Back To The Future || Part Zero

Chapter Eleven

It was the night of the dance. The time machine and refrigerator -- now successfully lead-lined -- was completely assembled in the back of the truck. Beside it sat the power converter and a motorcycle with sidecar. As Professor Brown pulled a tap over the back, Marty placed his 1982 clothes in a laundry bag, with some bottles of Coke.

"Everything's ready to go," the Professor said, securing the tarp carefully. He looked up. "What about the chemicals for the power converter....whatever they are?"

Marty opened the door and stashed the laundry bag at the floor of the passenger seat. "That's all taken care of."

"Good." Professor Brown tested the tarp, noting in satisfaction that it was secure. "I'll pick you up in front of the school at midnight. Don't be late -- we're cutting it close as it is. We've got a long drive ahead of us."

Marty nodded. He twisted his tie around his fingers, almost absentmindedly. He wasn't
feeling too hot about the next few hours. "Look. I'm a little worried about this -- this whole thing with my mother," he admitted to the Professor. "I mean, I don't know if I can do it -- I mean, hitting on my own mother, that's pretty heavy."

"Nobody said anything about hitting her," Professor Brown said. "You're just going to take a few liberties with her."

"That's exactly what I said!" Marty insisted. "I mean, a guy and his mother -- that's illegal, isn't it?"

"Look, Marty, she's not your mother yet," the Professor explained carefully. "And if you don't go through with this, she may never be. I know it's hard, but there are some things we must do in life that are unpleasant. Some choices must be made that are difficult. Nonetheless, we must make them. Besides, this may be more than a simple question of your own existence," he added. "The fate of the entire space-time continuum may rest on your shoulders."

Marty tried to smile at him. "That's just what I needed to hear."

"It'll be fine, Marty," Professor Brown assured him, patting him on the shoulder. "You'll be fine. Good luck." He stuck his hand out and Marty shook it. But there was still a question that was nagging at him....

"Professor," he began hesitantly, "if something does go wrong tonight....if I don't get my parents back together....when do you think I'd cease to exist?"

The Professor shrugged. "There's no way of knowing."

Perfect, Marty thought.

"It could happen at the moment you arrive back in the future," Professor Brown continued, "theoretically, it could happen at the moment of your birth...or conception. Actually, it could happen at any time. It's a question to which I hope we'll never learn the answer."

Marty nodded vigorously. "Amen."

* * *

Not too much later, Marty pulled into the high school parking lot with Eileen at his side in the Professor's Packard. He carefully parked the car. It was hard for him to look at his mother, Eileen, in the dress she was wearing. It was a light pink color, low cut, showing off her cleavage. He stared at the clock in the dashboard instead.

"Uh....let's just sit here for a few minutes," Marty suggested, his voice cracking.

Eileen looked at him with motherly concern. "Are you all right, Marty? You seem a little...nervous."

"Oh, no, I'm fine...fine," he said quickly, trying to smile at her. It came out pretty shaky. But Eileen smiled back a moment later.

"I'm usually nervous myself on first dates...but not tonight. It's funny, but somehow, I feel like....like I know you," she confessed.