Gilligan opened his eyes and looked around his hut. He thought he had heard something. Skipper was snoring softly below him. He carefully got out of his hammock and went to his window to look out. In the moonlight, he could see MaryAnn sitting at the table holding Dutch and whispering to him. Dutch was eating a mango. Somehow, she knew he was watching, and she looked over towards his hut, smiling. Then she motioned for him to come out.
He looked back at Skipper, who was sleeping soundly, and he quietly slipped out the door.
Before turning in for the night, Skipper and Gilligan had played cards long into the night, and they had a good man-to-man talk about girls and relationships. It wasn't just man-to-man, Gilligan thought. It was as close to a father-son talk as he could have right now. Gilligan had gone to bed feeling little less confused about his feelings for MaryAnn.
Now, he headed over to the table where she was sitting. He reached over and scratched Dutch's ears and greeted the little monkey, as he sat next to MaryAnn. Then Dutch clutched his mango, chattered to his friends and disappeared up a tree leaving MaryAnn and Gilligan sitting alone in the moonlight. They looked at each other shyly for a moment. Then, much like she had done in the hot tub, MaryAnn wound her arm up and around his neck. He scooted closer. He closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her.
"SKIPPPPEEERRRRRRRRR!", Ginger yelled. "SKIPPER, PROFESSOR, EVERYONE - COME QUICK!"
Gilligan frowned. Why was Ginger in his dream, and why was she yelling for Skipper and Professor. Gilligan opened his eyes and looked around. He was lying in his hammock and the sun was shining bright. Whatever her problem was, she had lousy timing, he thought.
"EVERYONE – COME ON – THERE'S A BOAT! OFF THE NORTH SHORE! Ginger yelled.
At the mention of a boat, Gilligan's eyes went wide, and he stumbled out of his hammock.
Everyone was coming out of their huts and running to Ginger at the edge of the jungle. "What is it, Ginger?" asked Professor, calmly. "Exactly what did you see?"
"You've got to hurry. It's a yacht, heading north. I couldn't light the signal fire. I didn't have any matches." She cried.
Skipper took control – "Professor, Ginger, you two come with me back to the beach. I've got matches. Mr. and Mrs. Howell, you two head to the west beach – there's a signal fire set up there, too. Light it. Maybe if they turn northwest, they'll see it. Gilligan, MaryAnn – you two head up to the cliff on the east side. Gilligan, that SOS sheet we made is folded under the big rock. You know the one?"
"Yes, Sir." said Gilligan. "You can count on us. Come on, MaryAnn," and as the rest of the castaways scattered, the two friends took off running through the jungle as fast as they could. Gilligan took the lead, though MaryAnn wasn't far behind. They ran uphill as fast as they could, and when they got to the top, both of them were gasping for breath.
Gilligan rolled the rock and retrieved the SOS sheet that they had made a few months earlier, for just such an occasion. He grabbed one corner and tossed the other side to MaryAnn. They could see the yacht pulling further away from the island and started jumping up and down and waving frantically, screaming for help even though they knew no one could hear them. They held onto the top corners of the sheet, the bottom held down by their feet. The sheet flapped strongly in the wind, but MaryAnn and Gilligan held tight.
MaryAnn was still waving furiously and yelling. Gilligan had stopped, seeing it was futile. As the yacht continued to pull away, their spirit deflated. Tears started rolling down MaryAnn's cheeks. Gilligan looked at her sadly, then he looked down towards the north beach. He could just barely see Skipper and the others still fanning the signal fire, not ready to give up yet.
"MaryAnn, they're too far. Look – it's just a speck now." He pointed out. He took the sheet from her and folded it back under the rock. MaryAnn stood there with her arms folded across her chest, the tears flowing freely. He was standing there wondering what to do, when suddenly she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist, with her face buried into his chest. He tensed up at first, then realized that his friend needed comfort. So he nervously put his arms around her and held her. They stood there like that, motionless, until she had cried herself out.
As her sobs subsided, Gilligan hugged her a little closer and lowered his head down to hers. That movement made her chuckle suddenly, and he looked at her, curiously. "What?" he asked.
She said shyly, "You haven't shaved yet this morning. You're scratchy."
Gilligan realized that he hadn't shaved, nor put his shoes and shirt on. "Well, Ginger's yelling woke me up." He answered. "I didn't have time for any of that stuff." Then he remembered how his scratchy cheek had affected her a few days earlier, and he grinned shyly.
"Can you keep a secret?" he asked suddenly and seriously. "I'd like to show you something, but you HAVE to promise not to tell ANYONE."
At that moment, realizing that he was still hugging her, she would have promised him anything. "Okay," she answered. "I promise."
"Come with me," He said, as he took her hand and led her back down the trail. They came to a fork, but Gilligan didn't take her left or right. He climbed over a fallen tree and almost reversed directions, taking her through a thickly-covered ferny area. "Be real careful coming around this corner," he advised.
They were coming to a stone wall, that being part of the wall below the cliff they were just up on. "Hug the wall here, it gets real windy". She could see what he meant. She was getting a little scared, but trusted Gilligan not to lead her anywhere too dangerous. As they came around the wall, suddenly, they were on a secluded little ledge that she didn't even know was here. It was hidden from view from up on the topside, and the jungle trees hid it from view from the beach.
He looked around conspiratorially. "This is one of my hiding places. You know, when you guys can't find me. Usually, if I'm not in my lone wolf cave, I'm here. You won't tell, will you?"
MaryAnn assured him that she would never tell and then she crossed her heart. He motioned her over to the right side of the ledge and sat down. "The ground is soft and spongy here. It's kind of mossy. It always feels cool on a hot day." He was smiling. The wall behind him had moss and vines growing up it, there were some bushes with some seeds and flowers on them, and despite the sun shining down on them, it felt deliciously cool there.
"It's so beautiful up here," she said, looking all around and sitting down next to him. "Gilligan, thank you for bringing me here. I miss Kansas so much, and I miss my aunt and uncle and all my cousins. But you always make me remember what an amazing place we're living in."
He grinned and looked away, suddenly feeling shy again. He looked down at the water below. "Did you get a chance to hike Diamondhead when you were in Waikiki?" he asked. She shook her head "no". "Well, when you're up at the top, if you look north, you see Waikiki Beach and all the hotels. But at the bottom of the crater and a little to the left, it looks a lot like this view here. See that light-colored rock formation there? That could almost be the little lighthouse." He was looking at the view with such longing, so she reached out and took his hand.
He looked at her hand holding his and then up at her. He left his hand in hers, and continued talking. "I went up there one day with Scotty and Donny. That was such a fun day. It was a Wednesday. I think, maybe, that Sharon was home sick because Donny was home and not in daycare. I was getting ready to go meet Scotty for the morning. Well, Donny came up to see me just as I was leaving, so he asked if he could come hiking with us."
He shifted his position and looked out over the spectacular view again. "I had to warn him that there were lots and lots of steps we had to go up, and even a couple of tunnels, too. That just made him want to go even more. Luckily, Sharon said okay. So we took the bus into town to get Scotty." He reached over to a nearby plant and pulled some seeds off that Professor had told him were edible. He tried a couple, held some out to MaryAnn, and then continued.
"So we get Scotty and got back on the bus to Diamondhead. When you get inside the crater, the trail is really a path with railings and lots of steps. It's easy climbing, and it's really neat. Scotty had brought his camera, so he could take pictures of some of the flowers we saw, but Donny saw a bird that he wanted a picture of. It was real pretty – a gray back and a white stomach, but it's head was red." He scrunched up his face. "I can't think of the name of it right now. So, Donny wants a picture of this bird and Scotty says he'll take one. But every time he tried to take the picture, the bird would hop around backwards. Donny and I were laughing, but Scotty was getting frustrated." Gilligan started giggling at the memory.
"So we get up to the top, and you have to go through this bunker and kind of have to crawl through the bunker's windows to get to the observation platform." As Gilligan is telling her this, he is pantomiming the maneuvers to get through the opening, and it makes MaryAnn chuckle. "And then, there's fencing to keep you from falling over the edge. The view is crazy, though. The water is all these different colors, like, depending on how deep it is. There's light turquoise and greens and blues. It's one of my favorite places on the island." He sighs.
"There was a nice, old man up there, and he took a picture of me, Donny and Scotty. It was getting pretty crowded up there. When we started coming down, we sort of got in the middle of this group of old ladies. I think it was a sightseeing tour or something. Anyway, as we're going down the steps with all these old ladies, Donny starts singing '100 bottles of beer on the wall'. I was gonna stop him, figuring it would bother them, but then some of the old ladies joined in. Before you knew it, the whole big group of us were singing, and we sang it all the way to the bottom. I think we sang three rounds," he said, grinning.
MaryAnn smiled back, and then laughed at the thought of these three buddies singing about beer with a bunch of old ladies.
Gilligan looked down at her hand, still holding his, and smiled. Then he shouted, "Brazilian Cardinal. That's what it was called." She laughed again, and he grinned, proudly. "Anyway, we took the bus back to Kalakaua Avenue, which wasn't far from Alika's place, so of course, we had to end the day with an ice cream show-down. We let Scotty do it, too. Donny still won, though," he said, chuckling.
"Yeah, then, a couple of days later, Scotty showed up at my apartment. He wanted me to take him down to see Donny, and then he gave Donny a wrapped present. When Donny opened it, it was a frame with two pictures in it. The one of the three of us at the top of Diamondhead, and one of the backward bird shots." He laughed again at the memory. "Donny was thrilled."
MaryAnn laughed heartily. "Gilligan, I love your stories. Thank you for cheering me up."
He stood up and took both her hands in his, and pulled her up. "You're welcome. Promise me, again, that you won't tell anyone about this place, okay," he pleaded as he helped her up.
"I promise," she repeated. And she put her hands around his neck and pulled his head down to meet hers, and she sealed it with a kiss. It was a quick kiss, though not as quick as his on the beach the previous day. Gilligan straightened up and looked at her, as she lowered her hands so that they rested on his shoulders. They stood there for a minute like that, not talking. Gilligan gulped and took a step back.
"We'd probably better get back to camp. The others will be looking for us if we don't show up soon," he said reluctantly.
"I suppose you're right," she sighed. "It's barely ten a.m. and it feels like it's been the longest day, doesn't it. The others are probably all feeling pretty bad about missing that yacht."
He nodded and took her hand as they wormed their way back around the windy corner. When they got into the jungle again, he let her hand go, and they walked back side by side, each lost in their own thoughts.
Gilligan's thoughts were scattered. They went from his friends in Honolulu - to the missed rescue - to the pretty girl walking next to him – to his big Buddy and how he must be feeling right now over the missed rescue.
When they got back to the compound, it was as they had feared. The others were all sitting around the table, sullen and somber. Skipper jumped up when he saw them approaching. "Gilligan, Little Buddy, I was beginning to wonder if something happened to you."
"We're okay, Skipper. We just stayed up there for a while, talking."
Yes, Skipper," MaryAnn added, "We're sorry to have worried you. It's just that I was so disappointed over the missed rescue, and Gilligan was telling me stories to cheer me up."
Skipper watched as Gilligan got a chair for MaryAnn to sit down, and then sat on the bench next to her. The two sailors made eye contact and Skipper gave Gilligan a slight nod and a wink.
Gilligan gave him a bashful grin, and, as he picked up the pitcher of mango juice to pour some for himself and MaryAnn, he completely missed the cup . . . poured it all over the table . . . dropped the pitcher . . . stood up and knocked over the bench, which landed on Mrs. Howell's toe . . . and continuing with a domino effect all around the table . . .
There was a chorus of "GILLIGAN"s as the castaways were jumping out of the way, trying to avoid injuries and juice stains. Gilligan glanced, wide-eyed, at MaryAnn and shrugged, while she put her hands over her face to hide the fact that she was laughing. And as they both backed away from the table, he started laughing, too, and he took her hand in his.
