The Howells quickly made their way back to the encampment. They could smell Mary Ann making a coconut cream pie as they neared their makeshift little neighborhood and the sent compelled them to run even faster. A Howell running for food and to carry news, what were they, Marathon?...Thurston never thought he'd see the day! Meanwhile Lovey thought the souls of her Neiman Marcus flats were about to cave in, or maybe sink into the sand with each step, but nonetheless their excitement carried them forward and back to camp.
Lovey couldn't wait to tell the other castaways the news about Eunice and Horace. She wished however, that Horace was not coming. Poor Eunice, spending time with that selfish, self-centered, irresponsible drunk! And if Blanche was with them, she must really be suffering. Blanche was a self-centered, selfish young woman, who Lovey detested greatly. She loved to party as much as her husband and loved the way he spoiled her and showered her with expensive gifts. It was tasteless.
"Skipper, Professor!" Lovey called.
"Ginger, Mary Ann!" Thurston added.
"Gilligan!" They called in urgent unison.
"What is it Mr. and Mrs. Howell?" The Skipper rushed into the camp, ax in hand. He'd been in the process of chopping down a tree. He and Gilligan had hoped to make a new recreation hut so they'd all have somewhere dry to dine, cook, play board games and socialize during the coming monsoon months.
"Our friends are coming!"
"They're what?" The sailor was worried that the millionaires were beginning to lose their minds. "Here?"
"We just heard it on the radio!" Lovey explained cheerfully.
"Oh!" He burst. "We're going to be rescued!" The Skipper hollered. His cheery voice carried and rambled about the island, through trees, clearings and huts.
"Rescued?" Mary Ann and Ginger looked at each other, taking their eyes off of what they were cooking.
"Rescued?" The Professor questioned, dropping a boiling hot test tube on the ground.
"Rescued?" Gilligan exclaimed. He was in the jungle trying to catch a butterfly. The news shocked him so much that he lost his balance and fell into the waterfall.
Soon everyone was gathered around the dining table urgently awaiting the Howell's full story about their imminent rescue.
"You see, they're our oldest and dearest friends!" Lovey gushed.
"Yes, the Douglas' you see." Thurston clarified. The Professor thought it was funny that Mr. Howell acted like they should all automatically know whom he was speaking of.
"There were some Douglas' who lived by my farm back home." Mary Ann said sweetly. Gilligan noticed, her deep chocolate eyes glisten as the sun began its descent over the Pacific.
"How long have you known em?" Gilligan asked as he bit into another banana. He was still soaking wet from falling into the water and held his blanket tightly around his shoulders. The Skipper found it funny that he hadn't bothered to remove his soaking wet white sailor's hat.
"Oh for ages and ages!" Mrs. Howell stopped herself mid comment, realizing she didn't really want to admit she'd been at college so long ago.
"Since college." Mr. Howell finished.
"Yes." Lovey agreed, batting her eyelashes and realizing she could continue the conversation with grace. "You see, I met Eunice when we were sophomores in college. Thurston and Horace were dear friends at Harvard and Eunice was attending Radcliffe College, near Harvard. I came to visit Thurston one weekend. It was quite an eventful and simply marvelous weekend!"
"Well it didn't start out that way." Thurston chuckled. "I can just see it now!" He began. Gilligan could see everything get all blurry all of a sudden and new a story was imminent. He loved stories!
Eunice Smith had just got out of her last class for the week at Radcliffe College. The college was basically a Harvard for women and located very close to Harvard's campus. She was a sophomore and an English Major. She was surprised to see her boyfriend Horace Douglas, a Harvard student, waiting for her outside her classroom.
"Hello, I didn't expect to see you here. Is there something you wanted to tell me?" asked Eunice, as she began to walk with Horace to her dorm.
"Yeah, Thurston's girlfriend is coming down from Vassar in about an hour. I said we'd go out to dinner where we always go", said Horace.
"Who is his girlfriend?" asked Eunice.
"Well she's Eunice too...but everyone calls her Lovey, Eunice Wentworth," replied Horace.
"Oh no! Horace why didn't you remember to tell me earlier? I can't meet her! If mother found out she'd kill me!" exclaimed Eunice. Horace thought he saw his girlfriend begin to shake slightly.
"Eunice calm down! What's wrong with Lovey?" Horace raised an eyebrow.
"If she's anything like her mother, she's a monster! That woman is a narrow-minded bigot who thinks that my mother's family is the scum of the earth, and likes to remind everyone of it! Just because our ancestors lived in Ireland lording over those Irish peasants! Then she always reminds my mother she is not eligible for the DAR. Our mothers are enemies and I've been forbidden to ever speak to Lovey," said Eunice.
"That woman does sound like a monster, but you don't even know Lovey. With a nickname like that, she may not be a monster", said Horace. In fact, I'd call her a sweet blonde dingbat, Horace, having met Lovey just once before, said to himself.
"Well I'll go to meet her, but if she says anything cruel, I won't put up with it! Oh Horace you have no idea how much I've..."
"Yes, Eunice I know, I have no idea how much you've suffered."
"Horace I'm sure we will argue all night, I'm sure!... Could you stay here until I put my satchel away?" said Eunice who was now outside her dorm.
"Sure, Honey", said Horace, giving Eunice a quick kiss on the cheek.
A few minutes later Thurston's driver was parking the car in Harvard Yard. The young millionaire stood waiting patiently for the car to come to a complete stop, the back passenger's side door aligned perfectly with his step. Thurston Howell III reached out in nervous anticipation, to grab the elegant white-gloved hand of his beloved. Would she notice that he was perspiring and tingling all over? It was like bola-bola fever, he was about to burst into hives!...in actuality it was just seeing Lovey: after being together for years, her presence, especially at first, still made him nervous. She kissed his cheek softly in greeting and gave him a warm but proper sort of hug. He gulped, feeling his heart began to pound again.
"Hello Lovey."
"Oh Thurston my darling! It's so wonderful to see you." She squealed, taking his arm when he offered it. Before she knew it they'd began their traditional stroll around the campus and soon abandoned the chauffeur and the valet and were walking amidst other students playing Frisbee on the lawn, studying, and even having a romantic interlude.
Thurston was shocked when Lovey pulled him behind a tree and kissed him deeply...and on the lips. That was the first time she'd done that. He didn't know what to say or do and could scarcely breathe. She smiled tenderly, holding a single finger up to her lips, warning him to be quiet: he loved when she flirted with him.
"Mummy warned me about you Vassar girls and your kissing."
"Shu, Thurston." She teased, running her fingers up his chest teasingly and kissing him again. "I've missed you." She finished, answering his unspoken question about why she was suddenly acting so forward.
"Oh me too Lovey." He held her gloved hands in his own, relishing her touch and the whimsical sent of her perfume.
"I, I um..." She started.
She had something she wanted to ask about. She wasn't exactly a Gibson girl, but she wasn't a Victorian lady in a gilded cage either. She knew what her mother would say about what was on her mind, but she had no idea what was proper for her to articulate to him...but was he ever going to ask. Was he ever going to make a move? Or would she have to be the one sneaking behind trees for the rest of their relationship.
"What is it Lovey?"
"Well Thurston, I...I uh. I don't want to be so forward." She giggled pleasantly, wishing there were just about anything else she could turn her attention to.
"Forward...Lovey how could you possibly be any more forward than you just were?" He wished he wouldn't have asked that: the next step went well beyond boundaries they should ever breach prior to saying their vows and bordered on the animalistic: on the other hand, he as a man, and she as his love...he couldn't resist thinking about it...just a little.
"Thurston." She began. Her big blue eyes looked up sweetly into his, not lustfully as they had a few moments prior. Without warning Lovey froze. Lovey just stood there wordless and breathless almost like a stage actor who'd just blanked at the height of delivering the most important soliloquy of the evening. Realizing she was staring off into space a bit, Lovey quickly collected herself. "What are we doing this evening darling?" She asked, figuring that if she couldn't expect a marriage proposal, she might at least get a cultured evening in Boston...maybe, hopefully at the ballet.
"Well Lovey, that's the surprise. I was hoping you'd come to dinner with one of my closest friends, who you've met before, Horace and his lovely girlfriend...I think you'll get along smashingly well."
"Oh Thurston that's splendid! It sounds like such fun. Now who is she?" She burst.
"Ms. Eunice Smith."
"Ha Thurston! Smith! You know what mother says about them!" Lovey became obstinate within seconds and turned her back on him crossing her arms.
"No, no...I don't." He trailed off. Lovey's mother had so many rules and biases, it was just too much. "But you know what she thinks of me Lovey." He reminded, causing his girlfriend's ears to perk up. She turned around in an instant and casually placed her arms around his neck.
"Oh Thurston darling you're right. She does think that about you my poor darling!"
"Lovey, just come with me and have a pleasant evening...you never know what might happen." Lovey was seething inside but decided to go forward to appease her Thurston.
"Alright darling." She agreed, pulling him in for another kiss.
"Mrs. Howell!" Ginger growled, pretending to be shocked. She smiled at this story, and had always known that Mrs. Howell had a flirty side too. Gilligan, on the other hand, blushed; he hadn't wanted to know that about his mother figure. Gilligan took a deep breath and reminded himself that she was a mother to him not a woman and could never have behaved like that. Ever.
" Oh Thurston, look it's a boat!"
"Oh, yes Lovey! It's Horace and... Oh how vulgar it's his southern belle!" Thurston uttered with disdain. Ginger giggled. He sounded almost like a self absorbed valley girl who'd just witnessed a horrible fashion faux pas... only whatever the male, eastern, upper crust version of that was...oh California...Ginger smiled.
"And there's Eunice, the poor dear!" Lovey was looking through her lorgnette and was shocked to see Blanche in the boat with Eunice and Horace! "Oh what scandal this would make!"
"Especially at the Harvard club you know!" Thurston added.
"Which one is Eunice?", asked Gilligan.
"The lady who is more respectable looking", replied Lovey. Although Blanche came from one of the wealthiest families in Texas, she acted in a way that was not very proper at times. She was 50, but liked to act like she was 20 it seemed.
"Look, it's Lovey and Thurston!", exclaimed Eunice so happy to see her friends.
"Oh yeah, it is! Thurston! It's me Horace!" Horace yelled. About a minute later they were docking the small coast guard boat.
"Hi y'all! Horace is so glad to see Thurston and Lovey again, but who are the rest of y'all?",asked Blanche
"Lovey darling, you're alive! I was so afraid you would perish!" Exclaimed Eunice.
"Horace, Eunice...Blanche..." Lovey began, faneing politeness to Blanche. "This is the Captain, his first mate Gilligan, the professor, Ginger Grant..."
"The movie star you know." Thurston reminded.
Ginger smiled flirtatiously, recalling that Mr. Howell had promised to pay for the production for a new movie for her upon their return to the mainland. Lovey rolled her eyes. She realized long ago that their flirtation was innocent and silly and was done partially to make her angry. Eunice, however, was concerned immediately.
"And this Mary Ann Summers. We were shipwrecked with them", explained Thurston
"Pleased to meet you all", said Eunice.
"We'd love to get you all off this island and there is plenty of rum for a smashing party", explained Horace. Eunice rolled her eyes; of course her ex-husband would want to drink immediately.
"Why don't we have a party here? I haven't talked to you in so long, Eunice and you must meet everybody", declared Lovey she took her friend's arm and began to walk in the direction of the Howell hut. Thurston and Horace began to follow. The four were falling back into an archaic pattern that only seemed natural.
"Horace you must tell me all about how things are at the polo matches, racetrack and of course the Stock Market", said Thurston happy to see his friend again.
"Wait!" Gilligan called. The four turned to face the young sailor. "You didn't finish the story."
"The story?" Eunice asked. "What story."
"Oh Eunice it's nothing." Lovey laughed, she didn't want her to know that they were about to talk about when they first met. The bad part when they first met. Thurston laughed.
"Oh Eunice, Lovey and I were just about to regale your first meeting."
"Our first meeting...you mean Lovey and I?" Eunice choked.
"Yes." Thurston laughed. "It's really almost an embarrassing story." Thurston began.
Gilligan could see everything around him get all blurry again and suddenly his eyes were transfixed on the scene of an old, elegant country club.