"Trouble on the Trail"
Based on the characters created by Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale
| Synopsis: Anxious to get a break from the grueling midterms at school, Marty joins Doc Brown and Clara as they visit the Oregon Trail, testing a new modification to the DeLorean in the process. Unfortunately, the wagon train they're on has a Tannen ancestor on board, Buck, who takes an instant dislike towards Marty that is provoked when Buck's teenage daughter, Celeste, shows an interest towards him. After the train's leader is killed suddenly and Buck assumes the new role, things begin to get worse -- much worse -- when Marty is suddenly accused of a crime that he's pretty sure he didn't committ. Now, with a death sentence hanging over his head, and no alibi to back up his claims, not even Doc can save him now. Or can he....? |
| Length: Approximately 48,000 words |
| Written: March 1995 - July 1995 |
| Revised: March 1997; April 2000 - July 2000 |
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What's New in '00: Although 9,000 words longer, the new stuff in this story followed the example of some of my previous revisions -- nothing really changes the basic plot, but the path taken between points A, B, and all stops in between, does, a bit.
First off, I changed the name of Tannen's daughter, mostly because it was a real pain writing "Marie" and "Marty" and not mixing up the names. The name Celeste was selected because the daughter, when I concieved her originally, was based on me, a little, and according to family lore, I was almost named Celeste. (Or Christina or Jennifer... now that last one would've been a kick....) Nothing against the Celestes out there, but I personally don't like that name.... I also added a little more background on Buck and his daughter. Writing Marty as drunk changed a bit for several reasons, the greatest being that when I originally wrote the scene, I was 16 and had never seen anyone drunk before. Now, of course, I have (thanks in part to college and my friends turning 21 now), though I've yet to be that way myself. (I dislike feeling like I can't think and am violently afraid of puking to the point I'm phobic.) I saw the worst of alcohol abuse in late December 1999, when one of my friends threw me a week early 21st birthday party that was a blast... until one of our friends ended up with alcohol poisoning. We had to rush her to the emergency room early the next morning when she started vomiting while passed out and we couldn't wake her up. Our friend survived and was okay, but scared the shit out of those of us who had to deal with the incident directly. Someday, I'm sure, that incident will show up in one of my stories, though I doubt it'll be a BTTF one. A note of minor interest -- during the scene with Doc, Marty, and Clara in the wagon the night after the trial, there's a thunderstorm going on. When I penned the scene originally, back in '95, I was visiting my dad's sister and her family in Virginia with my mother. I was working on this story in my uncle's office and there was a violent storm going on outside... so I used it in the story. I have a thing for violent weather and it seemed to fit the mood of what was going on. |
| Author's Notes: This story came gradually to me in March 1995. I was going to have the story start out as I originally did, but was planning to have them go to the year 1848 (not '46) and be in the middle of the Oregon Trail, not join up at the beginning. I planned to have the date be June 7, 1848, according to notes. But I decided that starting at the beginning of the trail would work out better, and the year 1846 would be better than '48 because of the "nice round number" thing of it all. |
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