First mate's log:
January 21, 1968
I had another of my nutty dreams. This time we were all cave-people. It was because we found pieces of a stone tablet in a cave, which the Professor says was made by the island's ancient settlers. He's trying to figure out what the message is, but he thinks it tells a way to get off the island. The Skipper and I will need another raft, but at least this time we'll know what route to take.
Carol Martin's diary:
January 22, 1968
Another failed rescue attempt, although at least this time it was over and done with quickly. The Professor reconstructed fragments that everyone found of an ancient stone tablet, and he was convinced it showed how to leave the island. I decided not to point out that the destination was not likely to be America, if the message was that old. Then today he sadly told us that the message was about how the settlers arrived on the island. Marcia whispered, "Mom, couldn't Gilligan and the Skipper go the opposite way?", but I shushed her. I'd rather wait for a rescue attempt that has more chance of success.
February 10, 1968:
We've got another female visitor and I definitely don't understand her. She's a pretty native girl, and I saved her from drowning in the lagoon. Luckily, she's not as heavy as my ex-fiancée and I was able to carry her to shore. Unluckily, she told the Professor, who understands her language, Matoban, that now she's my slave! Well, the Skipper thinks I'm very lucky, but I don't need an extra girl around, especially one who tries to do all my chores and won't leave me alone. I can't get rid of her because the Professor says that that would be an insult and the Matobans would show up and take revenge.
Well, there is one way that I can be free of my slave. The Howells really want the girl, Kilani, as a servant, so Mr. Howell and I are going to have a fake duel so he can "win" her from me.
February 11, 1968
More trouble with a local tribe. Gilligan rescued a drowning Matoban girl and she declared herself, through the Professor as interpreter, Gilligan's slave for life! Mr. Howell defeated Gilligan in a staged battle, so the Howells could have Kilani as a, well, they were calling her a servant, but I doubt they ever planned to pay her. (Alice commented that Mr. Brady owes her years of back pay now, although of course she adores the boys and is like an aunt to them. Still, Mike does intend to reward her when we're finally rescued.)
Mr. Howell "won" Kilani but then three of her tribesmen came looking for her, including her athletic suitor, Ugundi. Ugundi challenged Mr. Howell, who revealed that Gilligan was alive and still the "owner" of Kilani. So last night Gilligan more elaborately faked his death than just falling to the ground after Mr. Howell "stabbed" him.
The Professor gave Gilligan a dose of strychnine from a native plant and it made the young man look like he was dead, although it was actually total paralysis. The Matobans wanted to cremate Gilligan, as one of their traditions! Mike joked that we should say that Gilligan is actually Kapuki and this was against his religion, but that was whistling in the dark.
We couldn't think of a way to stop the Matobans from carrying out the "funeral," which involved placing Gilligan in a bamboo box on stilts over a fire pit. Ginger did stall for time with a very sexy native dance, a bit like the one she did when she tried to revive the Professor from his zombie-like state the time a native from a different tribe was practicing voodoo on us. What ended up saving Gilligan was that the heat of the fire revived him and he pretended to be a fire-god. All the natives fled when Gilligan screamed, Kilani included.
And now Alice has to mend the burnt seat of Gilligan's bellbottom jeans, his only pair except for the ones he made into "mini-pants" when Ginger wore her Mary-Ann-modified dresses as miniskirts, like we hear about on the radio.
February 15, 1968
We had a nice Valentine's Day party, and I didn't have to worry about dancing with my slave, since I scared her and the other Matobans off, after I had to fake my own death twice. I danced with all the women, but twice with Mary Ann.
February 20, 1968
Another possibility of rescue, this time thanks to the Air Force. One of their jet packs washed ashore and the Professor thinks there's enough fuel to get someone to the mainland. The Howells and then Ginger and Mary Ann tried to trick Gilligan into going, since he's skinny and athletic and, well, gullible. I was very annoyed when I heard about this, because I think the flight would've been incredibly dangerous, and that Ginger kissed Gilligan into a stupor almost as powerful as the one caused by strychnine, while Mary Ann was in on the scheme, disgusts me with both girls. We all want to be rescued, but there's no point in sacrificing Gilligan.
Anyway, as amends, the girls are now making a dummy, per the Professor's specifications, to send with a note to Hawaii. If it doesn't make it, maybe a boat will find it floating.
February 21, 1968
We found a jet pack yesterday! The Howells and the girls tried to trick me into flying it to Hawaii, Ginger with one of her best kisses. It put me in a daze for over a minute! I was so out of it that Mary Ann was able to take the jet pack off of Ginger's back (Ginger pretended she was going to go, just so she could kiss me goodbye) and strap it to my back. I guess Mary Ann wasn't jealous, or she knew that Ginger was just kissing me to trick me, like she used to do all the time when we first got to the island. I thought I'd grown past that, like when I outsmarted her when she tried to take my lucky charm, but Ginger still has "it."
Luckily, the Skipper and the Professor came along and snapped me out of it. And the Professor had the girls make a dummy to send with the jet pack. Unfortunately, I accidentally set the jet pack off and it went all around the island before we caught it, so now there's only about 15 minutes left of fuel and the dummy got lost somewhere in the jungle. And I've got to go up in the air for that time so that hopefully the Navy will spot me while they're in the area looking for the Air Force's missing jet pack. I'm not crazy about this but it beats trying to go all the way to Hawaii.
February 22, 1968
Well, through a series of mishaps, Gilligan bungled the rescue attempt with the jet pack, which is now lost to us and the military, who've given up the search for it. By now, I've had to accept that this oddly assorted bunch is my tribe, perhaps for the rest of my life, certainly for the rest of the '60s. In a week, it'll be Leap Day, and I never imagined such a life on February 29, 1964. But I can imagine us all on February 29, 1972. Greg, Marcia, and Peter will be teenagers, Jan almost one, even little Bobby and Cindy no longer our babies. Yet, I don't see the adults changing much, especially Gilligan, who will always be boyish, even when his hair turns white. (I mean permanently white, not from laundry detergent.)
