Chapter 5
By mid-July, despite Jan's pledge to use the computer less often, she still continued hogging it. Jan still played Warcraft II and surfed the web for hours on end. At first, Jan respected the family's rule about using the computer no more than three hours per day. However, unlike her siblings, Jan would consistently use all of her allotted time, which wasn't necessarily a problem except for the fact that her internet access would interrupt phone calls – and that her presence in the family room would frequently annoy her siblings who were watching TV. Now, however, Jan began using the computer longer than she was permitted – primarily using it at night. As a result, her sleep pattern changed, and she began waking up in the early afternoon. Mike and Carol, unaware that Jan was staying up late, became concerned about her behavior at first – but didn't do much to address it other than to ask Jan if she was okay. All she said was that she merely enjoyed the late summer nights, which actually was true. Regardless, Mike and Carol were not happy that Jan was beginning to neglect her chores. Her bed went unmade, and the dishes went unwashed. Mike and Carol threatened to restrict her internet privileges if she continued to neglect her chores. Jan ultimately cooperated, but even then, Mike or Carol would have to harass Jan to get her to comply.
One good thing about Jan's changed sleep pattern was that it gave her siblings more time to use the phone and computer. Regardless, Jan still was on the computer often enough for the other Bradys to have problems.
One afternoon, after waking up, Jan went downstairs to the family room to use the computer. However, her ears perked up when she heard some rock music in the family room. She groaned – hoping that someone was just using the record player. However, Jan had a feeling that someone was probably using the computer. After all, the computer was a big hit with the other Bradys – even if they weren't as obsessed with it as Jan was. Sure enough, Jan saw Greg sitting in front of a black screen with red and white text – and became aggravated.
"Greg, what are you doing?" Jan asked in annoyance. "You know that this is my computer time!"
"It's ALWAYS your computer time…" Greg scoffed – rolling his eyes. "To answer your question, I'm looking at ads for some far out guitar equipment and downloading some music."
"You were doing that last night after dinner!" cried Jan. "Let me have a turn!" Jan reached for the power button.
"You'd better not!" Greg warned. "I'm gonna tell Mom and Dad if you don't leave me alone!" Jan knew that she didn't want to press her luck, so she immediately went outside through the sliding glass doors – grumbling under her breath.
About an hour later, Jan went back to the family room – only to find Marcia sitting in front of the computer. Jan came back another hour later and found that Marcia was still using the computer! Jan growled in frustration – wanting badly to beat another level in Warcraft II. Jan stormed over to Marcia, who was reading celebrity gossip on AOL. "Wow…" Marcia breathed in shock – her eyes wide open.
"Marcia, will you get off? You've been on that computer for over an hour!" complained Jan. She was about to say something else but noticed that Alice had turned to look at the girls from the kitchen. Once again, Jan decided to deescalate the situation and abruptly went back outside without saying another word.
Later, about thirty minutes before dinner, Jan went into the family room again. Although Peter, Bobby, Cindy, and Oliver were present, they were watching TV and not using the computer. Sighing in relief, Jan took a seat in front of the computer, which oddly enough was already on – and had open a Jesse James story on the website . Jan minimized the AOL window, loaded the Warcraft II disk, and started playing the game. Jan growled as the noise from the TV was drowning out the CD audio, so she increased the computer volume. That, in turn, annoyed the other kids.
"Will you turn that down?" snapped Peter. "We're trying to watch TV!"
"Well, I'm trying to play a game!" Jan replied.
"This room is for everyone! You need to learn to stop being shellfish and not bother us!" Cindy said – misarticulating the word "selfish" with her lisp. "Besides, Bobby was still reading a story on there!"
"Oh, fine!" Jan snapped – suddenly standing up and storming out of the room. Already, she had waited a few hours, so she could wait until night when everyone would be in bed.
Later, after dinner, the Brady kids agreed amongst themselves not to use the computer. Jan made a beeline for the computer and immediately resumed playing Warcraft II. Meanwhile, Greg, Marcia, Peter, Bobby, Cindy, and Oliver gathered outside in the warm evening weather to discuss Jan's behavior.
"Jan still hasn't learned!" cried Marcia in exasperation. "She still keeps trying to hog that computer!"
"What are we going to do?" wondered Cindy. "It's not like we can put a lock on the computer."
"Actually, with our computer setup, it is quite possible to do just that," Oliver said. The other Brady kids looked at each other and at Oliver in fascination. "Windows 95 offers password protection – meaning that you have to type the correct password in order to fully utilize the operating system. All you have to do is go to Control Panel, double-click 'Passwords,' click the button to change passwords, enter a password twice, and click the 'OK' button." The other Brady kids looked at each other excitedly. "Of course, we shouldn't implement password protection without first discussing it with Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike – seeing as the device in question is a family computer." However, it appeared that nobody was paying any more attention to Oliver. The other Brady kids had been walking toward the front door as he was talking.
Early the next afternoon, Jan woke up and went downstairs to the family room. To her astonishment and delight, nobody was using the computer! Jan went to the kitchen, poured a glass of Pepsi, grabbed a bowl of Oreos, and returned to the family room. She sat in front of the computer and then turned it on. Shortly after, the Windows GUI appeared – only this time, a strange new window appeared – requesting a password. At first, Jan was numb, but as she stared at the screen and let everything sink in, she began to look frantic.
"Oliver? Oliver?" Jan called – standing up. "Can you help me with something?"
Shortly thereafter, Oliver came into the family room from the kitchen. "Hey, Jan. What do you need?"
"Oliver, what's the deal with this screen?" Jan asked – sounding almost terrified.
Oliver glanced at the monitor. "You need to enter a password," Oliver said.
"But I didn't have to do that before!" Jan cried.
Oliver shrugged. "I guess someone must have set a password."
Jan shot daggers at Oliver. "You did this, didn't you?" she snapped.
Oliver's eyes bulged in horror. "What? No way!" he cried. "I-I'll try to help you with the password!"
"You'd better!" Jan said – taking a seat in front of the computer. The girl sighed. "What in the world could the password be?"
"It depends on who set the password," Oliver said. "That would give us some leads."
Jan looked up in thought. "Hmm…" she said. "Let's try 'guitar.'" Jan tried the password – only to find that the password was incorrect. "Let's try 'Davy Jones.'" That password was also incorrect.
Jan and Oliver tried several passwords – including "pork chops," "Jesse James," "doll," "architect," "shopping," "maid," "cars," "ice cream," "Martinelli," "frog," "lisp," "Phillips," "mommy," and "vacuum." However, none of them worked.
"This is terrible!" Jan cried. "Someone has got to know the password!" At this point, Jan was nervously running her hands through her hair.
Oliver shrugged. "Well, I'm sorry, Jan. I can't really do much if I don't know the password. The only other thing I can do is reinstall Windows, but that would mean that you would have to start your game all over again."
Jan groaned – staring at the screen for a few seconds until her eyes happened to notice a nearby picture hanging on the wall. "Wait a minute, let me try another password," Jan said. She then typed "Tiger." Amazingly, the password was correct, and Windows 95 loaded. Jan's eyes popped open in shock. "YES!" she cried. "Thanks for your help, Oliver!"
"WHAT? She guessed the password?" yelled a familiar, angry voice. Jan and Oliver looked into the kitchen and saw Bobby. He stormed into the family room and stared at Oliver. "I can't believe you helped her! I thought you were on our side!" Bobby then glared at Jan. "Don't you get it? You using the computer is ANNOYING us! We want you to STOP!"
"Well, I'm sorry that I happen to like using it!" retorted Jan. "I have just as much right to use it as anyone else in this house, so if you have a problem with it, then too bad!"
Jan, Bobby, and Oliver began shouting at each other, and shortly thereafter, Mike, Carol, and Alice came into the living room. "HOLD IT!" Mike shouted. The three kids stopped shouting and looked at Mike. "Are you kids arguing about that computer again?" The three of them nodded. Mike groaned. "I was afraid of that. I think that it's time we have a family meeting."
Minutes later, all members of the Brady household had gathered in the living room for a meeting. Everyone had expressed their grievances regarding the computer. After having a private conversation, Mike and Carol returned to the living room to discuss the matter.
"When I bought us that computer, I got it with the belief that it would make life better for us around here – that it would make us happier – that we would all share it," Mike started. "Most of you have been very good about that, but not all of us have been respectful to others when using the computer." Mike turned his attention to the middle child. "Jan, you in particular have been the source of this trouble. You have created problems for your siblings whenever they try to use the computer or do anything else." Mike then looked at the other siblings. "To the rest of you, I must remind you that the adults in this family are the only ones with the authority to add computer passwords. Greg, Marcia, Peter, Bobby, Cindy, Oliver, you are forbidden from using the computer for one week." The Brady kids groaned.
"And Jan, you are forbidden from using the computer for two weeks," Carol added. Jan's eyes and mouth opened as if she had just been shot. She almost protested the punishment but decided that it was not in her best interest. Instead, she went to her room to sulk after Mike and Carol dismissed the meeting.