It was a typical Sunday afternoon at the Brady house. Everyone was in the backyard having potato-sack races on the astro-turf. Alice was inside fixing lemonades for everyone.
"Ok, how about this time I do it with mom?" Greg suggested, smiling. The potato sack dropped down past the cuffs of his brown bell-bottom pants.
"I'll go with Peter." Said Marcia, flinging her long blond hair off her shoulders.
"Cindy, be my partner again." Bobby said.
"Alright then, Jan you're with me. Everyone back to the starting line," Mike told them.
The Brady's excitedly rushed back to the starting line and climbed into their sacks.
Inside Alice had just poured the last glass of her freshly squeezed lemonade and was about to pick up the tray when the doorbell rang. "Oh my. Who could that be? Maybe it's Sam with a special delivery for me!" she hoped. Alice hurried to the door and opened it. There was an older man in a suit at the door. Alice thought to herself, "Must be someone from Mr. Brady's office, but what are they doing here on a Sunday?"
Just then the man, who Alice thought was somewhat handsome, asked her "Mrs. Brady?" Alice noticed two other people were standing behind the man and one had a television camera.
"How strange," Alice thought to herself. "No, I'm not Mrs. Brady." Alice chuckled. "I'm Alice, the housekeeper."
"Is Mr. or Mrs. Brady here?" the man asked, starting to get annoyed.
"Yes. They're in the backyard having potato sack races with the children." Alice told him as if that was what all families did on Sundays. The man looked at the others behind him thinking that it sounded like a strange activity. He turned back to Alice.
"Could you get them, please?"
"Oh!" Alice said. "Where are my manners?" she thought to herself as she stared at the TV camera. "I'll get them for you." Alice turned quickly and slammed the door behind her. She hurried towards the backyard almost knocking the pitcher of lemonade off the counter as she went through the kitchen. She slid open the patio door and stepped outside. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Brady?"
Cindy and Bobby had just crossed the finish line in first place. Marcia and Peter were right behind them. Mike and Jan stopped, and Carol and Greg fell to the ground. "Way to go kids!" Mike said, dropping the sack from around him and Jan. Jan thought to herself "Why don't I ever win. Marcia and Greg won the first race. Cindy and Bobby won this race. What about me?"
Mike turned towards Alice while Carol climbed off Greg. "Yes Alice."
"Mr. Brady there's a man at the front door asking for you and Mrs. Brady. And, there's a man with a television camera with him. " She informed him.
The kids all gathered around and started chattering about who it could be at the door.
"It must be the local television station here to interview mom and dad about me winning the Miss Teen California Pageant." Marcia told them. Jan rolled her eyes. "Oh Marcia." Cindy said.
Mike turned towards Carol. "I wonder who that could be. "
"Well," Carol said, "Let's go find out." The kids all followed right behind their parents trying not to run and trying not to step on their heels. Alice fell in right behind them. Mike and Carol stopped suddenly in the living room as they noticed no one was standing at the front door. The kids all bumped into each other. Mike and Carol turned to Alice. "Alice, where are they?" Carol asked.
"Oh my. In all the excitement I must have lost my marbles." Alice rushed past everyone and opened the front door. The three men were still standing there in disbelief. "I'm so sorry." Alice apologized turning red. "Won't you please come in?" The men stepped inside and walked down into the living room.
"Mr. and Mrs. Brady?" the man asked.
"Oh Mike!" Carol said noticing the camera. "My hair must be a mess." Mike didn't ignored her and instead responded to the mystery man.
"Yes sir, I'm Mr. Brady and this is my wife, Mrs. Brady."
"Well Mr. Brady, I'm Ed McMannon." He told them expecting immediate excitement. Everyone knew who Ed McMannon was.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. McMannon." Mike said shaking his hand.
"Oh, it's just Ed, Mr. Brady." He replied.
"Ok. Well then, it's nice to meet you Mr. Ed." The kids began to laugh at their dad calling the man Mister Ed, like the horse.
"It's just Ed."
"Well, in that case Ed, call me Mike and this is Mrs. Brady. I mean Carol." He said putting his arm around Carol who was still staring at the camera. "And these are our children." He said turning to them. All the children had their biggest smiles on and gave their cheeriest Brady greeting for the camera. "Now, what can we do for you Ed?" Mike asked anxiously.
Ed McMannon was a little surprised at this response. He thought to himself "Who are these people? They have no idea who I am. This is getting stranger by the minute."
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Brady, I'm Ed McMannon from American Clearinghouse and you've just won a million dollars!" He said into his microphone and waited for their reaction.
The kids all started to cheer and jump up and down. Carol was still smiling at the TV camera. Alice almost passed out as she "accidentally" overheard what they had said as she polished the horse statue. Mike turned towards the kids again.
"Shh. Now kids, wait just a minute." He turned back to Ed. "Now Ed, let me get this straight. You're telling me we just won a million dollars for free?" Mike asked.
"Yes sir, you sure did."
"And we don't have to do anything for it?" Mike wanted to clarify.
"No Sir." Ed responded. He thought to himself "Boy these people are dumb. They must live in their own little world."
"Well Mr. McMannon, We're the Brady's and we don't take anything for free without giving something in return. Isn't there some kind of contest we could enter? Maybe the kids could sing and dance?" He turned to the kids. "Hey kids! You could do the act you did as The Silver Platters." He told them, getting excited.
Ed interrupted him. "Uh, Mr. Brady, you already entered the contest when you ordered the seven magazine subscriptions." Ed explained. Mike turned back around quickly. The kids got quiet.
"I'm sorry Mr. Ed," Mike started to say. The kids tried not to laugh. "But, I don't know anything about any magazine subscriptions. The only magazines we get here are Mrs. Brady's woman's magazine and my Architecture Yesterday." Mike informed him and waiting for his response. Just then Bobby walked up to him cautiously.
"Um, dad. I think I know what Mr. McMannon is talking about." Bobby said quietly.
Mike turned to Bobby. "Yes Bob?"
"Well, you see Dad, one day Alice was busy frosting a cake so she asked Cindy and me to go out and get the mail. So, we did. Well, there was this big envelope inside that said 'You could win a dream car, fantastic vacation, or a million dollars.' So Cindy and I opened it up and read it. And well, we thought the more magazines we bought, the more chances we would have to win. So, I picked out Young Entrepreneur, and Cindy got Doll Collector. We showed everyone else and they each picked out a magazine too." All the kids decided it was time to confess also.
Marcia jumped in and said, "Mom, Dad, I ordered Sixteen magazine."
Greg said "I got Car and Admirer."
"Daddy I got Superstar." Marcia said, looking at the floor.
Peter was about to confess also when Alice walked over and said "Mr. Brady, I'm afraid the kids weren't the only ones. I ordered Future Bride."
"Well, I guess it worked." Mike said. He didn't know whether to give them all a lecture on opening other people's mail and the risks of buying things through the mail, or to thank them. "We'll talk about this later." He turned back to Mr. McMannon. "So, we won the million dollars, huh?"
"Yes, you're the Superball Six's Sweepstakes winners. Congratulations!" Finally they were catching on.
"Oh, Mrs. Brady doesn't like football, but thank you. This is great." Mike turned back to the kids, who were waiting cautiously. "Kids, did you hear that, a million dollars." The kids all started cheering and jumping up and down again. So did Alice. "Now kids, don't get too excited, money is a big responsibility. It's not to be spent carelessly."
"I think this calls for a celebration." Alice cheered.
"Mr. McMannon, why don't you and your friends stay for dinner?" Carol finally stopped staring at the camera. "Alice is making her famous meatloaf for dinner."
"Well, thank you Mrs. Brady but we need to be going. We just have some papers for you to sign before we go." Ed explained.
"Alright then. Why don't you come into my den and we'll take care of it. In the meantime, kids why don't you get together and come up with a list of things you think we should do with the money. And Alice, that means you too." Mike and Carol smiled and led the men to the den. The kids all scrambled upstairs. Alice ran to her room. Her heart was racing. What she really wanted most was a honeymoon with Sam!
After dinner everyone met in the family room. "All right everybody, lets hear what you've come up with." Mike announced. All of a sudden everyone started talking at once. "Now wait kids, one at a time. Cindy why don't you go first."
"Ok daddy. I want a pony." Cindy said matter-of-factly. The other kids began to giggle a little.
"A pony huh?" Mike asked.
"That's quite a responsibility Cindy." Carol added.
"Bobby what did you come up with?"
"Well, I decided I would really like a big TV for my room!" Bobby said, his eyes bright.
"I don't know if a bedroom is such a good place for a TV Bob. But we'll see. Jan, how about you."
"I want my own room." Jan proclaimed.
"Oh Jan." Everyone said.
"Well, why can't I? We can use the money to buy a bigger house." She pouted.
"There's nothing wrong with this house Jan. It's plenty big. " Mike told her.
"Peter, what do you want?" Carol asked.
" I think I would like a pool in the backyard. We are getting too old to play on that swing set Dad." Peter explained.
"That's true Peter, but are you going to keep it clean? A pool can be a dangerous thing. And where would we have our potato sack races?" Mike shot down that idea.
"Ok Marcia, your turn." Carol told her.
"Well Mom, now that I am getting older, I think I should have a car. After all I have cheerleading to go to after school, and football games to go to Friday nights. I'm almost a woman now." Marcia proclaimed.
"Uh, Dad that is what I was going to ask for too!" Greg interrupted.
"Kids, a car is a lot of money. You have to buy insurance, and then there's gas, and upkeep. Your mother and I will have to talk about that." Marcia and Greg felt defeated.
"Alice, what are your ideas?" Mike asked.
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Brady, I don't really need anything. And this is a family thing." Alice believed.
"Alice, you are part of the family!" Mike and Carol stated firmly. "There must be something you would like."
"Well." Alice thought for a minute. " I would like a new refrigerator. You know one of those ones that makes ice."
"Well Alice, Carol and I think what you really need is a vacation." Alice was surprised. That sounded much nicer than a new refrigerator. "So Carol and I decided to send you on a cruise!" Alice's mouth dropped in shock. She had always wanted to go on a cruise. "That is wonderful. But who will I go with?" She wondered.
"Well Alice, how about the rest of our family!" Mr. Brady announced.
The kids jumped out of their seats. They were so excited.
"When dad when?" they all asked.
"As soon as we make the arrangements. And we also decided we would by a new van! And you kids can share the old car." Mike told them. It wasn't exactly what Greg and Marcia were hoping for but it was better than nothing. "First thing we have to do is go to the mall for new cloths for our trip!" Carol added.
"Oh boy" everyone shouted. They all decided they could get used to this kind of life.
Cindy eventually settled for a kitten. Jan got her own Diary. Marcia got the car on Fridays and a new Davy Jones album. Bobby got a skateboard. Peter ended up with a crochet set. Greg got to use the car on Saturdays and a new guitar. Alice got her new refrigerator and a self cleaning stove! Carol spend a day at the spa and Mike got new golf clubs. For the whole family they bought a bigger television set for the family room. And, best of all, Dad didn't yelled at them for the magazine subscriptions.
To be continued.
"Ok, how about this time I do it with mom?" Greg suggested, smiling. The potato sack dropped down past the cuffs of his brown bell-bottom pants.
"I'll go with Peter." Said Marcia, flinging her long blond hair off her shoulders.
"Cindy, be my partner again." Bobby said.
"Alright then, Jan you're with me. Everyone back to the starting line," Mike told them.
The Brady's excitedly rushed back to the starting line and climbed into their sacks.
Inside Alice had just poured the last glass of her freshly squeezed lemonade and was about to pick up the tray when the doorbell rang. "Oh my. Who could that be? Maybe it's Sam with a special delivery for me!" she hoped. Alice hurried to the door and opened it. There was an older man in a suit at the door. Alice thought to herself, "Must be someone from Mr. Brady's office, but what are they doing here on a Sunday?"
Just then the man, who Alice thought was somewhat handsome, asked her "Mrs. Brady?" Alice noticed two other people were standing behind the man and one had a television camera.
"How strange," Alice thought to herself. "No, I'm not Mrs. Brady." Alice chuckled. "I'm Alice, the housekeeper."
"Is Mr. or Mrs. Brady here?" the man asked, starting to get annoyed.
"Yes. They're in the backyard having potato sack races with the children." Alice told him as if that was what all families did on Sundays. The man looked at the others behind him thinking that it sounded like a strange activity. He turned back to Alice.
"Could you get them, please?"
"Oh!" Alice said. "Where are my manners?" she thought to herself as she stared at the TV camera. "I'll get them for you." Alice turned quickly and slammed the door behind her. She hurried towards the backyard almost knocking the pitcher of lemonade off the counter as she went through the kitchen. She slid open the patio door and stepped outside. "Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Brady?"
Cindy and Bobby had just crossed the finish line in first place. Marcia and Peter were right behind them. Mike and Jan stopped, and Carol and Greg fell to the ground. "Way to go kids!" Mike said, dropping the sack from around him and Jan. Jan thought to herself "Why don't I ever win. Marcia and Greg won the first race. Cindy and Bobby won this race. What about me?"
Mike turned towards Alice while Carol climbed off Greg. "Yes Alice."
"Mr. Brady there's a man at the front door asking for you and Mrs. Brady. And, there's a man with a television camera with him. " She informed him.
The kids all gathered around and started chattering about who it could be at the door.
"It must be the local television station here to interview mom and dad about me winning the Miss Teen California Pageant." Marcia told them. Jan rolled her eyes. "Oh Marcia." Cindy said.
Mike turned towards Carol. "I wonder who that could be. "
"Well," Carol said, "Let's go find out." The kids all followed right behind their parents trying not to run and trying not to step on their heels. Alice fell in right behind them. Mike and Carol stopped suddenly in the living room as they noticed no one was standing at the front door. The kids all bumped into each other. Mike and Carol turned to Alice. "Alice, where are they?" Carol asked.
"Oh my. In all the excitement I must have lost my marbles." Alice rushed past everyone and opened the front door. The three men were still standing there in disbelief. "I'm so sorry." Alice apologized turning red. "Won't you please come in?" The men stepped inside and walked down into the living room.
"Mr. and Mrs. Brady?" the man asked.
"Oh Mike!" Carol said noticing the camera. "My hair must be a mess." Mike didn't ignored her and instead responded to the mystery man.
"Yes sir, I'm Mr. Brady and this is my wife, Mrs. Brady."
"Well Mr. Brady, I'm Ed McMannon." He told them expecting immediate excitement. Everyone knew who Ed McMannon was.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. McMannon." Mike said shaking his hand.
"Oh, it's just Ed, Mr. Brady." He replied.
"Ok. Well then, it's nice to meet you Mr. Ed." The kids began to laugh at their dad calling the man Mister Ed, like the horse.
"It's just Ed."
"Well, in that case Ed, call me Mike and this is Mrs. Brady. I mean Carol." He said putting his arm around Carol who was still staring at the camera. "And these are our children." He said turning to them. All the children had their biggest smiles on and gave their cheeriest Brady greeting for the camera. "Now, what can we do for you Ed?" Mike asked anxiously.
Ed McMannon was a little surprised at this response. He thought to himself "Who are these people? They have no idea who I am. This is getting stranger by the minute."
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Brady, I'm Ed McMannon from American Clearinghouse and you've just won a million dollars!" He said into his microphone and waited for their reaction.
The kids all started to cheer and jump up and down. Carol was still smiling at the TV camera. Alice almost passed out as she "accidentally" overheard what they had said as she polished the horse statue. Mike turned towards the kids again.
"Shh. Now kids, wait just a minute." He turned back to Ed. "Now Ed, let me get this straight. You're telling me we just won a million dollars for free?" Mike asked.
"Yes sir, you sure did."
"And we don't have to do anything for it?" Mike wanted to clarify.
"No Sir." Ed responded. He thought to himself "Boy these people are dumb. They must live in their own little world."
"Well Mr. McMannon, We're the Brady's and we don't take anything for free without giving something in return. Isn't there some kind of contest we could enter? Maybe the kids could sing and dance?" He turned to the kids. "Hey kids! You could do the act you did as The Silver Platters." He told them, getting excited.
Ed interrupted him. "Uh, Mr. Brady, you already entered the contest when you ordered the seven magazine subscriptions." Ed explained. Mike turned back around quickly. The kids got quiet.
"I'm sorry Mr. Ed," Mike started to say. The kids tried not to laugh. "But, I don't know anything about any magazine subscriptions. The only magazines we get here are Mrs. Brady's woman's magazine and my Architecture Yesterday." Mike informed him and waiting for his response. Just then Bobby walked up to him cautiously.
"Um, dad. I think I know what Mr. McMannon is talking about." Bobby said quietly.
Mike turned to Bobby. "Yes Bob?"
"Well, you see Dad, one day Alice was busy frosting a cake so she asked Cindy and me to go out and get the mail. So, we did. Well, there was this big envelope inside that said 'You could win a dream car, fantastic vacation, or a million dollars.' So Cindy and I opened it up and read it. And well, we thought the more magazines we bought, the more chances we would have to win. So, I picked out Young Entrepreneur, and Cindy got Doll Collector. We showed everyone else and they each picked out a magazine too." All the kids decided it was time to confess also.
Marcia jumped in and said, "Mom, Dad, I ordered Sixteen magazine."
Greg said "I got Car and Admirer."
"Daddy I got Superstar." Marcia said, looking at the floor.
Peter was about to confess also when Alice walked over and said "Mr. Brady, I'm afraid the kids weren't the only ones. I ordered Future Bride."
"Well, I guess it worked." Mike said. He didn't know whether to give them all a lecture on opening other people's mail and the risks of buying things through the mail, or to thank them. "We'll talk about this later." He turned back to Mr. McMannon. "So, we won the million dollars, huh?"
"Yes, you're the Superball Six's Sweepstakes winners. Congratulations!" Finally they were catching on.
"Oh, Mrs. Brady doesn't like football, but thank you. This is great." Mike turned back to the kids, who were waiting cautiously. "Kids, did you hear that, a million dollars." The kids all started cheering and jumping up and down again. So did Alice. "Now kids, don't get too excited, money is a big responsibility. It's not to be spent carelessly."
"I think this calls for a celebration." Alice cheered.
"Mr. McMannon, why don't you and your friends stay for dinner?" Carol finally stopped staring at the camera. "Alice is making her famous meatloaf for dinner."
"Well, thank you Mrs. Brady but we need to be going. We just have some papers for you to sign before we go." Ed explained.
"Alright then. Why don't you come into my den and we'll take care of it. In the meantime, kids why don't you get together and come up with a list of things you think we should do with the money. And Alice, that means you too." Mike and Carol smiled and led the men to the den. The kids all scrambled upstairs. Alice ran to her room. Her heart was racing. What she really wanted most was a honeymoon with Sam!
After dinner everyone met in the family room. "All right everybody, lets hear what you've come up with." Mike announced. All of a sudden everyone started talking at once. "Now wait kids, one at a time. Cindy why don't you go first."
"Ok daddy. I want a pony." Cindy said matter-of-factly. The other kids began to giggle a little.
"A pony huh?" Mike asked.
"That's quite a responsibility Cindy." Carol added.
"Bobby what did you come up with?"
"Well, I decided I would really like a big TV for my room!" Bobby said, his eyes bright.
"I don't know if a bedroom is such a good place for a TV Bob. But we'll see. Jan, how about you."
"I want my own room." Jan proclaimed.
"Oh Jan." Everyone said.
"Well, why can't I? We can use the money to buy a bigger house." She pouted.
"There's nothing wrong with this house Jan. It's plenty big. " Mike told her.
"Peter, what do you want?" Carol asked.
" I think I would like a pool in the backyard. We are getting too old to play on that swing set Dad." Peter explained.
"That's true Peter, but are you going to keep it clean? A pool can be a dangerous thing. And where would we have our potato sack races?" Mike shot down that idea.
"Ok Marcia, your turn." Carol told her.
"Well Mom, now that I am getting older, I think I should have a car. After all I have cheerleading to go to after school, and football games to go to Friday nights. I'm almost a woman now." Marcia proclaimed.
"Uh, Dad that is what I was going to ask for too!" Greg interrupted.
"Kids, a car is a lot of money. You have to buy insurance, and then there's gas, and upkeep. Your mother and I will have to talk about that." Marcia and Greg felt defeated.
"Alice, what are your ideas?" Mike asked.
"Well Mr. and Mrs. Brady, I don't really need anything. And this is a family thing." Alice believed.
"Alice, you are part of the family!" Mike and Carol stated firmly. "There must be something you would like."
"Well." Alice thought for a minute. " I would like a new refrigerator. You know one of those ones that makes ice."
"Well Alice, Carol and I think what you really need is a vacation." Alice was surprised. That sounded much nicer than a new refrigerator. "So Carol and I decided to send you on a cruise!" Alice's mouth dropped in shock. She had always wanted to go on a cruise. "That is wonderful. But who will I go with?" She wondered.
"Well Alice, how about the rest of our family!" Mr. Brady announced.
The kids jumped out of their seats. They were so excited.
"When dad when?" they all asked.
"As soon as we make the arrangements. And we also decided we would by a new van! And you kids can share the old car." Mike told them. It wasn't exactly what Greg and Marcia were hoping for but it was better than nothing. "First thing we have to do is go to the mall for new cloths for our trip!" Carol added.
"Oh boy" everyone shouted. They all decided they could get used to this kind of life.
Cindy eventually settled for a kitten. Jan got her own Diary. Marcia got the car on Fridays and a new Davy Jones album. Bobby got a skateboard. Peter ended up with a crochet set. Greg got to use the car on Saturdays and a new guitar. Alice got her new refrigerator and a self cleaning stove! Carol spend a day at the spa and Mike got new golf clubs. For the whole family they bought a bigger television set for the family room. And, best of all, Dad didn't yelled at them for the magazine subscriptions.
To be continued.