Summary: Marcia’s cousin, Laurie, is coming to visit the Bradys with her mother and little sister. Marcia and Laurie used to be close, but Marcia suspects that things are changing between them. How can grow close again?

 

 

“I’ve got good news,” my mom announced at dinner.

“Is it something good?” my little sister, Cindy, asked.

“Are you having a baby?” my little brother, Bobby, asked.

“No. Mike, you mind if I tell them?” Mom asked, turning to face my dad.

Dad nodded. “I don’t see why not.”

Mom nodded back. “Well, I hope you girls remember my sister Shirley.”

I vaguely remembered my Aunt Shirley. The last time I remembered seeing her was when my first father had passed away after his funeral. And that was only four years ago.

“What about her?” I wanted to know.

Mom looked extremely happy. “Well, she’s in town today. She’s coming with her two daughters! Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Her daughters? That would make them our cousins, right?” my other sister, Jan, said.

“Yes. You see, her sons are going to be on a tour and they won’t be able to go to it. Shirley called me the other day and asked me if they could stay here for a week.”

“A tour?”  I said, puzzled.

“Didn’t you know, Marcia? Your aunt and cousins are in a band. They call themselves the Partridge Family.”

Jan gasped. “Omigod! I had no idea Keith was in that group! He is so cute! And he’s my cousin!”

“Who’s Keith?” Cindy asked.

I rolled my eyes. I remembered Keith, my bossy and stubborn cousin. We were almost the same age and he was always getting me into trouble. Over the years, he’d grown up into a handsome and talented young man.

Cindy was only a baby when our dad took us into the Virgin Islands for two years before we moved back into the States. By that time, the Partridges had a daughter and son named Chris and Tracy and lived in Florida while we stayed in California. I was seven, Jan was four, and Cindy was two. My first dad had moved us to Mexico for three years and after that, we moved back to California. By that time, he got a call from his boss, telling him he had to go to the Caribbean for a year to search for a lost and ancient object. Mom didn’t want to go anywhere else, so she decided to stay with us while he left.

On the way, his boat sunk and he’d died. During his funeral, Aunt Shirley came back from Florida with her children. There was Keith, Laurie, Danny, Chris, and Tracy. Keith and I were ten, Laurie was a year younger than us, Jan and Danny were seven, Chris was six and Tracy and Cindy were both five.

That’s when I first met Laurie. I remembered her as a small, brown-haired girl with pale skin, very tall and awkward-looking, and average. She had glasses, clear braces, and always wore jeans. I was the opposite of her; I had tanned manila skin, taller than Laurie, and poised. My eyesight was 50/50, my teeth were straight, and I hated jeans. I always wore skirts and dresses (I still do, as a matter of fact.).

When we first met, we hated each other. We disagreed on everything. We always fought.

Mom and Aunt Shirley finally had enough and put us into dance class together. There, we saw each other everyday because Mom had moved into Aunt Shirley’s neighborhood. From what I remember, the only thing Laurie and I had in common was dancing. We loved it when our moms dolled us up for our lessons. They even put Jan, Cindy, and Tracy in the dance class. All of us were dressed to the nines in our purple and gold lame` leotards and slippers. On Christmas and Easter, they dressed us all alike. In fact, I still have many of those photos, but I’ve locked them up.

A year later, Mom met Mike Brady, an architect with three boys. Mom wanted to marry him, but he lived way too far away from our old neighborhood. When Mom married him, we all split apart. The Partridges wanted to pursue music and Mom wanted to get married again.

And that was that. We hadn’t seen or heard from them in five years. Keith was seventeen, Laurie was sixteen, Danny was twelve, Chris was eleven and Tracy was ten.

“Mom, it’s been five years, hasn’t it?” I replied.

Mom nodded. “You remember how your Aunt Shirley and I used to dress you, Laurie, Jan, Cindy, and Tracy alike every Christmas and Easter? Oh, you girls were so adorable! All of you were the best ballet dolls in the world!” she gushed.

“Do you have pictures of them? I’d like to see those!” My older brother, Greg, asked.

I covered my face in my hands. “You do not want to see them! Some of them are embarrassing!”

“The more embarrassing they are, the better you probably look!” My younger brother, Peter, quipped.

Everyone laughed except me.

“I remember those outfits. I agree with Marcia. Some of those outfits were kind of silly, Mom,” Jan replied.

“I don’t remember anything! What did the outfits look like?” Cindy asked.

I laughed. “Oh, Cindy! There was this one time, Mom and Aunt Shirley made us all wear bunny PJs for Easter. They had bunny ears on the tops of the heads!”

Everyone laughed.

“Oh, I just cannot wait to see Shirley! You guys will love her!” Mom said to Dad, Greg, Peter, and Bobby.

“Is she our Aunt Shirley, too?” Bobby asked.

“I guess she is, in a way. Hey, maybe you can dress Greg, Peter, and Bobby alike!” Jan hooted.

Peter made a face. “Thanks, but I think I’ll stick with being different.”

We laughed again.

“When is she coming, Mom?” I asked.

“Oh, I asked her to come tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. I figured she and the girls would want to, because Keith, Danny, and Chris have to leave early in the morning. All of them are leaving the same day.”

“This is going to be super cool! I can’t wait to see them!” Jan exclaimed.

Mom put her napkin down on her plate. “Do you all have homework to do?” she asked.

“Yeah,” we said glumly.

“Good. Let’s eat dessert and I’ll see if anyone needs help with something.”

“I need help with my spelling, Mom,” Bobby replied.

“And I need help with math,” Peter said.

Jan brightened. “Let me help you with that. I’m a math wiz.”

“Okay, great!” Peter replied.

“I think I’ll go to my room now. I want to be alone,” I said.

“No dessert, Marcia? Alice will have the cherry pie out of the oven soon,” Mom said.

“We’re having vanilla ice cream with it!” Cindy added, licking her lips.

“No thanks. I’m stuffed. If you all don’t mind, I have tons of homework to do.”

Everyone looked at each other.

“Since when are you so eager to do homework?” Greg asked.

“I just want to have some peace and quiet and do something that doesn’t require a lot of standing up and talking.”

And with that, I went upstairs.

Inside the bedroom I share with Jan and Cindy, I sat down on my bed and just thought.

I wonder what would have Aunt Shirley coming back after five years. And how different are they now? I wonder if they even remember us.

I sighed. Then I went into the dresser drawer and took out my yellow nightgown. After I put it on, I took out my hairbrush and began brushing it at least a hundred times before going to bed.

I brushed my teeth, wiped my face with my cloth, and finally went to bed, not giving a thought about homework. I didn’t even have homework, anyway.

I tried to stay awake but I couldn’t. I fell fast asleep.

 

 

“BANG!” I heard a weird noise that sounded like something had dropped. Then I heard a person’s voice go, “Whoa!”

Was it a dream? I looked at my clock. 3:20, it read. I yawned and stretched. I must have been really sleepy. It seemed like only minutes before I’d fallen asleep.

I got up and looked around. Both Jan and Cindy weren’t in bed, which was weird, because Mom and Dad always had a curfew.

I opened my bedroom door and tiptoed to the stairway. Voices were heard. I peeked behind the wall.

Aunt Shirley was in the living room with Mom, Cindy, Tracy, Jan, and Laurie. Cindy was sitting in Aunt Shirley’s lap, Jan was sitting next to Mom on the couch, and Laurie had Tracy in her lap on the floor.

“Carol, I’m glad you decided on having us over for the next couple of days. Traveling in a tour bus is very hard work.”

“What’s it like, Aunt Shirley? I mean, having to travel all across the country?” Jan asked.

“Exciting! We’ve been everywhere and seen everything! Once, we took a trip to the Everglades!” Laurie gushed.

“Really? Oh, that sounds groovy! I’ve heard of the Everglades, but where have you gone to perform?”

“Well, New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Boston, Toronto, Ontario, Orlando, Miami, Montreal, New Haven, Denver…Oh, my. We’ve to several more.”

Jan’s eyes shined. “I would just love it if we could go to places like that! I’ve always dreamed of traveling all over the world.”

Aunt Shirley smiled. “Oh, Jan! That’s sounds terrific! Traveling is my favorite thing to do!”

Laurie tapped Mom’s shoulder. “Um…Aunt Carol? Where’s Marcia?”

“Still sleeping, I suppose,” Mom told her.

“You want me to wake her up for you?” Cindy asked.

“Oh, sure. I’ve been dying to see her. Bring her down,” Aunt Shirley replied.

“I’m here! I’m here!” I replied, running down the stairs.

“Marcia!” Laurie shrieked, running into my arms.

“Oh, Laurie! I’ve missed you! You look fantastic!” I replied.

“You, too! Oh, Marcia! I have so much to tell you!”

“What are you doing here? I thought you’d come earlier,” I replied.

“We were planning to do that, but the boys left early. Mom figured that’d we’d leave early, too. So here we are!”

I smiled.

“Marcia, you look absolutely gorgeous! You’ve really grown up,” Aunt Shirley remarked. She hugged me tightly.

“And you look pretty, too, Aunt Shirley,” I said.

I looked down at my youngest cousin, Tracy. “Aw, Tracy! You look sooo cute!” I shrieked. I gave her a hug and ran my hand down her long red hair.

“Hey, Marcia. Guess what?” Tracy said.

“What?” I asked.

“Mom got me a new bike!”

“Really? What color is it?”

“It’s red and it has white streamers and I have a blue helmet for it!”

“Wow! You’re very patriotic!”

“I brought it with me so I can let Cindy ride it, too.”

I grinned. I always remembered Tracy being generous with anything she had.

Cindy’s eyes lit up. “Oh, boy! That’s super!” she exclaimed.

Jan put an arm around Laurie and me. “Hey, I’m really tired. Can we all go to bed now?”

Mom looked at the clock. “We sure can,” she said. “Shirley, we have a den with a sofa-bed. Do you want to sleep in there?”

Aunt Shirley yawned. “Anyplace with a bed, Carol, will do.”

“Hey, you can share the bed with me. Or we can all sleep on the floor in my room,” I said to Laurie. “Jan, Cindy, Tracy, you, and me.”

Laurie grinned. “We used to always do that,” she replied.

“Well, we can do it now.”

“Okay. Just let me get my stuff,” she replied.

She walked behind the couch and retrieved her things. Her ‘things’ added up to about four suitcases.

“Four suitcases? But you’ll only be here for a week,” I said.

“I know, but I can’t leave all my important stuff behind. Can you help with this stuff? Most of it’s fragile and I can’t carry it all by myself.”

I began to protest, but thought better of it. Laurie was my favorite cousin and I would do anything for her.

After lugging Laurie and Tracy’s belongings in our room, all of sat down on the beds. Laurie was looking around the room, in awe.

“Marcia, don’t tell me you sleep here?” she replied.

“Yeah, I do,” I replied.

“This is your room?”

“Yup. Why?”

“Why don’t you have your own room?”

“I wish I did, but my mom and dad think that being together in a room is what brings people together. And besides, I don’t mind sharing with Jan and Cindy.”

“Well, I have my own room and Tracy does, too. I couldn’t live with my baby sister living with me in my room. All of us have our own room.”

“Oh…well…that’s nice,” I replied.

Laurie shrugged. “What are we going to do tomorrow?” she asked.

“Well, my brother, Greg, was going to take us to the_”

“Greg? Your stepbrother, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, super cool!”

“Yeah, he’s a lot of fun.”

“Is that him?” Laurie asked, pointing to a picture of us on a family vacation. She picked up the picture and looked at it.

“Yep, that’s him. The tall one. The other boys in the picture are Peter and Bobby, the man’s name is Mike, and the older woman is our housekeeper, Alice,” I told her.

“Boy, I’ll bet he’s a lot of fun! He’s cute!” Laurie squealed.

“Well, that’s what the other girls in school say,” I replied.

Laurie collapsed on Jan’s bed. “I vowed that when I came here, I’d at least meet one guy in your neighborhood and it seems like I’ll have my chance!”

“Greg!” I exclaimed.

“Maybe! Marcia, he’s so cute! Look at him!”

“Laurie, I see him everyday and quite frankly, I’m tired of looking at him,” I said.

Jan took out blankets. “These blankets are very warm! Mom knitted them specially for us!”

“That’s okay. I brought blankets of my own,” Laurie replied. She began digging into her suitcase and pulled out an expensive fur blanket.

“Oh, Marcia! I just realized that I can’t sleep on the floor. It ruins my posture,” she replied.

I frowned. “Well, we all don’t have to sleep on the floor. I can sleep with you then.”

Laurie smiled. “That sounds okay. Alright, we can sleep on your bed and the others can sleep on the floor.”

Just then, Jan started sneezing.

“Jan, you got a cold?” I asked.

“No, I’m allergic to fur, remember?”

“Oh, no!” I exclaimed. I turned to Laurie. “Laurie, it must be your fur blanket. Jan’s allergic to fur. It makes her sneeze.”

“But I can’t sleep without my blanket!” Laurie replied.

“Well, we can’t have Jan sneezing all night either,” I said.

“Well, I want to sleep with my blanket.”

I sighed. “Laurie, look. It’s almost 4 in the morning. I’m tired. We’re all tired. You can sleep with your mother, if you want. But you have to take other people in consideration, you know.”

Laurie got up in a huff. “Okay, okay. I’ll sleep downstairs with my mom.”

“Don’t feel bad, Laurie, but_” I began.

“It’s okay, Marcia. I understand. I wouldn’t want to hear Jan either. At least no one in my family has allergies.”

And with that, she marched out of the room.

Jan stopped sneezing. “Thanks, Marcia,” she replied.

“No problem. Now, let’s get some sleep. We hardly have anytime to get some sleep. And let’s not wake Tracy and Cindy, okay?”

Jan and I looked at the two of them, sleeping soundly in a huddle on Mom’s knitted blue blanket.

Jan nodded. “Alright. Good-night, Marcia,” she whispered.

“Good-night, Jan,” I replied.

Jan fell asleep.

I looked at Cindy and Tracy one last time. Why, that used to be Laurie and me, when we were younger. Why doesn’t Laurie want to do these types of things anymore? I thought.

I yawned. I was too tired to figure it out. I went to sleep.