First mate's log:
May 1, 1969
The Checker Trading Stamp Company is going out of business in 30 days. I don't bother with trading stamps, even though I like to collect things, because the Skipper and I don't grocery shop much. We get non-perishables, like soap and shampoo, and stuff for the ferry, but we don't really eat at home much. Even breakfast, we mostly eat at Mary Ann's Diner. Or we eat while we're over on Blenford, the meal depending on what run we're doing that day. We used to serve a meal on our tours around Hawaii, but that was a three-hour tour, not a 30-minute voyage.
Anyway, the Skipper and I will be affected by the trading stamp thing, because everyone will want to cash in their stamps for prizes. Mr. Garst doesn't carry the stamps, since he doesn't need gimmicks for people to go to his general store, and anyway it's a hassle for him to get anything other than the basics, while the Blenford Grocery Store just has to have stuff brought in by plane a couple times a week. (And flights will go to daily, as that island's population will rise to about 5000.) The Bugle says there's going to be a pop-up store for stamp redemption. (I think if Checker TSC weren't going out of business, the people on our islands would've had to go all the way to Honolulu to cash in, but then there wouldn't have been any hurry.)
The Skipper and I aren't going to do any extra runs, except for Saturday the 31st, so folks can go that very last day. Just about every family and some of the single people collect Checker stamps, so I think the ferry will be more crowded than ever, although at least it'll hopefully be spread out over this whole month. And it's fun to look at the catalog, even though I only have about a dozen stamps. (I might get a pencil sharpener, since I get tired of whittling pencils to write in you.)
Carol Brady's diary:
May 2, 1969
Another conflict among our children. Alice and I have been getting Checker trading stamps from the Blenford Grocery Store, and we also both brought along ones saved from before the shipwreck. She had some in her purse when we were shipwrecked and they survived all the various climatic and other disasters on this island. She held on to them, believing that we would someday be rescued and she could cash them. I didn't have her faith in redemption, but my mother gave me some of her stamps as a joke wedding present in September.
We have a total of 94 books, and the children want to divide them up, with 47 for the boys, 47 for the girls. I'd hoped after the clubhouse battle that we wouldn't have to go through any more boys vs. girls nonsense. (As it's worked out, Bobby and Cindy use the clubhouse the most, Greg and Marcia hardly at all, since they feel like they're too big in maturity and size for a clubhouse, although Greg didn't want to hurt Mike's feelings, and Marcia was trying to strike a blow for equality.)
The girls want a sewing machine, which I admit would be handy. Marcia wants to make her own "groovy" dresses, and Jan and Cindy are interested in learning how to sew, although Cindy at six is a little young for any but the simplest stitching by hand. The boys, however, want a rowboat and promise they won't take it out beyond the lagoon. I can't help thinking how wonderful it would've been to have a sewing machine during our years of being marooned, but then we wouldn't have had electricity. A rowboat, however, could've led to our rescue, rather than just be a fun hobby for the boys.
We could have the boys and girls save up separately until they could get both items, but unfortunately Checker is going out of business at the end of the month. The children are going to have to decide on their prizes soon. To complicate matters, a book's worth of stamps ended up on Tiger after Alice gave him a bath and a breeze blew loose stamps onto him. Alice, as a neutral party, had to carefully pry the stamps off the dog and then redivide that batch. Then she had to give Tiger another bath.
I've looked through the catalog at the 35-to-50-books section. (I'm hoping that Alice and I can collect some more stamps in the next few weeks, maybe not six books' worth, but maybe another couple books.) I don't know what I'd decide on if it were up to me, although another radio would be nice.
May 17, 1969
Two more weeks for people to get their Checker Stamp prizes. We have been taking more passengers, most of them bringing something back from the pop-up store. A few of them don't find anything they really want and so they just pass on books to neighbors and friends. Mary Ann and Kalani get stamps as tips now, so they have me bring kitchen stuff back for them, from spoons to a new stove! I don't mind. I like helping them, especially Mary Ann, and it's fun to see what the pop-up store has, although it's running low on some stuff as the month goes on. (Yeah, I got my pencil sharpener, an electric!)
I've heard from Alice that the Bradys haven't decided on what they're getting. The kids are deciding, but not as a group. The boys want one thing, the girls another, but the stamps have been divided in half so they're going to have to settle for two things half as good. I don't know what I'd do with 47 books of stamps, let alone 94! But it's fun to daydream and not have to decide.
May 24, 1969
With one week to go for the Checker stamps to be redeemed, I finally sat the children down and told them that they're going to have to get something as a unit, using all 94 books. They quickly agreed without argument, but an hour later Greg and Marcia told me they all decided that I should decide. I told Mike that he'll have to help me, since we married for better or for worse. But we're not any closer to an agreement than the children are.
May 28, 1969
I've got some trading stamps as tips from passengers who either had some left over after redemption or decided that it wasn't worth cashing them in at all, since the pop-up store is running out of merchandise in this last week. It wasn't a lot of stamps, but I was able to get a bunch of packs of cards. I want to get in the record books for biggest cardhouse. I used to be pretty good at building them in the Navy, but the other sailors would always want to borrow my decks for gambling.
I was practicing on the way back from Blenford today, since it wasn't too windy on the deck (of the ferry I mean), and Alice talked to me about it. Then her face lit up and she thanked me, but I don't know why.
May 29, 1969
We now own a color television set, even though we don't get any reception! Mike and I couldn't decide on a prize, but when Greg and Marcia said that all the kids wanted to hold a contest to decide who, boys or girls, would get all the books of stamps, we went along with it. Then we couldn't agree on what this contest would be, until Alice suggested building a cardhouse. She even borrowed some decks from Gilligan, who apparently has a lot.
Well, the contest ended up being absolutely nerve-racking, but the children did so many "stories" that Bobby and Cindy had to drop out because they couldn't reach high enough. I was worried about Marcia's charm bracelet, a gift from my parents that she wears all the time and didn't want to take off because she thought it was lucky. I thought it might hit a "wall" but she managed to keep it out of the way.
And then Tiger rushed into the room when it was Greg's turn, pushing him into the house! I felt terrible for the boys because it seemed so unfair, although of course Tiger didn't mean any harm, any more than he did when he got "stamped."
Still, the children had all agreed to this, so I took the girls to catch the Thursday evening ferry, since I knew the pop-up store is doing evening hours this last week. (Mike and I obviously skipped our date night, not that I felt like dinner and dancing after that ordeal.) I returned the cards to Gilligan and thanked him. I didn't blame him or Alice for the results, and I guess this had to end somehow.
The girls couldn't decide on what sewing machine to get and I eventually realized that I'd been asked to decide, so I should decide. I was the adult. (Well, as was Mike, but he wasn't there.) I asked the tired-looking store manager about the televisions, while the girls were bickering.
"We're too far away to get any reception even from Hawaii. Why do you have TVs?"
"Well, we got what all the other pop-up stores got. And I've heard a rumor that Blenford is going to start a local television station soon, and you'd probably be able to pick it up on the Little Island."
So I ended up getting a nice color TV. Well, I had Gilligan carry it to and from the ferry. Mike, Alice, and the boys were surprised and confused, then happy when they heard the rumor. Of course, I don't know when or if it'll happen, but I'm trying to think of it as an investment in our future, well, our future entertainment. And at least the squabbling over the stamps is over.