As soon as he dived back under, Gilligan regretted it. He was exhausted! But he forced himself to swim to the bottom of the deeper part of the lagoon. He knew he wouldn't find the phone line. If it was there, he would have found it during one of his sixty two dives prior to this one. He suddenly stopped swimming and let himself float. It just wasn't fair! How was he supposed to know that the storm would drag the line back in the ocean? And that it would have been to their advantage? He thought that he, for once, was using his head and doing something smart. Turns out he shouldn't have been proud of himself for thinking ahead and taking action. He frowned and folded his arms.
Had anyone else happened to think about the rain damaging the wires, they would have sealed it, too. Right? Gilligan let his arms float to the side as he mentally sighed. A few bubbled escaped his nose, though. He turned around and gazed up at the surface. It never failed to surprise him how beautiful it was under the surface of the water. A lot of places were murky and full of debris, but it was the clear bodies of water where you noticed it best. Like here on the island. He's grown to love the island and the peace and beauty it offered on a daily basis. Sure he wanted to be rescued and return home like the others, but sometimes he felt he was the only one who appreciated this place.
Gilligan simply floated there, mesmerized by the glittering of the sun shining through the ripples on the surface. He followed the rays of light and propelled himself to one. Putting his hands out, he tried to catch the sun ray with a smile.
GILLIGAN'SISLAND
The six stood on the beach of the lagoon in bad moods.
"I just can't believe it! Our one opportunity of getting rescued, gone!" Ginger lamented.
"Now, Ginger, we don't know that it was our 'one' opportunity!" the skipper voiced. "I mean, look at all the times something comes us or the professor gets an idea!"
"That's true, Captain, but you must remember what happened to those opportunities," Mr. Howell put in with a pointed look.
As one, the group's eyes sought out the lagoon as if they could see that something swimming beneath the surface looking for the lost phone line.
The skipper sighed. "Yes, I know… I just can't believe it! What rotten luck."
The professor frowned. "That's it, Skipper! Luck!"
The others looked at him in question.
"It wasn't Gilligan's fault, in reality. He did what he thought was best. He couldn't have known that the storm would carry off the line! If that storm hadn't hit so fast, I probably would have done what Gilligan did. It was a split second decision. Even I couldn't have known or thought of the possibility of the line getting carried off or had the forethought to think about other possibilities, such as the water damaging the wires being to our favor!"
The six castaways stared at him before sharing a guilty look. "I suppose you're right, Professor…" the skipper allowed. He glanced at the lagoon. "Well, in any case, we'll let Gilligan finish this dive to search. Who knows? Maybe he'll find it!"
The others nodded. "Skipper," the professor said. "If he hasn't found it yet, it's just not th-"
"Skipper!"
Mary Ann's worried voice interrupted the professor's comment and they all looked to her.
"Yes, Mary Ann? What is it?" the skipper asked in confusion.
"How long can Gilligan hold his breath?" She turned wide eyes onto him.
He shifted. "Er, well I'm not sure exactly. But out of the recruits, I remember he held a record. Why?"
Looking at everyone, Mary Ann said, "He hasn't come up yet."
"What?!" Everyone stood to attention.
"Since he dived in when we made him! He hasn't come up!"
At that statement, everyone turned to the lagoon as if hoping to see the first mate treading water. The skipper let out a yelp.
"Gilligan!" He pushed his hat off and rushed into the lagoon. He dived in and frantically looked around. In the back of his mind, he was afraid he would find a body floating somewhere. Pulling himself towards the deeper part, the skipper told himself that he would find Gilligan swimming around. Maybe even following a pretty fish that distracted him. He turned around and his heart stopped. Further out in the lagoon, floating over the deeper end, was Gilligan. And he wasn't moving.
As fast as he could, the skipper swam towards his first mate and grabbed him around the chest with one arm before propelling them both towards the surface. Once they hit surface, he was relived to hear Gilligan coughing and spluttering. It meant he was breathing. It meant he wasn't dead.
Everyone on shore yelled for them and the professor and Mary Ann even waded out into the lagoon to meet them and help get them to dry land. The two sailors flopped onto the sand, one in utter relief the other in coughing fits trying to catch his breath. They all crowded around Gilligan to make sure he was alright, but the professor waved them back and knelt next to the younger man and gently pulled off the goggles. He and the skipper gently slapped him on the back.
"Gilligan, Little Buddy! Are you alright?!" the skipper shouted in fright.
After a few more coughs, Gilligan breathed in deeply before pushing himself to his hands and knees. He looked over at the skipper. "Why would you do that?!"
The skipper stared at him before glancing at the professor who was watching Gilligan intently. "Do what? Save you?"
He frowned. "Save me? From what?" Then his eyes widened and he shot up to his knees to twist around and look at the lagoon. "Was there a monster?" Gilligan flinched back from the lagoon at the thought. The thought reminded him of when he mistook the Japanese sailor's mini submarine for a sea monster. The professor and skipper assured him that there were no such things as sea monsters. Had they been wrong?
"From what? From drowning, you numbskull!" the skipper roared.
Gilligan stopped panicking to frown at him. "Drowning? I wasn't drowning. At least not until you startled me by grabbing me from behind!"
The skipper made to reply but stuttered to a stop. "What?!" Everyone stared at him.
Gilligan tilted his head. "I wasn't drowning," he repeated. "Why would I want to drown?"
To forestall the back and forth between the two sailors and get to the point, the professor interrupted and explained. "He didn't mean you were drowning on purpose, Gilligan. But you hadn't come back up so we thought you were in trouble."
Gilligan's eyes widened and a guilty expression flittered across his face. "Oh, that…"
"Yes, THAT, Gilligan! If you weren't drowning, then why didn't you come back up? You weren't swimming down there, I saw that much! You weren't even moving! For all I knew, you were unconscious or dead!" The skipper felt a shiver go up his spine at the thought. Had that been the case, he never would have forgiven himself for making his friend dive so many times.
Gilligan winced. He hadn't meant to alarm the others. He looked around at them sheepishly and guiltily, seeing the lingering fear in their eyes. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for you all to think I had drowned or anything. But you wouldn't let me stop! And I was exhausted and needed a break. If you wouldn't give me one, then I would take one in there!" He swept an arm towards the lagoon.
"Under the water, Gilligan?" the professor clarified.
With a shrug, Gilligan nodded. The others shared looks of guilt. They had been upset at losing their chance at rescue and took it out on the one person who causes the most trouble- even though he never did it on purpose. In their frustration, they hadn't seen that Gilligan was getting tried. Or if they had, they ignored it. They were standing is silence and guilt. Gilligan, who had been staring down at the sand, sagged at their silence. Believing they were angry at him, he sighed and picked up the goggles.
"Alright, I'll go back in and look for the phone line." He made to stand, but all at once everyone started shouting. Startled, he flinched and dropped the goggles.
"No, Gilligan, it's alright," the professor spoke up for them all. "It's long gone. And we apologize for making you dive into the lagoon so many times to look for it."
"And," the skipper added, standing up and pulling Gilligan with him, "we're also sorry to blame you so quickly. The professor pointed out that you only did what you thought was best and that any of us would have done the same."
Gilligan looked from the skipper to the professor and then to the others and realized it was the truth by their guilty and saddened expressions. "Thanks. But why couldn't you have thought of that before you yelled at me?"
Wiping the water off his face, Gilligan missed their grimaces. "We're sorry, Little Buddy. We won't do it again."
Gilligan turned to the skipper. "Won't do what? Make me dive after a missing phone line so many times or yell at me when something goes wrong?"
When no one answered him, he sighed and picked up the goggles before walking off. "You always yell at me and blame me when something goes wrong- even if it's not my fault," he muttered.
What he didn't realize was that the others heard him. They drew closer to each other and watched as the youngest man of the group disappeared down the path back to the huts.
"He's right, you know," Mary Ann spoke up first. "We do always blame him."
"You're forgetting, Mary Poppins, that Gilligan is the cause of most of the trouble." Ginger crossed her arms, even though she knew he didn't do it intentionally.
"No, no, he has a point," the professor said. "We are quick to blame him and yell at him. We hold him accountable, even if it was also our own faults."
"Mind what you're saying, Professor! A Howell is never at fault!" Mrs. Howell lightly smacked her husbands arm for the comment before anyone could respond.
"Oh, we've just gotta make it up to him!" The skipper wringed his hands in worry.
"I'm sure he's hungry after all the diving and swimming! I'll cook him a big meal! And his favorite pie!" Mary Ann said, walking off and listing out loud to herself what Gilligan's favorite foods were.
"Not to mention tired! I'll take over his part of the chores for the evening."
"I'll help you do those, Skipper." The professor and skipper followed after Mary Ann as the captain explained what the chores were.
"What can we do, Thurston?" Mrs. Howell turned to her husband in eagerness.
"Er, well, we can, uh… Hm…" Mr. Howell crossed an arm over his chest and rested his other on top, rubbing his chin. "I don't really know, dear. Be extra friendly?"
"Ooh, I know! I can mother him! Make sure he eats all of his vegetables and drinks all his milk!" Mrs. Howell mumbled to herself in excitement and hurried off.
Mr. Howell and Ginger shared an amused look. "She isn't wrong, and neither are you, Mr. Howell. We can be extra nice to him. Show him we really are sorry."
"Of course, my dear. Uh, shall we, then?" He offered his arm to her and she took it with a smile.
GILLIGAN'SISLAND
Later that day, Mary Ann- with Ginger's help- finished the big meal she planned out for Gilligan. It was all of his favorite foods in one sitting. Mr. Howell grimaced at the sight. The sheer amount of it alone made him nauseous, but the random assortment piled together was a dizzying array of color and texture. And taste, he imagined. Not that he planned to partake in the meal in its entirety.
The skipper, having finished his own chores and Gilligan's with the help of the professor, went to wake Gilligan up. When they had followed Gilligan to the huts he was no where in sight. Worried he ran off somewhere like he usually did when the others were being unfair to him, the skipper had checked their shared hut and found him fast asleep in his hammock. He told the others and they all agreed to let him sleep peacefully until lunch time.
With quiet steps, the skipper approached Gilligan. "Little Buddy!" he called out in a loud whisper. When he got no response, the skipper shook his shoulder. Gently at first, then harder when Gilligan didn't wake.
"Gilligan!" the skipper called out more loudly.
"Hmgh… What?" Gilligan mumbled. He scrunched his eyes at the skipper before rubbing his eyes.
"Time to wake up. We have a surprise for you!"
"What surprise?"
"I can't tell you because then it wouldn't be a surprise."
"Tell me what…?"
"Gilligan, wake up!"
Gilligan startled awake when the skipper grabbed his shoulder. "I'm awake, I'm awake."
The skipper frowned at him. "Gilligan, did you sleep in your wet clothes?"
Gilligan grabbed at his slightly stiff shirt. "I guess so… I know- I have to do chores… But, Skipper, I was so tired I would have fallen asleep on my feet if I hadn't taken a nap!"
"I know, Gilligan. Don't worry about your chores. It's lunch time now."
"Lunch?" Gilligan frowned. "That was a long nap!"
The skipper rolled his eyes. "We let you sleep, Gilligan. And your chores are taken care of."
"What?"
"That's part of the surprise, I suppose. But the main bit is waiting for you to wake up and go out to the table!"
"Oh, gee, Skipper. That's real swell of you all…" Gilligan slid out of the hammock, narrowly avoiding his captain's foot.
"Thank us all when you get out there, alright, Little Buddy?"
"Sure thing, Skipper," Gilligan nodded and they went outside. His eyes widened at the sight of all the food on the table. "Wow!"
Mary Ann and Ginger smiled, taking his reaction as a compliment. "It was Mary Ann's idea, Gilligan. It's all of your favorites!"
"Wow!" Gilligan stood next to the table and eyed everything hungrily, but he looked up at Mary Ann. "Thanks, Mary Ann! This is real nice!" Then he looked around at the others. "Thanks everyone… But why?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"To show you we're sorry, Gilligan. Now sit right over here," Mrs. Howell gestured to a seat.
"Oh, thanks. Uh, sorry for what…?"
"For making you go into the lagoon so many times, despite the fact that you hadn't found the phone line the first few dives. And also for always blaming you when things go bad. We realized that you were right," the professor said, sitting across from Gilligan.
"Oh, I hadn't meant for anybody to hear that…"
"Regardless, you make a valid point, and we are sorry for it."
Gilligan looked from the professor to the other castaways one by one. "Thank you. But you didn't have to go through all this trouble or do my part of the chores. Although, I really do appreciate it, so thanks."
Everyone smiled and took their seats. As they ate, Mrs. Howell stayed true to her word and made sure Gilligan had his fill of not only the vegetables and milk, but of everything else. Gilligan finished last, of course, and still had room for the pie.
"There is one other thing, Gilligan. I want you to promise to never stay underwater like you did earlier unless there is someone near who knows you're under there. Just in case something happens," the professor said in earnest.
Gilligan nodded his head. "I promise. Again, sorry for making you all worry… But I can hold my breath for a long time."
"We know," the skipper said dryly. Gilligan just grinned sheepishly.
The seven castaways sat around the table, idly talking and laughing about nothing and everything. Gilligan knew his friends really did care about him and he would try to remember that whenever they yelled at him. The other six knew Gilligan meant well and they would try to remember that whenever he messed something up.