Chapter 10

Later, that evening, the Bradys and Alice had all gathered in the family room. Mike himself measured Bobby with the measuring tape while everyone else watched in anticipation. Mike's eyes popped out when he got a measurement for Bobby's height. He then shook his head as he rolled up the tape.

"I don't believe it," he muttered. "You were right. Bobby is actually shorter than he was a few months ago!"

Bobby gasped. "No way I'm getting shorter!" he cried – panic evident in his voice.

"Well, unless this measuring tape isn't accurate, I'm afraid that you are," Mike said.

"Aw, man! I'm already short as it is, but now, I'm just going to get shorter!" Bobby cried. Tears formed in his eyes as he sat on the floor while Carol bent down and put an arm around him.

Peter looked with a grave look in his eyes at his father. "Dad, this means the meteorite really does have age-reversing cosmic rays!" he exclaimed. "Maybe we're now Bradys in reverse!"

Mike raised a hand. "Now, hold on, Peter," he said. "All we know is that Bobby is shorter. That's obviously a problem that we're going to have to look at. We're going to have a doctor see him as soon as possible. Regardless, this doesn't mean that the meteorite has anything to do with it."

"Dad, what about the flowers?" asked Bobby – standing up as he wiped tears out of his eyes.

Mike shook his head in disbelief. "That's not anything unusual. There are a lot of things that could have happened to them." He looked around the room. "Now, look, I know that having a meteorite land in our yard was an exciting event, but we can't let it get to our heads!"

Peter looked down and sighed. "I guess you're right," he said.

An ear-piercing screech filled the Bradys' ears as they all woke up. In no time, the bedroom lights upstairs were turned on, and the Bradys poured into the hall to find the source of the infernal screeching. To their surprise, the living room was lit up, and they saw Alice in a gray sweatsuit standing at the foot of the stairs. In her fingers was a silver whistle.

"Alice, do you have any idea what time it is?" Greg moaned.

The housekeeper smiled widely. "It's 6:00 AM! I was thinking that we could start the day by doing some exercises!"

"What brought this on all of a sudden?" Mike asked.

"Well, I apparently look younger, and there's talk that everyone else looks younger, too, so I want to make sure that I stay that way!" Alice said. "I remembered when Emma came to visit and thought that exercise would benefit us all!"

"If it's okay, Alice, I'll pass," Greg said as he trudged back to his room. The other kids indicated their agreement with Greg while Mike and Carol walked downstairs to join Alice.

"Hey, is it just me, or does Alice's hair look a little darker?" Peter asked as he followed Greg into the boys' bedroom.

"It's probably just you," Greg said, "but don't give Alice any ideas."

Friday afternoon had arrived, and Marcia entered the living room through one of the green double doors and walked down the brick steps. Carol walked out of Mike's den – her eyes popping out for a second.

Carol's eldest daughter furrowed her brows and walked to the foot of the stairs. "What, Mom?"

"Oh, nothing, honey," Carol said. "I'm just not used to you wearing that. It's been a while." The housewife was referring to Marcia's dress, which was red on top and blue on the bottom – and had thin blue and white stripes at the waist. "How was school today?"

"The Westdale Boosters didn't want me to join," Marcia said flatly.

Carol looked sympathetically at Marcia. "I'm really sorry. Did they say why?"

Marcia shrugged. "Well, part of the reason was that they were still upset by what happened with Peter's volcano, but they also thought that I looked too petite – like I didn't even look like a high school student…" Marcia said with concern in her voice. Her eyes widened in horror. "Mom, you don't suppose the meteorite – "

Carol gave her daughter a hug. "Marcia, honey, we don't know that. I doubt it has anything to do with what they think."

Marcia glared as she looked aside. "I sure hope that's all it is." A smile then reappeared on her face. "Anyway, I don't even really want to join anymore. In fact, I was thinking about helping Molly Webber join. I could give her another makeover."

Carol now looked confused. "Well, that's awfully nice of you, honey, but I'd think that you'd be more upset."

Marcia shook her head. "No way. Only freshmen care about joining that group, and I'm so done with being a freshman." With that, she walked upstairs – leaving Carol to scratch her head at her daughter's sudden change.

That night, another earsplitting whistle filled the Brady house – waking up everyone almost immediately. Mike just groaned and tried to go back to sleep – until there was more incessant whistling. Finally, Carol and he got out of bed and stormed toward the door leading to the hall.

"That had better not be Alice again…" grumbled Mike as Carol and he entered the hall.

At about the same time, Greg, Peter, and Bobby stumbled into the hall. All the Bradys looked around to find the source of the whistling. It wasn't long before everyone realized that it was coming from the girls' bedroom.

Not wasting any time, Mike, Carol, Greg, Peter, and Bobby ran into the girls' bedroom – where they saw Marcia and Jan running toward Cindy. The eleven-year-old was looking out the window while blowing into a whistle.

"Cindy, what in the world are you doing?" Jan cried as Mike turned the lights on – revealing the yellow, floral wallpaper of the girls' room. "We're trying to sleep!"

"There's a fire outside!" Cindy cried with tears in her eyes.

Mike and Carol ran toward the window and looked outside. There was no smoke or flickering flames, but the crater was glowing orange. "It's probably just the meteorite," Mike said.

"Oh…" Cindy said as Carol pulled her in for a hug and rubbed her back. She then raised a finger. "Well, can I go outside and make sure?"

Mike shook his head as Carol stood up. "No. There could be dangerous cosmic rays coming from the meteorite. Now go back to sleep, Cindy."

"Well, can we at least have a fire drill to make sure that we'll all get out okay if there really is a fire?" Cindy begged.

Mike sighed. "Okay, I guess we can do one fire drill. It has been a while since our last one."

The other Brady kids looked at their father in disbelief. "Dad, do you know how late it is?" Greg complained.

"Look, let's just have this one fire drill so that Cindy can be at ease," Mike said. "Now, one of you get Alice." Greg left the girls' room, and Mike then looked at Cindy. "When Alice gets here, we'll go over the plan, go back to bed, and wait a few minutes. Then, you blow the whistle." His daughter nodded.

Several minutes passed after the Bradys went back to bed when they nearly hit the ceiling. Once again, a loud whistle filled the air. Several of the Bradys grumbled as they got out of bed and then ran downstairs and through the sliding glass doors in the living room – meeting Alice outside who, not surprisingly, was the first to get outside.

"Okay, Cindy, we had a fire drill, and we all made it out here in less than a minute," Mike said. "I think that we should all go to bed now." The others indicated their agreement as they started walking toward the sliding glass doors.

"Dad, can we just check all the electrical cords first to make sure that none of them are frayed?" Cindy asked as she followed her parents inside.

"Cindy, honey, everything's fine," Carol said gently – placing her fingers under the girl's chin and tilting up her head. She then gave her daughter a hug and kiss. As Mike closed the sliding glass doors, Carol held Cindy's hand and smiled as she led her toward the stairs. "By the way, I love your curls! When did you do your hair like that?"

"Just before going to bed," Cindy said. Once at the foot of the stairs, she went up to the room that she shared with her sisters.

Mike walked over to his wife – noticing that she had a concerned look on her face. "I can't help but worry about the kids," Carol said. "They've just been acting really funny lately – a lot more impulsive and erratic."

The architect placed an arm around his wife. "Don't worry, honey. Things will calm down." He then kissed her and held her hand as they both went to bed.