Mary Ann Summers was a young twenty year old girl from the small town of Win-field, Kansas. She led mostly a sheltered life. She worked five days a week at the local general store, hung out with her friends on Saturday, taught Sunday School on Sunday... and come Monday it would start all over again. She still lived at home, as did most of the young, unmarried women in her hometown did. She would come in from work, help her mother with dinner, and then afterwards, would go out to the fields and pester her brothers until dinnertime. At bedtime, she and her sister would lay awake, talking about boys... mostly celebrities that they liked, because the home grown boys, as they called them, were bland in comparison.

Now, here she was, in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was all so exciting. She had never dreamed that she would be the winner of that radio contest. Hundreds, no thousands, of people from the surrounding area had to have entered that sweepstakes themselves. She recalled how shocked she had been when Horace Higgenbotthom, sponsor of the contest, had called the house asking for "Miss Mary Ann Summers". She didn't quite believe it at first. She thought maybe one of her brothers had went into town to use the phone at the filling station, to pull a fast one on her. That wasn't the case. While she was on the phone, all three boys had filed into the house for a glass of lemonade. It was true! She had actually won!

Her mother and father worried and fretted over her going such a long distance by herself.

"I can do it, mom and dad," she had said, "I'm a grown woman. I may be married in a few years and this may be my only chance to see what's outside of Kansas. Please, don't you trust me?" Her pleading, doe-like eyes were always a weakness for her father. She was a daddy's girl, and she knew how to use it to her advantage. Her sad puppy eyes had gotten her out of plenty of spankings when she was little. Now, it was going to be her ticket to the opportunity of a lifetime. Reluctantly, her parents agreed to let her make the trip. Her mother had always wanted to go somewhere grand, such as Hawaii, but it was never something that had happened for her . She was now glad that Mary Ann would get the chance to do what she never got to.

The sights all around her were so beautiful. She had never seen a palm tree in her life, except for in a poster. The people were lovely as well, with their lovely tan skin and thick black hair. A beautiful woman had greeted Mary Ann at the airport, placing a flower lei around her neck. Once outside the airport, a car was waiting to take her to her hotel... one that had been arranged as part of her vacation package. As she looked out the window, she studied her surroundings. Driving through downtown Honolulu, she saw bumper to bumper traffic, tall buildings, and people in business attire walking up and down the sidewalk. She imagined that this is what most large cities look like. However, the more the car drove and the farther they got from the city, the sights changed. She began to see the vastness of the Pacific spread out before her. More and more palm trees came into view. Her hotel was located near a beach, which included a marina, shops, concessions, and carriage rides. This excited Mary Ann. Although she had her own itinerary planned, she knew in her off time she would be down at that beach, taking full advantage of everything they had to offer.

The car pulled up to Mary Ann's hotel. The driver jumped out of the vehicle, got Mary Ann's luggage out of the trunk, and opened the door for her.

"Her you are Miss," he had said with a pleasant look on his face, "I hope you have a nice time while you're here."

"Thank you sir," Mary Ann said politely, pulling out a couple of dollars to tip her driver with. He muttered a thank you and nodded with a smile before getting back into his vehicle. Soon the driver was out of sight. Mary Ann grabbed her two suitcases and entered the lobby of the grand hotel.

"Hi, may I help you?"

"Yes, I'm Mary Ann Summers. I'm the contest winner for the KZQD radio contest in Kansas. I believe I have a room waiting for me here." The clerk flipped through a large book filled with names.

"Summers... Summers... oh yes, here we are. Mary Ann Summers in room 238. I'm sorry Miss Summers, but your room isn't ready yet. I truly apologize. We have a housekeeper out with the mumps. It might be a couple of hours."

"Oh, that's ok. I think I'll head over to the beach for awhile."

"Here, take this coupon for the Island Charter Tours."

"Oh, what's that?"

"It's boats that tour the other islands and surrounding areas. There are four different boats to choose from, the Dynasty, the Torpedo, the Minnow, and the Mermaid. Confidentially, if I were you, I would avoid the Minnow. The First Mate is a walking disaster." Mary Ann looked at the clerk like she had flipped her lid.

Gosh, that wasn't a very nice thing for her to say. I may purposely choose the Minnow. Now I'm intrigued. Surely no one can be that bad. The poor fellow. She had thought.

She made her way outside and crossed the parking lot to head over to the Marina. She could already feel the sea salt on her skin as a breeze blew in from the direction of the ocean. She could smell it, she could taste it. She could hear the sounds of childrens' laughter and the roaring of the waves. Excitement filled her heart, as she rushed to the the booth that said Island Charter Tours. She couldn't wait to get her ticket. Out on the open sea... she had never been on a ship before either... a canoe maybe... but never a ship. She wondered if she would enjoy herself, or if she would get seasick. She eyed the boats down at the Marina. The Dynasty looked like an all out luxury liner. It was monstrous in size. A very good looking, clean cut, clean shaven gentleman stood on the boardwalk, giving orders to a small crew. He must have been the captain. The Mermaid was much smaller. A picture of two mermaids were painted on either side of the ship's name. A mermaid statue jutted out from the ship's bow. The Torpedo was nowhere in sight. It must have already been out on the water. Then she spotted the Minnow. The captain, she assumed, was a large, older man. He was shouting orders to a younger man, who had just dropped a tray of glasses.

"GILLIGAN! YOU KLUTZ! GET THIS MESS CLEANED UP!" The captain had shouted, "We've got a lot of work left to do before the passengers board." The captain had turned around to study his map once again. When the captain's back was turned, this Gilligan, whoever he was, had stuck his tongue out at his commanding officer. Mary Ann giggled, and placed a hand over her mouth. The young man was cute... very cute. He was tall and lanky. His wispy brown hair was hidden under a white sailor hat, where only the front was flipped up. She couldn't see his eyes, though she tried to imagine...were they blue?... Green?... Brown?

"May I help you miss?" Mary Ann jumped at the sound of the woman at the ticket booth. She suddenly realized she had been daydreaming, trying to figure out this Gilligan character she had just seen.

I wonder what kind of name Gilligan is?

"Oh yes," Mary Ann stated. "I have this coupon here to take an island tour on one of the boats." She presented the coupon to the woman behind the counter.

"Alright dear." I need you to fill out this form. Name here, address here, emergency contact here, then date and signature at the bottom," the woman told here. Mary Ann filled out the form and handed it back to the woman.

""Ok, I can get you on the Dynasty. It will be leaving dock in approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. It's located on pier 2." the woman said, pointing a little to her right.

Mary Ann looked at her ticket. The Dynasty was a fine looking ship, with a fine looking captain too..yet she felt disappointed. Her mind kept saying, "the Minnow".

"Excuse me, is there any way I can get on the Minnow by any chance?" She asked the woman. The woman looked at her strangely, as if she wondered why she wanted to ride the Minnow specifically.

"I'm sorry ma'am. These boats usually have more passengers, but the Minnow is making several stops today, transporting passengers to other islands. They just have too much cargo and we can't allow any more than five passengers this time," the lady explained.

"Thank... thank you ma'am," she said.

"It's quite alright. Now, shops are to your left and concessions are to your right, if you care to kill a little time while you're waiting," she told Mary Ann. Mary Ann smiled and nodded as she picked up her suitcases and made her way down the boardwalk. She was about to enter a shop that sold floral print shirts, when the first mate of the Minnow caught her eye again. He was rushing about, mopping the deck and whistling happily to himself. Mary Ann had wanted to go into the shop and purchase one of those shirts for her father, but she couldn't take her eyes off of this Gilroy, Gilead... what was his name again? Oh yeah, it was Gilligan. She watched him intently, as he moved back and forth, stopping only to wipe his brow, then his arms would pump the mop back and forth again. He finished the mopping and went about checking to see if the wheel was greased enough to where the captain wouldn't have a hard time turning it, also making sure it wasn't too lose to where a wrong turn could occur. She stood there for the longest time, with thoughts filling her mind.

He doesn't look very old. I wonder how old he is? I wonder where he's from. He looks like he enjoys what he does. I wonder what he does with his off time. Mary Ann's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a voice calling to her.

"Hi there!" A male voice called out in her direction. Mary Ann looked around and wondered if she was the one being spoken to. She suddenly looked up and cupped her hand over her brow, shielding her eyes from the sun. It was the young man on the boat. She couldn't make out his face well because of the sun's rays blinding her. He sure sounded pleasant enough. She blushed, realizing that she was staring for quite some time and the young man had taken notice of this.

"Hi there!" He yelled again, waving at her.

"Hi there yourself," she said with a smile.