That Stupid Fear of Thunder
Flesh and Blood
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2) FLESH AND
BLOOD
never gonna give up the ghost, no, never gonna give it up.
I haven't the strength to hold out too long,
if we both hang on together we can make each other strong.
all, we're flesh and blood. After all, we're flesh and blood
dark to see. Someone's arm was flung around him, pinning him to the bed. It
took him a long moment to remember exactly what had happened.
cold. He remembered trying to haul him up into a sitting position, but George
slumped bonelessly forward, his eyes glazed and unseeing. He was horrified,
stricken with the fear he'd damaged his father so badly that he himself would
blink out of existence, out like a light.
begged, dabbing at the bleeding wound on the back of George's head where the
edge of the stone porch step had hit him. "Let's go inside and get you
cleaned up, okay? Okay, George?"
sitting, obviously not all the way there yet. Marty slung one of George's arms
over his shoulder and held onto his wrist, and wrapped his other arm around the
boy's slender torso. He stood, straining with the effort of lifting his dead
weight. As tall as he was, George only weighed about the same as Marty, but
with his muscles slack he felt like a sack of concrete.
just barely aware enough to shuffle along. When they go to the steps he simply
stood there, staring vacantly as Marty tried to encourage him to take a step
up. Finally, he had to hook his own sneaker behind George's ankle and,
balancing precariously, lift his fontoonto the stairs. After that he seemed to
catch on, although he still moved like he was underwater.
to get up to his bedroom, where Marty dumped him in the chair at his desk. He
fetched some antiseptic and a washrag from the bathroom and swabbed out the cut
on his head. As bad as it was bleeding, the cut was thankfully small and could
barely be seen. As soon as the flow ebbed to a slow seep, he took off George's
ruined jacket and his shoes and had him lay down on the bed.
sleep.
bed, shoving the Weird Science-Fantasy and
Amazing Stories magazines and a
half-built model airplane out of the way. Asleep, George looked mild and
inoffensive, even younger than his seventeen years. What the hell had gotten
into him just now? Marty had just been trying to goad him into defending
himself to prove to him he could throw a decently realistic punch if he wanted
to, but George snapped and started attacking him like a lunatic. And as soon as
he realized he was actually hurting Marty, he'd stopped dead and . . . and . .
.
still feeling the kiss.
about?
and now. Watching George sleep, he must have fallen asleep himself. It had been
a stressful week and he certainly wasn't sleeping well at night. As the two
boys slept side by side, George had cuddled up to him instinctively, seeking
warmth. It wasn't another assault . . . but Marty still wanted to be as far
away as possible.
tried to lift George's arm as slowly and gently as he could.
and blinked, waking suddenly. He looked at Marty, his eyes widening, then
snatched his arm away. He sat up and immediately put a hand to the back of his
head, grimacing in pain.
said, his voice cracked and straining. "How's your head feeling? We were
roughhousing, you know, and I kind of pushed you too hard, remember?"
everything.
bitterly. "I guess you're gonna leave now. I guess I'll never see you
again."
about?"
open. Marty found himself looking at his grandmother, minus thirty years of
wrinkles and blue hair.
said, smiling with delight. "I didn't know you had a little friend over.
You should have told me! I made oatmeal cookies this afternoon, and I could
have mixed you up some lemonade."
something in reply, idly kicking at a magazine on the floor.
bothered. She turned her beaming smile - wide, with a pretty little overbite -
on Marty. "Did George invite you over for dinner?"
look. George sat stubbornly silent, his hands clasped in his lap.
thanks."
ready." He followed her down the stairs, trailed by George, who was
sniffing and rubbing his nose on his sleeve. He was probably still a little
stuffed up.
to?" Grandma asked blithely.
say if he responded truthfully. Oh, your
son and I were in the middle of a death match, but he kissed me, so I had to
knock him unconscious, and then we took a nice nap together
grandparents that well. He knew they'd had George fairly late in life, and by
the time Marty was five his grandfather had retired and moved to Florida, an
entire continent away. He hadn't seen them in almost nine years, since the old
man claimed it was too much trouble to travel, and he only had vague childhood
memories of their twice-a-year visits. His grandmother sat at the kitchen table
all day gossiping about their neighbors back in Florida while his own mother
nodded with grim boredom, disappearing more and more frequently into the
kitchen as the day wore on for liquid fortification. His grandfather had spent
most of his time in the spare bedroom with the air conditioner turned up as far
as it would go, occasionally emerging to yell at the children to settle down.
a place at the table, he snuck glances at them in between feeding them the
story he'd concocted to explain his presence here. George resembled his father
much more closely than he did Marty, who, like the rest of the kids, took after
Lorraine. The elder McFly had the same general cast of features as his son, but
he was short and rather heavily built. George had inherited his
yearling-thoroughbred build from Grandma, a string bean of a woman with curly
hair that had skipped a generation to be passed on to Marty's older brother,
Dave.
began cutting up his steak for him. If being treated like a kid embarrassed,
George, though, it was hard to tell. The other boy was staring warily at his
father, who was fully occupied trying to eat and read the newspaper at the same
time. When his mother set the plate back down in front of him he hardly glanced
at her.
interested in devouring his enormous cut of steak, but his grandmother was
clearly happy that George had brought a friend home, and barraged Marty with
questions. She accepted unquestioningly his slightly ridiculous story about
being a member of the Coast Guard Youth Auxiliary on shore leave visiting his
uncle. It was a total fabrication, of course, and not the most believable, but
he didn't see any point in changing his story now. At least it would explain
his sudden departure at the end of the week, assuming he made it that far. She
seemed charmed.
Granddad suddenly seemed to realize George was at the table. He lowered his
newspaper. "How's school coming? Am I going to see all A's on this report
card?"
potatoes and didn't answer. He didn't have to - his guileless, expressive face
told the story plainly enough.
cut in. "I don't know why you don't do better."
doesn't apply himself." McFly senior stabbed a piece of steak and jabbed
it in George's face to emphasize his point.
enough," she said. Turning confidingly to Marty, she said, "George is
very intelligent, you know. We had him tested. We took him to a head doctor
when he was in fourth grade because his teacher thought he was - " her
voice dropped to a whisper " - a little slow."
was taking this.
turns out he has a genius-level I.Q."
excuse," Granddad concluded. "Except sheer laziness."
little world, aren't you? He'll grow out of it." Grandma fondly mussed
George's hair. He ducked his head but did nothing to stop her.
hard at something if it interests him, and the only thing that interests him
are those - "
got accepted by Tales of Wonder,"
George said abruptly.
continued in a near-whisper, "He said it had a lot of potential. It didn't
fit their needs right now, but his letter said to consider them first for
anything I might write in the fe.&qe." By the end of the sentence his
voice had thinned to inaudibility.
Marty said.
clothes on your back. When I was your age, my father pulled me out of school to
work at his shop. I was hauling coal all day long, a nickel a day. Do you know
what he would have done if I slobbed around staring at the ceiling and writing
Buck Rodgers stories?"
sympathy. George had never talked to him like that. In fact, the only fights he
could remember having, he'd always ended up yelling at his father, who never
yelled back.
him, he felt even worse. "Look at Martin, here. You don't see him eating
up his father's paycheck. No, he went out into the world to make a name for
himself."
picking up peas with a spoonful of mashed potatos. Some of his friends were
working at the McDonald's, or as bag boys at the grocery store, but he'd never
had a real job.
Lynda," the older man said, folding the paper with a snap. "Hawkins
has me swinging the morning shift again."
George said. He got up and hovered over his father. Marty watched him,
wondering. George knotted his fingers together nervously, then suddenly darted
down and kissed his father on the top of the head.
not to Marty. George had always been the more affectionate of his parents.
George in the chest, and he reeled backwards. "Goddammit, boy! Don't you
think you're a little old for that," Granddad snapped. "And in front
of company."
examining his grandmother's collection of porcelain kittens and hadn't seen a
thing, but George was glowering at him with injured, burning resentment.
to pretend the same thing. "Isn't your space monster movie coming on now,
sweetheart? Why don't you stay and watch it with him, Martin? I'll make some
popcorn."
to," he said, plunking himself down on the couch. Obviously, the last
thing his father wanted to do was spend any more time with him. But he didn't
want to leave George like this, angry at him, embarrassed and down on himself.
He patted the cushion. "C'mon George, the show's starting."
end of the couch, glaring at Marty from the corner of his eyes. Grandma came in
a few minutes later with a big bowl of buttered popcorn and a bottle of pop for
each of them. After the heavy meal it was all Marty could do to thank her and
put a few pieces in his mouth. George ignored him, staring intently at the
screen as if he expected there to be a quiz afterwards.
following thet. It. It had something to do about sending an exploratory
spaceship to a planet that orbited the sun exactly opposite the Earth, so it
had never been seen. It turned out to be the exact duplicate of Earth, at
least, the part of Earth that resembled a movie's backlot, except it was still
mired in prehistoric times. A crew of seven men and one woman crash landed on
it and were chased around by a guy in a moth eaten gorilla suit and iguanas
tarted up in tyrannosaurus drag. Once it became clear the space ship was
unsalvageable, the men naturally started fighting over the woman, each wanting
to be the Adam to her Eve.
them," Marty teased, grinning at George. "Just one woman? In a few
generations they're going to have to call that planet New West Virginia."
said. "I think it would be kind of nice, to be the only one on a
planet."
Lorraine, right?&q Mar Marty sighed. "C'mon, George, give yourself a
little credit. I told you, she does like
you. You've got to trust me on this one, okay? I wouldn't lie to my best
buddy."
friend?"
bemused guilt that if he and George were just two random guys, they probably
wouldn't be friends. He'd never even approach George, who would be just one of
those guys you pass in the hallway and never think twice about. He himself
certainly wasn't one of the popular crowd, but - and as much as it hurt him to
admit it - George was a total outcast.
not?" He struggled. "You're smart, you're a nice guy . . . "
uptake, but he wasn't stupid. He shook his head in denial, and Marty trailed
off uncomfortably.
to be the only one left. No one else."
Come on, you'd be bored to death in a few days."
laugh at me or push me around," he continued as if Marty hadn't said
anything. "Just peace and quiet. I think about it a lot. Sometimes I wish
everyone would just go away."
a small voice.
happen." He stared at the flickering tv screen, but clearly his mind was
elsewhere. He ran a hand through his hair, then let it drop to his lap. With
the thumb of one hand, he rubbed his wrist. "I'm the problem. Sometimes I
think I should just go away."
friend, that kind of talk would be scary. But considering his entire existence
hinged on getting him and Lorraine together, it was enough to make Marty want
to scream.
wasn't working. Even the Darth Vader stunt only made a temporary dent in
George's shell, right up until Lorraine rejected him again. That was the real
problem. No matter what Marty said or did, the reality of Lorraine's complete
indifference to George kept leaping up and biting him the nose. How was he
supposed to believe when Marty said he was a great guy and she really was into
him if it was patently obvious she could barely remember his name?
George didn't want to hurt him. Marty was his friend. You didn't hurt your
friend, especially when it was the only friend you had.
have friends. He wasn't even totally clear on what the concept meant, the easy
give and take between human beings. His parents were interested in him, sure,
but his father only want to force him into the same mold he was struck from,
while his mother coddled and made excuses for him.
earlier in the yard hadn't been so much sexual as it had been an overreaction
to affection George was clearly unused to but starving for. And even if it was
a little crush? Marty felt a squirming sensation in his guts. God, it felt
weird to consider. But what else would he think with Marty appearing out of
nowhere and suddenly acting like his best friend in the world?
thinking of George as a recalcitrant puppet, a square peg he was trying to
force into a round hole. A museum display, a chess piece, an annoyance - a
own. He wondered if he should just stop playing games and tell him everything.
Doc kept saying how dangerous it was, but the probability of his parents
meeting in the first place was so wildly remote, how could it be any more
dangerous to tip the balance of chance back by telling George straight out what
was going on?
father, licking his dry lips in anticipation. "George? I have something I
need to tell you."
chest and stared silently at the tv.
important - "
and the tv image dissolved into gray fuzz.
"Oh, my! The wind must've knocked the antennae down. It's getting pretty
rough out there."
George. He had that mulish look set into his face now, his lips pressed into a
thin line, jaw jutting out, brows lowered. Marty sighed in resignation. He'd
just have to try again tomorrow. There was still a little time left. Maybe if
he got some sleep something would occur to him.
Gra . . . uh, Mrs. McFly. Before it starts to rain. Thanks for dinner and
everything."
No? Goodness sakes, I can't let you walk home with no umbrella. The radio says
it's going to be one of the worst storms we've had in years."
be fine."
all the way across town. You'd be caught. I'd drive you, but I'm terrified to
go out at night in the rain. My husband would be so mad if he found out! You know
how we women drivers are. And George only has his learner's permit."
toward the door.
us tonight," she said in a tone that allowed no protest, taking him by the
arm and steering him towards the stairs. "If you go out and are struck by
lightning or catch your death, I'd never forgive myself. George, go get that
sleeping bag down from the attic, then pick all those books off your floor. You
and Marty can camp out in your room. Just like a sleep over. Won't that be fun,
boys?"
listlessly. He trudged up the stairs, Marty trailing worriedly behind him.