Page 225 starts off Chapter Thirteen! SECOND-LAST CHAPTER, EVERYONE, and it’s gonna go fast because we’ve only got 20 pages left in the book. In the movie there’s still lots of movie time left, but it seems Gipe is racing towards the finish line here? Perhaps at this point he realized he wasn’t being paid by the word?? Perhaps he said “aw frig, really?” and then busted out sentences like “then the teen with the shirt on went back to future, like in the title, and his parents were all weird, THE END”? PERHAPS THERE IS BUT ONE WAY TO FIND OUT?
So, we get this porny phrase:
Town Square was deserted except for a small pack of dogs and [Doc] was ready to go.
Like in the movie, Doc checks the time first on his old-timey pocketwatch (circa 1890! Oooh snap unintentional foreshadowing!) and then on the watch he’s wearing on each wrist one by one, which is nice. Then Marty finally shows up, driving towards him at “precipitous speed” and I always thought “precipitous” meant “steep” like a cliff but it can also mean “sudden” or “dramatic” so hooray! We all learnt a vocabulary word! Maybe you already knew that, but I didn’t and since I like to assume I’m the bro with the best vocabulary in this town, I’m gotta totes assume we ALL learned a thing here.
Doc is PISSED. So pissed that he’s talking to himself:
“Good,” he grunted finally, satisfied that the vehicle was his Packard. ”But why drive like that, dummy? Why crack up in the wrong car?”
A moment later, Marty was available for the answer.
And yep, I’ve got NO IDEA what “crack up” is doing there either! Gipe’s certainly not using it to mean “laugh” or “go crazy”. Maybe he’s using it to mean “go quickly”? Because maybe that’s what the expression meant in the time of Charlemagne? Because old man itis?
Doc scolds him for being late (that’s what it says: “scolded”! Can’t you see what great friends these two characters are?) and Marty’s availability for the answer lets us learn that he was driving fast to see how fast he could go, and it’s a good thing too, because there’s a bump on the road that he now knows about. He’ll just drive on the left-hand side for that part. Is this information relevant? Nope! But there it is anyway! Enjoy!
Doc says that’s all well and good but “what if you’d been spotted by some cop?” and Marty replies “What if I’m spotted by a cop when I’m in the time machine?” and Doc says “If that happens, you keep going, dummy.”
Can’t you feel the love between these two people? It’s just so wonderful to read about two great friends having an adventure together