First mate's log:

March 4, 1974

Greg has dated a lot of his female classmates at this point. It's partly that he's popular with girls and partly that the class sizes are so small on this island. He's just started dating a girl named Gretchen. She's tall with red hair, which is one of his types. Yeah, kind of like Ginger, but more girl-next-door than glamorous.

He really likes her and he had a very nice dive-in date with her on Saturday. Unfortunately, he got home late and his brothers finked on him. He can't borrow either of the family boats until his fishing trip with friends this coming weekend. So he's not sure when he can go out with Gretchen again.

Oh, and speaking of boats, he lost at the obstacle course. So, yeah, he's doing all of Marcia's chores, and that takes away from time to date, too. I didn't have any advice about all this, but it was kind of nice to have Greg confide in me again. He doesn't do it as much now that he's an adult, and of course I don't see him as much as I see Peter. (And obviously I'll keep Greg's secret from Peter, who doesn't even know that Greg was late because of a date.)


Carol Brady's diary:

March 5, 1974

The Blenford Bugle is having a photo contest and entries have to be in by Friday, with results on Monday. I mentioned it to Greg, who still dabbles in photography, but he's too busy, especially now that he's doing all of Marcia's chores.

Unrelated to that, Mike and I have sort of grounded him, for coming home late while hanging out with "the guys" Saturday night, the same guys he has a fishing trip with this weekend. He can't use the family boats, or any boats, until Saturday at noon. (Yes, we learned our lesson from the "exact words" debacle.) If not for the extra chores, he could stay in and work on shots to submit to the contest.

Greg did say, "Why don't you try it, Mom? You're a good artist."

I was very surprised, especially considering his recent chauvinistic comments. But then, photography isn't really "masculine" or "feminine." I have taken some shots, like on family vacations, but I've never seriously pursued it, even to the level that I've painted and sculpted. I do understand some universal art principles though, and I think I could apply them to this new (to me) medium.

I thanked him for his encouragement, but I've got to think of a subject, take acceptable photos of it, and submit them in time. Well, even if I'm not ready for the contest, I'd still like to try this hobby for awhile.


March 6, 1974

Peter told me he and Bobby saw a UFO! It was last night and it was hovering over their backyard. It was red and made a weird whistling sound. They're sure it was a spaceship. I believe that we're not alone in this universe, but Mary Ann teases that I have watched a lot of science fiction.

He admitted that Bobby saw it first, because Bobby was watching to see if Greg got home late like he did on Saturday. (I of course didn't tell what Greg told me a couple days ago, when Peter wasn't around.) Bobby has never completely gotten over the time he was a Safety Monitor, and he can be as big a snitch as Cindy sometimes. And, yeah, Peter once taped his brothers' and sisters' conversations without their knowledge, kind of like President Nixon.

(Yeah, I'm on Greg's side with this one. Sure, he broke curfew, but it's not really any of their business.)

Anyway, Bobby didn't see Greg but he did see that UFO. He and Peter are hoping to see it again, if it comes back. I'd figure spacemen would be traveling all over the universe, or at least this planet, so I don't know about them coming back any time soon. Then again, we used to get a lot of attention from Earth astronauts, back in the day, so you never know.


March 7, 1974

I've taken photos of still life and I've taken photos of the children. And now I'm loaning my camera to Peter and Bobby so they can take pictures of a UFO. I'm serious! They claim they saw one the night before last, hovering above our backyard. They saw something from their bedroom window and they want to camp out back so they can get a better view.

They wanted to go out there immediately the next night, but Mike and I are at least making them wait until tomorrow night, since it's a Friday and they won't have school the next day. I'm worried they'd try to stay up all night, in vain hopes of meeting spacemen. At least if they do that on Friday, they can sleep in the next day. And trying to talk sense into them is no use. Some things it's best for them to find out for themselves.


March 8, 1974

Mary Ann is staying at home more now that she's near the end of the second trimester. (About three and a half months to go.) So she wasn't at the Pizza Parlor when Greg came in and asked to talk to me. It was pretty quiet at the moment, so I said sure. Peter was out on a delivery, and I had the feeling that Greg didn't want him to hear this either.

I figured he wanted to talk about the band-aid on his lip. When I mentioned it, he said he's passing it off as a cut from shaving, but actually it's a misguided hickey from Gretchen, who gave it to him in the dark. They had a rushed date, since he wanted to get home before curfew that time.

Then he confessed that he's the UFO! He was mad about his brothers ratting him out on Saturday, so he set up a pretty impressive prank. He has a plastic curtain on a clothesline, a spacey-sounding whistle, and a flashlight with a red UFO-shaped picture taped on the end. It was convincing enough to fool Peter and Bobby, and it probably would've fooled me, especially when I was younger.

He convinced them so much that Peter's told me that tonight they're gonna camp out in the backyard and try to take pictures of the spaceship. Greg admitted he's thinking of having the UFO make a return visit. "They'd be real disappointed if they waited all night and didn't see anything."

"What about the pictures?"

"Mom's camera is black-and-white and these will be nighttime shots. The UFO won't really look like anything but a smudge."

I didn't try to talk him out of it, and I'm not going to tell Peter. I feel a little bit guilty, but I figure it's still a harmless prank, and only fair after what Peter and Bobby did to Greg. But, yeah, I am a little disappointed that it wasn't a real spaceship.


March 9, 1974

Peter and Bobby were positive that "the UFO" came back last night, so they took many photos, which I developed for them. (As for the contest, I sent in some pictures of the lagoon yesterday. I don't know if I'll win, or even place, but I feel like much of my story started with that lagoon. At least my story on this island.)

I wouldn't say that the object could definitely be identified as a spaceship, but there was something there. Mike went over to the Howell mansion so he could send a telegram to the Air Force. (It was faster than going to the telegraph office on Blenford.) Mr. Howell was skeptical about "little green men," but Mrs. Howell was intrigued and told Mike that she'd throw a Welcome to Our Island luau if they seemed civilized enough.

Meanwhile, the boys wanted to contact the local media, and they kept calling up their friends. Marcia pulled me aside and told me that there was no UFO and I needed to talk to Greg. So we went upstairs, where he was packing for his fishing trip.

Marcia quickly told him about their brothers wanting to tell everyone about their UFO pictures. Then he confessed that he had played an elaborate prank on them! He was mad at them for telling me and Mike about him breaking curfew. Now of course Mike and I have extended the punishment and he can't go on the fishing trip.

Peter and Bobby are heartbroken and humiliated. They're not looking forward to facing the kids at school on Monday. It's a little bit their fault for being so gullible, but Greg definitely shouldn't have exploited that. And poor Mike had to go back to the Howells' and send a telegram which said that, upon closer examination, the photos show a weather balloon. I doubt they were immediately going to send someone over anyway, one advantage to our isolation. If this had happened back in California, we probably would've at least gotten the local police involved.

(There is a police force on Blenford of course, but crime remains low on our island.)


March 10, 1974

Well, things got out of hand with "the UFO" and now Peter and Bobby are mad at Greg for tricking them, and I really hope they don't find out I knew about it. The Air Force almost got involved, then Mr. Brady had say it was just a mistake. Greg can't use any boats for a month and he told me the only "good thing" is he can catch up on Marcia's chores. He and Gretchen haven't broken up but they've agreed that it's just not a good time for him to be dating. They might go out again after they graduate in June.


March 11, 1974

I got honorable mention in the photo contest. I don't want to blame my sons, but I can't help wondering how I would've done if I'd been able to focus more on my photography, without the distraction of developing pictures of "a UFO." I did enjoy taking pictures in any case, I think I will add it to the list of hobbies that I want to devote more time to when things quiet down, if they ever do. And, yes, I know honorable mention isn't bad. It's better than no mention at all. (But I do share my children's competitive streak.)