The Brady Eight: Just Starting Out
A Welcome Aboard Sequel
Chapter 8
A/N1—Continuation of the previous chapter. A few days later, Mike and Carol take Carolyn for the report about her hearing tests.
A/N2—Sorry about some of the formatting errors of the last two chapters. messed up the formatting when I was uploading the documents. I thought I'd gotten it all fixed, but I guess I didn't.
The following Monday
Mike and Carol are finishing eating their breakfast and feeding the twins their cereal. The older children are about to leave for school.
Mike: Anyone have plans after school?
Cindy: I've got cheerleading tryouts today at school.
Bobby: Did Cassie sign up?
Cindy: Rolls her eyes. Of course. She's bound and determined to make my life miserable.
Jan: Are they putting sixth grade up next year?
Cindy: No, so I'll still be the youngest in Junior High.
Marcia: Isn't that going to be hard being captain and in the youngest grade?
Cindy: The cheerleaders coming back next year respect me. I'm still thinking about asking Millicent to be co-captain.
Jan: Good! I like Millicent. She doesn't seem to put up with a lot of junk.
Cindy: No, she doesn't.
Peter: Julie and I are going to Haskell's after school. We're taking her sister Katie. She just turned two and Julie wanted to take her little sister for ice cream.
Jan: That's really nice of you two.
Bobby: Snickering. Man, you're sweet on her, for sure!
Peter: So?
Mike: That'll do. Changing the subject. Remember, we want you home by dinnertime. We'll have the results of Carolyn's tests from last week today.
The kids grow somber.
Mike: Whatever we find out, we'll get through this together.
The kids finish their breakfast and leave for school. Mike lifts Carolyn out of her chair, and Carol, Ryan. They carry their youngest to the nursery and dress them for the day.
Carol: Changing Ryan on the changing table. Mike, can you get the blue onesie out of the dresser? It's in the second drawer.
Mike grabs the garment and gets a purple one out for Carolyn. He passes Ryan's to Carol.
Carol: Dressing her son. There you go, sweet boy! She kisses him on the cheek and he giggles. She smiles. Who's a happy boy? You are!
Mike changes Carolyn, using a pad on the dresser.
Mike: There you go, Kitten! He studies his daughter. You are such a beautiful girl, just like your mother.
Carol: Blushing. Oh, Mike!
Meanwhile, the doorbell rings and Alice answers it.
Alice: Mrs. Brady, come in!
Agnes: Hi Alice, how are you?
Alice: Doing very well, thank you! And you?
Agnes: Absently. Fine, thank you. How are Mike and Carol?
Alice: Holding their own. They're putting on a brave face, but we know they're understandably heartbroken.
Agnes: Indeed.
Mike and Carol, holding their twins, descend the stairs. Agnes spots and walks toward them.
Agnes: Mike, Carol!
Agnes embraces her son and daughter-in-law, and kisses each of the babies.
Mike: Thanks for watching Ryan.
Agnes: I'm glad to spend time with my youngest grandson.
Carol: Passing Ryan to his Grandmother. And he's glad to spend time with his Gramma.
Ryan smiles and coos at his Grandmother.
Carol: He's been fed and changed, so he should be good for awhile.
Agnes: Sing-songs to Ryan. We'll have a lot of fun together, won't we?
Mike and Carol smile at the pair.
Mike: We've gotta get going.
Mike and Carol kiss Ryan on the cheek, and Agnes kisses Carolyn.
Agnes: Good luck. See you soon.
At the Audiologist's office.
Carol is having difficulty sitting still and begins pacing, holding Carolyn. Mike, realizing nothing he says will calm his wife's nerves, quietly reads the newspaper. The audiologist knocks on the door. He greets the Bradys and then discusses the test results. Carol sits in a chair beside her husband.
Audiologist: I have the results of your daughter's tests.
Mike: What do they say?
The doctor gets out a model of an ear and the test reports.
Audiologist: It seems that Carolyn has an inner ear deformity, part of which is causing her hearing loss. However, she does seem to have some conduction loss too. He explains the deformity and where the conduction loss is.
Carol: Heartbroken. What does that mean? Can you operate?
Audiologist: It is operable, which might restore some of her hearing. However, with conduction loss, there's not much that can be done to restore hearing.
Mike: So what you're saying is that Carolyn is deaf and that an operation may not change that.
Carol begins to cry.
Audiologist: Exactly.
Mike: If Carolyn were your daughter, would you operate?
Audiologist: Right now, she's got about a ninety percent hearing loss in one ear and eighty in her other. With the operation, she might wind up with around a seventy percent hearing loss in both.
Mike: That's pretty significant. When would you operate?
Audiologist: I'd prefer we wait until the first of next year. I don't like operating on kids less than a year old.
Mike: Thank you.
Audiologist: In the meantime, I'd go ahead and sign your family up for sign language classes. Even if we're able to get her to seventy percent loss or better, she'll need to depend on sign language to help her communicate.
Carol: Trying to hold it together. What about teaching her to talk, or lip read? I've heard some people who are deaf do that instead.
Audiologist: I know you're probably concerned about her seeming different from her twin or other peers. However, I'd strongly recommend the sign language. I can also recommend a good speech therapist who specializes in working with the deaf to teach her how to speak and lip read too. She can work with the two of you on how to help her use whatever hearing she has.
Mike: Thanks. He looks at his wife. We'd like the information on the classes and the therapist sounds like a good idea too.
Carol just nods.
Audiologist: Her name is Angie and I can get you an appointment set up.
After the audiologist sets up the appointment, Mike and Carol leave. Carol straps Carolyn into her car seat and the couple gets in the car. Carol is very quiet.
Mike: Honey?
Carol: Begins crying. Mike! She's deaf! My baby's deaf!
Mike: We'll get her the operation after Christmas.
Carol: There are no guarantees, and even with that, she'll still be legally deaf.
Mike: Listen, Carolyn's the same person she was before the doctors' appointments. It's only us that have changed. We'll deal and she'll be fine.
Carol: Still crying. I know. Just hold me.
They embrace.
At the Brady House
Ryan is sitting on his Grandmother's knee, smiling as she sings to him.
Agnes: This is the way we clap our hands! Clap our hands! Clap our hands! This is the way we clap our hands, early in the morning!
She looks up and sees a somber Mike and Carol, holding a sleeping Carolyn. Carol sits in the rocking chair and cradles her daughter.
Agnes: Concerned. Mike?
Mike: Shakes his head. She didn't get a good report. Dad and Carol's parents are on their way over.
Agnes: I'm so sorry.
The doorbell rings. Mike answers the door to reveal Carol's parents and Thomas Brady. Martha embraces her son-in-law. Thomas sits by his wife on the couch, the Tylers sit in the easy chairs, and Mike stands by his wife. Mike sees Alice cleaning the kitchen, from the corner of his eye. She joins Agnes and Thomas on the couch.
Mike: Come on in, Alice.
Martha: I assume you didn't receive good news.
Mike: Almost in tears. She's legally deaf. He lets that sink in and the continues. The doctor says she's got about a ninety percent hearing loss in one ear and eighty in her other.
The five sit, stunned.
Henry: Can he operate?
Mike: He can after she turns a year old, but it won't fix her hearing loss entirely.
Agnes: What do you mean?
Mike: She's got an inner ear deformity, which they can operate on, but she's also got significant conduction loss too. He explains what the doctor told them. The operation may get her to a seventy percent hearing loss in both.
Martha: What does the doctor recommend?
Mike: He's going to enroll Carol and me in sign language classes, and we'll work with a speech therapist too, so we can help her communicate. We're going to enroll Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy in sign language courses and will ask Greg and Marcia to do the same.
Alice: A...and Mr. Brady, Sam and I will also enroll in sign language courses.
Henry: As will we.
Agnes: We will, too.
Carol: Almost in a whisper. We'll also have the therapist teach her how to lip read and speak to help her communicate.
Thomas: Good. Give her as many ways to communicate as possible.
Mike: That's what we were thinking.
Martha: Anything else we can do?
Mike: Can you guys tell the rest of the family?
Agnes: Of course.
Mike: Wait until tomorrow though. We want to tell the kids tonight.
Martha: Whatever you need.
Carol: Softly. Thank you.
Soon, the elder Bradys and Tylers leave. Alice begins the laundry. Carol carries Carolyn upstairs, while Mike follows with Ryan. They get the babies' diapers changed.
Carol: I'm going to take a nap. I'd like the twins with me right now.
Mike: All right.
They exit the nursery and go into their bedroom. Mike hangs the "Do Not Disturb" sign and closes the door behind them. The pair lay the babies in the middle of the bed and then climb into their sides of the bed.
Carol: Tears roll down her face. Oh Mike!
Mike: Takes her hand. I know.
Carol: I just can't believe it.
Mike: It's times like this I feel so useless. A father's supposed to protect his family, and I can't do anything about this.
Carol: I'm glad she has Ryan. He can look out for her as they're growing up.
Mike: Like you said, a built in best friend.
Carol looks at the twins, who are cuddled together, asleep. She strokes her son's head. Then, her eyes meet her husband's.
Carol: I love you.
That afternoon at Fillmore Junior High
Cheerleader tryouts are underway. The current Varsity and Junior Varsity cheerleaders are sitting on one bleachers section and the girls, who are not currently cheerleaders, sit on another. Shelley and Cindy sit at a table, facing the basketball court.
Coach Muncie: May I have your attention, please. We want to welcome you to cheerleader tryouts for the 1975-76 school year. We have a two-step process with tryouts. Today, you'll find out whether or not you make the cut. Those who make the cut will go to cheer camp after school each day starting next week. At the end of camp, you'll have your final try out and then you'll find out if you're on the squad. You can either quietly leave after your grade tries out and find out the results tomorrow, or you can quietly wait, support your classmates and potential squad mates, and see the results after everyone tries out.
The girls cheer and applaud.
Coach Muncie: I'm going to turn things over to our outgoing captain, Shelley Jenkins, and our incoming captain, Cindy Brady.
Shelley: Hi cheerleaders! Are you ready to try out?
The girls cheer.
Shelley: Louder! ARE YOU READY TO TRY OUT?!
The girls cheer louder.
Shelley: Well, let's go! Cindy, take it!
Cindy: Welcome girls! I'm gonna be your cheerleading captain for next year. Upcoming ninth graders can only try out for the Varsity squad. Seventh and eighth graders can try out for either squad. Now, I want you to line up, first with the upcoming ninth, eighth and seventh graders, who want to try out for the Varsity squad,, and then the eighth and seventh graders, who want to try out for the Junior Varsity Squad.
The girls, with the help of the current cheerleaders and coaches, line up according to grade. The tryouts begin. Cassie lines up with the girls trying out for Varsity squad.
Cindy: Tonya Lane, you're up!
Tonya performs her routine, finishing in a tumbling run.
Shelley: Good job! Thank you! Amanda Smith, you're next.
Amanda performs her routine. Student after student tries out. Soon, it's Cassie's turn.
Cindy: Cassie Hathaway, it's your turn.
Cassie: You'd better be fair. She sneers. Of course, this is Cindy Brady that we're talking about.
Coach Muncie: Cassie, that'll be enough. One more outburst and you will not be eligible to try out.
Cassie: Yes, ma'am.
Shelley: You may begin.
Cassie performs her routine. Cindy is surprised that she is actually very good.
Cindy: Good job.
Cassie nods and sits back on the bleachers.
Shelley: Tammy Rutledge!
Soon, the Varsity tryouts are over.
Cindy: Okay, thank you to all who tried out for Varsity squad.! Good job. Now, eighth and seventh graders trying out for Junior Varsity, are you ready?
The students cheer and soon, tryouts are complete.
Coach Muncie: Thank you girls for trying out. You should be commended for doing such a good job and making our decisions much harder. We will have the results in a few minutes. Those who make the cut for the cheer clinic, be sure to pick up your information packets and turn in your permission slips to me by the end of the week. Remember, you can't come to cheer clinic without the slips.
It seems like an eternity while Cindy, Shelley and Coach Muncie go through all the girls' scores.
Cindy: I really like Lori Maness.
Shelley: Me too. She's really improved from last year.
Cindy: Her tumbling run was the best.
Shelley: Do you think she has what it takes? She did start a little shaky.
Cindy: I think so. Once she got into it, she was really good. Remember, I fell during my tryouts.
Shelley: She wasn't the best. There were other girls who were better. I really like Amanda Smith. Now THAT's a cheerleader.
Cindy: She was super. And, I almost hate to admit it, but Cassie was spectacular.
Shelley: Hesitant. Do you think you could handle having her on the squad with you?
Cindy: It wouldn't be easy, but if she's willing to behave herself, she'd be an asset to the squad.
Shelley: How many spots can we take?
Coach Muncie: You know there are ten spots per team with two alternates each, which means there are twenty spots with four alternates total. We have three grades this year, which we're working with.
Cindy: How many girls are either moving away or graduating to high school?
Shelley: There's five of us leaving for high school next year.
Cindy: Yeah, and Jennifer, Millicent, Darci, Nancy and myself are going to be on the Varsity Squad, which leaves five Varsity spots and two alternates open. We've only got four people staying on Junior Varsity unless they make it to Varsity, so that leaves six spots and two alternates open.
Coach Muncie: Right, so you've got fifteen spots open for three grades.
Cindy: How many spots can we take for camp?
Shelley: Forty.
Coach Muncie: That's correct.
Cindy: That seems like a lot.
Coach Muncie: Remember, those who don't make the cut for cheerleader are eligible for pom-pom girl and they've got a lot of spots open.
Cindy: Yeah, we've got only nine people returning and we usually take twenty girls and four alternates.
Shelley: So captain, do we have our list?
Cindy: I think so!
Shelley: So, go do your thing, girl!
Coach Muncie calls the girls to order with her whistle.
Coach Muncie: We have the results of the tryouts. First, I want to thank you all for trying out. Most of you will be in some squad. If you're not selected to be a cheerleader, you have the option of trying out for pom-pom girl. I'm going to turn it over to Cindy, your Fillmore Junior High Varsity Squad Captain.
Cindy: I want to congratulate you for a good tryout! I'm going to read the names of the girls who made the cut. When I call your name, please come up to the front. Lori Maness, Amanda Smith, Tonya Lane...
Cassie is trying unsuccessfully to hide her nervousness.
Cindy: ...and Cassie Hathaway.
Cassie joins the others on the court.
Cindy: Congratulations! Remember, bring Coach Muncie your permission slips no later than Friday. Shelley will hand out the slips and the requirements for camp.
The girls receive slips from Shelley and then leave the gym.
Cindy: Millicent!
Millicent stops and approaches her friend.
Cindy: I want to make you co-captain for next year.
Millicent: Surprised. Me? I thought you'd ask Darci or Jennifer, since they've been on the squad longer than I have.
Cindy: Yes, they have been, but Darci will be in ninth grade and will go to Westdale the next year, and Jennifer's in my grade. I want someone who won't be the youngest and will be here for more than one year.
Millicent: I see.
Cindy: Do you accept?
Millicent: Excited. Absolutely! Thanks!
Cindy: Great! Be here after school Wednesday, so that Shelley and I can teach you the routines we're using for cheer camp.
Millicent: I will!
At Haskell's Ice Cream Shop
Peter and Julie take Katie to get some ice cream. Mr. Haskell personally waits on the trio.
Mr. Haskell: Smiles at Katie. Hiya, Katiebug!
Katie grins, shyly, and tucks her chin to her chest.
Julie: Don't be a shy girl, Katie. Can you wave to Mr. Haskell?
Katie smiles and waves.
Mr. Haskell: That's our sweet Katiebug! I hear it's your birthday!
Katie nods.
Mr. Haskell: How old are you?
Katie holds up two fingers.
Julie: That's right! You're two!
Mr. Haskell: And I've got just the thing for you! He scoops a small cup of vanilla ice cream. Here's a cup of vanilla ice cream.
Katie: Chok-quate!
Mr. Haskell: Mock surprise. That's right! He adds a drizzle of chocolate syrup. With some chocolate! He hands it to Peter. Let Peter carry it to the table for you.
Katie eyes the cup, lovingly.
Julie: Say thank you!
Katie: Fankew!
Mr. Haskell: You're welcome!
Peter: And we'll have a Cool Summer Sundae each.
Mr. Haskell: Grins. Your sister's creation must be a Brady favourite.
Peter: It is.
Julie: It's a Dunham favourite too.
Mr. Haskell: Hands the cones to Peter. Two "Cool Summer Sundaes."
Peter pays for the ice cream and the three sit at a table. Julie helps Katie into a high chair.
Katie: Protests. I big girl!
Julie: Yes, you are, but even big girls need a high chair sometimes.
Katie: No!
Julie: Katie!
Peter: Let me try. Hey Katie! This is a special chair for birthday girls. Are you a birthday girl?
Katie: Uh huh!
Peter: Does the birthday girl want a special chair so she can eat the birthday ice cream Mr. Haskell got for you?
Katie: Uh huh!
Peter: Will you let me help the birthday girl into her special birthday girl chair?
Katie: Okay.
Peter lifts the girl from her sister's arms and places her in the high chair.
Peter: Places the cup on the tray. Here's your ice cream.
Katie: Fankew!
Peter: You're welcome!
Julie: Smiles. Peter, you're the best!
Peter: Blushes. Sometimes it helps having someone else suggest it.
At the Brady house.
The Bradys gather around the dinner table for their evening meal. From seeing Mike and Carol look somber, the kids know the report they got from Carolyn's tests wasn't good.
Marcia: Cindy, how were tryouts today?
Cindy: Really good! The squads will be even better next year than they were this year.
Jan: Oh?
Cindy: Yeah. A lot of the girls from Junior Varsity are trying out for Varsity. Even Cassie was good. If she is as good at the end of cheer camp as she was today, she'll make Varsity.
Carol: How do you feel about her being on the Varsity squad?
Cindy: I'll be captain and Millicent will be my co-captain. If she tries anything, she's off the squad. But, I'll give her a fair shake.
Mike: That's all we ask. I know she's been a thorn in your side, but sometimes you've got to learn to get along.
Cindy: I don't think she'll try anything. She's been different since the Bee.
Jan: Do you trust her?
Cindy: Not at all, but if she does what she's supposed to, then she can stay on the team. Coach Muncie already had to give her a warning at tryouts.
Greg: Hey Pete! Haven't seen Julie recently. You two still going out?
Bobby: Rolls his eyes. They're still an item. He and his sweetie took Katie out for ice cream for her second birthday.
Peter: Just wait until you get a steady, little brother.
Greg: If you want, sometime you and Julie can double with me and Nora.
Bobby: You don't want a repeat of Marioni's, Phil Packer. Giggling.
Mike: That'll do, Bob.
Peter: Ignoring Bobby. That would be great!
Jan: How did Carolyn's appointment go this morning?
Mike: We'll discuss it after dinner.
Jan feels an all-too-familiar "pit" sinking in her stomach. The Bradys finish their dinner, clear their places, and gather in the family room.
-End of Chapter 8-