The De Lorean (standard:science fiction, 2290 words)
Author: Ian Hobson	Added: May 31 2004	Views/Reads: 3818/2238	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
When Dianne told me the story of the time she stayed with her aunt, in a 'mansion, stacked to the ceilings with antiques', and about 'the De Lorean'; I thought that maybe she was making the whole thing up. But then she showed me the photograph...

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item was chipped or cracked.  Her aunt and uncle must be very rich. 

Sunlight streamed in through one of the windows, and DeeDee walked over
and looked out at the beautifully manicured garden and at the mountains 
beyond.  She thought that Huntsville was surely one of the most 
beautiful cities in America. 

'Here we are, Dear.'  Aunt Rene had returned with a tray laden with
cakes and plates and cups and saucers, and both a teapot and a coffee 
pot; all in matching bone china.  She placed them carefully on a very 
delicate-looking low table that stood in front of the large ornate 
fireplace.  'I'll pour my tea.  You can pour your coffee.  Help 
yourself to cakes.' 

'Thanks.'  DeeDee smiled and pushed a lock of blond hair from her eyes
as she crossed the room again.  Then, very carefully, she did as 
instructed, before sitting opposite her aunt, with a plate balanced on 
her knees, and a cup in one hand and a saucer in the other; more than a 
little worried that she might break something or spill coffee on the 
very expensive-looking rug that covered most of the polished hardwood 
floor.  There was an awkward silence for a moment until both DeeDee and 
her aunt began to speak at once. 

'I've made...' 

'Do you...' 

'Sorry, Dear.  You go first.' 

'No, what were you going to say, Auntie?' 

'I was just going to say; I've made up the bed in Mr. Mack's old room. 
There's a lovely view from the window.  I think you'll like it.' 

'Mr. Mack?'  DeeDee spoke through a mouthful of cake, and a few crumbs
fell from her mouth but fortunately landed on her plate. 

'He was a good friend of your uncle's.'  For a moment, a little sadness
showed in Rene's eyes.  'He was in real-estate, and traveled a lot, but 
he always stayed with us when he was in Huntsville.  We never knew when 
to expect him, so we always kept his room ready.  He acquired all of 
our downtown properties for us.' 

'Oh, yeah.  I think Mama mentioned his name once.'  DeeDee sipped her
coffee.  It was the best she had ever tasted. 

'Try not to say yeah, Dianne.  It's not very ladylike...  Now, what were
you going to say, Dear?' 

'To say?  Oh yeah, err, yes... my friend.  Joey...  I think you met him
once, when you came to visit us at our house.  Do you remember? We were 
out in the yard, and Joey was climbing our apple tree, and a branch 
broke and he almost fell.' 

Rene thought for a moment.  'Oh, yes... the dark haired boy.  He was a
little older than you, wasn't he?'  She drained her teacup and then 
poured herself some more, before reaching for a pack of cigarettes and 
a silver lighter from the mantelpiece.  'More coffee, Dear?' 

'No thanks.  This is really good coffee though.' 

'So... what about your friend?  Joey, did you say?' 

'Yeah; he's just started a new job, here, in Huntsville.' 

'Really?  Well you must invite him to dinner one evening.' 

* 

'And here we are, back where we started.  Don't you just love this
table!'  DeeDee stroked the polished wood with her right hand as she 
walked the length of the dinning table.  She had been giving her 
friend, Joey, a full tour of the house.  It was three days since she 
had arrived; yet she was still not tired of exploring the place.  It 
seemed that every time she returned to a room, she would discover 
something new that she had overlooked before.  'Did you enjoy your 
meal?' 

'Yeah, Dee, it was good.' Joey found an ashtray, and stubbed out his
cigarette.  'When did you learn to cook?'  He was taller than DeeDee, 
and leaner, and he seemed to prowl the room like a predatory cat.  He 
too was impressed by the house and its lavish furnishings, though his 
eyes kept straying back to DeeDee.  She was wearing a bright pink, 
short-sleeved dress; the only dress she had brought with her.  Its hem 
was fashionably high and it was perhaps just a little on the tight 
side, accentuating her figure.  Nature had wrought some interesting 
changes since Joey had last seen her. 

'Oh, years ago.  Mama taught me.'  DeeDee stubbed out her own cigarette.
'Aunt Rene didn't want me to cook, but I talked her into it.' 

'Does she usually go to bed so early?' 

'Yeah, but mainly to keep my uncle company.  I think she reads to him. 
He's been ill for a few months now; but when I go up to see him he 
tells me all sorts of things, mostly about antiques...  That reminds 
me; we need to go out into the yard.' 

'It's dark out there now.'  Joey looked out of the window.  He could see
lights in the distance but the garden was mostly in darkness, except 
for some discrete floodlighting around a small ornamental pond. 

'I know, but there's something else I want to show you.'  DeeDee was
looking at the back of Joey's head; admiring his shoulder length, shiny 
black hair.  As he turned towards her and their eyes met, she felt a 
shiver run down her spine. 

'Okay.'  Joey smiled at DeeDee.  'Which way?' 

'This way.'  DeeDee smiled back and held out her hand to Joey, before
leading him out of the room and into the kitchen, where she took a 
small bunch of keys from a hook beside the outer door and then led him 
outside. 

'Now where?' asked Joey, still holding DeeDee's hand and wondering if
this might be the right time.  But as he tried to move closer, her hand 
slipped from his and she sped off along a gravel path that led towards 
an outbuilding.  Joey followed, now intrigued as to where they might be 
going.  As the two of them reached the outbuilding, Joey realized that 
it was a garage, as there were two large wooded doors as well as a 
small side door, which DeeDee unlocked with one of the keys from the 
kitchen.  Joey followed DeeDee in through the door where she abruptly 
stopped and let out a scream. 

'What's the matter?' 

'I think a mouse just ran over my foot.' 

Joey laughed and felt for a light switch.  And as the fluorescent lights
came on, he saw that the garage was filled with furniture covered in 
dustsheets. 

'What, more antiques?' he asked. 

'Yeah, I know, they've got stacks of them, but look at this.'  DeeDee
walked over to something long and low that stood near one of the large 
garage doors.  It was also covered by a dustsheet, but on closer 
inspection Joey could see that it was probably a motor vehicle of some 
sort.  He helped DeeDee remove the cover, and for a moment he stood 
speechless. 

'Well?' said DeeDee, grinning. 

'What is it?' 

'A car.' 

'Well I can see that, but I've never seen one like it before.' 

'No, you won't have.'  It was DeeDee's turn to laugh.  'According to my
uncle, it was built in nineteen eighty-one, and its called a 
Dee-Lorean.' 

'Nineteen eighty-one?  I think your uncle must be off his head.' 

'Don't say that.  He's very sweet.  Yesterday he told me this wild story
about how his friend, Mr. Mack, invented a time machine and put it in a 
car and drove about in it; traveling through time.  He said Mr. Mack 
was from the future; but one day when he was here, he suddenly got real 
sick and a few days later, he died.  And so he never got back to the 
future, and that's why the car's still here.' 

'Yeah, like I said, he must be... well, getting old.  Nice story though.
 Nice car too.'  Joey walked around the De Lorean, admiring its 
futuristic look.  'Hey, wait here!'  He hurried out through the side 
door and raced off along the gravel path to the front of the house 
where his old Chevy was parked, soon returning with a camera.  'Stand 
next to the car, Dee.  I'll take your picture.' 

DeeDee posed in front of the De Lorean as Joey took a photograph, and
then, after Joey had changed the flashcube, she took one of him.  It 
was then that Joey noticed that the hood wasn't fastened properly and, 
still curious, he lifted it to look at the engine.  'Man!  Weird 
looking engine!' 

'That can't be the engine.  My uncle said that the engine's in the back
of the car.' 

'So what's this then?  No, don't tell me; it's the time machine, right?'


'I guess it must be.'  DeeDee began to laugh again.  'Hey, I've not
shown you the best thing, yet.  Wait till you see how the doors open.' 

Joey dropped the hood and watched as DeeDee opened both of the car's
doors.  'Oh, man!  That's really cool.' 

'Yeah, they're called seagull doors, no, err...  gull-wing!  Yeah,
gull-wing, because they look like a gull's wings when they're open.  My 
uncle told me.'  DeeDee got into the passenger seat and Joey slid into 
the driver's seat beside her. 

'Wouldn't it be cool if the story was true, Dee.  I mean if this car
really was a time machine.'  Joey took hold of the steering wheel and 
studied the car's controls, slowly shaking his head, but then he turned 
towards DeeDee.  Sitting there, in that skimpy little dress, with its 
hem way up near the top of her thighs, she looked, to Joey, like one of 
those girls he had seen in fashion magazines. 

'It's been real good, tonight,' he said.  'The meal and the house and
all... and seeing you again.'  And knowing from the look in DeeDee's 
eyes, that at last the time was right, he took his hands off the wheel 
and leaned closer to her, slipping one arm around her shoulders and the 
other around her waist before kissing her full on the lips. 

Behind the De Lorean, unseen and unheard by the two teenagers, the mouse
scurried from one dustsheet covered piece of furniture to another; from 
one very old, yet perfectly preserved, antique to another. 


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