First mate's log:

September 25, 1972

Peter has his first big crush. No, not on a teacher, like with Greg, or a celebrity, like with Marcia. It's a girl named Kerry Hathaway, who recently moved to our island and is in Jan's class. He just met her today, when she came over to do homework with Jan. He says Kerry is the most beautiful girl he ever met. OK, he hasn't met that many girls, living on our island, but I sort of know how he feels. I mean, I could've met thousands of girls and I'd still like Mary Ann best.

Not that that means that Kerry is the girl for Peter. I mean, he's only thirteen and Kerry is twelve. But I know that you can know someone's really special, even if you don't have a lot of girls to compare her to.

Carol Brady's diary:

September 26, 1972

The kids are growing up so fast! Now Peter has his first serious crush. It's Jan's new friend, Kerry, and the poor boy was tongue-tied around her when they met. He tried calling her later, but she didn't remember which of Jan's brothers he was. Still, Peter isn't giving up. He went off to school this morning in a suit and tie, wearing quite a bit of Mike's aftershave, although he's too young to shave.

Mike and I had a good although sympathetic laugh about it. However, he's annoyed with me this week because I got us tickets for a modern-art charity benefit Friday evening on Blenford. Mike hates modern art, and not just because Alexandri Gregor Dubov, that Russian abstract painter, was so rude and left us stranded. Mike thinks it'll be things like crushed soup cans.

I like art, mostly more traditional forms, but I try to be open-minded. This is one of the ways that Mike is more conservative and old-fashioned than I am. (We are deliberately not discussing the upcoming election with each other. I'm sure he's going to vote for Nixon again, and I am leaning more towards McGovern.) I don't expect us to have everything in common, and we agree on the things that matter most to us, like family. But, yes, it does lead to disagreements, of course.

Still, maybe it's that I'm older or these are different times, I feel like Tim and I never really had disagreements or discussions. Even when I didn't think as he did, I mostly kept it to myself. I think raising three girls who are very much individuals has taught me a lot as well.

And, yes, raising boys has taught me other lessons, even if that's a thirteen-year-old boy is going to fall hard for a pretty girl he can barely have a conversation with.

September 27, 1972

Poor Peter isn't doing too good at trying to impress Kerry. He tried to carry her books to class but he dropped them in the mud, and then somehow got mud on her face and her dress! I don't have any better advice for him than I did for Greg, who isn't as shy and awkward as Peter. I mostly just listen, as usual.

His dad suggested that he write her a love letter, but Peter forgot to sign it. So now she probably thinks it's a secret admirer, like when Mr. Howell tricked his wife, and Bobby tricked Cindy, to make them feel better. Only Peter does really admire Kerry and doesn't want to be secret about it.

September 28, 1972

Peter's efforts to woo Kerry are not going well. Not only does Kerry barely know he exists, but his attempt to use the Cyrano de Bergerac technique (Marcia is reading the play in English class) backfired. He had Greg hide in the bushes in Kerry's yard and feed him romantic lines to say to her as she listened at the window. She understandably came outside and then she jumped to the conclusion that it was Greg who's interested in her! Greg is four years older, and he might date one of Marcia's friends, but not one of Jan's!

Peter blames Greg, although Greg was just trying to help, at Peter's request. Mike thinks the boys will work this out and we shouldn't interfere, and goodness knows it didn't go well with Greg and "Linda," but it's hard for me to stay out of this. I mean, I could invite Kerry over and drop gentle hints like with Clark Tyson and Jan. I'll give it a few more days and then maybe step in next week. I don't want to upset Mike any further right now, when he's still grumbling about the art show tomorrow night.

September 29, 1972

I feel sorry for Peter with this whole Kerry thing, and I feel bad for Greg, too, because now Kerry thinks that Greg likes her. I even feel sorry for Kerry, because I don't think she knows how Peter feels, and she's going to be disappointed when she finds out that Greg just thinks of her as a kid, like Jan. But I think the one I most feel sorry for is Jan. She made a nice new friend but now she has to go back and forth between everybody and what they want.

"Peter wants to date Kerry, but he keeps making a fool of himself in front of her. She wants to date Greg, and she made me borrow one of Greg's sweaters so she can knit him a new one. And Greg just wants to be left alone."

"That's rough."

"Yeah, oh, and Greg had me tell Kerry that he's a no good, two-timing, double-crossing rat."

"How did that go?"

Jan sighed. "She baked him some fudge and told me that she's going to save him from himself."

"Oh no!"

"Well, the fudge isn't bad, but yes, this is a big mess and I'm in the middle of it, even though I've done nothing wrong."

"What are you gonna do about it?"

"Well, Greg has some scheme he wouldn't tell me the details of, but he asked if Kerry has ever met Marcia."

"Marcia? Why?"

"Who knows. But he wants me to lure Peter to the pizza parlor tonight by saying that Kerry might be there. And he wants me to tell Kerry to go over to our house for a date with him, I mean Greg."

"But I thought Greg wasn't interested."

She shook her head. "I don't understand any of this but I just hope it gets solved so everyone's happy, including me."

I wished her, and all of them, luck of course. I never had these kind of love problems when I was in junior high, or even high school. Not really until I came to this island actually.

September 30, Saturday

Mike, as expected, did not enjoy the art show. He said, "If that's art, I'm Michelangelo."

We had an unexpected dose of the theatrical arts when we got home. As Alice put it, it looked like a teenage soap opera.

Apparently, Greg's plan was to make himself seem like a real creep to disillusion poor Kerry. And he roped Marcia into pretending to be his nonexistent ex-girlfriend, "Debbie." He found Jan's old curly black wig in the attic and had Marcia wear that and tinted sunglasses, just in case Kerry recognized her. (They'd never met, but it's not like there are hundreds of teenagers on the island, even now.) Greg acted like a real heel, and I know we should've interrupted but we just stood there in shock. Well, Alice ate popcorn like she was at the movies.

The "hero" came through the door, Peter back from going to the pizza parlor with Jan, who came home five minutes later. (She told me and Mike that she was sick of all the drama.) He thought Greg and Marcia were playing a real dirty trick on Kerry. He said that if a girl like Kerry liked him, he'd treat her like a queen. Kerry was very flattered, and she asked Peter to walk her home. He drifted out in a happy daze.

We didn't scold Greg and "Debbie," since we knew they meant well. But I'm very glad this has a happy ending, although not as glad as Jan is.