Chapter 6

Monday morning had arrived, which meant that it was time for the Brady kids to return to school. The kids had mixed feelings about going back to school. On one hand, they had to get up at certain times and spend hours completing boring assignments instead of playing sports or watching TV. On the other hand, the Bradys could tell more of their classmates about their exciting weekend.

Cindy seemed to be especially excited to go to school. When she entered the kitchen, the Bradys' eyes popped out when they saw the eleven-year-old.

"Wow, Cindy, what's the occasion?" Greg asked with a grin before taking a bite of his bacon.

"Yeah, why are you wearing that dress?" Marcia asked.

"And why is your hair in a bun?" asked Jan.

The Bradys were referring to Cindy's green dress, which was the same one that she had worn several months earlier while on the TV show QUESTION the KIDS. Coincidentally, Cindy's hair was in the same style as it was when she was on the show.

Cindy shrugged. "I don't know. For some reason, I felt like getting dressed like this again." She smiled a little as she sat with her family at the table. "It was fun when I got to be on television."

Marcia furrowed her brows. "Fun? You got stage fright."

"Well, I still think that it was fun," Cindy said as Alice handed her a plate of waffles, bacon, and toast. "Besides, don't you like my new look? Isn't it a nice change from me having braids all the time?"

"Yes, Cindy, you look lovely," Carol said before taking a sip of coffee.

The Bradys continued to chat and eat breakfast for another ten minutes or so before getting up to leave. As the kids left for school, Alice handed them brown paper bags with their lunches – the kids thanking Alice as they passed her by. In a matter of minutes, the kids had all left for school – eager to tell their classmates about the meteorite.

Just before his English class, Peter stood in the hall – telling a crowd of five fellow students about the meteorite that landed in his backyard. Even a few other students in the hall slowed down to listen to what Peter was saying. Given his waving arms and the enthusiasm in his voice, he must have had something interesting to say.

"And then, our whole house vibrated!" exclaimed Peter. The other students' eyes and jaws opened in shock. "And my dad thought there was a huge fire, so he made us go outside. Then, the cops and firefighters showed up. All our neighbors were outside, too, and we even got interviewed by Ken Jones of KTTV!"

One bespectacled red-haired student pointed at Peter. "Yeah, I saw that a few nights ago!"

Peter grinned. "And now, we've got a meteorite in our backyard that glows orange sometimes, but we can't go near it 'cause its cosmic rays are dangerous!"

An African-American girl with braided hair smiled at Peter. "That sounds really exciting!" Peter's smile grew wider.

One kid with shaggy brown hair crossed his arms. "How do we know you're not exaggerating?"

"Some scientists actually came by our house yesterday," Peter explained as the warning bell rang. "They even gave us business cards. I don't have one at the moment, but their names are Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Caldwell."

As the crowd dispersed, Peter and the red-haired student walked into their English class. "By the way, Pete, what did you do to your hair?"

Peter's eyes popped out at the question as he took a seat at his desk. "What?" he asked in confusion. "My hair?"

"Yeah," the red-haired student said as he took a seat at his own desk – pointing at Peter's hair. "It's…I don't know…different – straighter. Did you get rid of your perm?"

Peter narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "No…"

The student shrugged. "Well, you look like a coconut head – kind of like your little brother."

While waiting for the teacher to arrive, Peter stared ahead at the chalkboard. A wide smile spread across his face when the chalkboard indicated that the class would be studying Sherlock Holmes for the next several weeks.

In the early evening, all the Brady kids had been home from school for a few hours and were now doing a variety of activities – including homework, talking on the phone, playing outside, and watching TV. Peter, on the other hand, was in the service porch – holding a large magnifying glass while looking into the washer. As he was doing so, Carol walked in – her eyes popping out briefly at the sight.

"What are you doing, Peter?" Carol asked.

"Looking for your missing earrings," explained Peter.

Carol's brows furrowed. "What? But Peter, that was months ago. Besides, we already know what happened to them."

Peter turned to look at his mother and placed a hand on his chin. "I don't know…" he said with a skeptical tone in his voice. "How do we know those were your actual earrings?"

Carol looked bewildered as she replied, "But Peter, those had to be my earrings! Who else would have earrings like that?" Carol then briefly looked up at the ceiling when she heard a loud thump upstairs.

Peter stared glumly at the floor for a second. "Well…can we lose something else so that I can find it?" Peter asked hopefully.

Carol put her hands on her hips. "Peter, are you feeling okay?" Just then, there was a loud thump upstairs that was hard enough to shake the ceiling – causing both Carol and Peter to look up. "Tell you what," Carol said, "why don't we find out what's going on upstairs? I have been hearing noises upstairs ever since you kids got home from school."

Peter and Carol left the service porch and went upstairs – where they found the door to Greg's attic bedroom wide open. In the middle of the hall was a mattress, which moved slightly. Carol's jaw dropped at the sight, and with Peter's help, she lifted the mattress off the floor. Underneath was Greg – who stood up after the mattress was lifted off him.

"Greg, what in the world are you doing?" Carol cried as Marcia came out of her room to witness the commotion.

Greg looked apprehensively at Peter. "Well…I decided that I don't want my own room anymore."

This time, Peter's jaw dropped. "What? No way!"

"Greg, I don't understand," Carol said. "You made such a big deal about wanting your own room. Why don't you want it anymore?"

Greg shrugged as Bobby joined the others upstairs. "Honestly…I don't know. I guess I just miss being with the guys." He looked at Peter and Bobby. "Wouldn't you guys like to have me back?"

Peter raised a finger and started to say something, but before he could do so, Bobby cried, "Oh, yes, that would be swell!" He then looked at his older brother. "Come on! Let's go upstairs and bring Greg's stuff down!" Bobby then grabbed Peter's hand and led him up to the attic.

Greg then turned to look at his sister. "Marcia, I know that you wanted to have your own room, so you can go ahead and have the attic now."

Marcia shook her head and replied, "No, thanks."

Once again, Carol looked bewildered, and this time, Greg's eyes and mouth opened in shock. "You can't be serious."

Marcia shrugged. "Having my own room just isn't that important to me anymore." Marcia started to walk back to her room before stopping and turning back to look at Greg. "By the way, I like what you did to your hair. It looks groovy."

Greg smirked and raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?"

"Well, it's not as much of a big ball as it used to be," Marcia said – walking back into her room.

"Carol?" Mike loudly called from downstairs. The housewife headed downstairs and met her husband at the foot of the stairs. "What's going on up there?"

Carol sighed. "You're never going to believe this. Peter wanted to be a detective and find my missing earrings again – and then suggested that we purposely lose something so he could find them. And Greg's now moving out of the attic, but Marcia doesn't even want it now! And Cindy still likes wearing that dress from when she got stage fright on television."

"I sure hope that the kids are okay," Mike said. "But, chances are, this whole meteorite thing is causing them to be a little antsy." He then pulled Carol in for a hug and kissed her on the lips. "Don't worry, honey. I'm sure the kids will feel better soon enough."