Ginger uncapped the pen and opened the notepad to a blank page. "Go ahead, Gilligan."

"So there was this girl."

"In your dream or in real life?"

"Both."

"Oh, really?" She couldn't wait to tell Mary Ann that, and then she remembered that she had to respect his right to privacy. She wasn't really a psychologist, but if she was going to play one, she should follow the rules.

"Yeah, uh, we met before I came to the island."
"Oh." She wondered, was this Gilligan's old sweetheart, or maybe a girl he'd had a hopeless crush on? Perhaps that was why he backed away from her and Mary Ann.

"Yeah, and I've had dreams about her."

She suddenly worried about what kind of dreams these were. Well, this was Gilligan, so his dreams were probably pretty innocent. "Go on."

"And, well, me and this girl, most people would say we have nothing in common. But in my dreams, we really connect. And I've even dreamed about being engaged, or even married to her."

This was sad. Gilligan dreaming about a girl he'd probably never see again, still dreaming about her after five years on the island. "Do you imagine a nice little home, with her in an apron, you coming home from work?"

"No, she's not that kind of girl."

"What?"

"I mean, she's a nice girl but exciting. I dream that we're spies, or vampires!"

"Vampires? She must not be very pretty."

"No, she is, even as a vampire."

These sounded like very strange dreams, even for Gilligan, but of course she couldn't say that. "So why do you think you're having these dreams now, when you haven't seen her in so many years?"

He opened his eyes and looked up at her from Mrs. Howell's deck chair, which they were using as the psychological couch. "Um, well, actually I've seen her more recently than that."

"More recently?" How was that possible? The only American women to visit their island were Eva Grubb and Erika Tiffany Smith, and she doubted Gilligan could have a past with either.

"Um, yeah, very, very, very recently."

And then it sunk in. He must mean her or Mary Ann. And while it was possible he was dreaming of Mary Ann as a vampire or spy, she really was more the homemaker in an apron type. "Me?" Ginger whispered. "You mean me?"

He swallowed and then quietly said, "Yeah."

"But, Gilligan, we didn't meet before coming to the island."

"Yeah, we did. On The Minnow."

Well, yes, that was technically true. "Why didn't you just say it was me from the beginning?"

"I wanted to find out what you thought the dreams mean."

"Well, they don't have to mean anything. Or they might mean something different than what you see on the surface."

"OK."

That was it? He had told her something very personal and now was willing to drop it? She had to ask, "Do you ever dream about being married to Mary Ann? Or anyone else?"

"Well, we were sort of engaged one time when I was a sheriff in the Old West. You were the saloon girl."

She laughed. "That's more like what I would expect you to be dreaming of me. Um, I mean if I'd thought about it."

"Yeah, but that was when I didn't know you that well and I was scared of you trying to kiss me all the time."

"It wasn't all the time!" she said indignantly.

"Well, more than I was used to. Then I realized you were mostly kissing me to get something from me, like a saw or a secret."

"Well, yes. But you were fun to kiss."

"You don't try anymore."

"I guess I don't want anything from you anymore. And we're better friends now."

"Yeah. So if I asked you to marry me, you'd probably let me down gently, right?"

She stared at him. "WHAT?"

"Well, I was thinking about it. And maybe I dream about being married to you because we're more alike than people realize. Like, we both have good imaginations and we love movies."

"Well, yes, but that's hardly a solid basis for a marriage."

"Then what is?"

She wasn't sure how to answer that. "Well, it's a lot of things."

"Do you think we could date and see how that goes?"

"Date? Gilligan, this is crazy!"

"What's crazy about it?"

"Well, for one thing, Mary Ann has a crush on you."

He shook his head. "Yeah, you told me that years ago, but I thought you meant you did."

"She really is sweet on you." Ginger felt a little like she was betraying Mary Ann's secret by telling him, but he had to know.

"I like her, too, but there's just something about you. And I could see spending the rest of my life with you much more than with her."

"Well, thank you, Gilligan, that's very flattering. But you seem to have forgotten that if we don't ever get rescued, we're all going to be spending the rest of our lives together. And this island is much too small for us to be here with Mary Ann being miserable."

"I'm not her boyfriend or anything."

"No, but she wanted you to be."

"Well, if I got her approval, then would you go out with me?"

"Go out? Gilligan, there's nowhere to date on the island."

"Well, we could go to the beach or something. Like that time I was fishing and you went with me and we laughed a lot."

She wondered if she should say no. But the truth was she'd always thought Gilligan was cute. After all, some of those times she could've been kissing the Skipper for information, supplies, and favors instead. OK, maybe part of the appeal, especially when she was first getting to know everyone, was trying to figure out if Gilligan was as innocent as he seemed. And that she had to chase Gilligan, rather than be chased like in Hollywood, had been part of the fun. Sometimes she'd caught Gilligan and that had been even more fun.

"Ginger?"

"What?"

"You look really cute with your hair pulled back and those black glasses. Kind of like Eva Grubb but still you."

"Oh, Gilligan." She always dressed this way when she was psychoanalyzing someone, and it was one of the few times she wasn't trying to look attractive. It was a very sweet compliment though. She leaned forward and kissed him, which would've been very unprofessional if she really were Gilligan's analyst.

He kissed back so warmly that her glasses steamed up.