Chapter 2
About two hours had passed since Mike came home from work, and the family members were preparing for dinner. Carol, Alice, Greg, and Peter worked in the kitchen to finish preparing pork chops and applesauce while Marcia and Jan set the table in the dining area. While Mike was upstairs taking a shower, Bobby and Cindy were still in the family room watching TV – changing channels every few seconds to see if they could find anything interesting.
"We've seen all this before…" sighed Cindy as she kept changing the channel. Suddenly, Bobby's eyes bulged as some type of cartoon flashed on the screen.
"Cindy, wait! Go back!" Bobby cried. "What was on that last channel?"
Cindy changed the channel again to show the cartoon that was previously on the screen. Bobby grinned widely. "Yeah, I've seen this before, but it's great!"
Cindy raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
Bobby's eyes remained fixed on the various cartoon characters that moved along the rainbow that arched through the sky. "It's Festival of Family Classics by Rankin/Bass! It's got a lot of great adaptations of classic stories like those of Cinderella, Johnny Appleseed, and Snow White!"
Cindy smiled a little as she watched the characters on the screen. "It does look pretty interesting," she said. Her head tilted briefly at the sound of knocking before looking at Bobby. "Wouldn't it be great if we could be cartoon characters?"
"It sure would," Bobby said – his eyes remaining fixed on the screen – despite the now louder knocking.
Cindy stared in the direction of the front double doors. "I'm going to go see who's at the door." Bobby nodded absently – continuing to stare at the screen while Cindy ran out of the family room.
Once in the living room, Cindy opened one of the green double doors. To her surprise, nobody was outside. However, upon looking down, she saw a plain brown box. Cindy furrowed her brow. "Huh? What's this?" She then bent down to lift up the box but was surprised to find that it was quite heavy.
"What's going on, Cindy?" a voice suddenly cut through the air. Cindy nearly stumbled back and turned around to see who had spoken to her.
"Somebody delivered this package, and it's really heavy!" Cindy said – pointing at the cardboard box near the green doors. By this point, Jan had walked over, and both of Cindy's older sisters stared at the box in curiosity.
Marcia bent down and managed to lift the box a few inches before setting it back down and sighing in exhaustion. "Whatever it is, it's heavy!" Marcia said. She looked at the middle child. "Jan, let's take this thing inside." Jan nodded, and with that, the two sisters lifted the box together – groaning slightly as they carried the heavy box inside while Cindy closed the open green door.
After walking down the brick steps, Marcia and Jan stopped near the coffee table and put the box on the floor. The two girls looked more closely at the box. "There doesn't seem to be a return address," Jan said.
"I'm going to ask Mom or Alice about it," Marcia said. With that, she walked into the kitchen, but to her surprise, Carol and Alice were both gone. Thankfully, both Greg and Peter were still present – idly standing in front of the oven. "Hey, Greg, Pete, where did Mom and Alice go?"
"To wash their hands in the bathroom," Greg said. He then noticed Cindy standing by the box in the living room. He narrowed his eyes and asked, "Hey, what's that thing?"
"That's what we want to know," Jan said. "Do you guys know if we were supposed to get any packages?" Both Greg and Peter shook their heads. Peter started walking toward the box in the living room while Greg grabbed a utility knife and followed. Greg then started cutting open the box, and Cindy's eyes popped open.
"Greg, what are you doing?" the youngest Brady gasped. "What if it's a surprise Christmas present from Mom or Dad or Alice?"
A sly smile spread across Greg's face. "A quick peek won't hurt." Cindy had to admit that she was curious herself as to what was in the box. After about half a minute, Greg had cut open part of the box, and the kids' jaws all dropped upon seeing what was inside. Before the Bradys was a silver, rectangular box with a big slot with lots of black buttons and switches.
Peter's eyes bulged as he wondered, "What IS that thing?"
Greg was grinning almost maniacally. "D-d-do you guys have any idea what this is?"
"NO!" cried Marcia, Peter, Jan, and Cindy in unison.
"Th-this is a videocassette recorder!" exclaimed Greg. "These things are amazing! You can actually record stuff on TV and watch it later!" The other kids chattered in excitement as Greg groaned while pulling the heavy device out of the box and lifting it. "We've got to take this into the family room and try it out!"
Cindy frowned and said, "But Greg, what if it's a Christmas gift from Mom, Dad, or Alice? We shouldn't use it now."
Greg frowned briefly until Peter put a hand on Greg's shoulder. "Aw, come on, Greg, let's just try it out real quick and then put it back in the box."
Greg shrugged. "Why not? Let's just try it out real quick." With that, he carried the device through the kitchen and into the family room while Marcia, Peter, Jan, and Cindy followed.
For the first time in a while, Bobby diverted his attention from the TV, and his eyes bulged at the sight of the silver device in Greg's arms. "Whoa! What's that thing? Some kind of record player?"
"More like a videocassette recorder," Greg said as he bent down and placed the device on the floor next to the TV. "It's like a tape recorder except it lets you record things on TV."
Bobby grinned enthusiastically. "Groovy! Is it a Christmas gift from Mom or Dad? I really want to record this Rankin/Bass show!"
"We don't know who it's from," Marcia said. "We're just going to try it out real quick."
"Try what out real quick?" a voice suddenly asked. The Brady kids' felt a sinking feeling as they turned their heads toward the kitchen. Standing in the doorway was Mike, and next to him stood Carol and Alice.
Greg poked his head out from behind the TV and grinned sheepishly – feeling his heart pounding nervously. "Uh…look, we're sorry for opening this early. It's just so groovy that we wanted to try it out for a bit before Christmas."
Mike furrowed his brow and pointed at the videocassette recorder. "Is that thing what you're talking about?" Greg nodded.
"We didn't get that," Carol said.
"I should say not – especially with energy prices being so high. With all the buttons and switches on that thing, it looks like it needs its own power plant!" joked Alice.
Greg walked from behind the TV and approached the adults. "You guys didn't get us this?" The adults shook their heads. "That's weird. Anyway, I've got it hooked up now – "
Mike held up his hands. "Wait, wait, Greg. First of all, what exactly is that thing?"
Greg grinned. "It's a videocassette recorder! This thing actually lets you record things from TV! It's pretty unheard of for average citizens to own these things."
Alice nodded as her eyes bulged while staring at the device. "I can imagine! A thing like that sounds like something out of a science fiction movie!"
Mike crossed his arms. "Well, that sounds very fascinating, Greg, but I'm afraid that we can't keep it. Clearly, it doesn't belong to us, and almost certainly, nobody in this neighborhood owns it either. Most likely, this device was delivered here by mistake, and we're going to have to find its rightful owner."
"Aw, come on, Dad!" begged Bobby. "Finders, keepers, right? This thing is so incredible! We'll never have to worry about sharing the TV or missing a show ever again!"
Mike shook his head. "I'm sorry, Bob."
"Dad, couldn't we at least try it out first?" Greg asked. "I've already got it hooked up."
Mike sighed. "Well, I admit that thing is pretty interesting. Maybe we can try it out for a minute or so."
The kids chattered in happiness as Greg pressed a button to turn on the device. The TV screen suddenly turned blue – causing everyone in the room to stumble back. Greg looked through a window on top of the device. "Huh. There's already a tape in here. I guess we can just play it." Greg then pressed a button on the device to play the tape. "Okay, here we go, everybody!"
After a few seconds, the title "Snowy C-matic Videocassette Recorder" superimposed over snowfall appeared on the TV. Then, seconds later, a message appeared – causing the Bradys to crowd around the screen. "Do you wish to experience an altered reality? If so, each person wishing to do so must press the button with the Snowy C-matic logo for five seconds. You have one minute to make this decision."
Bobby raised an eyebrow before his smile grew wider. "An altered reality? Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow turn into Rankin/Bass characters?"
Mike sighed. "Look, I know this device is pretty sophisticated, but I don't believe for a second that it can actually make us experience a different reality." Carol nodded in agreement.
"Come on, Dad, let's at least try it!" Cindy begged – her finger hovering above the Snowy C-matic button. The other kids chattered in agreement and got closer to the device.
Mike smiled and shrugged. "Okay, why not pretend for a few seconds?" With that, the other adults and he placed their fingers on the Snowy C-matic button. The kids did so as well.
After five seconds, the family members removed their fingers from the button – but let out a few gasps as they saw red, blue, and green beams shooting out of the TV. The three colorful beams cast projected red, blue, and green circles on the walls, furniture, and through the sliding glass doors. Every object that the beams touched seemed to gain black borders, and all complex color shades were replaced by those of a simpler, seemingly cartoon-like palette. The Bradys and Alice stared at each other nervously – their hearts pumping as the videocassette recorder emitted some type of whining noise as the tape reels spun faster and faster. The red, blue, and green circles did so as well as they moved around the room. The Bradys and Alice started to run out of the room but bumped into each other and fell on the floor. Before they knew it, they saw nothing but colors swirling before their eyes, which was the last thing they saw before falling asleep.