First mate's log:
November 22, 1970
Greg got a job working for Mr. Howell! He's saving up to buy his own boat, even though he won't be 16 for over a year. (The legal "sailing age" on our island and Blenford is 16, like the driving age in the continental United States.) No, Greg isn't going to be a houseboy or some other servant. He's actually an assistant to his father, but helping on the expansion project. (There are still some loose ends to tie up, even though there's no longer a big push to increase the population. Like civic buildings and things that still need to be built.) Starting tomorrow, since it's a Monday, Greg will be helping clean up Mr. Brady's office at the Howell mansion and maybe running errands that are related to the project. Greg had hoped to draw up blueprints, but his mom said he can't start at the top.
I was the second person outside of the Brady family that Greg told. The first is a girl named Randy, short for Miranda. Greg says she's a very cute platinum blonde and she's very impressed with his "new career in architecture." I guess he didn't tell her his actual duties.
Carol Brady's diary
November 23, 1970
Greg is already saving up for a boat, although he's not even fifteen yet! (When the island's adults voted on the "sailing age," we went with sixteen, although I know I'll worry about my children when they do start going out in boats on their own.) Greg has already started saving up, with some of the younger kids contributing gas money so they can have rides later. And Mike and Mr. Howell agreed to give Greg an office job, in Mike's office at the mansion.
Unfortunately, Greg, after proving himself with such tasks as sweeping up and emptying Mike's waste basket, was given the responsibility of taking Mike's latest building plans to Blenford Printers. And somewhere between Mike's office and the printing company, Greg lost the plans! He thinks they may have fallen out of the shipping tube, when he stopped to look at boating magazines at the newsstand. Unfortunately, it was the newsstand on our island rather than one of those on Blenford, and the plans seem to have blown away by the time he came back on the return ferry.
I feel bad for both Mike and Greg. I understand why Mr. Howell had to fire Greg, but I think he deserves a second chance. I said as much to Mike, but he told me that if Greg weren't his son, Greg probably wouldn't have even got the job, fond although the Howells are of our children. (Well, her more than him of course.)
November 25, 1970
Poor Greg got fired by Mr. Howell for bumbling! Boy, do I know what that's like. Greg was supposed to deliver his father's building plans to the print shop on Blenford, but he lost them. I was worried they were lost on the ferry, and I felt guilty, even though it wasn't my fault. It turned out Greg lost them on Blenford, but they were gone by the time he got back.
His dad has convinced Mr. Howell to give Greg another chance. I remember all the extra chances I've gotten, and I hope it goes better this time. Well, at least Greg has tomorrow and Friday off because of Thanksgiving, so he doesn't have too much time to mess things up. (I could do it in an hour.)
November 27, 1970
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and one thing I'm thankful for is that Alice, Mrs. Howell, and I were able to talk Mike into talking Mr. Howell into giving Greg another chance. Greg had another delivery to make, but it seems to have gone more smoothly this time.
Tonight Greg has a date with Randy, who Marcia told me is a cute platinum-blonde in Greg's class. To save money for his boat, Randy has agreed to a night in, watching television. I bit my tongue and didn't say that they probably won't even be dating by the time he can afford a boat.
Mike teased that I should prove that I'm as understanding as Randy and decide to stay in rather than go out as planned. But I was not going to give up one of our all too rare date nights. I just had to had take a quick break from getting gussied up to update you.
December 1, 1970
Well, Greg lost another set of building plans, but it worked out all right. This time he missed the ferry but got a ride over on Randy's father's boat. Unfortunately, he left the plans on board and didn't realize until too late. Then he had to track Randy down to her acting class, being run by Ginger. (Yeah, Ginger has a lot of jobs on Blenford. No wonder we hardly ever see her on our island anymore.) Anyway, he found out that Randy's dad was having the boat repaired, but luckily the plans were safely inside and Greg was able to get them to the printer's on time. He told me about it on the next ferry back.
And now he's found money that's a lot easier than working for his dad and Mr. Howell. Well, he found it with his brothers. They were playing football in a vacant lot. Yeah, our island actually has vacant lots. It used to be we just had a few buildings and a lot of undeveloped land. Anyway, Greg tossed the ball, Peter missed it, and they sent their little brother to get it. Bobby found not only the football but a wallet with $1100 in it! Yeah, that would be pocket change for Mr. Howell, but it's a lot to kids. Heck, it would be a lot to me.
There's no driver's license or any kind of identification in the wallet, just bills. The boys hope to keep the money, but the girls think the boys should share, since they're one big happy family. I can see both sides. The girls weren't even playing football, but when it was just the sixteen of us on the island, we'd try to share anything we found, no matter who found it.
December 4, 1970
I gave the boys permission to play in a vacant lot and expected no bigger problem than their play-clothes getting dirty and perhaps torn. But the boys came home with a wallet that contains no identification and $1100 cash! Not just the boys but the girls have argued over how to split the money, and I was more on the boys' side, since the girls weren't even there for the discovery, but Mike reminded me, and them, that the money must belong to someone. He's placed an ad in The Blenford Bugle, on the theory that many on the people on this island read that paper or, on the other hand, it could've been lost by someone visiting from Blenford.
So far, we've had sixteen inquiries, all with the wrong amount and/or description of the wallet. I hope it wasn't left by some tourist who's gone back to the larger world. Mike and I have gotten the children to agree to split the money in six ways if it's not claimed in six months, the length of time our local police department has set.
December 7, 1970
Greg told me that the kids are going to split the money from the found wallet in sixths, and he's going to put his $183.33 towards his boat fund. He wishes it was $366.66, but it'll help. He's still working for Mr. Howell weekends and after school, so hopefully he'll have enough in year or so.
December 10, 1970
The wallet has been claimed, by an old man who is traveling around the islands on a little boat with his wife. He saw Mike's ad and is very relieved. He wanted to give the boys a $100 reward, but Mike talked him down to $20. Hopefully, the $3.33 each won't spoil the children too much. (Greg had started pricing boats, and Cindy wanted a horse! And we don't have any horses on this island.) Mike and I have agreed to split the left over two cents.
