BG Sparrow

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 30 Automobile Accident

“It’s just a fender bender, Mom,” Dave whined. “The car still runs just fine!”

“Your brother was in the car,” Lorraine said.

“He was wearing a seatbelt! He was fine! It wasn’t even my fault! The guy cut me off!”

Lorraine shook her head and swiped her vodka soda off the bar on her way to the patio.

“You’re grounded.”

“Mom!”

“You can catch the bus to work.”

“Oh, come on!” Dave shouted. “Biff’ll total it next week, and you won’t even sue him!”

“Not another word, David,” Lorraine warned.

“But Mom —”

The patio door slid shut.

“Damn it.”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲🌲 || day 27 Twin Pines Mall Santa

Lorraine grabbed Marty’s shoulder before he could run in line with the other kids, squinting at “Santa.”

“Is that Red Thomas?”

The drunken sway, the warbling accent; George would have been a fool to deny it.

“Uh, I… I can’t tell?”

“You can tell, George,” Lorraine whispered fretfully, “just as much as I can! What are they thinking?”

“Honey, he’s been out of work a long time,” George reasoned. “Maybe we can just give him a break, you know? It’s Christmas…”

“Santa” fell face-first off his throne.

“That’s it.” Lorraine turned Marty toward the exit. “We’re going to Pine City.” 

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 22 Lifelong Secret

“Hey, Mom, have you ever heard of a TV show called The Manhattan Project?”

Lorraine bent her brow as she took the meatloaf out of the oven.

“A TV show? No, I don’t think so.”

“Why can’t I find anyone who knows about this show?”

“What’s it about?”

“I don’t know,” Marty said, leaning on the bar. “I just remembered Doc said he was on it when we first met and thought I’d get a laugh.”

Lorraine almost dropped the meatloaf.

“What?”

“Crazy, right? I can’t imagine Doc on TV, either.”

“Marty, the Manhattan Project was not a TV show.”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 19 A Sight for Sore Eyes

George does not handle his first book tour without Lorraine too well.

There’s a lot of guilt; he’s not well-to-do enough to have his wife and three kids fly city-to-city with him for an unproven book. He isn’t well-to-do enough for flights for himself to every city; the drive from Chicago to Cincinnati in whiteout conditions was brutal.

So, when he gets home, and he finds Lorraine dozing off on the couch in a sweater reminiscent of the dress she wore when he first kissed her, George falls for her all over again. 

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes…”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 11 Reading George's First Draft

“It’s, uh, something.”

George brandishes an exaggerated grin. “You hate it.”

“No!” Lorraine says. “No, no, no! It’s just… Well, it’s a lot! All the storylines and motives! And the world you’ve built, just...wow.”

George steeples his fingers and puts them to his lips. 

“But?”

Lorraine sighs. “But do you have to use our middle names?”

“Lorraine, this is our story.”

“It is –”

“Raylene is such a unique name! It’s perfect.”

“But I hate my middle name, George.”

“Tell you what,” George says. “If it’s not a bestseller, then you can be mad at me. Deal?”

Lorraine laughs. “Deal.”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 9 Stolen Idea

“I don’t see how he’s getting away with it!” 

Marty sighed. He shut his bedroom door, but it did little to muffle his dad’s latest rant. 

“He could have had a similar idea, honey,” Lorraine said from the kitchen.

“A similar idea? He named the character Darth Vader, Lorraine! And made him the bad guy! Darth Vader isn’t a bad guy!”

“Maybe this Darth Vader is.”

George growled, fists in the air. 

“It’s not right, Lorraine! I cooked up this character years ago in high school! Now, I’m going to have to change his name just to publish my book!”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 6 Biff's Grand Opening

Lorraine winced as Biff barged through the penthouse doors. The chandelier’s light shimmered on the sleek planes of his white-gold suit.

Lorraine looked down at her matching dress. She wanted to spill her Bloody Mary on it.

“Where are those kids of yours? Cameras’re waiting for a big family photo.”

“I sent them to boarding school.”

“What?”

He hadn’t shown his family man side to the press in a while, and she knew that. She knew that!

Biff paused. 

Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Find out how much it is for ‘em to stay for summer.”

mcfly july 2024 || 🌲 || day 3 Book Signing

The first stop on the sequel’s tour was San Francisco.

Still, somehow, they did not expect such a big turnout. All the posters, cosplay, adoration.

And the publishers were already pushing for a trilogy.

Lorraine wrung her hands.

How had a story invented for her granddaughter become a beloved children’s book?

How does George do this?

Marlene, in full Princess Crystal regalia, sat on the “throne” next to her mother’s table, straightening her crown.

“Ready?”

Lorraine smiled. There were a lot of little royals out there ready to meet Princess Crystal and read about her new adventure.

“Let them in.”