First mate's log:

August 16, 1973

It's the second-month wedding anniversary for me and Mary Ann. Things are still going well. We get along and I love getting to spend so much time with her. Maybe someday we'll go through a rough patch, like the Howells did before they came to this island, but hopefully that's years and years away.

Meanwhile, the Professor and Ginger have adopted a blond eight-year-old boy, named Matt. Yeah, you would've thought they'd get a kid with brown or red hair, but they don't care about him looking like them. He seems to be settling in OK, but it's an adjustment for all of them of course. I'd like to be a sort of uncle to Matt, like I've been to the Brady kids, but it's hard when we live on separate islands. I don't even go over to Blenford much since I stopped working on the Skipper's ferry.

I know I'm not writing as much as when I was a bachelor, but things are different now. I'm just going to jot things down when I have something to say.


Carol Brady's diary:

August 17, 1973

Oh gosh, Cindy has landed us in a mess! Well, it's partly my fault. Her siblings were all busy with friends and activities (while her best friends are both on vacation back in the states), so I took her with me to an emergency PTA meeting this afternoon. Normally, we don't meet during summer vacation, but I figured it was something like a leaky roof that could be fixed before school opens a couple weeks from Tuesday.

I warned Cindy that the meeting might be boring, but she said she didn't care. I think it's hard for her to be ten, and the youngest in a big family. Her sisters are doing teenage things, and her brothers, even Bobby, sometimes treat her like a tag-along. So I try to make extra time for her when I can. And she is my baby, so I know I need to treasure our time together before "hanging out" with her mother becomes "a drag." (Not that Jan and Marcia are as bad about it as some teenagers.)

(Meanwhile, the Hinkleys have adopted an eight-year-old boy, and he's of course an only child, so that's a whole other dynamic. I spoke to Ginger about it on the phone, but she didn't go into detail, other than she's happy.)

It is hard to treasure every moment with Cindy when she committed the whole family to putting on a play, a week from tomorrow! The kids' favorite teacher, Mrs. Whitfield, who's been there since the school started five years ago, mostly teaching the younger kids but helping out with the older ones, has decided to retire. She wasn't a young woman even then, but she embraced the opportunity to teach in such a unique setting. Now she has health issues, and she is 65, so she's reluctantly decided to step down, apologizing for the short notice.

After she left, with a tearful hug from Cindy, the PTA agreed to buy her some rare books from the finest bookshop on Blenford. They would cost about $200. Mrs. Parker, who's the mother of Bobby's friend Eric, suggested it. She works part-time there and knows their stock well. We could try taking up a collection to raise the money, but Mrs. Dittmeyer thought it would be fun to put on a play and charge admission.

Then Cindy jumped in and said, "Mrs. Whitfield read my class Snow White and the Seven Dwarves when we were little and everyone loved it. She said it was her favorite fairytale. My family could put it on as a play, since there are so many of us!"

Everyone loved the idea. So even if I hadn't been too stunned to say anything, I didn't want to face an unruly mob. I did tell her she'd have to convince her father. You know how Mike hates performing onstage.

He was surprised but he agreed, since it is a good cause. I've got the title role, which means getting out one of my black wigs, but probably not the Cleopatra one. Alice will be the Wicked Queen. As for the dwarves, well.

The kids all wanted to play Dopey. He is the most memorable character, other than the Queen, in the Disney version. In order to be fair, Mike had the kids draw dwarves' names out of a hat. So it'll be Cindy as Grumpy, Bobby as Bashful, Marcia as Sleepy, Greg as Doc, Jan as Happy, and Peter as Sneezy. That's right, none of them are Dopey. We have "only" six kids.

We realized we'd have to get an outsider to play Dopey, and on relatively short notice. Obviously, we know many people, on both islands, but it would have to be someone who would be willing and able, and that the kids wouldn't resent for taking the prize role. I was about to suggest Gilligan, since his time is more open than most adults, he likes acting (as with Hamlet: The Musical), and the kids love him.

Then Sam showed up with a meat delivery. He was very surprised, but he agreed to take the part, and the kids were happy about it. I was glad I hadn't mentioned Gilligan yet, though I would've if Sam automatically said no.

I'm going to look into venues on Blenford where we could put on the play, ones that are affordable, or would donate the space for us, not just during the performance but for dress rehearsal. Mike will probably have to design the sets, and he and the kids will probably have to build them, as with our past "productions." And, oh gosh, that means Alice and I will probably have to make costumes again.

I'll check with the school to see if they can offer us anything, props at least. (No, we can't hold it in the school auditorium, because that has a leaky roof.) I'll also give Ginger a call to see if BITV can loan us anything. Plus, I want to check in to see how she's dealing with motherhood.


August 19, 1973

Yesterday I found out that the Bradys are putting on a play. It's to raise money for a fancy retirement present for Mrs. Whitfield, the oldest teacher on our island. The play will be on Saturday afternoon, at Blenford Auditorium. It'll be Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, with Mrs. Brady as Snow White, her husband as the prince, and Alice as the queen.

I quickly did the math and thought I knew why Cindy was telling me this. There aren't as many Brady kids as there are dwarves. I was sure she was going to ask me to play one of the dwarves. I just hoped they didn't need Dopey, because who would want to play the stupidest dwarf? I would be insulted if she thought of me first, although maybe she just figured I'm practically one of the family. "Oh, uh, who's playing which dwarf?"

She told me, from youngest to oldest, starting with herself as Grumpy, and ending with Sam the butcher as Dopey! Now I felt insulted in a different way. I've known the Brady kids longer than Sam has! Heck, Cindy was a baby when I met her. OK, yeah, Sam is Alice's special fella, and she's even more like family than I am. But still.

She must've seen how hurt I looked, because she asked, "Do you wanna be the huntsman?"

"Isn't he the one who tries to kill Snow White?"

She shook her head. "The Wicked Queen orders him to but he's too soft-hearted to do it."

I remembered then. I guess I am pretty soft-hearted, more with animals, but with people, too. Mary Ann has told me that's one of the things she loves about me. (She's soft-hearted, too, of course, the sweetest woman I've ever met.)

I agreed to do it and Cindy said that she'd bring over the script as soon as Marcia has a chance to rewrite it to include my character. She's probably the best writer of all the Brady kids, since she's been editor of the school paper, and she won that "Father of the Year" essay contest years ago. (Mrs. Brady likes to write, too, but she worries over it too much, like that time she had to keep rewriting a magazine article.)

Cindy dropped the script off at the Pizza Parlor this afternoon. Luckily, I don't have too many lines to memorize, since the play is six days away. I don't have to practice with them until the dress rehearsal on Friday. Mary Ann promised to run lines with me in the meantime.


August 21, 1973

Cindy asked Gilligan to play the Huntsman, who we all forgot about when we were trying to figure out who'd be Dopey. But him joining the production is fine of course. The problem is, we no longer have a venue.

The Blenford Auditorium said they had Saturday afternoon free, and they'd donate the time, as long as that was acknowledged in the programs. (I typed up the programs, just enough for a small crowd of forty, each paying $5, since I didn't want to have to pay for the printer who had to do the Romeo & Juliet programs, which became outdated when Lady Capulet got the mumps.)

Anyway, I don't know if it's Cindy's fault for making the arrangements and giving the wrong date over the phone or if it's their fault, but they booked us for Saturday, September 1st! We could switch it to that date, except that Mrs. Whitfield has already booked her flight out, for the last Wednesday of the month. They're definitely not available on the 25th of this month, which I wish we'd found out earlier.

Cindy got very upset and blamed herself. Whether or not it was her fault, she is a little girl who's taken on a lot. I gave her a pep talk and said she shouldn't be a quitter. We'll all just have to put our heads together and find an alternate venue.

I think I'll give the Howells a call and see if they'll let us use their mansion. If not, well, we used to put on little plays and shows just using a bamboo stage, although that was usually with very small audiences.