First mate's log:
October 14, 1971
Greg is mad at Warren Mulaney again. This time, Warren beat him out for a spot on the high school basketball team. Greg says Warren buttered up the coach, and I remember how Warren ran for class president on false promises. I feel bad for Greg losing again to someone so dishonest.
Carol Brady's diary:
October 16, 1971
Maybe because Mike is an architect, our family has been assigned to make and decorate a dunking booth for the upcoming Junior High Fall Carnival. It'll be held next weekend, since there will be other events on the island Halloween weekend. The younger children have really thrown themselves into preparing the booth, but our oldest two, even Marcia, who's actually at the junior high, are distracted by other matters.
She told me that a high-school boy asked her out! It feels like it wasn't that long ago that she started dating Harvey Klinger. This new boy has asked her to Mary Ann's Pizza Parlor. I told her that her father and I would have to meet him first. (It's not like when she had that innocent date with Alan Anthony and there were hardly any other boys on the island.)
It turns out that this boy is Warren Mulaney, who Greg lost not only the election to last month but recently a position on the basketball team. Marcia said that Greg really dislikes Warren. That's unfortunate, but that shouldn't make a difference one way or the other, unless Warren turns out to be as bad as Greg claims. But Mike and I can decide that for ourselves. And Marcia's judgment in boys has improved in the last year or two.
October 18, 1971
I went to get a couple slices at the pizza parlor late this afternoon, and I saw Marcia there with a cleancut blond boy a lot taller than her. She introduced him as Warren Mulaney! I tried not to show my surprise at her going out with Greg's rival. Maybe she doesn't know how mad Greg is at Warren.
Warren was real polite, saying, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Gilligan," and shaking my hand. I shook back but I couldn't help thinking of what a phony Greg said Warren is. Still, I was nice to him, for Marcia's sake.
I whispered to Mary Ann, "What do you think?"
She whispered back, "He seems like a nice boy, but I honestly think she was more interested in Harvey Klinger."
Maybe it won't work out and Greg will never have to know.
October 20, 1971
This morning Mike and I had to tell Greg that he can't tell Marcia whom she can date. She had told us that Warren wasn't anything special. He seemed like a nice boy when she brought him over, but after their date to the pizza parlor, she said he's just like a junior high boy, except he shaves more and uses a smelly aftershave. I didn't know if she had changed her mind about seeing him because she decided she liked him more than she realized, or if she wanted to continue because of spite towards her brother.
In any case, it is not up to Greg to make restrictions on Marcia's love life. Mike and I told him that Marcia may have any guest over that she likes, as long as the two of us approve. Greg asked if that was true for him, too, and we said of course.
Little did we know that Greg would invite someone to our house out of spite. While Marcia had Warren over after school in the family room, so that he could help her with her homework, Greg brought home Kathy Lawrence, the pretty brunette who beat Marcia out at cheerleading. Kathy has since become head cheerleader for the junior high, a fact that Greg made sure to point out to Marcia.
Greg took Kathy into the living room, where he had her, loudly, show him one of her cheers. Then Marcia came in and told Greg that Warren thought the cheer was even better than the cheers for the high school basketball team. Then Greg and Marcia went and argued in the kitchen.
(I wasn't around for all this, or I would've put a stop to it right away. This is what Marcia confessed later.)
Mike, Alice, and I had gone to Garst's General Store, since I just needed three bags of groceries this time. When we came home, the four younger children were peering through the sliding glass door at the argument in the kitchen.
We left Alice to deal with the groceries and called Greg and Marcia into Mike's den. We pointed out that they were using Warren and Kathy to hurt each other. They went to apologize to their dates, who it turns out hit it off enough to go to the pizza parlor together. I'm proud of Marcia and Greg that they still apologized. They're good kids, at heart, but they both let their emotions get the best of them sometimes, especially when it involves their rivalry with others, or each other.
Meanwhile, Alice and the younger kids have been having fun with the dunking booth. We're going to have to drain it soon though, and disassemble it, so it can be taken over to campus for the carnival.
October 22, 1971
Today we took over two deliverymen on the ferry, with 2000 boxes of Safe laundry detergent! It turns out that even though Mr. Farnum didn't finish filming the commercial, the contract said that this would be the Bradys' payment. The deliverymen didn't understand all the legal gobbledygook, but that's how it got settled. I guess the Bradys didn't know. The two guys sent me to the house to bring Mrs. Brady down to the lagoon to sign for the delivery. She was very surprised when I told her.
She has no idea what they'll do with all those boxes. Just storing them is going to be a challenge, especially in this tropical climate. Well, maybe Mr. Garst will want to buy some of them cheap.
Meanwhile, it looks like Warren Mulaney is now seeing Marcia's classmate Kathy Lawrence. Mary Ann reports that they've gone to the pizza parlor twice in the last few days. Marcia doesn't seem to mind.
October 24, 1971
Well, the Fall Carnival went well. Our dunking booth was a big hit. And we were able to contribute some soapflakes for the Winter Festival in a couple months. You see, Mike never got around to consulting a lawyer about the contract with Mr. Farnum, because it was so on-again-off-again. And it turns out that the fine print entitled us to two thousand boxes of Safe for our time.
I know, it would take us years and years to go through all that. I was able to get store credit with Mr. Garst at his general store for a dozen boxes. We've given away a few boxes as well. But mostly we're storing what we can in our overcrowded attic and garage, and then the Howells have generously offered us storage space in their mansion. Well, OK, for a nominal fee, but it helps.
