IMMEDIATELY, Simonetta took Marty by the arm saying “Alexander, listen to me. There’s something else I forgot to tell you.”
“What’s that?” asked Marty.
“Count Tannenio doesn’t fight fairly.” said Simonetta.
Marty turned back to Tannenio who pushed Jennifer back onto the clamshell so he could resume forcing himself onto her.
“Oh shit!” he said to himself.
Just then, Tannenio’s henchmen returned saying “My count, Prince Abdul and his soldiers are in town.”
There was concern on Tannenio’s face. “Great.” he said, “Just great.”
“What do we do, now?” asked one of his henchmen.
“Do?” asked Tannenio. Looking at Marty, he said “I fight this punk over Simonetta. Moe, give him your sword.”
“But sir.” said Moe, “The prince might return with our prince and both soldiers. We’ve got to flee.”
“He’s right.” said Marty, “Leave both Simonettas here with me and get the hell out of town.”
“So you could have one of them?” asked the count, “No way, you coward. Moe your sword, throw it down.” Moe hesitated so the count insisted “Moe, obey me.”
“Yes sir.” said Moe as he threw his sword to the floor.
Turning to Marty, he said “Now pick it up.”
“No!” he said.
“Why?” asked Tannenio, “Are you afraid of a little swordfight with me?”
“I’m not afraid.” said Marty.
“Then prove it.” said Tannenio.
“Count Tannenio.” said Marty, “I’m here for the girl. Not to prove my courage. If it’s a swordfight over her, it’s because her life depends on it.”
“Not to prove courage?” said Tannenio. Then, he heard a commotion outside and asked his men “Have the two princes arrived yet?”
“No.” said another henchman, “It’s a crowd of people. They must’ve figured out that you have the girl in your arms.”
“They have.” said Tannenio, “Alright. Moe pick up your sword and have you and your men take these two outside, I’ll come out with the girl. If Dumas wants to prove that he’s not a coward, he’ll have to do so in front of a throng.”
At once, Moe picked up his sword as the other two took Marty and Simonetta outside. With Jennifer in his arms, Tannenio took her outside as well.
In front of the crowd Tannenio said, showing Jennifer to them, “I now have Simonetta to enjoy. Look at her.”
The crowd did and grew angry at him.
“She belongs to the prince.” said one Florentine.
“She’s a future member of the Medici family.” said another, “If you dishonored her Tannenio, you die.”
“I thought she was married.” laughed Tannenio.
Simonetta broke free of one of Tannenio’s henchmen saying “I’m the Simonetta who’s married to Marco Vespucci. The Simonetta that Tannenio has is betrothed to the prince.”
“Yeah, sure.” said Tannenio, “I thought you were picked out of a whorehouse by Dumas here because he too desires Simonetta.” The throng gasped and looked at Marty. “He just picked her out of there and brought her to me just to make an exchange for the real thing here. Do you want to know why he would do such a thing?” The crowd stood there speechless, so he said “It’s because he’s a coward and he’ll have to fight me over her to prove me wrong.” While Tannenio was speaking, Marty was brought out in front of him as the crowd backed away to form a circle.
Turning to the man he called Moe, Tannenio said “Put your sword at the feet of Dumas again.”
“But I just picked up my sword.” protested Moe.
“Well put it down again.” said Moe.
Moe did muttering to himself “First he tells me to put my sword on the floor, then he tells me to pick it up and now he tells me to put it down again. Will he please make up his mind.”
Looking at Tannenio, he said “Count Tannenio. I have come for the girl. Not to prove courage. And if I have to fight you over her, it’s because you left me no choice but to do so.”
“I left you no choice to do so.” repeated Tannenio, “Did you hear that everyone? He’ll only fight me if he has no choice. Well, I’m going to give him a choice.“ He took his sword away from Jennifer and propped it on a wall saying “Do you want her? Come and get her.”
“That easy?” exclaimed Marty.
“Yeah.” said Tannenio, “Do it! I won’t stop you, just do it or fight over her.”
“What the hell kind of choices are you giving me, Tannenio?” asked Marty.
“To see whether or not your courageous to fight over her.” said Tannenio, “You see, if just grab her from me, it’ll prove all along how much of a coward you are not wanting to fight over her.”
“Alright that’s enough.” said Marty as he approached the two to get Jennifer away from him saying “Come on, Jennifer. Let me get you away from this son of a bitch.”
But one of the Florentines stood in front of him saying “Fight for her you coward.”
He was pulled back by another Florentine who said “Yes, fight.”
++++++
In the distance, the bishop was witnessing the distant drama about to unfold and went into the church to pray. As he did, a voice was heard.
“Excuse me but I’m looking for a couple of teenagers that I left here last week.”
The bishop turned to see a tall man with long white puppy dog hair dressed in clothing that he had never seen before. He had a long thin book in his hand.
“And you are…” asked the bishop.
“Brown.” said the man, “Doctor Emmett Brown at your service.”
“And these two teenagers…” asked the bishop
“One of them is a boy the other is a girl.” said Doctor Brown, “They’re about nineteen.”
“And what do they look like?” asked the bishop.
“I don’t have a picture of the boy but this book has the picture of someone who looks like the girl.” said Doctor Brown.
He showed the bishop picture but it was a black and white painting of a naked woman.
The bishop reeled back asking “You dare bring such a picture into God’s House of Worship?”
“My apologies.” said Doctor Brown showing him the picture again. This time he had his hand over the body of the woman.
The bishop took a good look at the face. It bore the resemblance of the two Simonetta’s: The one married to Marco Vespucci and the one who was to marry the prince Saturday. Then, he noticed something else. It wasn’t that the words on the pages were in English but there was something about the numbers. They were in four digits like years. But some of them seemed liked years after this one.
“What is these numbers?” asked the bishop.
“Well you see…” said Doctor Brown, “I don’t think you really.”
Then, the bishop looked at the inscription under the picture of the woman he was shown. It had the mention of Simonetta.
“Simonetta.” gasped the bishop, “Or one of them.”
“I know the woman’s name on the picture is…” then Doctor Brown’s voice tailed off. “One of them?” he exclaimed.
“Yes.” said the bishop, “There’s two of them here. One who is married to Marco Vespucci and the other who is to be wed by Prince Lorenzo de Medici. But these numbers…” Then he said to himself Dumas said that he was from the future and so was the girl. Could it be? “My son.” he said “I think I know where they are.”
“You do?” asked Doctor Brown.
“Just follow me.” said the bishop.
He led the newcomer out of the church and down an alleyway to Botticelli’s studio.
++++++
When they arrived, Doc and the bishop saw some commotion in the street. It was a crowd a people forming a circle around a handful of people. Doc recognized some of them.
Biff? Doc asked himself. Then, he saw a woman wrapped in a sheet being held by the Biff look-alike. Great Scott! Doc said to himself, Jennifer? There was another Jennifer look-alike but she was wearing the clothes of that era. Then he saw the Biff look-alike addressing some young man.
This young man asked “What for?”
Then, he saw two men grab the other Jennifer look-alike with one of them saying “Dumas wins the girl, you get to sleep with me tonight.” The man who sounded like Marty turned to look and to Doc’s horror, it was Marty. The man who was betting on Dumas to win said to Marty “Don’t let me down, Dumas.”
Doc looked at the Horizon book that he brought from the future with him when he dropped off Marty and Jennifer a week ago. There was a paragraph mentioning the name Alexander Dumas. Then, he heard the other man who had the Jennifer look-alike saying to her “If Tannenio wins the girl, you sleep with me tonight.” Turning to Marty, he said “Don’t let me down.”
Tannenio. said Doc to himself. He looked at the book again. On the same paragraph was the mention of a Count Tannenio who had for years lusted for Simonetta Vespucci of whose resemblance was that of Jennifer’s. The article mention that for a week in October of 1473, there were two Simonettas: The one married to Marco Vespucci and the other from some faraway place, possibly Monte Cristo where a former suitor named Dumas came from. The article stated that it was not clear whether or not this Dumas was related to the Alexander Dumas of the 19th century but it was ironic that one of Alexander Dumas’s novels happened to be title The Count of Monte Cristo. This other Simonetta was beloved by Lorenzo de Medici, the prince of Florence.
Then, Doc read something about a swordfight over one of the Simonettas. The swordfight that took the life of Dumas occurred on October 28 of that year.
October 28, 1473 Doc exclaimed to himself, Great Scott! That’s today!
He looked out at the distant drama with extreme horror.
++++++
Marty approached the two men demanding “Let her go.”
But one of them said “Fight for that Simonetta.”
“Why?” asked Marty, “Tannenio said if I want her, all I have to do is grab her from him. I mean, why should I complicate things?”
“Because if you don’t fight over her,” said another Florentine, “Then, you’re a coward.”
“And you’ll be branded a coward for the rest of your days.” said the man who was betting on Marty.
“Everyone everywhere will say that Alexander Dumas of Monte Cristo was the biggest chicken in all of Europe.” said the man who was betting on Tannenio.
“You were in the tavern talking about how things will be in five hundred years.” said someone who was in the bar listening to Marty, “How will it fell when in five hundred years they’ll talk about how much of a coward you were when you were facing Count Tannenio.”
A child in the crowd had a chicken in his hand and waved it into Marty’s face.
Then, a woman spoke up. “Who would desire a coward like you, Dumas?” she asked, “Not me or any woman. They desire brave men.”
Dismayed, Marty turned to see the sword on the ground. He went over to pick it up.
++++++
Unbeknown to Marty, Tannenio had a hidden knife up his sleeve. No matter what decision he made, whether it was to just grab Jennifer away from him or fight him, Marty was to meet his end.