REAL WORLD: PART THREE Homeward Bound ... - Whoa is (Not)

The final glow of the fire faded away, and soon all three were asleep.
**
9 th November 2030, Monday
7:42 am
Room 31-02B, Lone Pine Hotel
Hill Valley, California
“Am I the only one who’s ever awake” Marty asked, staring at Neo fast asleep under the pillow that Ted
had chucked at him in an unsuccessful attempt to wake The One from his beauty sleep.
“Honestly,” Marty muttered, shaking his head and walking out of the room. “First Frank, now Neo…”
An oxygen molecule near him bobbed up and down in agreement. Being an oxygen molecule, it hadn’t
realised that Marty was, in fact, not talking to it, and that the teen wasn’t particularly concerned about what
the molecular masses thought of his musings.
Back in the room, Ted exited the bathroom to find that Neo still hadn’t budged. Picking up a pillow from his
bed, he prepared to throw it. “Are you going to wake up, dude”
Neo mumbled something unintelligible from under the first pillow and was silent again. Ted threw the
second pillow at him, but all it did was bounce off the first and fall to the ground. The pillow on top of Neo’s
head extended its warm sympathy to its fallen comrade.
“Neo” Ted asked, only to be greeted with more incoherent mutterings.
“You’ve been asleep for over four hours, dude.”
“Fehh,” Neo said.
“I can pull you off the bed if you want.”
“Don’ you dar’.”
“Doctor Brown says that if we don’t leave the room in an hour, the hotel people are going to do most heinous
things to the bill.”
“Go ‘way.”
Ted yanked the covers off Neo.
“Stop ‘at.”
Verne sauntered into the room and was watching the scene with considerable interest. “Try prodding him
with a stick,” he suggested. “It works with Jules.”
Neo contemplated making a certain gesture with his middle finger on the hand that was not currently buried
under the pillow, but decided against it when he realised that Doc might not be too pleased if his seven-yearold
son started emulating him.
“M’grofle,” he said instead, which roughly translates as, “Go away, you little brat, or I’ll separate your head
from your body. When I’m out of bed, that is.”
“Do you know where to find a stick” Ted asked Verne.
“Yeah, there’s this area near the back of my house which has lots of twigs and dead branches and stuff.”
“Um, anything nearer”
Verne thought for a moment, then shook his head. “No, but you could just try poking him.”