The Body Castaways Part Two:
ERIC'S ENDING!
(Eric's conclusion to the story begun in.
The Body Castaways Part One: Igor, Hollywood Starlet!)
An all-new, alternative version of the classic body-swapping episode of Gilligan's Island! The Characters and original script are copyrighted to others. No claim is made to those concepts by us. All additional elements of the story not in the original TV script nor owned by others are copyrighted to us.
Written by Eric, and Caleb Jones Plot by Eric Edited by Caleb Jones
Previously, the castaways were 'rescued' by a mad scientist and his assistant, Igor. The madman exchanged everyone's minds! The horrible Igor arranged to swap minds with the beautiful Ginger and then destroyed all of the scientific equipment, sailing off with the only boat to Hawaii and a new life as movie star Ginger Grant! The once again stranded castaways struggle to adjust to their radically different bodies and forever altered lives...
Chapter 8.
After a more sedate Ginger woke up, they had lunch. She refused to go along with the plan to call each other by their body's name. Ginger refused to give up her identity as a beautiful young woman despite all the physical evidence to the contrary.
That night, with horrid fascination, they all watched a Ginger Grant Film festival put on by a TV channel the satellite provider carried. Ginger sobbed in the back ground occasionally and other times she was entranced to see herself on the big screen!
The show was in honor of the return of the actress from her supposedly watery grave. 'Ginger' introduced each of the movies the original Ginger Grant had made before taking that fate-filled cruise years ago. Igor had studied his target body's life well, however and even Ginger had to admit that her impersonator looked great in a new evening gown. Igor glowed with happiness as the stage crew laughed at a little joke she had told during one of the film introductions. It was wonderful to be Ginger Grant!
But not so if you used to BE Ginger Grant. The castaways barely caught the former Ginger in a bathroom trying to slit his wrists, albeit with a Bic safety razor which barely cut Igor's tough skin. Again Ginger had to be sedated.
That night, the Skipper, now known as 'Lovey', felt someone creep into her bed.
"Who are you?" she cried out with alarm in the darkened room. She was a weak woman now and would be no match if someone wanted to hurt her. She hated her inherited body!
"Me!" a voice said calmly, turning on a night light. It was her former self, Mrs. Howell, who she was expected to call Skipper, even though he had never piloted a boat when he was a millionaire's wife.
"What are you doing here?" It was so freaky to be in a bed with her own male body just inches away. He never realized how big he used to be!
The former Macho man felt her new breasts being fondled. Despite herself, she started to enjoy the alien sensations. The room was getting hot! Her former body was so strangely virile and attractive! The former Skipper was afraid for the first time in her life as feminine feelings washed through her body.
"Please don't."
"Just let yourself go, my dear. Trust me! Your body hasn't gotten laid in ten years! Thurston was always too busy making money - or so he said!" whispered the current Captain with a voice as low as his intentions.
"I'm frightened. I don't know if I'm ready to do this. Do you think you could do it?"
"I'd like to see anyone try and stop me!" They might both be well past their prime, but having lived in that body until days ago, the former Lovey Howell found her old self to be quite appealing, and it turned her on to touch her! He stroked the secret spot on her prior body which made her crazy whenever Thurston had accidentally caressed her there.
"You are a beautiful woman, now, Skipper, and it is time for you to find out what being a woman is all about!"
The new Lovey felt a glow of pride. Her man was so MASTERFUL! The former Skipper was shocked to find herself entranced by her former self, but her desires overwhelmed her leftover masculine objections...
"And it's time for you to become a man. Be gentle." she pleaded. "I've never done this before. Well, I have, of course, but this is my first time as catcher instead of being the pitcher.
The macho man grunted affirmatively. "Trust me, Captain, it's a lot better than any baseball game!"
The new Lovey Howell enjoyed it, but mostly the pleasure was feeling desirable and secure in her man's arms. Her new body was somewhat surprised by the act and out of practice. Neither of them had much experience as their current gender. But they agreed to try again another night until they perfected their techniques. Hopefully, practice would make perfect!
And life goes on.
Even after such life altering circumstances.
Dr. Balinkoff and 'Mary Ann' worked on the body swapping machine with no appreciable progress. But it was something to do, and kept hope alive.
Ginger had to be restrained in a straight Jacket. Dr. B. was surprised when they asked him why he had one. "Doesn't everyone?" he replied.
'The Professor' was finding his former body very attractive. The mind of the Professor had always appealed to her as a woman, and now his male body was sending out signals every time "Mary Anne walked near him! He wanted his body back, but to hold instead of possessing it once more!
However 'Gilligan' and 'Mr. 'Howell' also found the pert youthful body of the former Professor very appealing. Eventually, they came to blows and the new 'Mary Anne' was surprised to find herself thrilled. Men were fighting over her. Naturally the 'Professor' stepped in and won, and Gilligan and Mr. Howell limped away, groaning.
After talking it over, the new 'Mary Anne' and the new 'Professor' decided they loved each other and wanted to get married. But the Skipper was no longer captain of a boat so they settled for a prolonged engagement. They kissed very sweetly and their first night together as man and wife was a first. Each was surprised to find out that the other was a virgin! As they had nothing to compare, they found the experience to be the best of their lives.
Chapter 9.
While rooting around for parts for the machine with her fiancé, Mary Anne made an amazing discovery. She found hundreds of yards of nylon fabric. When asked why he bought it, Dr. B replied that "It was on sale."
"We can make a blimp and get off the island," said Mary Anne, the well- educated mind of the former Professor already drawing up the plans in her head.
There was an excited buzz among the castaways.
"But what about the body-swapping machine?" Gilligan asked.
"It's hopeless. All the plans have been destroyed. Dr. B. here can barely remember his own name, and can't remember how to re-build it even if we could. I'm afraid it would be useless to return with the proper parts and try assuming we do get back to civilization."
"We be stuck. " Ginger struggled for words just as he struggled against the straightjacket. "Like this!" He howled like a lost soul.
"I'm afraid so, Ginger. Also, there will be no sense in telling anyone we are not who we appear to be. We would be locked up as island happy after all these years away from civilization."
The rest reluctantly agreed. Without the machine to prove their case it was hopeless!
The new Gilligan didn't think youth was worth the loss of his wealth and social position and said so. He demanded a settlement from his former body.
An agreement was worked out during the evenings while they all built the small balloon and basket which, using an aerodynamic mixture of designs from both big air balloons and blimps the new Mary Anne created, would hopefully carry them back to Hawaii. The new and official version of Mr. Howell agreed to give them each ten million dollars. "Why not! It's not really my money." the former Gilligan said to the others. The original Mr. Howell almost had a heart attack!
The former Mrs. Howell, now effectively a poor sailor nearing retirement age, would live in the Howell mansion with the 'Howell' husband and wife as the captain of their yacht when needed until the 'Howells' could get a divorce. 'Mrs. Howell' wanted to keep her man around!
The original Mr. Howell, as 'Gilligan', would be introduced to society as a long lost cousin to Mrs. Howell and placed in charge of one of the Howell's larger corporations. With his many years of experience hiding behind a youthful exterior, the former Mr. Howell expected to amass a new fortune within a few years at most!
The Professor and Mary Ann planned to open a private school as soon as they were married and teach Scientific Horticulture. The current 'Mary Anne' would have to take equivalency tests in all the college courses needed to teach, but for the former professor, that should prove no problem. It was a dream they both shared as Mary Anne had been a farmer's daughter and the Professor had learned so much during his stay on the island!
"What about poor Ginger?" asked the new Igor, doped to the eyeballs to prevent suicide.
"Until we can be sure you don't try and kill yourself again, you will be in a place where they can - ahem - look after you," said the Professor. Mary Ann gazed admiringly at the tall man she used to be. Her big man was so strong - especially in bed!
So they got to work. Lovey proved to be the best at sewing fabric together. The Skipper had sewn a number of rips in sails over the years and Mrs. Howell's fingers worked much better than her prior, stubby fingers at the task. The connecting surfaces of the balloon were heat sealed and glued. 'Igor's' depression was not made better by the news on Entertainment Tonight that Ginger Grant had married her sweetheart Brad after a rather short engagement.
Dr. B was going to come with them and try to talk Igor into helping reconstruct the machine. He would be given a million dollars with a promise of another million if successful. They had little hope of that succeeding, however. No one in their right mind would want to become Igor! Especially not for a second time.
It took twelve days to fill the balloon with hydrogen Mary Anne had produced with the help of Dr. Balinkoff. They started on their epic journey to Hawaii on a wing and a prayer, so to speak. The former Captain, of course, was at the wheel with her lover beside her to supply masculine strength whenever needed. Everyone was worried because they had to use hydrogen to fill the envelope. All remembered seeing the famous scene of the last minutes of the Hindenberg on television at one time or another.
They could only make 30 miles an hour with the small engine borrowed from the castle. Time crept by with agonizing slowness. 'Only one hundred miles more to go,' Mary Ann thought. It looked like they were going to make it after all! The engine was not the safest to use with hydrogen and had to be constantly monitored. One wrong spark and the whole thing would go up like the forth of July. Or, more accurately, like a miniature Hindenberg!
Gilligan sneaked aboard one of Mr. Howell's cigars. He knew there was no smoking but how could one little smoke hurt? It wasn't his fault Mr. Howell couldn't quit, and had found several tobacco plants on the island they used to live on. Gilligan had spent several nights a month rolling the cigars for Mr. Howell. At least now he got to enjoy the results of his labor!
Dr. Balinkoff smelled the smoke. "Ah. A stogie! I haven't had one in years. Let me have yours, sir." He grabbed the cigar from Gilligan and they struggled to possess it until it slipped out of their hands and got caught in a bunch of ropes holding the castaways basket under the balloon. The ropes swiftly caught fire!
"FIRE!" yelled Gilligan, but it was too late to stop it from spreading!
"Don't panic!" ordered the Professor, holding on to his frightened wife to be. "We have to ditch in the ocean - that will put out the fire. Dear, anything you can tell us about hydrogen?"
A sobbing Mary Anne pulled herself together.
"Yes, it burns up. It won't invade the cabin - until other things catch on fire and the flames reach into the balloon." They desperately dropped ballast and the ocean zoomed up on them.
"Wait for it. Now!" yelled the Captain and all jumped safely into the sea. The flaming mass of the balloon and the basket flew a few more hundred feet east of them and then crashed, a flaming ruin, into the sea in front of them. The great strength of Ginger, who had to be taken out of the straightjacket for the trip, came in handy as he kept them afloat by swimming to the sinking basket and smashing the craft into several rafts they could use to rest upon. Soon the rest of the basket they had built sank into the ocean. It made him feel good to be a hero.
A day later a passing banana boat picked them up, barely alive and suffering from heat, exhaustion, and thirst.
The new Ginger Grant was a little worried upon hearing that the others had been rescued, but sighed in relief when it became apparent that the castaways planned to keep their mouths shut about her former identity. They even came up with the idea that Ginger had been separated from them and they had presumed she was dead. It fit in well with the story she had told upon her own arrival in Hawaii months ago.
She frowned to see her former body. It really was horrible! 'I should have disposed of it when I had the chance.' she thought. She added extra security in her Hollywood home. Then went out to celebrate her new film - Robin Crusoe. It was a tremendous success at the box office. The news of the rescue of the others drove the attendance records even higher! The critics hated it of course, but who cares as long as the receipts poured in.
With her percentage of the gross, she would make ten million dollars! Also, Rod was such a wonderful husband. She had never known such happiness. They were so much in love! And she was so beautiful, so desirable, so popular! Everyone admired and loved her now! The bad years faded into oblivion. Hopefully, the others would just fade away. She hadn't heard from them for weeks!
Chapter 10.
The weeks had been filled with getting altered lives back in order after the rescue. Dr. B., surrounded by guards hired to make sure he did what he had sworn to do, was on his way to talk to Ginger as promised when the news broke. Igor had broken out of the nut house for very disturbed people!
Ginger came home from the beauty parlor and parked her car in the driveway. A horrible face stared into her eyes on the other side of the side window. It was the face she had know for all her life. She screamed! The huge madman tore the door from its hinges bellowing, "Give me back my beautiful, beautiful body!"
Ginger cowered in terror. He reached a huge hand for her, and then suddenly her husband came to her rescue! He was a black belt in karate and 'Igor' and Brad fought. A powerful blow sent Brad falling and as the huge arm reached for Brad, Ginger's husband grasped his wrist and used the monster's momentum to send him hurling into a tree. Semi-conscious, the new Igor saw the beautiful Ginger Grant rush up and kiss her husband.
"My hero! You saved me from this monster!"
"You don't understand, she is me!" muttered Igor as he was hauled away by the VIP security patrol who finally arrived on the scene. The buxom blonde head of the VIP security company seemed to be attracted to Ginger! The old Igor would have been all over her, but he was all woman now and her handsome husband was more than enough to satisfy her needs!
A fan with a video camera has been on hand and recorded the fight. It was shown on national television news programs for days. The beautiful young couple became even more popular. Ginger and her husband did an interview with 60 Minutes!
Epilogue: One year later.
The attack on the beautiful, young Ginger Grant quickly made the rounds of every new channel in the country, and most of the world as well. The near brush with a 'stalker' made her even more popular as it did her handsome hero husband, and it led to them featuring in a series of highly successful action movies together.
"I'm the happiest, luckiest girl in the world!" Ginger told all her friends. They could easily believe it. Since escaping from the island she was a changed woman with more of a zest for life, and not nearly so bitchy. Igor was eventually released after intensive counseling when he finally had a 'breakthrough' and 'admitted' to the mental health doctors that he had an obsession with Ms. Grant and that his stories about body swapping with her were just transgender fantasies.
Once the doctors were convinced by the former actress of his honest desire to get therapy, it was only a matter of months before Igor was pronounced cured and released back into society. Prescription drugs kept his depression at bay.
A famous director wanted to make Ginger's story the subject of his next film and Ginger agreed to portray herself as long as her husband did likewise. At the request of the director, she talked with Igor on the phone and made a tentative peace with him by offering him a bit part in the Ginger Grant's Life movie as, of course, the stalker.
Igor couldn't resist the offer; he dearly loved show business. He became a minor celebrity when the biographical film became a surprise hit, and he fell into the wrestling business - billed by a savvy promoter as Monster Man. As he won all his fights, he became very successful and was usually surrounded by groupies who loved to find themselves in his strong and dangerous grasp. He often had sex two or three times a night. It was not the life he had ever planned to have but it was far better than being in a sanitarium, and he was no longer totally unhappy.
Sometimes the brooding 'Monster Man' was even observed to laugh out loud on occasions such as when he was asked about the difference between the movies and wrestling. "Both involve acting. As long as I can act, I am happy." Igor was a good patient and always took all his prescribed drugs. They also made him happy!
The charming Mary Anne and her handsome Professor were married and had twins nine months after the honeymoon ended. Their horticulture school is very successful and Mary Anne is a devoted wife, mother, and educator. Her husband adores her and tells everyone his wife is the most beautiful, sweet, and smart woman in the world! Besides that, she's a darned good cook, too!
Dr. B was unsuccessful in approaching Ginger, who just laughed in his face when asked to fix the machine. The others lost interest in him and let him go. After spending some time complaining about not becoming ruler of the world, Dr. B. has perked up recently and he is working on a new invention. It will take the smell out of cabbage and the gas out of beans. If successful, he will be a world benefactor.
Things did not go as well in the Howell mansion. 'Gilligan' never really fit in. All the socialites in Boston couldn't stand the young man. His low class origins were just so obvious. The man just reeked of Mulligan stew with every word and gesture. Also, Gilligan was extremely clumsy and always breaking something!
Despite his claims of a Harvard education all he could produce was a High School diploma, and the stockholders in the company he had been set up to run voted him out after just three months. Losses manipulated by Mrs. Howell may have had a hand in influencing that decision. Poor Gilligan even went to jail for six months on an embezzlement charge that was later thrown out of court on a technicality. When he got out, Gilligan used the money he had embezzled and he now owns a successful pizza parlor chain in New Jersey And is dating a local beauty pageant winner, Miss Molly Malone.
Lovey Howell kicked the Captain out of her bed and her mansion. She found out he was chasing every skirt in sight - just like a sailor. Apparently Dr. Balinkoff's machine couldn't take the sailor out of a man of the sea after all, just his mind. When she tearfully confronted him with another in a string of floozies, he just said "Beat it you old bag - you're much too old for me anyway! I go for younger chicks!"
With his monetary gift from the Howell's safely in the bank, the Captain was glad to leave the stuffy mansion and is a fixture at every pickup bar around the New York Docks. Mr. and Mrs. Howell are now trying to make a go of it once more. Things look promising there. She missed her little buddy! They have grown closer than ever before, and are seriously considering renewing the wedding vows the original Howell's once took!
The one thing none of the castaways will ever do again is go on another three hour tour ever again!
The End!
An all-new, alternative version of the classic body-swapping episode of Gilligan's Island! The Characters and original script are copyrighted to others. No claim is made to those concepts by us. All additional elements of the story not in the original TV script nor owned by others are copyrighted to us.
Written by Eric, and Caleb Jones Plot by Eric Edited by Caleb Jones
Previously, the castaways were 'rescued' by a mad scientist and his assistant, Igor. The madman exchanged everyone's minds! The horrible Igor arranged to swap minds with the beautiful Ginger and then destroyed all of the scientific equipment, sailing off with the only boat to Hawaii and a new life as movie star Ginger Grant! The once again stranded castaways struggle to adjust to their radically different bodies and forever altered lives...
Chapter 8.
After a more sedate Ginger woke up, they had lunch. She refused to go along with the plan to call each other by their body's name. Ginger refused to give up her identity as a beautiful young woman despite all the physical evidence to the contrary.
That night, with horrid fascination, they all watched a Ginger Grant Film festival put on by a TV channel the satellite provider carried. Ginger sobbed in the back ground occasionally and other times she was entranced to see herself on the big screen!
The show was in honor of the return of the actress from her supposedly watery grave. 'Ginger' introduced each of the movies the original Ginger Grant had made before taking that fate-filled cruise years ago. Igor had studied his target body's life well, however and even Ginger had to admit that her impersonator looked great in a new evening gown. Igor glowed with happiness as the stage crew laughed at a little joke she had told during one of the film introductions. It was wonderful to be Ginger Grant!
But not so if you used to BE Ginger Grant. The castaways barely caught the former Ginger in a bathroom trying to slit his wrists, albeit with a Bic safety razor which barely cut Igor's tough skin. Again Ginger had to be sedated.
That night, the Skipper, now known as 'Lovey', felt someone creep into her bed.
"Who are you?" she cried out with alarm in the darkened room. She was a weak woman now and would be no match if someone wanted to hurt her. She hated her inherited body!
"Me!" a voice said calmly, turning on a night light. It was her former self, Mrs. Howell, who she was expected to call Skipper, even though he had never piloted a boat when he was a millionaire's wife.
"What are you doing here?" It was so freaky to be in a bed with her own male body just inches away. He never realized how big he used to be!
The former Macho man felt her new breasts being fondled. Despite herself, she started to enjoy the alien sensations. The room was getting hot! Her former body was so strangely virile and attractive! The former Skipper was afraid for the first time in her life as feminine feelings washed through her body.
"Please don't."
"Just let yourself go, my dear. Trust me! Your body hasn't gotten laid in ten years! Thurston was always too busy making money - or so he said!" whispered the current Captain with a voice as low as his intentions.
"I'm frightened. I don't know if I'm ready to do this. Do you think you could do it?"
"I'd like to see anyone try and stop me!" They might both be well past their prime, but having lived in that body until days ago, the former Lovey Howell found her old self to be quite appealing, and it turned her on to touch her! He stroked the secret spot on her prior body which made her crazy whenever Thurston had accidentally caressed her there.
"You are a beautiful woman, now, Skipper, and it is time for you to find out what being a woman is all about!"
The new Lovey felt a glow of pride. Her man was so MASTERFUL! The former Skipper was shocked to find herself entranced by her former self, but her desires overwhelmed her leftover masculine objections...
"And it's time for you to become a man. Be gentle." she pleaded. "I've never done this before. Well, I have, of course, but this is my first time as catcher instead of being the pitcher.
The macho man grunted affirmatively. "Trust me, Captain, it's a lot better than any baseball game!"
The new Lovey Howell enjoyed it, but mostly the pleasure was feeling desirable and secure in her man's arms. Her new body was somewhat surprised by the act and out of practice. Neither of them had much experience as their current gender. But they agreed to try again another night until they perfected their techniques. Hopefully, practice would make perfect!
And life goes on.
Even after such life altering circumstances.
Dr. Balinkoff and 'Mary Ann' worked on the body swapping machine with no appreciable progress. But it was something to do, and kept hope alive.
Ginger had to be restrained in a straight Jacket. Dr. B. was surprised when they asked him why he had one. "Doesn't everyone?" he replied.
'The Professor' was finding his former body very attractive. The mind of the Professor had always appealed to her as a woman, and now his male body was sending out signals every time "Mary Anne walked near him! He wanted his body back, but to hold instead of possessing it once more!
However 'Gilligan' and 'Mr. 'Howell' also found the pert youthful body of the former Professor very appealing. Eventually, they came to blows and the new 'Mary Anne' was surprised to find herself thrilled. Men were fighting over her. Naturally the 'Professor' stepped in and won, and Gilligan and Mr. Howell limped away, groaning.
After talking it over, the new 'Mary Anne' and the new 'Professor' decided they loved each other and wanted to get married. But the Skipper was no longer captain of a boat so they settled for a prolonged engagement. They kissed very sweetly and their first night together as man and wife was a first. Each was surprised to find out that the other was a virgin! As they had nothing to compare, they found the experience to be the best of their lives.
Chapter 9.
While rooting around for parts for the machine with her fiancé, Mary Anne made an amazing discovery. She found hundreds of yards of nylon fabric. When asked why he bought it, Dr. B replied that "It was on sale."
"We can make a blimp and get off the island," said Mary Anne, the well- educated mind of the former Professor already drawing up the plans in her head.
There was an excited buzz among the castaways.
"But what about the body-swapping machine?" Gilligan asked.
"It's hopeless. All the plans have been destroyed. Dr. B. here can barely remember his own name, and can't remember how to re-build it even if we could. I'm afraid it would be useless to return with the proper parts and try assuming we do get back to civilization."
"We be stuck. " Ginger struggled for words just as he struggled against the straightjacket. "Like this!" He howled like a lost soul.
"I'm afraid so, Ginger. Also, there will be no sense in telling anyone we are not who we appear to be. We would be locked up as island happy after all these years away from civilization."
The rest reluctantly agreed. Without the machine to prove their case it was hopeless!
The new Gilligan didn't think youth was worth the loss of his wealth and social position and said so. He demanded a settlement from his former body.
An agreement was worked out during the evenings while they all built the small balloon and basket which, using an aerodynamic mixture of designs from both big air balloons and blimps the new Mary Anne created, would hopefully carry them back to Hawaii. The new and official version of Mr. Howell agreed to give them each ten million dollars. "Why not! It's not really my money." the former Gilligan said to the others. The original Mr. Howell almost had a heart attack!
The former Mrs. Howell, now effectively a poor sailor nearing retirement age, would live in the Howell mansion with the 'Howell' husband and wife as the captain of their yacht when needed until the 'Howells' could get a divorce. 'Mrs. Howell' wanted to keep her man around!
The original Mr. Howell, as 'Gilligan', would be introduced to society as a long lost cousin to Mrs. Howell and placed in charge of one of the Howell's larger corporations. With his many years of experience hiding behind a youthful exterior, the former Mr. Howell expected to amass a new fortune within a few years at most!
The Professor and Mary Ann planned to open a private school as soon as they were married and teach Scientific Horticulture. The current 'Mary Anne' would have to take equivalency tests in all the college courses needed to teach, but for the former professor, that should prove no problem. It was a dream they both shared as Mary Anne had been a farmer's daughter and the Professor had learned so much during his stay on the island!
"What about poor Ginger?" asked the new Igor, doped to the eyeballs to prevent suicide.
"Until we can be sure you don't try and kill yourself again, you will be in a place where they can - ahem - look after you," said the Professor. Mary Ann gazed admiringly at the tall man she used to be. Her big man was so strong - especially in bed!
So they got to work. Lovey proved to be the best at sewing fabric together. The Skipper had sewn a number of rips in sails over the years and Mrs. Howell's fingers worked much better than her prior, stubby fingers at the task. The connecting surfaces of the balloon were heat sealed and glued. 'Igor's' depression was not made better by the news on Entertainment Tonight that Ginger Grant had married her sweetheart Brad after a rather short engagement.
Dr. B was going to come with them and try to talk Igor into helping reconstruct the machine. He would be given a million dollars with a promise of another million if successful. They had little hope of that succeeding, however. No one in their right mind would want to become Igor! Especially not for a second time.
It took twelve days to fill the balloon with hydrogen Mary Anne had produced with the help of Dr. Balinkoff. They started on their epic journey to Hawaii on a wing and a prayer, so to speak. The former Captain, of course, was at the wheel with her lover beside her to supply masculine strength whenever needed. Everyone was worried because they had to use hydrogen to fill the envelope. All remembered seeing the famous scene of the last minutes of the Hindenberg on television at one time or another.
They could only make 30 miles an hour with the small engine borrowed from the castle. Time crept by with agonizing slowness. 'Only one hundred miles more to go,' Mary Ann thought. It looked like they were going to make it after all! The engine was not the safest to use with hydrogen and had to be constantly monitored. One wrong spark and the whole thing would go up like the forth of July. Or, more accurately, like a miniature Hindenberg!
Gilligan sneaked aboard one of Mr. Howell's cigars. He knew there was no smoking but how could one little smoke hurt? It wasn't his fault Mr. Howell couldn't quit, and had found several tobacco plants on the island they used to live on. Gilligan had spent several nights a month rolling the cigars for Mr. Howell. At least now he got to enjoy the results of his labor!
Dr. Balinkoff smelled the smoke. "Ah. A stogie! I haven't had one in years. Let me have yours, sir." He grabbed the cigar from Gilligan and they struggled to possess it until it slipped out of their hands and got caught in a bunch of ropes holding the castaways basket under the balloon. The ropes swiftly caught fire!
"FIRE!" yelled Gilligan, but it was too late to stop it from spreading!
"Don't panic!" ordered the Professor, holding on to his frightened wife to be. "We have to ditch in the ocean - that will put out the fire. Dear, anything you can tell us about hydrogen?"
A sobbing Mary Anne pulled herself together.
"Yes, it burns up. It won't invade the cabin - until other things catch on fire and the flames reach into the balloon." They desperately dropped ballast and the ocean zoomed up on them.
"Wait for it. Now!" yelled the Captain and all jumped safely into the sea. The flaming mass of the balloon and the basket flew a few more hundred feet east of them and then crashed, a flaming ruin, into the sea in front of them. The great strength of Ginger, who had to be taken out of the straightjacket for the trip, came in handy as he kept them afloat by swimming to the sinking basket and smashing the craft into several rafts they could use to rest upon. Soon the rest of the basket they had built sank into the ocean. It made him feel good to be a hero.
A day later a passing banana boat picked them up, barely alive and suffering from heat, exhaustion, and thirst.
The new Ginger Grant was a little worried upon hearing that the others had been rescued, but sighed in relief when it became apparent that the castaways planned to keep their mouths shut about her former identity. They even came up with the idea that Ginger had been separated from them and they had presumed she was dead. It fit in well with the story she had told upon her own arrival in Hawaii months ago.
She frowned to see her former body. It really was horrible! 'I should have disposed of it when I had the chance.' she thought. She added extra security in her Hollywood home. Then went out to celebrate her new film - Robin Crusoe. It was a tremendous success at the box office. The news of the rescue of the others drove the attendance records even higher! The critics hated it of course, but who cares as long as the receipts poured in.
With her percentage of the gross, she would make ten million dollars! Also, Rod was such a wonderful husband. She had never known such happiness. They were so much in love! And she was so beautiful, so desirable, so popular! Everyone admired and loved her now! The bad years faded into oblivion. Hopefully, the others would just fade away. She hadn't heard from them for weeks!
Chapter 10.
The weeks had been filled with getting altered lives back in order after the rescue. Dr. B., surrounded by guards hired to make sure he did what he had sworn to do, was on his way to talk to Ginger as promised when the news broke. Igor had broken out of the nut house for very disturbed people!
Ginger came home from the beauty parlor and parked her car in the driveway. A horrible face stared into her eyes on the other side of the side window. It was the face she had know for all her life. She screamed! The huge madman tore the door from its hinges bellowing, "Give me back my beautiful, beautiful body!"
Ginger cowered in terror. He reached a huge hand for her, and then suddenly her husband came to her rescue! He was a black belt in karate and 'Igor' and Brad fought. A powerful blow sent Brad falling and as the huge arm reached for Brad, Ginger's husband grasped his wrist and used the monster's momentum to send him hurling into a tree. Semi-conscious, the new Igor saw the beautiful Ginger Grant rush up and kiss her husband.
"My hero! You saved me from this monster!"
"You don't understand, she is me!" muttered Igor as he was hauled away by the VIP security patrol who finally arrived on the scene. The buxom blonde head of the VIP security company seemed to be attracted to Ginger! The old Igor would have been all over her, but he was all woman now and her handsome husband was more than enough to satisfy her needs!
A fan with a video camera has been on hand and recorded the fight. It was shown on national television news programs for days. The beautiful young couple became even more popular. Ginger and her husband did an interview with 60 Minutes!
Epilogue: One year later.
The attack on the beautiful, young Ginger Grant quickly made the rounds of every new channel in the country, and most of the world as well. The near brush with a 'stalker' made her even more popular as it did her handsome hero husband, and it led to them featuring in a series of highly successful action movies together.
"I'm the happiest, luckiest girl in the world!" Ginger told all her friends. They could easily believe it. Since escaping from the island she was a changed woman with more of a zest for life, and not nearly so bitchy. Igor was eventually released after intensive counseling when he finally had a 'breakthrough' and 'admitted' to the mental health doctors that he had an obsession with Ms. Grant and that his stories about body swapping with her were just transgender fantasies.
Once the doctors were convinced by the former actress of his honest desire to get therapy, it was only a matter of months before Igor was pronounced cured and released back into society. Prescription drugs kept his depression at bay.
A famous director wanted to make Ginger's story the subject of his next film and Ginger agreed to portray herself as long as her husband did likewise. At the request of the director, she talked with Igor on the phone and made a tentative peace with him by offering him a bit part in the Ginger Grant's Life movie as, of course, the stalker.
Igor couldn't resist the offer; he dearly loved show business. He became a minor celebrity when the biographical film became a surprise hit, and he fell into the wrestling business - billed by a savvy promoter as Monster Man. As he won all his fights, he became very successful and was usually surrounded by groupies who loved to find themselves in his strong and dangerous grasp. He often had sex two or three times a night. It was not the life he had ever planned to have but it was far better than being in a sanitarium, and he was no longer totally unhappy.
Sometimes the brooding 'Monster Man' was even observed to laugh out loud on occasions such as when he was asked about the difference between the movies and wrestling. "Both involve acting. As long as I can act, I am happy." Igor was a good patient and always took all his prescribed drugs. They also made him happy!
The charming Mary Anne and her handsome Professor were married and had twins nine months after the honeymoon ended. Their horticulture school is very successful and Mary Anne is a devoted wife, mother, and educator. Her husband adores her and tells everyone his wife is the most beautiful, sweet, and smart woman in the world! Besides that, she's a darned good cook, too!
Dr. B was unsuccessful in approaching Ginger, who just laughed in his face when asked to fix the machine. The others lost interest in him and let him go. After spending some time complaining about not becoming ruler of the world, Dr. B. has perked up recently and he is working on a new invention. It will take the smell out of cabbage and the gas out of beans. If successful, he will be a world benefactor.
Things did not go as well in the Howell mansion. 'Gilligan' never really fit in. All the socialites in Boston couldn't stand the young man. His low class origins were just so obvious. The man just reeked of Mulligan stew with every word and gesture. Also, Gilligan was extremely clumsy and always breaking something!
Despite his claims of a Harvard education all he could produce was a High School diploma, and the stockholders in the company he had been set up to run voted him out after just three months. Losses manipulated by Mrs. Howell may have had a hand in influencing that decision. Poor Gilligan even went to jail for six months on an embezzlement charge that was later thrown out of court on a technicality. When he got out, Gilligan used the money he had embezzled and he now owns a successful pizza parlor chain in New Jersey And is dating a local beauty pageant winner, Miss Molly Malone.
Lovey Howell kicked the Captain out of her bed and her mansion. She found out he was chasing every skirt in sight - just like a sailor. Apparently Dr. Balinkoff's machine couldn't take the sailor out of a man of the sea after all, just his mind. When she tearfully confronted him with another in a string of floozies, he just said "Beat it you old bag - you're much too old for me anyway! I go for younger chicks!"
With his monetary gift from the Howell's safely in the bank, the Captain was glad to leave the stuffy mansion and is a fixture at every pickup bar around the New York Docks. Mr. and Mrs. Howell are now trying to make a go of it once more. Things look promising there. She missed her little buddy! They have grown closer than ever before, and are seriously considering renewing the wedding vows the original Howell's once took!
The one thing none of the castaways will ever do again is go on another three hour tour ever again!
The End!