CALPURNIA began to become more adjusted to having to do things herself with the help of the servants with the cooking and cleaning.
After dinner, Doc sat down with the women and delivered his surprise. There in his hands were two tickets.
“Emmett.” asked Clara, “What are these?”
“Tickets to a concert.” said Doc.
“Emmett.” said Clara, “I wasn’t away of a concert here in Hill Valley this weekend.”
“Not in Hill Valley.” said Doc, “And not this weekend. Look at the inscriptions on the tickets.”
They both did. “Shea Stadium, Flushing New York?” exclaimed Clara.
“Look at the date.”
Clara and Calpurnia did. “August 15, 1965.” said Clara.
“Precisely.” said Doc, “I figure if Calpurnia should get out more often, why not a trip back to the ‘60’s?”
Calpurnia studied the tickets. “What are Bee-attles?”
“Beatles.” said Doc, “They were a group of musicians from what you call Britain but we call England.”
“Emmett.” asked Clara, “Where did you get these tickets?”
“From a colleague of mine.” said Doc, “Gave it to me as if I wanted to go but I never got the opportunity to do so nor could I unload the tickets. So now I’m giving them to you.”
“That’s very generous, Emmett.” said Clara, “But wouldn’t you give it to Marty instead?”
“I was thinking about that.” said Doc, “But now, I think that Calpurnia needs this more than Marty. So tonight, I’m sending you and her back to 1965.”
“Emmett.” said Clara, “I was thinking…”
“No time for thinking, Clara.” said Doc, “I’ve already picked out the clothes you two will be needing to blend in with the style of the ‘60’s. You’ll be using the limousine for this trip back in time.” He produced a small piece of paper saying “This is your parking pass for you to show the man at the gate.” Clara took it as Doc went on saying “Clara, the clothes that you two are going to wear are in the bathroom. You two go in there to change while I get the time circuits ready and load fusion generator.”
“Very well, Emmett.” said Clara.
As both Clara and Calpurnia went into the bathroom to change, Clara said “Well so much for my idea of taking you back to my century.”
“You mean whatever your husband has in mind didn’t include what you call the Old West?” asked Calpurnia.
“Unfortunately no.” said Clara, “Where were going is a lot later than that. But I always want to see the era that Emmett grew up in and the 1960’s were a part of it.”
“Hmmm.” said Calpurnia. After putting on the outfit that Doc gave her, she looked herself in the mirror and said “Who would want to wear such hideous clothes like these?”
“‘60’s people.” said Clara.
Calpurnia’s eyes bulged wide open at this. After zipping each other in the back, they both left the bathroom and went out to the lab. There, Doc was getting in the finishing touches to the time limousine.
Doc looked up and asked “Are you all set?”
“Yes Emmett.” said Clara as she accepted the keys from her husband.
“Good.” said Doc as he showed the two women a map of the New York City area. Pointing to a part of the map he said “This is where Shea Stadium is. I’ve set the time circuits for August 15, 1965. The concert takes place around 8:00 p.m. With the traffic being bad you’ll have to arrive on that date in 1965 I’ll set your arrival time for 5:15 p.m. That way you’ll won’t miss the start of the concert. Make sure the car is cloaked when you enter the time barrier. I don’t want it to appear in the sky observed when you arrive there. There’s a deserted roadway so when you land you could uncloak the machine unobserved and go onto the main road to the stadium.”
“Sounds good.” said Clara.
“And don’t forget to bring your sunglasses.” said Doc, “It’ll still be bright out when you arrive.”
“You mean these things.” said Calpurnia holding up a pair. It was the same one that she wore out on the porch.
“Yes. Oh, there‘s extra manure in the trunk in case you have to reload Mr. Fusion.” said Doc, “Well, I guess that’s it have a good trip both of you.”
“We will, Emmett.” said Clara as they both hugged and kiss, “See you later.”
“And I’ll see you in a few minutes.” said Doc.
“A few…” said Clara before realizing what he meant and said “Oh yes. Time machine. I forgot. It’s been while since I’ve been in one of these.”
“That’s okay, Clara” said Doc as the two women got into the limousine. Then he said “Clara, when you get there, take a look at the ‘Last Time Departed’ indicator on the time indicator and write down the time you left. That way, after the concert you can return to that precise moment you left and it’ll be like you two never left. But in that precise second you two had the time of you lives.”
“Alright, Emmett.” said Clara as she activated the cloaking device. After the roof of the lab opened, the invisible limousine lifted off the ground and through the opening. Once clear of the house, Clara kicked the car up to 88 mph and through the time barrier.
Sunday, August 15, 1965
5:15 p.m.
Flushing, New York.
After the light dissipated, it was daylight again. The two time travelers looked down and saw the Whitestone Expressway leading up to the stadium. Then, a look down below they saw at deserted road that Doc was talking about. Clara was about to stir the limousine towards it when a loud roar was heard picking up volume.
“Clara.” asked Calpurnia, “What is that noise?”
Clara looked about. The noise was coming from a huge object with wings approaching them. Immediately, she stirred the car towards the ground pulling up to the last minute for a soft landing as the huge object passed by overhead.
Calpurnia looked up at the thing and said “Oh the gods. What kind of bird is that?”
“It’s not a bird.” said Clara, “It’s an airplane.”
“An air…?” asked Calpurnia before Clara interrupted her.
“That’s alright.” she said, “I asked Emmett the same question the same question when I first saw something like that.”
“But where did it come from?” asked Calpurnia.
“From a place we call an airport.” said Clara as she shut off the cloaking device and headed for the main road, “Now if I understand correctly, the stadium is built near such and airport.”
“Clara.” asked Calpurnia, “What does an airplane do?”
“And airplane takes passengers too and from places.” said Clara, “It’s like a big boat in the sky but a lot faster than a boat.”
“That’s interesting.” said Calpurnia, “I would like to travel on one of these ‘airplanes’.”
“It’s going to cost you money.” said Clara as she steered the car onto the expressway.
Meanwhile, as she was musing over what Clara said, Calpurnia looked out and saw a huge strange looking ball in the distance.
“Clara.” she asked, “What is that?”
“What is what.” asked Clara.
“Some strange round thing like a ball.” said Calpurnia.
Clara knew what she was talking about. “Oh that.” she said, “That’s the World Globe. It was built for the World’s Fair in 1964.”
“Nineteen…” said Calpurnia, “Oh the technical marvels of this era. Generations of advancements and improvements has led to this. The worship of the Jewish God, the fact that civilization is no longer confined to Europe and the discovery of this great land you call America. And your men folk have walked on the moon.”
“It’s called progress, Calpurnia.” said Clara, “Here’s our exit.” She drove onto the turnoff leading towards the stadium.
After giving the gateman the parking permit, Clara looked for a place to park. After finding one, she parked the car and she and her passenger got out and headed towards the stadium.
Clara entered first, handing the gateman something and going through the turnstile. Then it was Calpurnia’s turn. But the turnstile wouldn’t turn.
“Hey lady.” said the gateman, “Where’s your ticket?”
“My what?” asked Calpurnia.
“It’s the thing I gave you.” said Clara.
“Oh.” said Calpurnia. She reached into the purse that was given to her and produced what Clara gave her and gave it to the gateman. The man tore it.
“Hey!” said Calpurnia, “What are you doing?”
“That’s alright, Calpurnia.” said Clara, “He’s tearing off a part of the ticket so it could be counted. He’ll give you the other part of the ticket for you to keep.”
The man did. After that, the turnstile moved as the gateman said “Enjoy the concert.”
Calpurnia rejoined Clara who said “Now don’t lose that ticket stub.”
“Why?” asked Calpurnia.
“Because you’ll need it to find your seat.” said Clara.
“Oh.” said Calpurnia, “I see.”
Calpurnia got a chance to see the inside of the stadium and remembered when she was a teenager she toured through Greece and saw the stadiums and even been in some of them. But now they were primitive compared to this one. Leaving the concourse, the two time travelers went into the seating area. There, she saw something that she didn’t see in the Greek Stadiums, plastic fold-up chairs. All they had were benches.
“Can I help you?”
The two time travelers turned to see a small woman wearing what looked like a uniform.
Clara spoke up. “Yes.” she said “We’re looking for our seats.”
“Can I see your ticket stubs.?”
“Our what?” asked Calpurnia.
“Ticket stubs.” whispered Clara, “That piece of the ticket that the gateman gave back to you.”
“Oh.” said Calpurnia as she and Clara showed the woman the stubs.
The woman lead them to a row of seats and said “Your seats are right in there.”
Clara turned to the usherette and said “Why thank you, uh…”
“Jackie.” said the usherette.
“Yes, Jackie.” said Clara, “Thank you, Jackie.”
“No problem.” said Jackie.
Meanwhile, Calpurnia looked around. This being her first look inside a 20th century stadium she got a glimpse of the field on which a huge stage was set up. A bulk of the field was covered with grass but a part of it had dirt forming a circle. The inner grass resembled that of a diamond and there was a mound in the middle of this patch of grass.
“This is an odd field.” she said.
“I know.” said Clara, “They play a sport called baseball on this field.”
“Baseball.” said Calpurnia, “I recall hearing something about that sport when Marty and your boys were back in my time.”
“You did?”
“Yes. Jules and Verne taught the sport to some of the servants and citizens and Marty and I had to stop that after a ball went through a window. Of course, Marty had his own reason for them not to play it since the sport wasn’t invented yet.”
“Good for him.”
“If I recall correctly, it require a club or stick called a bat and someone throws a ball for him to swing at and…”
“…if he makes contact he has to run around the man who threw the ball touching square bags called bases…”
“…hence the term ‘baseball’.”
“…and come back to the spot where he started. There’s a similar game when I was a little girl called ‘rounders’.”
“Rounders.” said Calpurnia, “That’s what it looked like out in that yard. Now what is that big thing out there on the field.”
“You mean that stage?” asked Clara, “Oh that’s what the Beatles will be using to perform on when they play their music.”
“And the music they play…”
“Is called ‘Rock and Roll’. It group comprise of four or more men. Three of them are playing guitar and the fourth plays the drums.”
“A guitar.”
“It’s a stringed instrument shaped like a violin but you use your fingers by plucking the strings. It has six strings on it and it’s a lot bigger than a voilin.”
“Violin.” said Calpurnia, “If I recall, a violin has a long handle attached to the body of it and it has strings running along this attachment.” Then she remembered her trip to 1955 when she saw the first Marty play such an instrument.
“Now I remember.” said Calpurnia, “Marty plays such music. He did during that dance when…”
“…you, him and Emmett went back to get your husband’s will. You don’t have to tell me everything.” said Clara.
“Right.” said Calpurnia. She sat back in her seat to think. There was so much to learn about this century. So much to learn.