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July 4th 1986 was just as hot of a day as anyone would expect it to be in Hill Valley, but few people were likely feeling as hot, and miserable as Marty McFly on this particular Independence Day.
"Why did I agree to this?" Marty muttered as he stepped out of the dressing room, not wanting to turn around, and look at himself in the mirror hung up on the outside of the door.
Marty's band mate Bobby was currently employed at a popular chain chicken restaurant in town, and when his friend had come to him explaining a problem his manager had, Marty had initially answerd his request with a hard no, no way, not in a million years.
"I'm not dressing up in a damn chicken suit Bobby, I'm no chicken!" Marty had insisted.
"Come on dude, I was going to do it myself, but my boss made a mistake when he orderd the costume, and ordered one way to small for me, or anyone else I work with to wear. Look with the costume on no one will even be able to recognize it's you, and you only have to wear it during the parade. It's an easy hundred bucks man." Bobby had started to try, and convince his friend.
"The answer is no Bob......did you just say a hundred bucks?" Marty had started to refuse again, but had then quickly reconsiderd.
And that was the story on how, and why Marty was now standing infront of his smiling friend.
"Don't laugh at me!" Marty demanded with a glare directedd straight at Bobby as he then pulled the chicken head that was part of the costume down over his head.
Bobby hadn't actually been laughing until Marty had told him not to laugh, but now he was in hysterics as he fell to the floor, and was laughing so hard he was litteraly crying. Marty had then, as quickly as he possibly could in the bulky costume, stepped over his still laughing friend, and made his way outside to prepre to line up for the Independence day parade.
"Hey chicken, hop in the back of my truck!" Paul, who was standing beside said truck had called over to him.
"Don't call me chicken." Marty grumbled out as he tried to pull himself up onto the tailgate of the red Toyota that was otherwise identical to his own.
"Wow wait Marty, is that really you? I guess I should have recognized that. You are a big chicken, but a small guy" Paul had teased while laughing.
"Marty!" Linda had hopped out from the otherside of the truck, and rushed around to her brother's growing horror.
"What are you guys even doing here?' Marty demanded crankily through his chicken head.
"Bobby came to me, and asked if I would drive my truck in the parade. It was a pretty sweet deal, his boss offered me two hundred dollars, and then when Statler Toyota found out they offered me another two hundred dollars if I would also put a banner on the truck, since I bought it from them." Paul answered as Marty felt a deep burning rage on the inside, and he walked back around to the driver's side of the vehicle to look at the banner he had at first not even noticed.
No need to feel like a chicken if you come a pickin' one of our great deals at Statler Toyota.
"Wait, Bobby's boss is paying you two hundred dollars, and all you are doing is driving around in your truck?" Marty asked, his crankiness intensifying.
"Well originally he only offered me a hundred bucks, but I said no since today is my birthday, and I didn't want to be associated with no damn chicken, but then he sweetened the deal, and suddenly being associated with chickens on my birthday didn't seem all that bad." Paul explained as Marty's felt one of his eye's twitch.
"I can't believe this." Marty grumbled as he struggled to hop up on the tailgate in the bulky chicken suit again.
It had taken a couple mintues, and both Paul, and Linda's assistance, but eventually Marty had managed to get up onto the back of the truck as Linda hopped in beside him.
"What are you doing back here with me?" Marty asked annoyed.
"Bobby's boss also offered me money if I would throw out candy for the kids, and then dad told me he would give me another hundred bucks if I wore this shirt." Linda pointed out the 'Match Made In Space' shirt she was wearing.
"Everybody else is getting paid better than me, and they aren't even dressed up as chickens!" Marty shouted as he started stomping his feet in frustration.
"Becareful Lin, don't get flogged!" Paul had opened up the back window of his truck to warn his girlfriend as Marty considered jumping inside to attack his so called friend.
"Do not invite me to your wedding!" Marty hollered out to Paul's growing amusement.
"Fine, I wouldn't want you to get your feathers in a bunch there anyway." Paul had shot back, then snorted as Linda burst out laughing, and Marty groaned.
As more vehicles had started to line up behind them, Bobby along with Lee had also jumped into the back of the truck.
"What in the hell are you doing here Lee?" Marty asked as Lee's eyes went wide, and a huge grin broke out across his face.
"Marty? I get to ride since my dad paid Paul for advertising, and boy am I glad to be here to see this." Lee explained as he joined in with the happy laughter going on around him. Only Marty found absolutely nothing funny about any of this.
"You didn't tell me they were all going to be here!" Marty pointed out to Bobby.
"Dude, if you just kept your mouth shut, no one would have even known it was you!" Bobby pointed out laughing, infact Bobby's eyes were now red thanks to all the hystercal laughing he was doing.
The parade had been the uncomfortable, and miserable experience Marty feared it would be plus some. Everybody, and it really did seem like everybody in town was in attendance for the annual event.
Marty had nearly jumped out of the truck when Needles had thrown some half eaten chicken directly at him, and then yelled how great his mama tasted, but even if Marty could have easily jumped out of the truck in his uncomfortable costume, Mayor Wilson, who was riding in a convertable right infront of them had worked quick to take care of the situation by directing Chief Parker, who was walking alongside the car, to take care of the nuisance.
Marty felt his heart plummet after his girlfriend's father had motioned to another officer to detain Needles, and then started walking over to the pickup, and straight to him.
"Hey if you want to press anykind of assault charges you will need to talk with me after the parade, if not we can just order Needles to go home." Chief Parker had explained.
Marty had started shaking, and nodding his head all at the same, trying to answer the questions being directed at him without actually talking, and giving away his true identity while the police chief just stared confused at the teenager in the chicken suit.
"What Marty is trying to say is no, he does not want to press charges." Bobby 'helped' explain to Chief Parker.
"Marty?" Chief Parker asked before his own face broke out in a grin, and he started laughing.
Marty groaned, he felt certain this experience couldn't get any worse.
"Marty!" Jennifer had yelled out in surprise, and concern from the sidewalk, having overhead the conversation between her father, and boyfriend while Marty was asking himself what kind of luck did it take for his girlfriend to be standing at that exact spot, at that exact time?
"Golly" Clara had said, also clearly shocked at the identity of the cranky chicken in the back of the pickup truck.
Marty's embarasment was only growing as he had then realized Doc, and his entire family were also in attendance for what he felt certain was the most embarrassing moment of his entire life.
"Look Jules, Marty is a chicken!" Verne had loudly, and excitedly announced.
"Yes Verne, and it would appear by just how yellow Marty currently is, he might infact be a Golden Comet Chicken, which was developed by cross-breeding the Rhode Island Red Chicken and the White Leghorn Chicken. Due to the genetics of their parent breeds, and the selective breeding used to create them, they are considered to be some of the best layer chickens, and produce large quantities of eggs for farmers." Jules explained excitedly to his brother.
Marty was able to atleast feel grateful that Doc wasn't laughing at him as the scientist had crouched down between his sons.
"Jules, I don't think Marty would consider you boasting his particular breed of represented chicken's extordinary capability of laying large quantity of eggs as a compliment." Doc tried to help, and even though Marty still felt grateful to his friend for the solid attempt, it did nothing to make him feel any better.
"You're not helping Doc, seeing how im not a chicken!" Marty pointed out as Doc cringed, and the people standing all around had started laughing harder at the exchange of words between the scientist, and the grumpy chicken.
"Move along guys." A now somewhat guilty feeling Chief Parker had orderd a hystercally laughing Paul to start rolling his truck forward again.
"I can't drive, this is too funny, I'll never forget this day. It's a day that will go down in poultry infamy." Paul had gasped out through his laughter, and tears causing Chief Parker to roll his eyes as he motioned Jennifer over.
"Will you let Jenny drive then?" Chief Parker had asked Paul.
Paul just nodded his head while still giggling, and then slid over to the passenger side of the truck to make room for Jennifer to join him.
"Oh come on!" Marty threw up his wings in frustration, just wanting this nightmare to end.
The rest of the ride was agonizing, but they had finally reached the end of the parade route near the Burger King, and soon as Jennifer put the truck in park in the fast food restaurant's parking lot, Marty had put down the tailgate, and then laid down in an attempt to squirm out of the truck by himself.
The sound of a polaroid camera snapping had gotten Marty's attention as he looked up in the direction of his sister who was evily smiling down at him.
"How many pictures did you take?" Marty demanded angrily.
"Only a lot, I promised mom, and dad I would take pictures of anything memorable that happened." Linda explained as her brother finally managed to roll out of the back of the truck, and landed hard on the ground with an oof.
"Come on around here Marty, and I will help you out of that suit." Jennifer offered, sincerely wanting help her embarrassed boyfriend.
"No thanks." Marty grumbled as he snatched off the head of the costume, and started to walk away as Linda made sure to get just as many pictures as she could of her brother, and his now exposed face.
"Yo Marty wait, I just need to say one thing before you go!" Paul had quickly yelled, actually sounding serious as he ran to catch up with his friend just as Marty had reached the patch of grass separating the Burger King property from Doc's garage.
Marty turned around slowly while glaring at his friend.
"I just want you to know, If I were a rooster, I would totally want to make a dozen beautiful Golden Comet Chicken eggs with you." Paul revealed before falling into hysterics again.
The sound of Linda's camera snapping, and shooting out pictures as she got many good shots of the wild anger in her brother's eyes was finally pushing Marty to his own snapping point, and It certainly didn't help that all his band mates were also making clucking noises either.
"Okay guys, you've had your fun, now stop tormenting him!" Jennifer orderd angrily.
"It's not our fault Jen, that Marty makes such a beautiful chicken, and no doubt would also make some pretty beautiful eggs." Paul flatly stated as Marty had screamed, and then tackled the other teen onto the soft grass.
"Somebody get him off me before he pecks me to death!" Paul requested, even though he was still laughing, and not sounding in anyway concerned about his well-being, considering the bulky costume that Marty was still trapped in was keeping him from being able to land any real punches.
Marty gave up on his attempt to punch Paul, and had struggled to stand back up, even he was laughing at himself now as he imagined just how ridiculous he knew he must have looked, and really at just how ridiculous the whole situation was.
"Don't ever ask me to do another favor for you for the rest of my life Bobby!" Marty insisted after he had stopped laughing.
"Seriously Marty, let us help you get out of that suit." Paul seriously offered as Marty shook his head no.
"No way Paul, I don't even know how chickens breed, and I doubt you know either, but I'm not taking my chances around you." Marty threw in his own joke as he waved off his friends, and girlfriend while Linda contined to snap just as many pictures as she could before he turned to walk towards the garage.
As Marty reached the door, he had quickly retrieved the key from under the doormat, and after unlocking it, he had thrown the door open, and then groaned as he locked eyes with Doc who had been sitting in an old recliner he had left there after he had moved out.
"Why are you here?" Marty shouted, and Doc raised an eyebrow.
"You know I do still own this property? The boys were hungry, so Clara is grabbing some lunch that we are planning to eat here." Doc pointed out before answering his frustrated friend's question.
Marty grumpily acknowledged the fact that he was well aware that Doc still owned the garage as he struggled to reach the zipper on the back of the chicken costume before accepting his defeat, and hanging his head sadly before looking up at Doc with a pitiful expression on his face that the scientist might would have found funny, if it wasn't for the hurt, and embarrassed look in Marty's eyes.
Doc knew Marty must have been feeling like he had been picked on enough already today, and he had even witnessed with his own eyes much of the teasing Marty's bandmates, and sister had put him through from the window that the recliner was positioned next to. On top of his friend's teasing, practically the entire town had happily laughed at the teenager, and as a man that had never been able to fully shake his 'town crackpot' reputation, Doc fully understood all too well how 'innocent fun' could hurt a person's feelings, and hurting anyone's feelings, especially Marty's, was something Doc never wanted to take part in.
"Do you mind helping a pal out Doc? I'm really hot, and uncomfortable under here." Marty pointed out miserably as Doc nodded his head, and stepped behind his younger friend.
As Doc fumbled with the zipper, he scrunched up his nose, and came to the conclusion it was stuck. As the scientist continued to try to help his friend escape the suit, Marty had started talking.
"Doc, I'm as proud as anyone about how smart Jules is, but why on earth does he have so much knowledge on chicken breeds?" Marty asked with a crinkled nose, and Doc couldn't help himself from snorting as his acknowledgment of his eldest son's interesting knowledge database.
"I do not even try, and understand why Jules is the way he is." Doc admitted with a laugh as he tried harder to pull down the zipper on the back of Marty's chicken costume.
Marty took note of just how much grunting Doc was doing, followed by an "uh oh" from his friend after he had nearly jerked the teenager off his feet.
"Uh oh, why did you just say uh oh?" Marty practically shouted.
The blood had drained out of Marty's face as he turned around, and saw the zipper was now in Doc's hand, and unattached from the costume.
"Let me go find some pliers." Doc had insisted as he rushed around the garage in search of the necessary tool.
Once Doc had found the pliers, he was finally able to help Marty out of the costume. The unhappy, and sweaty teenager had then sat down in the recliner, and infront of the fan Doc had been blowing cool air on himself with.
"Why do I make these stupid choices Doc?" Marty asked, still for the most part feeling miserable even now that he was out of the nightmare of a chicken suit.
Doc smirked a little as he laid a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Why did you agree to dress up as a chicken today?" Doc asked curiously as Marty shrugged.
"Bobby asked me to, and I am going to get paid for it anyway" Marty admitted.
"So you helped a friend, and you recognize your time is valuable? That doesn't sound like stupid choices to me, and I wouldn't even say you acted stupid today Marty. You were brave enough to do something that was outside of your comfort zone....." Doc praised his younger friend as Marty studied him.
"And?" Marty asked, sensing Doc had more to say.
"And the whole town was laughing at you, and calling you chicken, but you didn't overreact in any irrational way that I could see. I understand you feel embarrassed, and now might wish you had made the choice not to partake in the parade, but did you not have any fun at all?" Doc asked.
Marty had started smiling a little, and had even laughed as he recalled tackling Paul into the grass infront of the garage, and even he had to admit, Jules innocent rambling on his knowledge of Golden Comet chickens was pretty funny.
"I'm sure Linda will be using her pictures from today to torment me for years to come." Marty had said as he shook his head, and rolled his eyes.
"Yes, yes she probably will, I don't have siblings myself of course, but as a father who is raising two children close in age, I have no doubt you are correct." Doc agreed, only then daring to show a hint of amusement.
A knock at the front door had gotten both Doc, and Marty's attention, and after the scientist had moved to open the door, he discovered it was Paul, and Jennifer on the otherside.
"Marty, you've got to come back with us!" Jennifer giddly, if not a little bit nervously announced.
"Back where?" Marty asked confused.
"Back to the town square, we won!" Paul happily announced.
"Wait, we won what?" Marty asked, still feeling confused.
"They took a vote on the most popular entry in the parade. The whole town loved your cranky chicken act. You are going to go down in history as the most popular chicken in all of Hill Valley!" Paul announced happily.
"So the whole town was laughing at me because they just thought I was acting grumpy, and unhappy?" Marty asked cautiously.
"Well yeah, and keep in mind they didn't even know it was you at first. I mean word did spread around fast it was you in the costume, but everyone is praising what a great actor you are." Paul pointed out as he then started growing concerned.
"You know Marty, I can't believe I forgot how Needles used to bully you by calling you a chicken back in school. We didn't hurt your feelings did we?" Paul asked with a cringe, and Jennifer glared at him.
"How do you forget something like that Paul? Why do you think I wasn't laughing at him?" Jennifer snapped.
"Wow, Jen, Paul, it's okay really. Thanks for your concern, but really I'm not upset, I'm over the chicken thing anyway." Marty insisted as he cast a grateful glance over at Doc who smiled back at him.
"Well if that's the case then I just want to make sure you know that I'm so proud of you my beautiful Golden Comet chicken." Jennifer let Marty know as she gave him a peck on the lips.
"I'm never going to live this down am I? No one is ever going to forget about this are they?" Marty asked, trying not to fully show just how amused even he was feeling now.
"No they are not, and especially not Linda, or her camera." Paul acknowledged.
"So what did we win?" Marty asked.
""Five hundred dollars that everyone in the truck's supposed to split, but we all have agreed you deserve the award man, we wouldn't have won if it wasn't for you, and besides the rest of us won just by getting to witness everything first hand" Paul answered.
"Even Linda agrees with you guys?" Marty asked suspiciously.
"Linda says she is putting all her Golden Comet chicken eggs in a basket, and plans on using those eggs to make a lot of money by selling them when we strike it big." Paul explained with a cringe.
"And by Golden Comet eggs, I'm assuming you mean the likely hundreds of pictures she already has in her possession by this point?" Marty asked as Paul nodded his head, and flashed a goofy grin.
"Don't worry Marty, I know where Paul's mom keeps all his naked baby pictures, so if Linda ever does get to live out her dream, then we can use those pictures in retaliation." Jennifer revealed.
"Wait what?" Paul asked surprised as Jennifer smirked, and fluttered her eyelashes innocently, and Marty laughed some more.
"Well let's get to the town square then, we wouldn't want to miss out on getting our reward, and I tell you what Paul, I'll even put the money up so we can invest in some new equipment, that way we can help Linda on her way to make her own dreams come true aswell, just make sure you get copies of those pictures of Paul asap okay Jen? " Marty said with a laugh, and a shake of his head.