§ § § - March 7, 1983
"Mr. Roarke!" Alex Weston hailed, waving at him before assisting Diana out of the rover. "How can we ever thank you?"
Tattoo's eyes popped and he stared at Roarke. "You mean, they found it? They're gonna live forever?" he exclaimed, looking honestly impressed—and, if Leslie was any judge, envious too.
But it was Alex who answered him. "We found it, Tattoo, but the price was just too high, so we passed."
Diana nodded. "We decided to stop worrying about when it's gonna end, and enjoy every moment of our love as it comes."
"I think you've made a very wise decision," Roarke approved, smiling. "Remember, a poet once said, 'Grow old with me...the best is yet to be.' "
Tattoo looked thoughtful, nodding to himself as Roarke and Leslie both exchanged goodbyes with the Westons and the couple headed for the charter. They returned the Westons' final waves of farewell, then turned to greet the next rover as it pulled to a stop in front of them.
Maggie Winslow piled out behind Burt Hunter and went right for them. "I cannot thank you enough, Mr. Roarke," she bubbled, shaking hands.
"That goes for me too," Hunter said. "It seems you've given me two careers...and a wife." He aimed a glance at Maggie, who giggled self-consciously.
"I hope you'll be very happy together," Roarke said, and they thanked him.
"And thank you, partner," Hunter added, shaking Tattoo's hand as well; Tattoo, beaming, accepted the thanks and waved after the departing couple.
Roarke and Leslie looked at each other and then at Tattoo with interest. "Partner?" Leslie asked.
On Tattoo's proud nod, Roarke inquired, "Tattoo, are you going to act in Mr. Hunter's next picture?"
"No, boss, I thought about it, and I was gonna ask Mr. Hunter—how'd you know, anyway?—but I gave that idea up."
"Really!" said Roarke. "Why, I thought you had mapped out a promising career for yourself."
Tattoo shook his head. "Not after I found out what show business is all about. You know, I'm so glad we're on the outside. I don't think I can take all the pressure." Oblivious to Roarke's and Leslie's burgeoning grins, he added, "Besides, everything you see on the screen is fake! Nothing's real at all!"
"Everything?" Leslie repeated with a laugh. "Maybe so, but they work really hard to make all that fake stuff look real."
"Indeed," Roarke said. "After all, my friend, sometimes it takes an illusion to make us appreciate reality." Tattoo eyed him with interest, absorbing that, and Roarke winked at Leslie before turning to deliver a final farewell wave.
§ § § - April 6, 2012
Roald and the triplets had found a good bit of humor in the Maggie Winslow/Burt Hunter fantasy, but Leslie could see from Christian's expression that he was still hung up on the Weston fantasy. When Roald and the children had stopped laughing and asking questions, he took the chance to speak up. "So exactly what was it about that pool, on that little island?" he wanted to know. "Was it eternal youth, or eternal life?"
"Both," Roarke said. "The case for proof of that was Maatira. She was perpetually young and beautiful throughout all the centuries the water in the pool kept her alive."
"And the waters brought Diana Weston back to life as well," Christian said slowly, his gaze unfocused and faraway. "When you recounted for us what you told Leslie about the 'legend' of the clan that could restore life..." Here he looked up and shot Roarke a wry look that made the latter man smile broadly. "It was all I could do not to say something. You didn't realize at the time that our clan did in fact exist?"
"As it happens, no," Roarke said. "You might wish to think back to the day when you first discovered you yourself had the clan power, almost a year ago now. You had brought Leslie back to life in some mysterious manner after she was attacked and her skull fractured, and I must admit that for the subsequent two days I quite nearly drove myself mad attempting to figure out just how such a thing could have occurred. You must remember that, till the day we brought Leslie home from the hospital and I began to consider that particular possibility, the clan that possessed that power had been thought to be extinct for several millennia. Until that moment, the clan had never even been heard from. So at the time that fantasy took place, and I told Leslie about the legend regarding them, I was certain that in fact that was all it was—a legend."
Christian nodded as if in slow motion, a thoughtful frown on his face. "So according to the information you were given about Maatira, the woman was something like 2200 years old—and you posited the theory that perhaps a clan member had tried to imbue a special small pool with the power." He quirked a brow for a second or two. "Leaving aside the implausibility that any such thing could succeed, let's focus on the assumption that your theory is fact. It would suggest two things: that the clan went extinct no more than those two millennia ago, give or take a few hundred years—according to assumption, of course—and also that somehow Maatira found a member of the clan and transported that person to her island along with anyone else she brought along."
Roarke regarded him with only a nod; for a moment they were quiet, and then Leslie's racing mind hit on something. "One doesn't necessarily follow the other," she said. "They could even be mutually exclusive." She read Christian's expression and focused on him. "It might be one or the other," she explained. "If the clan's supposed extinction occurred somewhere around the time that Maatira and those others found that island, then sure—she could somehow have found a member and then had him, or her, 'energize' the pool of Osiris so that it would restore and prolong life. But maybe that's not what happened. Maybe the clan member somehow stumbled over the island at some point after Maatira and her people arrived there—it could have been anytime. That would negate the idea that the clan was thought to be extinct for millennia."
"It would anyway," Christian broke in, getting into the spirit of the discussion. "The way Mr. Roarke explained it on the day Gerhard and I learned we were members of the clan, it sounded as if the assumption was that they died out long before the time period in which Maatira lived and found her island."
"No, not really," Leslie exclaimed, a memory occurring to her. "I remember it now—Father said they'd been thought to be gone for centuries, not millennia." She turned to Roarke while Christian sat gaping at her, frozen. "In fact, I even remember you told us your parents had actual memories of seeing a clan member applying the power—you said you believed they'd witnessed it."
"It was my belief, yes," Roarke said. "They spoke of it as they would have spoken of memories, rather than of assumptions or legends. But you have to remember that my own lifespan covers some three millennia, and my parents were alive far earlier than that. When I said 'centuries', I didn't specify the number of centuries the clan had been assumed to be extinct."
From his chair, Roald started laughing. "What an insane argument. You don't even know if that's how that pool got the power to give people immortality. I gotta tell you, Uncle Christian and Aunt Leslie, you're too close to the whole thing from living directly with the power every day. Mr. Roarke said, back then and just now, that it was only a theory. Even if it's true, how the heck are you gonna find out, and what would be the point of it anyway?"
Roarke laughed. "Prince Roald, I daresay you're gaining quite a bit of wisdom now that you've passed the first flush of youth," he teased, making Roald guffaw appreciatively. "He's correct, Christian and Leslie. It was a mere theory, and there's no true way to prove it."
"Is too," Leslie said impishly, smirking at her father. "We could time-travel back to that period, like we used to do for some fantasies you granted, and find out once and for all."
"And put ourselves in the same danger that Alex and Diana Weston did," Christian added in a dire tone. "No thank you, I think not. Perhaps some things are better left to mystery." He winked at his wife, who pretended to pout, and grinned, dropping a kiss on her lips and then checking his watch. "Ach, fate take us, look at the time. I'm afraid we'll have to call a halt to this little reminiscing party." He caught the triplets' aghast looks and shook his head. "Don't tell me about not having school tomorrow. I know you don't. But you keep forgetting that your grandfather doesn't have the same energy he did before he had to retire from running the resort and granting fantasies. We have to give him the chance to recharge."
"Like you're a big battery, Grandfather," Susanna offered with a giggle. "You have to go someplace else and plug yourself in."
"Something like that, Susanna," Roarke said, chuckling. "Don't worry, there will be other times when we can remember more fantasies. For now, your father is right. It's time to bring this session to a halt. The three of you, and your sister and your parents and all the rest of us, need to recharge as well. When we're able, we'll gather here and do this again."
Somewhat more than an hour later, with Roarke gone, Roald and his children back to the cottage they were renting for the year, and the triplets and Anastasia all tucked in bed for the night, Christian and Leslie paused to gaze into the night sky from the deck off their bedroom. "Sometimes it seems as if you'll never run out of fantasies to reminisce about," he commented softly. "Perhaps that's a good thing. I feel as if these reminiscing sessions are something of an anchor. In a way, it's much like telling stories around a campfire. We're building memories for the children, and we're giving ourselves the gift of time together, passing on recollections for the next generation to experience. I hope we can do this for a very long time yet—perhaps even after the children have their own children, many years from now."
Leslie smiled up at him and wrapped her arms around him. "Somehow I think we will," she mused. "And I'll bet Father would agree." Christian kissed the top of her head and enfolded her in his embrace, and they took in the beauty of the Milky Way floating on a sparkling path untold distances above their heads.
Author's Note: I thank everyone for the reviews, both new reviewers and longtime ones! I surprised myself rediscovering the fun of novelizing old "Fantasy Island" episodes, and while there are still more of them left to play with, I hope eventually to come up with new stories that take place during the time of the TV series. After compiling an original-airdate schedule of all the episodes, I noticed there were a great many open dates in all the seasons—the show was pre-empted for something else, maybe, or ABC decided to air a rerun instead—so those dates simply begged for filling up. I wrote so many original tales that I've just about used up all my own ideas (I have a couple or three left, so I may be able to develop them). If you loved FI and you have an idea you might once have wished the actual FI scriptwriters had worked with, by all means let me know! Once again, thanks to all my readers, and I promise, I'll be back with more tales, especially since in a few more months, it'll be the 40th anniversary of the premiere of FI as a regular TV series...time flies!
§ § §
Episode Credits (in the order of appearance in this story):
"Devil Stick / Touch and Go": original airdate, March 19, 1983 … Cast: Georgia Engel as Susan Henderson; Bernie Kopell as Carter Ransom; Delta Burke as Gloria; Earl Bowen as Henry; Scott Thomson as Brian; Janis Paige as Brian's mother; Dean Butler as Carl Peters; Crystal Bernard as Hallie Miller; Ray Walston [1914 – 2001] as Mayor Miller; Thomas Byrd as Ethan Miller; Jay Ingram as the crossbow hunter; and Chuck Hicks as the sheriff
"The Birthday Party / Ghostbreaker": original airdate, March 3, 1979 … Cast: Janet Leigh [1927 – 2004] as Carol Gates; Skye Aubrey as Tracy Dearborn Miller; Christopher Stone [1942 – 1995] as Tom Dearborn; Pamela Toll as Jo Dearborn; Marc Bentley as Jamie Dearborn; Ken Berry as Elliott Fielding; Annette Funicello [1942 – 2013] as Edna Camberly; Larry Storch as Alan LeBlanc; Elaine Borden as Susan; Monica Gayle as Donna; Douglas V. Fowley [1911 – 1998] as Jacoby; and Ray Malavasi [1930 – 1987], Frank Corral and Anthony Davis as themselves
"The Proxy Billionaire / The Experiment": original airdate, March 21, 1981 … Cast: James Broderick [1927 – 1982] as Dr. Lucas Bergman; Laurie Walters as Lisa Bergman; Woody Strode [1914 – 1994] as Makalo; Robert Goulet [1933 – 2007] as Frank Miller and Avery Williams; Britt Ekland as Bernice Williams; Phyllis Davis [1940 – 2013] as Elizabeth Leston; and Troy Donahue [1936 – 2001] as Paul Yeager
"Eternal Flame / A Date with Burt": original airdate, March 5, 1983 … Cast: Sandra Dee [1942 – 2005] as Maggie Winslow; Ron Ely as Burt Hunter; David Landsberg as John Pikes; Terri Lynn as Pikes' assistant Yvonne; Tori Spelling as Christy; Linwood Boomer as Alex Weston; Randi Oakes as Diana Weston; Stella Stevens as Maatira; Alex Cord as Ra-Mas; and Dave Cass as the first thug. Note: I used both the actual taped episode and the original script for the dialogue in this adaptation.