Part One (633 KB) - Whoa is (Not)

The younger boy gave a theatrical sigh. “Come on, Jules, it’s just e-mail. I wasn’t even talking about
time travel or anyth…”
“Shut up!” Jules interrupted, before he could say anything more. “Do you talk about all this in class too
If anyone ever learns anything about our family they’re not supposed to, it’ll be your fault!”
“Whatever,” Verne muttered under his breath. The two boys walked the rest of the way home in silence,
with Verne occasionally kicking at the ground in annoyance. The number of passers-by dwindled as
they got further from the town centre, and he decided it was okay to talk. “I changed my e-mail address
to jules_is_a_stupid_idiot@hillvalley-online.com, in case you want to know. It’s longer than yours and
it’s nicer too.”
Jules remained unfazed and shook his head slowly. “Verne, you cytoplasmic organelle. Thanks for the
compliment. A double negative equals a positive, don’t you know that” He appeared to think for a
moment. “No, wait, you probably don’t. Anyway, I’ll have to return that favour one day.” Jules smirked
at his brother, and made Verne very much want to hit him.
“You still haven’t returned my Game Boy,” he said instead.
“You still haven’t paid me two million dollars,” Jules replied matter-of-factly. “I told you I’d give your
Game Boy back when I get your money. The deal still stands. No money, no Game Boy.”
“I saw the book,” Verne said desperately, in a last attempt to sway his brother.
It seemed to work, and Jules stopped in his tracks, turning slowly to face the younger boy. “What
book” His voice was cautious.
Verne stopped walking too. “The one you took from the future. The one ‘bout the history of Hill Valley
from 1850 to 2000. I saw it in your room, so don’t think you can pretend you don’t know about it.”
Jules stared at him in indignation. “Who gave you permission to look through my things”
“So you did take the book,” Verne stated triumphantly. “Wait till I tell Dad… you’re in for it now. You
know what’s he’s like about stuff from the future.”
“For your information, Verne, I didn’t take it. It was in a dustbin, which meant that it was going to be
thrown away, in case you don’t know. And I think I deserve the right to know what’s going to happen to
this town, to this planet. Dad never tells us anything.” Jules scowled. “I’m old enough,” he added with
an almost childish whine.
“You know he doesn’t tell us ‘cause he’s scared that we might accidentally let someone else learn things
they’re not supposed to. Like if they’re supposed to die in war or something but because of something
we tell them they do things different and don’t die.”
“You mean he’s scared that you will leak out something. You couldn’t even keep your big mouth shut
about e-mail just now. People could have heard.” Jules kicked the ground in frustration, sending up
dust clouds of sand around his feet. “It’s all your fault,” he muttered.
“Don’t change the subject. I’m still telling about the book. You’re not supposed to read things like that.”
“Look, I’ll let you read it too, okay”
Verne shook his head. “I bet it’s all long and boring. I don’t want to read it.”
Jules’ heart sank. If Verne told their father about the book, he didn’t know if he would be able to bear
the shame. His father had trusted him, especially, the older of the two, to follow all his strict rules
whenever the family took one of their little trips through time… But he’d really wanted that book; he
hadn’t been able to resist it when he saw it lying there abandoned in the trashcan, and besides he’d told
himself to read no further than 1985, for if his family had only moved back to the future a few years ago
instead of staying put in the nineteenth century, all that would have been common knowledge to him…
Verne was looking at him in an expectant sort of way.
“I’ll return your Game Boy,” Jules finally said with reluctance.
Verne grinned. “That’s more like it. Okay, I won’t tell.”