AFTER work Marty stopped over at Doc’s house for a chat about Jennifer.

“I don’t know, Doc.” said Marty, “Jennifer said she was eating because she was trying to forget about almost losing me. But I know it was my fault too. I shouldn’t have let the 1978 Jim Jandick get to me like he did.”

“Marty, stop blaming yourself.” said Doc, “Everybody makes mistakes. That’s how they learn. All you need to do is to cheer her up.”

“Like what?” asked Marty.

“Like buying her a gift.” suggested Doc, “Go to the Peabody Mall. Maybe pick out some flowers for her.”

Marty thought it over for a minute. Then, he said “Not a bad thought.”

The plan was to go to the mall after school to buy Jennifer a gift and take it to the hospital before going to work. But it had to wait until the last class.

Marty was in his Western Civilization class listening to Dr. Pratt’s lecture on ancient Roman society. Of course Marty didn’t need much schooling on the subject knowing that he went back in time to that era to rescue Doc.

Then, the teacher showed the class the jewelry that the Roman women wore in ancient times. Marty recognized one of them immediately. It was a bracelet he saw in a store window when he first arrived in Rome almost two years back.

Dr. Pratt told the class about this particular item. “Bracelets were bought by the women’s lovers as a get well gift when they were ill.”

Marty looked at it very closely. Yeah. he said to himself, That will do. Screw the Peabody Mall. I’ll just go back in time to buy Jennifer that. Or maybe Doc will.

After classes, Marty drove down to Doc’s house and rang the doorbell. A few minutes passed but no one answered. Must be no one home. he said to himself, Alright. Peabody… hey wait a minute. I could do it! All I have to do is go home and get my Roman servant’s tunic and come back here to go back there myself.

Returning to his truck, Marty got in and drove home. Upon arriving, he met his mother who asked “Marty what are you doing here?”

Oh shit. said Marty to himself, How can I explain to her that I’m going to get my tunic without being forced to tell her about the time machines? Then he hit on an idea. “I’m just going to get a get well gift for Jennifer.”

“Why don’t you just call dad and after work you and he could go to the Peabody Mall to buy it for her?” asked Lorraine, “Jennifer will still be there.”

“Thanks for the advice, Mom.” said Marty, “But I don’t think that will be necessary.”

“Why not?” asked Lorraine.

Marty fought for a good answer. Then, he noticed his mother looking at her watch. “Oh, I’m late. I’ve got to go to my hair stylist. I’ve got to get ready to go.” she said, “Don’t be late for work.”

“I won’t, mom.” said Marty. He went to his bedroom to get the tunic. Finding a box big enough to fit it, Marty put it in there and left the room.

He met his mother in the hallway again. Noticing the box, she said “Oh, I see you’ve already got a gift for Jennifer. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Marty looked at the box very sheepishly saying “I just forgot to tell anyone.”

“Well, I guess you’ll be on your way to the hospital now.” said Lorraine.

“That’s for sure.”

“Well, don’t let me keep you.” said Lorraine as she kissed her son.

“Thanks Mom.” said Marty.

“Now don’t be late for work now.”

“I won’t, Mom.” said Marty as they both left.

Once in the truck, Marty said to himself Whew! That’s a close call! Gotta get over to Doc’s right now. Turning the ignition, he pulled out of the driveway and drove off to Doc’s place.

Upon arriving, Marty searched under the mat and picked up a key to unlock the door. Once inside, Marty went to the bathroom to change.

It was minimum day at Jules and Verne’s school, so they arrived home early. Going to their room, Verne picked up a mitt when Jules said “No you don’t, Verne. You’ve got homework to do.”

“Oh, come on.” insisted Verne.

“No.” said Jules, “Your grades are…” His voice stopped in mid sentence when he heard a noise coming from the general direction of the bathroom like a door opening. “Verne.” he said very quietly, “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah.” whispered Verne. The footsteps could be heard going to the lab.

“Stay here.” said Jules, “I’ll sneak a peak at who’s in there.”

He snuck off to the hallway, through the living room and followed the sound to the lab. Then, the sound of a car door opening was heard. It was the DeLorean! Someone was about to use the time machine-but who? Jules took one peek into the lab and saw it’s car door opened and a hand pushing numbers on the keypad.

Knowing that there was no time to sneak back to the phone to call his parents or the police or to tell Verne to do so, Jules crept into the lab towards one of his father’s lab coats and quietly extracted the sleep inducer. Then, he snuck towards the car ready to sleep induce the intruder.

A hand reached out to grab the door handle and Jules flung himself between that and the intruder. Immediately, he trained the inducer on the intruder’s eyes saying “I got you…”

He cut himself off in mid sentence to see who it was, it was Marty.

“Marty!” exclaimed Jules.

“Hey Jules.” said Marty, “What are you doing home early?”

“Me and my brother had minimum day today.” said Jules, “Teacher’s in-service.”

“I see.” said Marty.

“What are you doing in the time machine, Marty?” asked Jules.

“Doing some time traveling.” said Marty.

“Marty.” said Jules, “Traveling back and forth in time to stop Jennifer from overeating each time won’t help. It’ll make things worse for everyone, including Jennifer.”

“I’m not going to do that.” said Marty, “I’m going back in time to buy Jennifer a get well gift.”

Noticing the tunic that Marty was in, Jules asked “Where?”

“Ancient Rome.” said Marty, “The day after I left Calpurnia off.”

“Marty.” said Jules, “Why don’t you go to the Peabody Mall to buy her a gift like Dad told you?”

“Because this only exist in Ancient Rome.” said Marty, “You see, I was in class today and the teacher showed us all these jewelry that was worn by the women in ancient times. And he showed me a picture of this bracelet that was bought has a get well gift by their boyfriends or husbands.”

“So?” asked Jules.

“So I remembered a bracelet similar to that when I was there in Rome to rescue your old man.” said Marty, “So I’m going back in time to the day I told you so I could buy it before someone else does.”

“Well, what are you going to buy it with?” asked Jules, “Not with your money. That’s 20^th century moola that you’ve got in your wallet. You need Roman coins or they’ll have you crucified.”

Marty reached into his tunic to produce his wallet to look inside.

“Well I recall that your old man had a suitcase full of money for different times.” he said, “Maybe I’ll find Roman coins in there. Where is it?”

“Only if we come along.” said Jules noticing that his brother came in.

“We?” asked Marty. He looked to see who came in.

“Yeah.” said Jules, “If you’re going to ancient Rome, we’d like to see it.”

“No way.” said Marty, “I’m only going back there to buy Jennifer a gift. I’m not taking sightseers.”

“You don’t have a choice.” said Jules, “You either take us with you or you don’t get the suitcase.”

Marty mulled this over for a minute. Then he said “Alright. But you two are only going to see an overhead view of it. We’re not stay for long. Once I buy that bracelet, we’re going back to the future, understand?”

Realizing that the boys were not going to get too far with Marty, Jules said “Okay. Just give us a minute.”

“Why?” asked Marty.

“So we can change into our Roman tunics.” said Jules.

“Wait a minute.” said Marty, “You mean your dad made Roman tunics for you two?”

“Yeah.” said Jules.

“Well then, why don’t you ask your dad about visiting Rome someday?” asked Marty.

“Marty.” said Jules, “Aren’t forgetting the suitcase?”

“Okay.” said Marty, “Go change.”

Jules and Verne went to the closet to pick out some Roman tunics that fit their sizes.

As they did, Jules told Verne “I told you to stay in put until I found out what the noise was.”

“I was just curious.” said Verne, “Are we really going back to ancient Rome? I thought I had homework.”

“You do.” said Jules, “When we come back. And seeing that Marty just wants to buy that gift for Jennifer and be done with it, I don’t think you’ll have much time to relax before you get started on your homework. So enjoy the view of Rome while it last.”

After they changed into there tunics, they got into the car.

“Where’s the money.” asked Marty.

“In the trunk.” said Jules.

Marty got out and opened it. There was the suitcase. Opening it, there was the money. After a careful search, he came across the Roman coins.

“Didn’t you say that you’d take us to Rome if we told you where the money is?” asked Jules.

Realizing that he had back him into a corner, Marty said “Yes. But remember, just an overhead view of Rome. I’m not planning to stay long.”

Closing the door, Marty started up the ignition, pushed the roof opener button, activated the cloaking device and lifted off the ground and through the roof.

“Okay, boys.” said Marty, “Time circuits activated, flux capacitor fluxing, engine running. And ladies grab your hats.”

“Marty.” said Jules, “There’s only us…” He was cut off when the car accelerated up to 88 miles per hour and through the time barrier.”

When the light dissipated, Jules finished his sentence. “…boys.”

Verne looked down. “Wow!” he said, “So this is ancient Rome.”

“It sure is.” said Marty as he was looking down at the ancient city with it’s marble streets and buildings. “Okay boys, just feast your eyes on it. This is the only chance you’ll get to see the city in ancient times.”

The boys did. And as they did, Marty steered the car towards a vacant lot and set it down.

“Okay boys.” said Marty, “I’m going in to buy that bracelet. You boys stay put.”

“Come on, Marty.” said Jules, “We want to see ancient Rome close up.”

“No.” said Marty, “You’ll have to see it from the car. Now I’ll be right back.”

He got out and closed the door.

After he left, Jules said “Okay Verne, as soon he’s in the store we get out.”

“Are you sure we should do this?” asked Verne.

“Wanna do that homework I was supposed to make you do before we were interrupted by Marty’s trying to go back in time?” asked Jules.

“No.” said Verne, “Let’s go.”

After getting out, Jules said “Remember where we parked.”

“Alright.” said Verne.

Upon reaching the streets, Jules said “Hey Verne guess what?”

“What?”

“You still have to do that homework when we get back.”

Verne felt like blowing steam out of his ear.