The Hinkleys were only allowed to visit with their son for a few precious minutes, and then Roy had to take Mary Ann back to her room. "I think that was just about the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life," Mary Ann said to her husband as he helped her back into bed.
"I know what you mean," Roy replied. "I feel exactly the same way. Why don't you get some rest, and I'll call all the others and tell them the news."
In Kansas, Mary Ann's cousin, Cindy, sat her knitting down and went to fetch her one-year-old daughter, Heather, who'd just awakened from her nap and was crying. Her husband, Gilligan, was outside chopping wood. She'd just picked Heather up and was trying to soothe her when she heard the telephone ringing and went to answer it. "Oh, hi, Roy!" she exclaimed when she heard Roy's voice.
"Hi, Cindy," said Roy. "I wanted to let you know that our son is here, but he has a heart defect and has to have surgery soon."
"Oh, no!" Cindy exclaimed. "I'm so sorry!"
Three-year-old April wandered into the kitchen. "I just made poo poo, Mommy!" she exclaimed proudly.
Cindy put her hand over the receiver. "Sh! Later," she whispered to her daughter. "How's Mary Ann?" she asked Roy.
"Physically, she's fine. She's resting right now, but of course, she's really torn up over Dusty."
"Why, I'm sure she is!" Cindy exclaimed.
Just then Gilligan entered the house, promptly dropping a pile of wood onto the floor.
"Gilligan just came in, didn't he?" asked Roy.
"How'd you know?" asked Cindy. "Hon, would you please get April cleaned up? I'm in the middle of a long distance phone call," she added to Gilligan.
"Oh, who is it?" cried Gilligan. "Is it someone from the island?"
"It's Roy."
"Roy?" Gilligan looked blank.
"Roy Hinkley. The Professor." She handed the receiver to her husband and went to take care of April herself.
"Hey, Professor!" Gilligan crowed.
"Gilligan, listen," said Roy. "Mary Ann and I have a brand new baby boy now. His name is Dusty, and there's something wrong with his heart. He's going to have to have surgery."
"Oh, no, Professor!" Gilligan sounded genuinely distressed. "Poor little boy!"
"He's in good hands, Gilligan," Roy replied. "The doctor's going to do everything he can. It's just a bit scary to me and Mary Ann because he's so tiny." He hung up, thinking how peculiar it was that he'd been the one to comfort Gilligan instead of the other way around.
In California, Ginger sat by her swimming pool relaxing with a drink. She'd just done the final scene for her latest movie, and she had a few days off before she was due to start preparing for a commercial she'd been hired to make. Igor, who now worked for her, was at the studio helping with the final preparations for the movie's release, and sixteen-year-old Audrey was at school.
Suddenly Claudia, Ginger's housekeeper, appeared. "There is a telephone call for you," she announced in her thick Spanish accent. "It is from someone called Roy Hinkley."
"The Professor!" Ginger exclaimed, racing for the telephone.
"Hi, Ginger," Roy said. "I wanted to let you know that our son is here."
"Oh, that's wonderful!" Ginger exclaimed. "I'm so happy for you!"
"Dusty was born with a heart defect," Roy continued. "He'll have to have corrective surgery soon."
"Oh, no!" said Ginger. "It's funny, I mean no, it isn't really, but I just finished making a movie in which an older couple give birth to a child with Down's syndrome who also has a severe heart defect. The whole movie is about the quality of the child's life and whether or not corrective surgery should be done to save it. I play the baby's aunt."
"Well, that's interesting," Roy said. "But Mary Ann and I are very concerned for our real-life son."
"Oh, of course you are!" said Ginger. "I'm very sorry. I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a serious situation."
"That's all right, Ginger. I know you didn't."
"Well, is Mary Ann all right?"
"Physically, yes. She's resting right now."
"That's good. Well, I sure do hope Dusty's surgery goes all right."
"Thank you, Ginger. I hope so, too."
In their mansion in New York, Thurston Howell III and his wife, Eunice, were entertaining friends when their butler announced that they had a telephone call.
"I'll take it," Eunice volunteered.
"Mrs. Howell?"
"Oh, Professor! How lovely to hear from you!"
"Mrs. Howell, Mary Ann and I have a newborn son, but he's seriously ill. He has to have surgery on his heart soon."
"Oh, how dreadful! The poor little thing!"
"Well, I just wanted to let you know about it. Please give your husband my regards, and let him know as well."
"Oh, of course I will!"
In Hawaii, Skipper Jonas Grumby and his new first mate, an energetic young sailor named Milt Milligan, were just about to take another five passengers on another three-hour tour when he received an unexpected telephone call.
"Professor! How are you doing?"
"Not too good, Skipper," Roy told him. "Mary Ann and I have a new son, but there's something wrong with his heart, and he has to have surgery soon."
"Oh, no!" Jonas exclaimed. "Poor Mary Ann!"
"She's devastated, and so am I," Roy said.
"Well, please tell her I hope everything turns out all right!"
"Thanks, Skipper. I will."
