April 2, 1965
First mate's log:
The Howells have invited me and Mary Ann to dinner tonight, which is nice of them. (Alice is cooking it.) This morning I helped carry Mary Ann to camp after she hurt her foot in one of my traps. (Not a bear trap or anything that would cause serious injury.) Then later Mrs. Howell had me deliver some flowers to Mary Ann.
Mr. Howell talked to me about how wonderful marriage is. And then later Ginger seemed to be hinting that she has a crush on me! That explains why she tries to kiss me so much. I wonder why she didn't choose me for her pretend boyfriend when Duke Williams was here. Maybe she didn't want to pretend about something she'd really like. Or maybe Mary Ann picked me first. Anyway, what I think is going on is that they want to make Ginger jealous by having her think I like Mary Ann. I mean, I do like her, but not the kind of like where I'd want to marry her. I don't want to marry anyone. I'm too young and I don't really understand girls.
Anyway, I've got to get ready for dinner, combing my hair and stuff, and I hear Skipper coming back to the hut so I'd better hide you.
April 2, 1965
Well, Mrs. Howell is a braver woman than I am. She's now overtly scheming to matchmake Gilligan and Mary Ann! She told me about it this afternoon, since I'm the only other married woman on the island, and she had a hunch I would sympathize. Well, I do of course, but I'm not sure about her methods.
Apparently, it all started this morning, when she saw Gilligan carrying Mary Ann. I know from talking to the Professor, who looked at Mary Ann's foot, that she'd injured it and Gilligan was just helping her back to camp. But Mrs. Howell, who misses all the high society events, like weddings, decided she would orchestrate a less grand wedding here on the island. After all, we have a captain who could perform marriages at sea. I pointed out we would need a vessel for him to perform the ceremony on, but she said that that could be taken care of once the engagement was announced.
Mrs. Howell had Gilligan deliver flowers to Mary Ann's bed while she was gone, to make her think that the flowers were from him, although of course she didn't tell Gilligan. And then she had a talk with Mary Ann about marriage, pointing out that we may never get rescued (I really hope she's wrong!), so Mary Ann should consider the three eligible bachelors on the island. (She didn't mention Mike, since he's still grieving Barbara, and taking on three stepchildren might be a lot for a young woman, even one as sweet and hard-working as Mary Ann.) Mary Ann said that she's too young for the Skipper and has nothing in common with the Professor, but she didn't voice any reservations about Gilligan.
Mrs. Howell has invited both Gilligan and Mary Ann to dinner tonight. Alice has agreed to cook it, as well as the meal for the rest of us. (Ginger and I will pitch in on the latter.) I think Alice suspects what Mrs. Howell is up to, although we haven't compared notes yet. Ginger just knows that Gilligan brought Mary Ann flowers and she told me that she gave him some encouragement in pursuing Mary Ann, since he's so shy.
I'm obviously very curious to see how this all turns out. I don't agree with Mrs. Howell manipulating the young couple, but if it works, it works. And they are right for each other, so hopefully the nudging will help. I'm just afraid it all might backfire somehow. After all, if Gilligan can mess up so many rescues, he can probably mess this up.
April 3, 1965
Well, the dinner didn't go how I expected. Before I left, the Skipper, Mr. Howell, and Mr. Brady were teasing me about giving Mary Ann flowers, even though the flowers weren't really from me. They said Mary Ann has a crush on me, but I told them that Ginger does.
I went over to the Howells' hut and Mary Ann was there, looking cute with a bow in her hair. The Howells went outside to get a bottle of champagne that was cooling in the stream. I felt kind of shy and awkward being alone with Mary Ann, and she seemed to feel that way, too. I found out that she thought the flowers were from me. We cleared that up but it sort of felt like a date. Maybe she does have a crush on me. I might have one on her.
But before we could figure out how we felt about each other, the Howells came back and started talking about the night he proposed to her. They couldn't agree on any of the details except that it was a French restaurant in Manhattan. They got into such a big fight that he's moved in with me and the Skipper, and she's moved in with Ginger and Mary Ann. And now everyone's arguing about the Howells' argument.
April 3, 1965
I had an argument with Mike. The dinner that the Howells invited Gilligan and Mary Ann to apparently didn't go well, although it wasn't at all Gilligan's fault. I don't know the details but instead of getting the young couple together, the Howells argued about the dinner they had the night he proposed. Mike blames Mrs. Howell for trying to matchmake in the first place. Even though I disagreed with her methods, she meant well.
And now the Skipper wants to recreate that evening from twenty years ago. Ginger has been to that restaurant, so she can describe it in such a way that hopefully it'll match the memories of both Mr. and Mrs. Howell. Alice will be the chef, the Professor the maitre d', and Gilligan and Mary Ann the wait-staff. Ginger will sing a French song. The Skipper and Mike are going to make some small construction changes to the Howells' hut (since it's empty now that they've both moved out), and I'm in charge of interior design, with Marcia and Jan helping. I hope this works out and doesn't lead to another set of arguments.
April 4, 1965
The Skipper came up with a plan to get the Howells back together, where we made their hut into the restaurant the proposal was in. Except for me spilling soup on the Skipper, when Ginger was doing a hula dance, it turned out well. At least the Howells aren't mad at each other anymore, and neither is anyone else, not even the Skipper at me. He's just glad to have Mr. Howell out of our hut.
April 4, 1965
Oh dear. The Howells are back together, but now Mrs. Howell wants to matchmake the Professor and Ginger! She's promised me she'll use subtler, more long-range methods this time, but I don't know about this.
