Chapter 3
The sound of joyful yelling slowly awoke Jan. She looked around and realized that she was the only one still in her room. Jan glanced at her clock and was a bit surprised to see that it was after 9:00 AM. Perhaps she stayed up too late the previous night. Even though she got plenty of sleep, she felt a bit tired and groggy. She lay in bed for a few more minutes – listening to the voices outside. Finally, Jan forced herself out of bed and looked outside her window. There, she saw Greg, Marcia, Bobby, and Cindy jumping on the trampoline. Jan hoped that nobody was using the computer – although she thought that someone probably was – given the fact that hardly anyone else got to use it the night before. Jan then got dressed and went downstairs to see what everyone was up to.
Nobody was in the living room, so she entered the kitchen. Nobody was there, either, so she went into the family room. Jan groaned when she saw Peter, with Oliver by his side, typing in Microsoft Word on the computer. She couldn't say that she was surprised. Peter and Oliver turned to look at Jan.
"Hey, Jan! Check out the Scoop Brady newspaper I made!" Peter said with a grin.
Jan looked over Peter's shoulder and saw that Peter had designed a very elaborate, professional-looking newspaper with multiple justified columns and different font weights. "Wow, that's really cool, Peter," Jan said.
"This is so far out! I could never do anything like this on our typewriter!" Peter said. "Now, which font do you think would be better for the nameplate: Impact or Old English Text MT?" Peter showed Jan the nameplate of his newspaper in the two different fonts for comparison.
Jan shrugged. "I dunno – I guess Old English Text looks pretty cool. Say, how long have you been using the computer?"
"About thirty minutes," Peter said as he changed the font of his nameplate. "Why?"
"I'd kind of like to get on it again," Jan said.
"Well, you'll have to wait a while," Peter said. "This morning at breakfast, Mom and Dad made a rule saying that we each get at least an hour of computer time each day – but no more than three hours under normal circumstances. For now, though, we're each getting an hour today so we all can use the computer. Bobby tried it out before me, and the others are still waiting for their turn when I'm done."
Jan felt her stomach rumbling and realized that she needed to get something to eat. "That's what I thought," Jan replied. "Oh well, I guess I'd better go find something else to do. See ya."
Jan went into the kitchen and fixed herself a bowl of cereal. After eating, she decided to go for a bike ride around town. It was a sunny morning, and Jan wanted to do so much more than just use the computer. After biking for a while and spending some time walking in the park, Jan returned home and passed through the living room – feeling a bit annoyed when she saw Greg dancing to some disco MIDI music playing from the computer speakers. Jan went to her room and read for a while. Later, Jan played some basketball with Marcia, Peter, and Bobby and watched some TV in the living room. Jan also played a few games of checkers with Cindy later in the day. Although the thought of using the computer was constantly on her mind earlier in the day, Jan eventually ended up forgetting about it. The day was quite fun for her.
It wasn't until dinnertime that Jan started thinking about the computer again. While getting dinner in the kitchen, she couldn't help but see the family room, which reminded her of the computer. On top of that, during conversation at the dining room table, Jan learned that Greg, Marcia, and Cindy were skipping dinner with the family since Greg was going to go on a date, and Marcia and Cindy were going to have sleepovers. That meant that Jan had a better shot at using the computer that night. She smiled a little – happily chewing her meatloaf while her family's discussions just droned on in the background.
Shortly after dinner, Jan hurried into the family room. To her delight, nobody was there, and the computer had been turned off! Jan quickly sat in front of the computer and turned it on. After about thirty seconds, Windows 95 finished loading, and Jan loaded the Warcraft II disk into the CD-ROM drive. Jan felt herself getting more and more excited as she loaded her saved game. She couldn't wait to start the fifth mission.
Jan started playing in Tol Barad – in which she found herself quickly having to stop the Orcs from destroying an ally's settlement on an island. Once things stabilized, she began chopping down trees and mining gold – realizing that she would probably need to move to other islands to get more resources.
Within a few minutes of playing, Jan heard some noise in the kitchen and saw that Bobby was getting some soda. Jan turned back to the computer screen and said to herself, "There's one thing that would make playing this game even better." Jan paused her game and went to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of Pepsi and filled a bowl with several Oreo cookies. Jan returned to the computer and resumed her game. As she played, she took sips of her Pepsi and bites of her Oreos. Jan smiled as she ate the sweet treats. They really did make the gaming experience better.
About thirty minutes into her game, Jan jerked a little when she heard the sliding glass doors open behind her. She whipped her head back and saw Carol and Marcia coming inside.
"Marcia?" Jan gasped. "What are you doing back here? I thought that you had a sleepover tonight."
"It was cancelled due to a family emergency," Marcia said. Her mother and she walked past Jan and carried her suitcases upstairs to her room. Jan turned her attention back to her game and began building towers on the northern side of the Orcs' settlement. A few minutes later, Jan was surprised when Marcia came back into the family room.
"Hey, Jan, do you mind if I use the computer for a while?" Marcia asked.
"Can it wait?" Jan asked in annoyance – not taking her eyes off the computer screen.
Marcia shrugged. "Well, I would like to give it a try," she said. "I still haven't gotten to use it yet. I realized earlier today that I should have done so."
"I'm kind of in the middle of a game," Jan said as she rapidly selected several allies and ordered them to attack the Orcs that were destroying her towers.
"Jan, you've already had more than enough time on that computer," Marcia sighed. "I mean, you missed breakfast because you spent so much time playing it last night. Let me have a turn – just for an hour."
"Not now!" snapped Jan. "The Orcs are about to kill me!"
"I think you're taking that game a little too seriously," Marcia said – gripping one edge of the computer and accidentally pressing the computer's soft reset button. Suddenly, the CD audio cut off, and the screen turned black. Within seconds, lines of white text appeared on the screen – meaning that the computer was restarting. Jan's eyes popped open in horror.
"MARCIA! You ruined my game!" Jan shrieked. "I was in the middle of that, and now, I'll have to start all over!"
"Jan, calm down, I'm sorry – " Marcia started.
"Sorry, NOTHING!" retorted Jan. "Just get out of here!" She then shoved Marcia a few feet back.
Marcia stormed over to Jan and shoved her back – causing her to scream as she nearly fell back in her chair. By this point, Windows had loaded again, and Jan tried to restart her game.
"I think you've done enough," Marcia said – grabbing Jan's hand to prevent her from using the mouse. "Let me have a turn!"
"Stop it, Marcia!" snapped Jan. The two fought over the mouse – causing it to jerk back and forth – and to accidentally open the Windows shutdown menu. Jan managed to click "No" in order to keep the computer on. However, Marcia managed to open the shutdown menu again in spite – but Jan again managed to click the "No" button.
"Jan, cut it out!" Marcia yelled.
"You cut it out!" Jan retorted. The two fought over the mouse and kept opening and closing the shutdown menu before Marcia finally managed to click the "Yes" button. "Marcia!" snapped Jan, who stood up and almost shoved her sister again.
Just then, Mike, Carol, and Alice came into the family room. "Hey, hey, what's going on in here?" Mike asked.
"Jan is being really immature," Marcia said. "She won't let me have a turn at the computer, and I haven't used it even once yet! Worst of all, she shoved me!"
Mike, Carol, and Alice opened their eyes in shock and looked disapprovingly at Jan. "Marcia had all day to use the computer – even after the others had their turns, and she never did!" Jan said. "She was supposed to be at a sleepover, and she interrupted me right while the Orcs were slaughtering me in my game!"
Alice looked at Mike and Carol in confusion. "Orcs?"
"Yeah, I don't know what they are, either," Mike said. He turned his attention back to Jan. "But what I do know is that you've spent more time on that computer than anyone else in this family, Jan. I think it's more than fair that you let Marcia have some time on it." Jan started to say something, but Mike interrupted her. "I don't want to hear it," Mike interrupted. "You should know better than to act the way you did. Because of that, you're forbidden from using the computer for one week."
"A WEEK?" Jan gasped in horror. She could tell based on the grave looks on their faces that her parents were serious.
"I think you'd better go to your room and cool off for a while," Carol said. "But before you do, apologize to Marcia."
Hearing that made Jan's blood boil. Marcia ruined her game, and Jan had to apologize to HER? Although it seemed outrageous, Jan knew what she had to do to get her parents off her back. "I'm sorry, Marcia," she said.
Jan then left the room as Marcia sat at the computer and asked some question about getting Oliver to help with something. Jan felt a tear run down her face as she stormed up the stairs to her room. The middle child didn't even bother to turn on the lights as she entered her room. She proceeded to bury her face in her pillow and continue crying.