firstly, a Dirt bike’d only two wheels–or rather, tires–which were what allowed them to roll across the ground like a wagon wheel did. Vehicles like cars and her truck possessed four, and some of those vehicles were what they called two-wheel drive, whereas others were what were called four-wheel drive.

        Secondly, Dirt bikes could be used on just about any type of terrain–and by that, she meant asphalt roads in addition to bare Dirt, mud, and Snow. However, there was a type of bike–usually referred to as a motorcycle–that was more or less strictly for highway use. Trying to ride one of those on anything but asphalt roads unless it was a relatively short gravel driveway generally wasn’t a good idea, ’cuz it usually didn’t End well.

        Ash didn’t even have to ask what her idea was at that point, as well as he knew her Thought processes and just her, in general. It didn’t take an astrophysicist to figure out that if they were gonna teach the Time-Traveling trio how to drive, teaching them how to deal with bikers on the road wouldn’t be a bad idea. Gods only knew there were a lotta them on the roads–especially up here around the Blue Ridge Parkway–and at certain Times of Year, even more seemed to come outta the woodwork than normal.

        “I can tell Ash’s already figured out what my idea is,” Summer chuckled. “But for those who don’t know me nearly as well…”

        “Aye, mo chridhe?” the ginger man queried, a brow cocked curiously.

        “This Time of Year and through the Winter’ll be the best Time to teach y’all how to drive,” she said. “We can use the Fields since they’re big, open Spaces, rather than having to stick strictly to the few roads between mine and Ash’s properties.”

        “Yeah, ’cuz it’s not like there’s gonna be anything growing in said Fields, if Äiti doesn’t spell them to keep producing through the Winter,” Malcolm agreed, nodding.

        “And it’ll mean less for ye to crash into while ye’re practicing at first,” his husband added when they looked shocked. “Not to mention it might help till up the Soil for next Year’s planting, rather than letting it freeze solid and hard as rocks.”