(fictional story about fictional characters)
(I know this isn't my usual subject matter, but I was watching reruns and The Brady Bunch, S4, E23, "A Room at the Top", came on. This is a story that was begging to be written.)
Just a week before, the whole family had gathered to celebrate Marcia's 18th birthday; and now they were all gathered again but for a far less fun reason. Mike, the patriarch of the bunch, had decided that this would be the perfect weekend to clean out the attic. After this weekend, Summer would start in earnest and everyone would be busy with their own agendas. Greg, Marcia, Jan and Peter all had various summer jobs; Bobby had Little League and play-dates with friends, and Cindy...well, Mike wasn't exactly sure what little girls did all summer. They had started the task very early on Saturday morning because the day was predicted to be a southern California scorcher, and there was very little (actually none) circulation in the attic.
It was hard, tedious work, with a lot of complaining by everyone (yes, even the Bradys got irritable); but usually they ended up laughing at some long-hidden gem in the attic. Load after load of stuff was trudged down the flights of stairs to the Brady garage, where it was sorted into two piles: one (the largest one) for the trash hauler, and the other for "treasures" they were contemplating keeping. Most of the second pile would later be added to the first pile. They were determined to finish the project on Saturday so they would have Sunday to relax.
When they were nearly done, Greg corralled his father and asked: "now that all the old junk is out of the attic, do you have any plans for the space."
"No, I guess we'll just use it to accumulate NEW junk," his father laughed.
"I was thinking that it would make a good place for a bedroom," Greg suggested, "You know after this summer, I'll only be home on weekends and it would be really nice to have some privacy from Peter and Bobby. They can be super annoying, and you know a guy my age needs some privacy. I can put some poster up and it'll be fine."
Mike DID know what Greg meant...he had kept magazines under his mattress when he was Greg's age himself. "That idea is not half bad," he slapped Greg on the back, "it will cut down on the little squabbles you have. I'll tell your mother."
Out in the garage at precisely the same time Marcia was talking to her mother: "hey mom, I was thinking that the attic would make a groovy bedroom. I could put up some curtains and posters and make it my own sanctuary. A girl my age really needs some privacy. I love Jan and Cindy, but sometimes I just need to be alone...you understand."
"Of course," Carol agreed, "I think that sounds like a fine idea...I'll let your father know."
Upstairs in the boys' room, Greg had broken the news to Peter and Bobby, who were overjoyed with the prospect of getting rid of their bunk-beds. When the dust from the thorough sweeping had finally settled, they even volunteered to help him lug his stuff up to the attic. They just dropped the boxes in the middle of the attic and abandoned them. When Marcia carried her first box up to her new bedroom, she was perplexed when she found more boxes. Just then Greg appeared on the stairs carrying a small end table made from a milk crate. "Why are you cluttering up my new bedroom," she asked.
"You mean MY new bedroom," Greg told her, "dad said I could have the attic."
"Well mom promised it to me," his sister defiantly answered, and stood at the top of the stairs with her arms akimbo.
"Well I'm the oldest and I asked first," Greg informed her, crowding by and setting his crate down.
"No I asked first, and you don't get everything just because you're the oldest," she told him.
Just as it was starting to turn into a shouting match, Mike and Carol appeared on the stairs and Mike spoke up: "OK you two; your mother and I made a mistake and didn't consult each other before promising the attic to either of you. I never occured to us that either of you would want this hot, stuffy old space, until you asked."
"OK, so who gets the attic," Greg inquired, the sweat dripping off his brow.
"We're going to let you two reach that decision...and no arguing," Carol told them, "whatever you decide is fine with us...we trust you to come to a reasonable and fair decision."
When the parents had left the attic, Greg sat on his crate and Marcia sat on the top step. The truth was they really did like each other and didn't want to hurt each others feelings, and Greg started to talk. "After this summer, I'll only be home on weekends because Freshman year I have to live in a dorm on campus...it's the rules. So after the summer the attic will be all yours. I can stand Bobby and Peter on the weekends, I guess. Next summer and next school year, a couple buddies and I have already started to make plans to get an apartment off campus. So I'm only asking for the attic this summer."
"Thanks Greg," Marcia said, acknowledging his sincere effort to reach a solution, "but you just have no idea how annoying Cindy and Jan can be sometimes. This is my senior year and I really need some privacy sometimes."
"No, I get it," he replied. Glancing around, he suggested: "you know, there really is a lot of room up here. We could probably split it down the middle and make two rooms."
"Greg, that's genius," Marcia agreed, "and we'll really only be sharing it for the summer."