The hair-raising gravity-bike ride back into Hill Valley had no effect on Mel's already-raised hair. Luckily there were few people around at this time of day, and she jingled up behind her shop on the curious thing without being noticed. She quickly hid the bike in the long storage room of the Bean House, and her car, looking lonely, was waiting where she'd left it-- unlocked, still weighted down in the back, and apparently untouched.
Not a cop in sight, she started the car and took off quickly, because she always drove like that, and she and the feisty car and it's machine gun headed home. She half expected to find a platoon of police waiting at her house, but all was quiet, and she pulled into the back driveway and cut the engine, rolling into a well-worn spot.
Hauling the big gun and then the ammunition crate back to their secret room, Mel remembered with a groan how heavy it all was, and how dangerous it had all felt to put it in her car in the first place. She laughed at herself as she clicked the hidden door closed, wondering if she would ever dare take it out of the room again. She knew, of course, that she would dare, but some other day, perhaps.
Now that the machine gun was safely back in the hidden room, Mel stood by it's entrance and inhaled, and felt much better. The door was latched and invisible again. Now she could think about other things. The trouble was, that this other thing that she kept thinking about was back inside the secret room.
She didn't want to go back in, and yet she was still standing by the door. Standing, and thinking about it. Inside that little room. The old elongated wooden table, and the map.
She had been so busy cleaning the guns and researching them, and working every day at the Bean House, that she had never had a chance to even look at the old map on the table in the hidden room, so purposefully spread open, yet covered with dust. Now Mel had a chance to think of even more things, and she replayed in her head the phrase that Daniel had quoted-- the psychopathic Don Felger's last words to Hill Valley: "I'll be back for my machine gun and my gold."
Mel had promised Arlo that she wouldn't be long, and she liked to do what she says she will do. It was getting late in the afternoon. Back to Lakeland! She wanted to go back. With her car unloaded and the gun safely out of sight, she easily thought about the amazing place again.
Had the whole visit to Lakeland really just been a dream?
Mel knew it had been real, but laughed that she had no proof except for the funny floating bike hidden back at the coffee shop. She liked the idea that there was practically no evidence that she'd been there. As if it were against the law to go to Lakeland! Now, as she grabbed a few things together, she was thinking about the police again. In real life-- or in Hill Valley-- there are real cops. Not in Lakeland. Lakeland doesn't even have a police force.
At the same time that she thought it, there was a sound like somebody was knocking on the front screen door. She stopped, and heard it again. The knock had an official urgency to it.
Mel, knew that it had to be a cop, and that the outside front screen door was latched shut, so she opened the door slightly, to see what he wanted.
It was a she. Mel opened the door a bit more, and the policewoman peered through the screen greedily before speaking.
"Are you the one that rents here at this address?"
Mel looked at the woman's badge and uniform with a glance and asked, "What is it you want?"
The police officer was obviously expecting an answer instead of a question, and she stood back a bit with a smirk. "The reason I ask, is because if you ARE the one renting the place... your landlord came into town, came to the police station saying that you illegally changed the locks on the house, and wouldn't answer the door. Now… is that true?"
Feeling some fresh authority, the cop tried for another blatant peek inside the house. "Now… have you been anywhere today?"
Mel didn't answer, and the officer's smirk returned. "Well, he's the owner, and he needs to... he said he couldn't get into the house, and he's supposed to be following me over here to see about getting access… do you mind if I have a look around?"
Mel was already sick of that smirk, and asked her own question instead of answering. "What exactly are you looking for?"
The officer now made a face as if she were righteous and good, and had been insulted. "Now… you know, if you don't have anything to hide, then you wouldn't have a problem with me looking around would you?"
Mel glanced again at the robotic cop-lady's badge; 'Officer White'. She then shut the inside door slowly until it latched, and then walked through the kitchen, scooped up her backpack, and went out the back, locking that door as she went.
The car started with an anxious growl, and Mel backed out fast. Locking the tires on the gravel with a quick brake and then shooting forward around the house, she got a glimpse of the cop through the cloud of dust--still standing on the front porch. Without slowing down, Mel's little car threw a little bit more gravel before it hit the pavement with a chirp and took off down the road.
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thanks for reading this episode of FICTIONARIUM
previous episode can be seen HERE
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