First mate's log:
March 28, 1972
The kids went back to school after Spring Break yesterday. Peter stopped by the ferry terminal after school with some good news.
"Guess what, Gilligan! I'm the new reporter on the junior high newspaper!"
"Wow, that's great! But isn't it kind of late in the school year to start?"
"Well, Marcia's cutting back on her reporting, so she needs someone to pick up the slack."
"Oh, that's right. She's the editor."
He frowned. "I got the job fair and square. A lot of people applied."
"Of course you did."
"You don't think it was nepaltism, do you?"
That didn't sound like quite the word but I didn't correct him. "She wouldn't choose you if she didn't think you were qualified."
"Well, maybe, but what if other kids were qualified, too?"
I felt bad that I made him doubt himself, and I thought of when Marcia got the role of Juliet and thought it was just because her mother was on the play committee. "I mean, you were probably the best person for the job. And once everyone sees what a good writer you are, they'll understand."
Not that I've read much of his writing, and not that I know much about writing. But I think I'm a better writer than when I started keeping a diary. At least my spelling, grammar, and vocabulary have improved.
He thanked me but I don't know if he believed me.
Carol Brady's diary:
March 29, 1972
I'm so proud! We have two journalists in the family now! Not only is Marcia the editor of The Fillmore Flag, but Peter "Scoop" Brady is going to have his own column. Marcia is going to be doing a puppet show for Jamboree Night and she's on the Ninth-Graders Graduation Banquet Committee, both in June, so she's cutting back on some of her other extracurricular activities this quarter. She'll still edit, but she won't write as much for the paper, so she recruited Peter.
He thinks she chose him just because he's her brother, but she's reassured me that it was because he's friends with lots of different kids, rather than one clique, and he has a lot of energy when he's motivated. "Yeah, there were other kids who might be better writers, but I think he'll be a better reporter."
Despite his doubts, he is throwing himself into the role, calling himself "Scoop" Brady and his column "The Whole Truth."
March 30, 1972
While Peter is working on becoming a reporter, his brothers have a bet against each other. Tomorrow Bobby is going to try to do half as many chin-ups as Greg. The loser of their contest has to do whatever the winner says for a week. Bobby has been training for days, lifting weights and stuff, but he doesn't think Greg has.
"It's like when me and Cindy did the teeter-totter. No one takes us seriously because we're little, but I'll show them."
I wished him luck of course. In some ways, I'm closer to Greg, now that Greg is almost an adult, but I relate to Bobby in other ways, as a youngest brother who gets dismissed a lot.
March 31, 1972
Mike received an invitation to his twenty-year high school reunion, in Fremont, California. It'll be in June, but he already dug out his old senior yearbook to refresh his memory. One classmate he remembers well is a girl with the unlikely nickname "Bobo." Despite how clownish that sounds, she apparently was quite the dish. He had a crush on her that whole year and got thin because he was pining away so much he couldn't eat.
"And what was your high school nickname?" I asked with my hands on my hips.
He chuckled and looked like he might actually blush. "They called me 'Hot Lips.' "
"Hot Lips?!" I had to laugh. Mike is a great kisser, but it's still funny.
"I played the trumpet in the school band."
"Uh huh. So Bobo didn't go for Hot Lips?"
"I was going through an awkward period."
"I see. So what's her real name?" I was starting to wonder if this was an early April Fool's joke.
"Guess."
"What?"
"I bet you can't pick her out of the yearbook."
"How about I have to find her at your reunion?" Assuming she's going.
"Deal."
"What are we betting?"
"How about the same bet the boys had?"
I knew he meant the silly bet that Bobby and Greg made. Greg had to do twice as many chin-ups on the monkey bars in the backyard as Bobby did. Bobby had been exercising to get in shape, but Greg is already very athletic from sports. (Even if he is photographer rather than player on the football team, thank goodness.) I was worried Bobby was over-exerting himself, like with the teeter-totter and when he was doing stretching exercises to be taller, but Mike thought it would be good for him. It paid off, since Bobby did eleven chin-ups today, but Greg did only nineteen.
The loser has to do whatever the winner says for a week, which I also find a bit concerning, but I'll step in if I think Bobby is abusing his privileges.
I don't think Mike will misuse the bet if he wins, but I also think I have a good chance of winning. Like I said, "Bobo" may not even show up, so I would either win on a technicality or the bet would be cancelled. And it is a couple months until the reunion, so I have time to gather clues, including from that yearbook. If I win, I will have him do little favors and errands for me, nothing big. I'll mostly just want the triumph of winning, even if I don't gloat as much as Bobby is.
April 1, 1972
It sounds like an April Fool's joke, but Greg told me he's taking Bobby to the dive-in. No, that's not a misspelling. It opened up in the lagoon recently. I haven't gone yet, although I want to take Mary Ann there. They built a huge screen, which is on pylons, and then people pull up their boats and watch it. (The snack bar is on the shore.)
Greg asked a girl named Rachel Sherwood on a date. The Sherwoods were one of the first families to move to the island three and a half years ago. The father is a shoemaker and there are two redheaded daughters. Jenny used to be Marcia's best friend, when there were fewer kids on the island, and they're still good friends. (She's the one Marcia uninvited from her first slumber party.) Rachel is a year older, a sophomore like Greg.
Unfortunately for Greg, Bobby won their bet and wants to go to the movies with him tonight. It's a double bill of a Western and science fiction. (Maybe I will ask Mary Ann if she wants to go this weekend.) Greg said he just wouldn't take Rachel, since he doesn't think "anything the winner wants" should include going on dates.
I suggested that he take both Bobby and Rachel. Bobby is still a little kid and he'll probably fall asleep before the second movie starts. Greg isn't crazy about that idea, since he thinks Rachel will never want to go out with him again, but he couldn't come up with anything better. And his parents told him he made a deal, so he has to stick to it.
April 2, 1972
Talk about your April Fool's jokes, but this is sadly no joke. Because of their bet, Greg took both Bobby and a date to the new dive-in. (Boats instead of cars, at the lagoon.) Bobby insisted on going, and Mike and I reminded Greg that this was part of their deal. Now I sort of regret not letting him out of it, although I couldn't have predicted what happened.
Greg took the family boat, since he's saving up for a boat of his own again. (Obviously, renting a recording studio set him back some, even with the contributions of his siblings. He is still working for Sam as a delivery boy though.) This was the first time anyone in the family has gone to this newfangled theater, but apparently the speakers plug into the radio, yet you need a special antenna attached to the mast.
Well, I'm not exactly sure what happened, but Bobby was playing with his slingshot last night and caused $150 worth of damage! Not only that but he hit poor Mary Ann in the head! She was there with Gilligan. She's not as seriously injured as she could've been, but she's on bed rest and he's promised to run the pizza place for her until she heals. (Luckily, the Skipper has a larger crew than he did when he first started the ferry.)
Obviously, this has all put a damper on Easter today. We had to ground Bobby, not only calling off Greg being at his beck and call, but forbidding Bobby from attending the Easter Egg Hunt and other festivities for children today.
Yes, I hope my bet with Mike has a happier ending, but I won't know for several weeks.
