Max and Nick's Heinous Escapade Part III

The guys got downstairs only to find the car had not returned.

They followed the girls to Carol's house and were escorted into her rec room.
After an hour or so of listening to music and talking Max decided to take a shot with Julie, to see if he could talk her out of stealing the fur piece.

They went outside and sat on the front steps. Max thought he'd have to do a lot of talking to steer Julie into talking about stealing but she jumped right into it on her own.

"Did you see that fur stole at Bartlett's? I have been wanting that for soooo long and my square parents won't buy it for me. So tomorrow I'm going to go steal it." Julie says

"Aren't you afraid you'll get in trouble?" Max asks "You know arrested?"

"What do I care? Besides I'm too cool to get caught." Julie brags

"Yeah, but you never know." Max insists "And you'd have to go to jail and have a record and all..."

"Pffft." Julie dismisses him with a wave of her hand "Even if I get caught, my Uncle Mickey is a really good lawyer and he'd never let them put me in jail."

Max had to stifle a cough when she says "really good lawyer".

"I don't get why a pretty girl like you needs to resort to breaking the law to get attention. And don't deny it, you don't want that fur, you really want attention." Max says

"Who are you? My father? Oh no wait, you can't be you're paying attention to me." Julie snaps.

Max sighs "Look, I just don't want you to ruin your life because you think your parents are umm square."

Julie draws a square in the air and rolls her eyes. "Man you are really bringing me down."

"Uh yeah" Max says "But let me tell you a story about this girl I know who is a lot like you. Her name's Chelsea.."

"Chelsea?" Julie asks "That's a weird name."

"Yeah, well anyway, she was a lot like you." Max continues "Her parents were split up and she didn't think either one of them cared about her. She did all kinds of stuff to get them to notice her. She got drunk, she stole stuff, she threw big tantrums."

Julie screws her face up and purses her lips "She doesn't sound so bad. Her parents are the ones that made her do all that."

"Well she kept doing stuff until one night she conned her dad into letting her drive when she wasn't supposed to, and she hit her little brother and killed him."
Max says

Julie's eyes get big at this "Wow really? She killed her own brother?"

"Yep" Max says "And she got attention, but it wasn't the kind she wanted. She had to go to court and almost spent a very long time in jail."

"How did she get out of it?" Julie asks

"She turned herself around" Max whitewashes the truth a bit "She proved to her parents that she could get her life under control and be good. She's in college right now and doing really good."

"But no one understands me!" Julie whines "They all just treat me like a baby, and I'm not! I'm old enough to know what I want, and make my own decisions."

"Oh mature ones, like stealing a fur piece to get attention." Max says "If you want your parents to notice you why not show them you really are grown up and either get a job or go to school."

Julie rolls her eyes again, "BOR-ING! As soon as I can I am going to run away and move to Chicago."

"Run away to Chicago. Well yeah, that's an idea. A stupid one, but an idea." Max says.

"Are you calling me stupid?" Julie pouts

"Well you can't tell me you actually think that's a smart idea can you?" Max asks
"What will you do for money? Where will you live?"

"I'll get a job" Julie says

"Doing what? With no education and no skills." Max says

"Well what do you do?" Julie asks

Max opens his mouth to say he tends bar and works on the docks, but takes the high road and lies. "I own my own garage. I went to school to learn how to fix cars, then worked in a garage until I had enough money to open my own."

"Blah blah blah" Julie flaps her hand and Max resists the urge to slap her silly.

Suddenly Julie freezes. Max looks at her for a second and waves his hand in front of her face, nothing.

"Not going well?" George Carlin suddenly appears

"Yeah, you could say that." Max says

"Max! uhhh Matt" Nick comes out of the house "You gotta see this...oh I guess you have."

"Yeah, I have." Max says "Are the other two frozen?"

"Like statues. What gives?" Nick asks

"Ask our cruise director here," Max gestures to George "I'm as in the dark as you."

"I kind of thought you might have some problems, especially with these brain surgeons." Carlin said

"So what do we do?" Max asks "This one wants to run away to Chicago."

"And the two inside are convinced all they have to do to become movie stars is move to Hollywood and sit in some place called Schwabs, until they get noticed." Nick says "I tried to tell them the only person who'd notice them would be some guy with $20 and 15 minutes to kill. They didn't get it."

"I'm not surprised." Carlin explains "The sixties were a different time. Young girls didn't have all the options they do now. And parents just dealt with their kids by not dealing with them at all. The old, ignore it and it will go away approach."

"Sounds like what Julie was describing." Max says "So what will we do?"

"I brought these" Carlin hands each of the guys, what appears to be a small silver flashlight. "I assume both of you have seen Men in Black.."

Before he can finish, our heroes have flashed each other.

Carlin grabs their hands before they can do it again. "Yeah I figured that would happen, be careful with those."

"Whoa where did these come from!" Nick holds his up again, but Carlin manages to pull it away from him before he can push the button.

"Just flash each of the girls, and tell them to forget you were here." Carlin explains "With Julie, tell her she is happy with her life and she loves her parents."

"And that will work?" Nick asks

"It's a last resort, but it's all we have." Carlin says "I've been listening to Max try to talk to Julie and he's getting nowhere fast."

"She's pretty stubborn." Max says "And I thought Chelsea was bad."

"Well now get back inside Nick, and as soon as I unfreeze them, flash them. You do the same Max." Carlin explains

"Okay. Then we can hopefully get back home?" Max asks

"I am sure of it." Carlin promises.

"Hey, before you go George," Nick says "Can I keep this thing? You know in case I need it back in our time?"

"No." Carlin answers quickly "Trust me, once you get home you'll find out you won't need it."

Carlin disappears and the guys get back into position, and the girls unfreeze.

Max quickly flashes Julie. "You are happy with your life, your parents understand you, you want to finish high school, go to college and be a successful whatever. Oh and The Stones are way cooler than the Beatles."

Max had barely finished when he glanced over and saw the Mustang sitting at the curb.

He got Julie back into the house without her seeing and went back into the rec room where Carol and Diane were all over Nick.
Max quickly flashed all three again and looked at Nick, who shrugged and grinned.

They told the girls to forget the guys were ever there, and slipped out before they came to.

"Do you think things will have changed a lot back in our time?" Nick asks

"Let's hope." Max answers and they take off.

They program the GPS with the return code and drive out of town. As soon as Salem comes back into view, the guys know they are home, but something is different.

They decide to go to the Cheatin Heart first and when they pull up, they are shocked to see a thriving, crowded bar, instead of the seedy hole in the wall it had been.

As they walk up to the door a large bouncer smiles and lets them in "Mr. Brady, Mr. Fallion, your usual table is ready."

Nick and Max exchange looks and go inside. Chelsea and Stephanie dash up to them, and the change in them both is evident.

"You two are late!" Stephanie says "Max you know we can't stay out late tonight, we have to leave for Talladega in the morning."

"Talladega?" Nick asks "Oh, um, yeah, because we are....driving...in...it?"

"Duh silly!" Stephanie laughs "You act like you haven't been talking about this non-stop for months."

"And you!" Chelsea pokes Nick "You have that big presentation to the hospital board of directors. Now that you have your grant, they are going to want to hear all about your breakthrough last week."

"My breakthrough?" Nick asks

"What is with you two?" Chelsea says "Yes Nick, the alternate fuel you've had your lab working on night and day for the last year! I swear if I worked for you, I'd have quit long ago. But those lab techs you have are so devoted it's scary."

"MY lab, yeah, well, we do need our sleep for that presentation I guess." Nick looks over at Max and shrugs.

Max just smiles and shrugs back as if to say "hey, go with it."

"My mom and dad want us to come over for dinner next week" Chelsea says "And I have to go to Belle's baby shower, I really hope Phillip gets the boy he wants this time, I mean after 2 girls it's about time. Oh and I have finals coming up. And an interview with the head of emergency medicine. I really hope I get to do my internship there."

"Speaking of parents," Max says "How are yours Steph?"

"Why don't you ask them," She answers, "There's Dad tending bar, and mom will be here as soon as she finishes her shift at the hospital."

Max looks over and is shocked to see Steve, WITHOUT his trademark patch, smiling and pouring drinks.

Everyone around them seemed happier somehow. Like they had no worries.

Over in the corner Max notices someone waving, he nudges Nick and nods in that direction. The guys raise their drinks and give a silent toast to George Carlin who does the same, then blinks away.

For the little town of Salem, having no "hope" is a good thing.