Chapter 5

Before long, golden rays of sunlight permeated through the windows of the Brady home. Slowly but surely, members of the household stretched and groaned as they prepared to get up and start their day. Alice was the first to get up – seeing as she was the housekeeper on which the Bradys relied to make sure that daily activities ran like clockwork. Sam, who had spent the night at the Brady house, also got up and joined Alice in the kitchen. Before anyone else had come downstairs, the housekeeper was already dressed in her standard uniform consisting of a light blue dress and white apron – running back and forth within the confines of the kitchen's orange walls and brown cabinets as she prepared a delicious breakfast of waffles, bacon, and toast. With a family the size of the Brady Bunch, it was always a good idea to get a head start.

About fifteen minutes after Alice had started preparing breakfast, Peter, Bobby, and Cindy slowly walked into the kitchen – the sound of bacon crackling filling their ears.

"Good morning, Alice," Peter greeted as he took a seat in one of the green chairs next to Sam – who was already sitting in his own chair at the kitchen table. "Good morning, Sam."

"Good morning," Alice replied as she kept her eyes on the bacon frying.

"Good morning to you," the stout, gray-haired butcher greeted warmly. "Did you kids sleep okay last night?"

"Yeah," Bobby said as Cindy and he sat in their own chairs.

"That's good," Sam said as Alice put some bacon slices on a plate.

A few minutes later, Greg, Marcia, and Jan entered the kitchen, greeted Alice and Sam, and took their seats at the table. Finally, Mike and Carol entered the kitchen and greeted Alice, Sam, and the kids.

Mike inhaled deeply and smiled. "Breakfast smells delicious as usual, Alice," he commented.

"Thanks, Mr. Brady," Alice said – placing more strips of bacon next to some waffles on a plate.

Mike and Carol both poured themselves glasses of orange juice and joined the others at the table. Alice then served Mike and Carol breakfast.

"Did everyone sleep well last night?" Mike asked – looking around the table at everyone. After the others indicated that they did, Mike's smile turned to a frown as he focused his attention on Bobby and Peter. The two boys stared back with wide eyes – their forks suspended over their plates – frozen in fear as they waited for their father to speak.

"Bobby, Peter, you boys should have known that you shouldn't have snuck out at night to look at the meteorite," Mike said. "Something could have happened to you, and on top of that, we were all advised to stay away because there might be cosmic rays." His sons nodded glumly. "Now, your mother and I have talked about it and have decided that, as punishment, you'll go outside and weed the whole yard. Stay away from the crater, though."

Mike's younger sons nodded. "Okay, Dad."

Mike himself looked down at his plate and nodded. "Okay, then." The architect then took a bite of his waffle.

Bobby and Peter both nodded and resumed eating – now knowing their punishment.

Alice shrugged and smiled. "Well, on the plus side, that's one less thing I have to do!" That remark prompted laughter from everyone at the table.

After breakfast, Bobby and Peter left the kitchen so that they could start weeding. Both boys headed upstairs to change into work clothes.

As the boys entered their bedroom, Peter suddenly stopped and stared at Bobby. "I still can't believe what we saw last night."

"Yeah," Bobby nodded confidently before staring blankly at Peter. "What did we see?"

Peter threw his hands in the air. "The meteorite! I can't believe that it was actually glowing orange!"

Bobby's eyes popped open in realization. "Yeah, that was really weird! I thought that the firefighters put out the fire."

"That's what I thought, too," Peter said. "Maybe we should tell Mom and Dad."

"That's probably a good idea," Bobby said, "but maybe it's not burning anymore."

Bobby and Peter then changed into work clothes and headed downstairs. They both went outside through the sliding glass doors in the family room. The boys stared southwest but saw no smoke rising from the dark crater.

"There doesn't seem to be any fire," Bobby said.

Peter shrugged. "Well, maybe there's nothing to worry about. Besides, the meteorite's in a crater, so we have some protection from a fire."

Bobby and Peter walked toward a raised bed just in front of a gray wall made of concrete blocks that marked the south end of the property. However, as they approached the raised bed, their eyes narrowed – realizing that something wasn't quite right.

"Hey, Peter, what happened to the flowers?" Bobby asked.

"That's just what I was wondering. Weird, isn't it?" Peter questioned as he kept staring at the raised bed. While there were once white California asters and golden yarrows, the raised bed now contained only green seedlings.

Bobby and Peter walked around the backyard – their eyes growing wide upon the realization that the whole backyard was barren of fully-grown flowers. Furthermore, a few of the potted trees appeared to be about a foot shorter than they should have been.

After examining the backyard, Peter looked at Bobby and shrugged. "Well, I didn't see any weeds, did you?"

Bobby smiled and shook his head. "Nope!"

Peter himself grinned and said, "Well, I guess we're done!"

"We still gotta do the front yard, remember?" Bobby reminded.

Peter's smile faded from his face as he slumped. "Oh…" However, his demeanor reignited as he said, "But maybe the front yard is in the same condition!"

The boys ran north and examined the front yard. To their delight, they saw no weeds – although it did appear that the trees and bushes were a bit shorter. They couldn't be sure, though.

After looking around the front yard, Peter grinned and said, "Wow! That was the easiest punishment we've ever had!"

"Yeah!" agreed Bobby. "Let's go do something else now!" With that, the boys ran into the house through one of the green double doors.

Later that day, Bobby and Peter biked back home – having spent much of the day hanging out with their friends. However, as they approached their house, they noticed a silver station wagon parked in the driveway.

"Who do you think that is?" Bobby asked his brother as they turned onto their driveway and slowed to a stop.

"I don't know," Peter said as he got off his bike.

Suddenly, the boys heard sliding glass doors screeching, and they jerked their heads in the direction of the kitchen. There stood their father with an excited look on his face.

"Bobby! Peter! Get in here right now! This is important!" Mike ordered – gesturing toward the house.

Bobby and Peter dropped their bikes on the ground and looked at each other nervously. They hoped that they weren't in trouble again. After all, they had left the house without telling their parents that they had finished weeding – or, rather, that they hadn't needed to do any weeding at all.

The two boys entered the kitchen and kept their eyes on their father – waiting to see what he would do.

Mike guided the boys toward the living room. "This way. Come on, boys," he said in a rushed tone.

When the boys entered the living room, they were surprised to see the whole family and Alice standing around the stone fireplace, green armchairs, and coffee table. What was particularly strange was that two men wearing gray suits and black neckties were sitting on the white and beige sofa with floral prints.

The architect turned his attention to the men in suits. "Mr. Schmidt, Mr. Caldwell, this is Peter and my youngest son – Bobby."

The men smiled slightly and nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you boys," the man with dark, slicked-back hair and eyeglasses said. "I'm Mr. Schmidt, and this is Mr. Caldwell," he said – referring to the man with curly brown hair and a moustache.

Mike turned his attention back to Bobby and Peter. "Boys, these men are scientists. They came here a while ago to talk with us and to take a sample of the meteorite that landed in our yard."

"I hear that you boys in particular have been quite fascinated with what landed in your backyard," Mr. Caldwell said. "Well, you'll be pleased to know that we have confirmed that it was, in fact, a meteorite."

Bobby and Peter smiled broadly. "Far out!" exclaimed Peter.

"Yeah," Mike said. "Apparently, the meteorite went undetected at first, but after hearing people all over Los Angeles reporting sonic booms and lights, scientists rechecked their data, and these men looked at what landed in our yard."

Bobby looked at his father in uncertainty. "Uh, Dad? Maybe now's a good time to tell you that Peter and I saw the meteorite glowing orange last night. Maybe the firefighters didn't put out the fire."

Mr. Schmidt raised a finger. "Actually, that's what we want to tell you about, and it's extremely important." The Bradys and Alice gave the scientists their undivided attention. "The glowing of the meteorite is not a fire. It's actually caused by the meteorite's cosmic rays."

"We admit that we don't have any hard evidence at this point," Mr. Caldwell said, "but we are aware of one case in which a meteorite emitted cosmic rays that appeared to have age-reversing effects on living organisms. We think that could be the case here."

"The case was even nicknamed 'Meteor of Youth,'" added Mr. Schmidt.

The Bradys and Alice stood silently – looking at each other in concern. Mike looked at the scientists and said, "Mr. Caldwell, Mr. Schmidt, with all due respect, I have trouble believing that."

"Actually, Dad, they might be right," Peter said. Mike looked at the fifteen-year-old and raised an eyebrow. "When Bobby and I went outside to do weeding, we didn't find any weeds. In fact, all the flowers were seedlings."

Mike looked down and shook his head. "I don't know," he said. "There's just got to be another explanation for that." He then turned his attention to the scientists. "Besides, you said yourselves that you don't have any hard evidence."

"You're right – we don't," Mr. Caldwell agreed. "But that one other case was intriguing to say the least, and perhaps we can find more definitive proof of age-reversing cosmic rays in this case."

Carol looked at her husband. "It would be quite strange if that were true," she said.

Mike nodded. "I agree – it would."

Mr. Schmidt then stood up. "Anyway, now that we're aware that some flowers might have turned into seedlings, we would like to take a few samples for examination, and perhaps we can look around the yard again and see if there are any larger species from which we could take samples."

Mike nodded again. "That's perfectly okay."

"Thank you very much," Mr. Caldwell said as he stood up. "Your cooperation is very beneficial to science."

As the men left the living room, the Bradys and Alice stared at each other – their eyes and mouths open in shock. This was nothing that they had expected at all.