BACK TO THE PAST
Chapter Five
Jack ripped through town, leaving the high
school far behind. Who the hell are these guys?
After the bald man in the hall stopped him,
he was taken to an office and told to stay put. He was to sit in a chair and
wait while being baby-sat by another man. A scene all too familiar.
Only this time his rescuer was not Rose. In
fact there were several more of them now and they demanded money. They locked
the door soon after they entered.
Jack thought this was complete horseshit and
was not going to take it for a second.
He told them to get lost in several words.
But it was not until he was hoisted up by the shirt collar that he decided on
more aggressive tactics.
He kicked one of his assailants in the groin
and punched another in the face, leaving the others to trip over them as he
dove through the window and closed it on one of their hands.
Now he was being chased. Many times he
believed he was clear when they showed up right behind him. He lost them around
the corner again and ran into a diner.
There were more kids in this place than in
the school. Weren’t they supposed to be in school? The music in here was louder
than in di Rossi’s.
We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow
submarine, yellow submarine, we all live…
It sounded familiar, like the Penny Lane
guys. He wondered if every restaurant and home had a turntable now. Strangely
enough, when he looked around he couldn’t locate any turntable.
Weary, he sat down at the counter and no one
bothered him for a few minutes. He contemplated how to get all the way to the
high school, sneak back in and find Rose, without running into anyone
unfriendly. At least she was safe in the closet…but knowing her she would have
gone out searching for him.
"Hey kid, you gonna order
something?"
"What?"
"Are you gonna order something or
not?"
"Uh, yeah…coffee black." Jack
whipped out a crisp 1960’s dollar bill and slapped it on the counter. He got
less change back than he expected. Even the value of the dollar is sideways.
He drank some of his coffee and put it back
down. He ran his hands through his hair as did the person directly to his left,
but he didn’t notice him. His mind was focused on finding Rose.
Then someone burst through the entrance, both
doors swinging.
"Hey, Dawson!" Jack and the kid
next turned around simultaneously.
The meat-headed kid spoke again. "Hey
are you deaf, Dawson? I’m talking to you. Didn’t I tell you never to come in
here?"
The other Dawson spoke. "Didn’t I tell
you I don’t listen to guys with names like Butch?"
"Say that again?"
He reiterated carefully and purposefully.
"I don’t listen to guys with names like Bitch. Oops, what did I say? I
meant Butch, but you know they sound so similar."
Now everyone in the diner was silent and
staring at Butch and this smart mouthed Dawson kid, especially Jack.
"What did you say? It didn’t think it
was very funny."
"But you know what is funny? Watching
George McFly beat the living hell out of your brother. Now that’s funny."
"That’s it! You think you’re so God damn
smart, don’t you? All right Gary, let’s see how tough you are now. Monday after
school. The parking lot. You’ll be there."
"Oh, bite me, Tannen."
"I kick your ass one way or
another!"
Another one spoke. One of Tannen’s gang.
"Hey, Butch, it’s that kid we found back at the school!" He pointed
out Jack. "This dork actually tried to sneak into school!"
Butch and his gang laughed and he motioned
for them leave with him. "I’ll see you around too, dork. And Dawson, say
hi to your sister for me."
Tannen and his thugs were gone after that. A
girl passed by them as she left. "Great going, Gary. That was awesome."
"Thanks."
Jack still stared at Gary in awe.
"You’re Gary Dawson."
"Yeah." He went back to his cereal,
but then noticed Jack was still staring at him intensely. "Are you
okay?"
"Oh yeah…I…I’m fine." Jack did
notice the resemblance between them, but he thought he looked more like his
Uncle Joe when he was young. This guy was his grandson. His grandson. And he
couldn’t be much more than a few years younger than him, if not older.
"Don’t worry about Tannen and those
other assholes. They’re just morons; they can’t do anything. They’re lucky if
they can spell their own names."
"You did a good job of standing up to
those guys."
"Well, I shouldn’t have waited so long
to. Are you new in town?"
"Yeah."
"Cool. You got a name, by the way?"
Cool? "Jack…" He couldn’t use his real name. He said the first
name that came to his head. "Taft." The President? Oh well.
"Well, I guess you know I’m Gary. I
gotta go, but I’ll see you around."
"Yeah, I’ll see ya later." Much
later.
Gary got up to leave. Jack was about to turn
back to his coffee when he saw Rose.
"Rose!"
"Jack!"
He ran to her, nearly tripping over himself.
"You’re all right!"
"Of course I am, and you are, too!"
Christine was with Rose, too. Gary turned to
her. "Cutting class has now become very romantic, I see."
"Hey, we were hiding under Strickland’s
desk while he was in the room. We almost got caught right in his office. And
aren’t you supposed to be home sick?"
"Aren’t you supposed to be in
class?"
"You say nothing I say nothing."
"As usual."
Christine turned to Jack and Rose and cleared
her throat. "This is my brother Gary. Twin unfortunately."
"Up yours, Chris. Jack, this my sister,
Christine. Chris, this Jack Taft."
Rose raised an eyebrow at Jack. The
President? He nodded and shrugged.
"Gary, this is Rose McCoy." Jack
was relieved that Rose hadn’t used her real name, too. "And I think you
two already know each other." She indicated Jack and Rose.
"Like Bones?" Gary asked.
"Wait! We left the bikes up at the
school! Doc should be home soon!" Rose remembered everything.
"What about the library?"
"Look at the time! It’s 11:30! We didn’t
expect to be out that long!"
Christine interrupted. "Yeah, what were
you looking for, anyway?"
Rose looked at Jack and then turned back to
Christine. "We were doing research on the…the Titanic."
"General?"
"Yes."
"We’ll get that for you. You have to go
Doc Brown’s?"
"Yes, we’re staying there."
"Oh crap, I’d drive you but I have pick
up something from home. And I don’t have the car." Christine sneered at
her brother.
"I’ve got the car. I’ll take you."
"Thanks," said Jack.
"No problem."
Christine left and Gary drove Jack and Rose
home and picked up the bikes.
He dropped them off in the driveway. Good.
Doc hadn’t gotten home yet.
"Where are you guys from?"
Rose answered before Jack could say anything.
"I’m from Philadelphia and Jack here’s from Wisconsin."
"Then how do you two know each
other?"
"We came here together…we were in London
before," Jack said.
"London. That’s a long way from Hill
Valley. I’ve never been, but I hear it’s a cool city." There was that cool
again. "Hey, it’s funny." Gary laughed. "My grandparents are
Jack and Rose, too."
"Really?" Jack sighed. He looked
over at Rose as they got out of the car. She seemed to be expecting it, too.
"Even weirder. You guys have to research
the Titanic disaster. They met on it! Along with the people who own di Rossi’s
Ristorante. They all met there together. Except my grandpa knew Mr. di Rossi
for a few years before that. They were traveling together. Then they met my
grandma and Mrs. di Rossi, who didn’t even speak English, or so I’m told. But
anyway they all survived and stuck together after that. Pretty cool, huh?"
He never mentioned anything about Rose’s
situation. Did they never tell him?
"But none of them really talk about it
much. I can see why, though." He started the ignition.
Now this was killing them.
"We’ll see you later, Gary." Rose
waved to him as he pulled away.
"Yeah, bye." Jack grabbed Rose's
hand and headed back for the house.
"Bye, guys! Catch you around!" Gary
called to them.
They got back into the house weary and dazed.
They sat back on the couch, mesmerized.
Jack sighed heavily. "Jesus
Christ."