First mate's log:

June 10, 1973

Greg told me he really wants to move out. I know, he's only seventeen, and just finishing up his junior year. But he has a friend, Hank Carter, who's a couple years older. And Hank has his own small apartment near Blenford Community College. Hank invited him to move in and split the rent and expenses.

Greg is getting tired of sharing a room with his younger brothers. It's kind of like when he first started high school, but he started to miss them then, when he was living in his father's den. This time he obviously wants to not just move downstairs but out of the house and off this island that's been his home for nine years.

"But you'll be in high school next year, too," I pointed out.

"Well, I could commute by ferry. Or at least spend weekends and vacations at Hank's. If I could just get a break from Peter and Bobby, that'd be great."

"How would you afford the rent and everything?"

"Well, I guess I'd have to get another part-time job."

I didn't see how he'd have the time, but instead I asked, "What about your parents? Would they let you move out?"

He sighed. "I don't know. I mean, I'm not going to turn eighteen for another six months. And, yeah, I'm still in high school. But I think I could make it work."

As always, I wished him luck. It's weird to think that soon I'll have moved out from the Skipper's, but I'm not going as far away. And Greg will be less likely to confide in me, especially if he has Hank. But everybody has to grow up sometime.

Carol Brady's diary:

June 11, 1973

We've been cleaning out the attic, again. Last time, we just sorted through and got rid of some of the clutter, finding a few treasures, like the picture of Aunt Jenny when she was Jan's age. This time, we're not just getting rid of clutter but looking for items for Mrs. Howell's charity bazaar on Wednesday.

I don't know what we'll do with the extra space. Probably store new things.

June 12, 1973

Well, Greg is not moving in with Hank Carter but he is moving out of the room he shares with his brothers. His dad was sympathetic but thought that that was too dramatic a solution, especially before Greg is in college himself.

Luckily, the family has been cleaning out the attic the last few days, and Greg suggested moving up there. It'd be different than when he tried living in his dad's den, which he now admits was really inconvenient for his dad, who does most of his work there. No one has been using the attic, other than for storage.

"...And it's a lot bigger than the den. I mean, it doesn't cover as much space as the other floors, but it's actually bigger than the room I've been sharing with Peter and Bobby for almost five years."

I congratulated him, since it sounds like a good compromise. And, yeah, I would've missed him if he moved to Blenford, like I miss Ginger and the Professor, although I still see them every once in awhile.

As it is, this may be the last time that Greg, or any of the Brady kids, confide in me. It'll be different once I'm married and no longer working on the ferry. To be honest, it hasn't really sunk in, all the changes in my life that are coming up, in only four days! Like, I've been doing stuff to get ready for the wedding, even if I haven't been writing about it, but I feel like I can't really get ready to be married, if that makes sense.

At least this isn't like my "engagement" to Kalani. (Who, yeah, I'll be working with at the Pizza Parlor, and her husband Ugundi, but we're all friends now.) We didn't even speak the same language then and she was a total stranger. I've known Mary Ann for nine years and we've gone through so much together, shared so much of our fears and dreams and just things like music and food.

We haven't lived under one roof since right after the shipwreck, when all of us lived in one crowded hut. And that was a time of totally different adjustments. Now it'll just be me and Mary Ann. I have no way of knowing what that will be like, although maybe it'll be a little like living with the Skipper, in the sense of learning to share and get along. At least she won't ever hit me with her hat.

June 13, 1973

If I hadn't promised Mrs. Howell, I'd skip the bazaar tonight. I made a different promise to Marcia, but unfortunately Mike made a similar promise to Greg at the same time, and I'm uneasy about the compromise.

As we were clearing out the attic yesterday, there was a moment when Marcia seemed lost in daydreams. She said that she wanted to turn the attic into a bedroom. She's sixteen now and she wants more room for clothes and belongings, as well as more time away from her sisters. And, yes, we used to live in a hut, but she was a little girl then.

I couldn't really think of any objections, other than she might get lonely. She pointed out that it's not as if she was moving out of the house, and she'd see the rest of the family at meals and other times.

It hadn't occurred to me that Greg would make the same request of Mike. It makes sense of course, since he's also in high school and has had to share a room with younger siblings for years. But Greg and Marcia didn't talk to each other about it, and Mike and I didn't talk to each other either. So both kids were moving their items up to the attic, with the help of the other kids.

Eventually they realized what had happened and they both stubbornly refused to give up the attic. Cindy saw them both sitting on a trunk that I could've sworn wasn't in the attic the day before. They had their backs to each other and their arms crossed, but they wouldn't tell her what was wrong. So she went and got me and Mike. She wanted to stay and find out more, but we sent her downstairs.

Both Greg and Marcia explained their plans for the attic. Mike and I apologized for not discussing this as a group. While we sympathized with both of them, we agreed that the fairest thing is that Greg have the attic until he leaves for college in a year or so. And, yes, he might end up going to Blenford Community College, like his older friend Hank Carter, and just commuting, but I think he probably will want to leave home when he's an adult. Marcia can have the attic then.

She got very upset and said that she's tired of coming second around here because she's a year younger than Greg. I felt guilty, especially when I remembered persuading her to give up running for Junior High President so that she wouldn't be competing against Greg. (She won the next year.)

I really wish I could stay home, but I did promise Mrs. Howell. I hate going out and leaving things like this. I'm worried that the children will fight, with the boys taking Greg's side and the girls Marcia's. Or that Marcia will spend the evening crying in the room she feels trapped in. Mike scoffs at my "women's intuition" of course.