Bob Henderson stretched as he got out of the boat and stepped up on the beach. "That was a long trip", he muttered to his friend, Mike Jaspers. Mike sighed and nodded. "Do you really think you'll find what you're looking for?" he asked.
Bob shrugged and motioned to the surrounding jungle. "I've heard that this is the right place", he said. "Although it's been fifty years so I'm not exactly sure of what we'll find now".
The two men walked towards the jungle, looking for what they had come for. Along the way, they saw a totem pole. They stopped to look at it and at the top of the pole, *there was a carved head that looked to be that of an older man, somewhere in his sixties. "Is that...?" Mike said in shock.
"Looks just like him", Bob answered. "We'll know more the farther in we get".
They continued walking for another hour and finally came across what appeared to be a pedal car made of bamboo. "I've heard rumors about this car", Mike said in awe. "This has to be it".
Bob nodded and motioned. "Come, we're almost to our destination if what I've heard is true".
The two men walked another ten minutes through the jungle and then stopped and stared when they came to a clearing. In the clearing were several grass and bamboo huts. "It's really true", Bob said, his voice rising with excitement. He barged into the clearing and made for the first hut. It had curtains hanging in the doorway. The curtains were faded and torn but it was evident that they, at one time, had been very rich and fine looking. They had been made of the finest silk available. Bob opened one of the doors to the hut and the door fell off in his hand. He frowned at the door and then cast it aside and went in. There were two beds made of bamboo and a vanity made of bamboo as well. There was also a closet full of old, vintage clothing that looked as though it belonged to someone quite wealthy at one time. Bob looked around and then grinned slightly and nudged Mike. When Mike looked, Bob pointed to the bed farthest from the door. On the bed was an old, worn out looking brown teddy bear. "Were there children on the boat?" Mike asked but Bob shook his head. "Not to my knowledge", he said. "A couple of the passengers were young and so was one of the crew but none of them were children".
"Let's look around some more", Mike suggested.
The two men went outside and went to the next hut. This hut too, had two beds in it and a vanity, all were made of bamboo like in the first hut. Mike went to the closet and pulled out dress and let out a low whistle. "Would you look at that", he exclaimed as he held up an elaborate beaded evening gown.
"That was the style about 50 years ago", Bob said as he too went to look in the closet. He reached in and found a simple red and white checked dress. "Cute", he said with a shrug as he laid it across one of the beds.
"A movie star and a farm girl?" Mike joked but Bob gave him a steady look. "That's the claim", he said.
Mike's eyebrows rose in surprise and he sat aside the evening gown.
Mike then went over to the vanity and opened a small, carved, wooden box and found a small collection of jewelry.
"Hey", Bob said, suddenly uneasy as though they were going through a tomb. "Let's check another hut".
Mike nodded and the two men left the hut and moved on to the next one. This one had a single bed in it and a desk, both made of bamboo. There was also a table in the center of the room and what looked like a home made chemistry set but whatever the contents of the test tubes had once been, was impossible to tell for they had long since dried up and some of the test tubes were even broken.
Bob walked to the desk and picked up a book and looked at it and then scanned the titles of several more books. "Guy must have been a genius", Bob muttered.
"Yeah, probably so", Mike agreed when he got a look at some of the books.
They went outside and to the next hut. "Looks like their supply hut", Mike said as he walked in. There wasn't much left on the shelves, just a can or two of pickled beets. One can had a hole in it and the contents had leaked out and left a stain on the shelf.
Bob picked up the other can and shook it but was only rewarded by a dry, soft thudding sound as if whatever was in the can had dried up with age long ago.
"Let's check out the last hut", Mike said uneasily and Bob quickly agreed.
When they left the hut, they were headed across a small compound when Mike grabbed Bob's arm. "Look", he said in a hushed voice. Bob looked and his eyebrows rose in shock. Sitting in a neat row were six crudely made headstones. Around the headstones was a small fence that was falling apart with age. They stepped over the knee high, little fence and walked up to the first headstone. "Lovey Howell was the name on the headstone but there was no date of birth, only a date of death. "Lovey Howell", Mike said softly to himself. He went on to the next one and read the name aloud. "Thurston Howell the third". They moved on to the third tombstone. "Jonas Grumby the Skipper", Mike continued. The went on to the fourth one. "Roy Hinkley", Bob said, taking over the reading of the tombstones. Bob stopped and studied the tombstone for a minute as if trying to remember something and then shrugged and moved on to the next. The name on the fifth tombstone caused some surprise for both of them. "Ginger Grant!" Bob said in surprise. He looked at Mike, his eyes wide. "When I studied film in college, some of the films we watched were ones staring Ginger Grant".
Mike's eyes went as wide as Bob's. "Wow", was all he could think to say.
They moved onto the last tombstone and read the name. "Mary Ann Summers", Bob said softly.
"The farm girl, I assume", Mike said in a quiet voice.
Bob nodded and then shivered slightly, the eeriness of the grave yard making him a little uncomfortable.
"Let's go check the last hut", Bob said as he quickly left the graveyard. He was followed closely by Mike.
They reached the last hut and went inside. What they saw caused both men to cry and and race from the ramshackle structure.
"Did you see that?" Mike choked out in horror.
Bob just nodded, not capable of putting anything into words.
They sat outside the hut for nearly two hours, trying to get up the nerve to go back inside. Finally, Bob rose to his feet and went in and a reluctant Mike, followed him.
In the hut was a small table and a washstand with a broken mirror hanging over it. At the other end of the room were two hammocks. The top one was empty but the bottom one held a skeleton. The bony form was covered with a blanket but when they peeled the blanket off, they saw a red shirt and a pair of light colored pants. When they checked out the feet of the skeleton, they found a pair of tennis shoes. Looking towards the head of the skeleton, they saw that a sailors cap rested on the head. "Who do you suppose this poor fellow was?" Mike asked as he gently covered up the remains.
"I'm guessing that he was the first mate, Gilligan", Bob answered.
Mike opened his mouth to speak again as he gestured at the bones in the hammock but Bob, anticipating his question was already answering. "There was no one left to bury him", he said.
They gently covered the remains and left the hut. They were both working on a documentary about the missing boat the SS Minnow but they decided then and there to scrap the whole project and let them rest in peace on their island paradise.