First mate's log:

February 25, 1973

Charley told me that he asked Marcia out. I was surprised he didn't wait longer but I congratulated him.

"Thanks. It was gonna be for this coming Saturday, but she said there's going to be a surprise party for their maid that night."

"Oh." I wonder why nobody told me about the party, but maybe they thought I couldn't keep a secret. Which isn't fair, because I keep lots of secrets and I don't just blurt things out like in the old days.

"So we rescheduled for Saturday the 10th."

"Oh, well, that's good."

He shook his head. "She had to cancel because something suddenly came up."

"Oh. What?"

"She didn't say."

"Oh. Did you re-reschedule?"

"No, not yet. I think I'm gonna wait and see how things go the next few weeks, and then maybe if it looks more promising, I'll ask her out over Spring Break."

I said, "Good plan," but I wonder if she's trying to let him down gently. I feel sorry for him, but also a little for her. Still, at least he tried.

Carol Brady's diary:

February 26, 1973

Yesterday, Charley brought by the wallpaper samples and joked that he could maybe get his father to give me a discount since I'm Marcia's mother. He really is a sweet boy.

As for the samples, there was a burgundy with very thin white stripes, a vivid one with blue and green dots, one with stripes in different shades of gold, and my favorite, with pink roses. Charley carried them upstairs for me, while I got Mike from his den. Mike liked the gold stripes, I guess because they're more "masculine," but stripes would make me feel like I'm in prison.

We asked Alice's opinion, but as usual she didn't want to take a side in our disagreements. She joked that we should get paper with rose-colored stripes, or striped roses. And then when Bobby and Cindy were going down the hallway, we called them in. Bobby liked the stripes, and Cindy liked the roses, so Alice said, "I like how it runs in the family."

Meanwhile, yes, I'm planning for her surprise party on Saturday. Besides Marcia, I've told Mike and Greg, and Sam and Mary Ann, but I'm hesitant to tell too many people, because I don't want word to get back to Alice. I know if Cindy found out, soon the whole island would know.

February 27, 1973

Jan confided in me about Marcia's love life again. She said that Marcia does like Charley, but then "Doug Simpson, the football star and big man on campus, asked her out on Friday, for a week from this coming Saturday. She was so dazzled, she forgot about Charley until Doug walked away."

"Oh. Is Doug the 'something that suddenly came up'?"

"You heard about that?"

"Uh, well, Charley told me a little about it."

"Oh. Is he upset about her breaking their date?"

"A little, but he doesn't know why."

"Well, please don't tell him."

"I won't."

"Thank you. I probably shouldn't even tell you, but it's hard to carry this burden alone."

"Yeah," I said quietly.

"Yesterday was so crazy after school!"

"What happened?" I couldn't help asking.

"Well, Charley came over with more wallpaper samples. And then Doug walked Marcia home! So I had to head them off before they came inside and Doug and Charley ran into each other. Luckily, Marcia figured out my hints, but this is getting nerve-wracking."

"Yeah, I can imagine, especially since Charley and Doug go to the same little high school."

"Exactly. I feel sorry for Charley, because he's a nice guy, but Doug is really dreamy."

I don't think Marcia should date someone she's not interested in, but I didn't think she was this shallow. On the other hand, maybe Doug has good qualities, too, like being a good person as well as popular. Anyway, I told Jan that I hope this works out as best as it can. But, yeah, I kind of hope Marcia learns a lesson, because I don't think it's right for her to treat either Doug or Charley like this. (Not that there was any point in telling Jan that.)

February 28, 1973

Mike and I have decided that, since we couldn't agree on a wallpaper pattern, even after Charley brought more samples over, we'll paint our bedroom instead. Now we just have to agree on a color. Yes, Charley will bring us paint samples next time.

Meanwhile, Bobby is really embracing being Safety Monitor. He memorized the rule book and is enforcing it. In fact, when Cindy came home today, she said that Bobby was still at school because he was getting the names of all seven kids he caught running down the stairs!

March 1, 1973

Cindy complained to me about Bobby today. "I can see why his whole class hates him."

"What did he do?"

"Well, you know he's the Safety Monitor, right?"

"Yeah, he told me."

"Did he tell you he's 'cracking down on law-breakers'?"

"Uh, no."

"Well, that's what he called it when he cited me and a couple of my friends for running in the halls."

"Oh, Man!"

"Yeah, and I'm his own sister!"

"Well, maybe he didn't want to seem unfair by just writing up your friends."

"I wanted him to let all of us off the hook, but then he said he was gonna cite me for arguing with a Safety Monitor!"

I didn't point out that Cindy herself is sometimes still a tattletale. I think this is different because she never actually tries to get people in trouble. It's more that she's a gossip. And I guess she doesn't know about Alice's surprise party, because she didn't say a word about that.

March 2, 1973

Yesterday, Cindy was upset because Bobby cited her for running in the halls. She felt he should've made an exception for her because they're family. I explained to her that Bobby has to enforce the rules without bias, for everyone's safety, including hers. I said it would be the same thing if Bobby were a traffic cop and caught me running a red light. (Not that I expect that to ever come up, especially since we'd have to move back to somewhere with cars.)

When Bobby came in, he assumed that I took Cindy's side. I think, even after all this time, the boys sometimes expect me to take the girls' side, and the girls expect Mike to take the boys' side. But we do our best to be fair, and the boys are my children now, as the girls are Mike's.

March 3, 1973

Mary Ann took me as her date to Alice's surprise birthday party tonight. I didn't bring a gift, since I wasn't supposed to know about the party. But the Bradys just wanted people to celebrate with her. Sam brought her cold cuts of course. Yeah, Alice was surprised, and happy, and embarrassed.

While we were over there, I promised I'd help paint the master bedroom tomorrow afternoon. Yeah, they're painting instead of wallpapering. I haven't talked to Charley lately, so I don't know how he's doing. And, no, I didn't get a chance to talk to Marcia on her own, but maybe tomorrow.

March 4, 1973

We had a lovely little party for Alice last night. The family, Sam, Alice's friend Kay, and Mary Ann and Gilligan. Alice, and the younger children, were very surprised.

We're going to have a smaller party this afternoon, a painting party. It was going to be just the family, including Alice, but Gilligan volunteered, since he doesn't have to work on the ferry today. Yes, I worry about his clumsiness, but painting will be messy anyway. And he did manage to paint a lot on the island in the early days (including an actual modern-art portrait of Ginger), without too much chaos. And it really will be just putting paint on a wall, which even Bobby and Cindy can manage.