BORN TOO LATE, back to the future

xxxi. where or when

➳ 𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕤𝕖𝕝𝕖𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟: 𝕕𝕣𝕚𝕗𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕓𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕔𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕤

THE MYSTERY as to what caused for the Doc's tombstone to appear from 1885 and the events leading up to his death in the period was of the utmost concern for the objectives meant to have been completed tonight. The three and Copernicus now found themselves sifting through the papers potentially related to the incident at the local library, more or less still shaken up on account of the sudden news. In this case being both Marty and the Doc as Donna was merely subjected to their inability to hide their nerves.

Her indirectly being involved in this situation, however, left her to be more observant with the pieces she had been scanning through. This leading her to the folder with the tag line of the man blamed for the death of the Doc as was engraved in the tombstone they'd found.

Tugging on Marty's sleeve for his attention she began to read aloud. "Buford Tannen was a notorious gunman whose short temper and a tendency to drool earned him the nickname 'Mad Dog'. He was quick on the trigger and bragged that he had killed 12 men, not including Indians or Chinamen," She read aloud for both him and the Doc to hear. Showing distaste over the last name she kept the insults to herself, figuring that they were in agreement that a Tannen being a menace to the town had been going on for years and somehow was unable to stop.

"Does it mention me? Am I one of the 12?" Doc called over from the opposite side of the library.

"Just a minute." Donna raised a hand to stop him to try to follow the words with her finger to keep her focused as she lost her place between the lines of words. "However, this claim cannot be substantiated, since precise records were not kept after Tannen shot a newspaper editor who printed an unfavorable story about him in 1884."

"That must be why we can't find anything," Marty noted as she nodded beside him.

Doc came over to them with another set of photos stored away. Looking down to them to see the name McFly, he smiled over the history being taken into account today. Donna being left out of this as her family had only moved to Hill Valley following a gain in financial stability her grandfather luckily maintained when starting the family. This passing towards her father keeping the suburban lifestyle even through the 30's as best he could in the small town.

Pointing to a man in the photo that looked strikingly identical to that of the boy beside her, the question following seemed rather pointless. "Your relatives?" The Doc asked Marty curiously.

Marty, unlike her, was told of his family's impact on Hill Valley by his father. "My great-grandfather's name was William," Marty explained and pointed out the man in the photo."That's him. Good-looking guy."

She rolled her eyes at the comment being vain to shut the book revealing it to be a textbook of the History of Hill Valley. Doc continued to be in shock over the whole ordeal as he scanned through more of the textbooks. "McFlys, but no Browns."

"Maybe it was a mistake, Doc! Maybe that grave wasn't yours. There could've been another Emmett Brown back in 1885," Marty suggested to him. Doc dismissed the very idea as he continued to search through newspaper articles.

"Did you have any relatives here back then?"

He shook his head. "The Browns didn't come to Hill Valley until 1908. Then they were the Von Brauns. My father changed our name during the First World War—"