August 4, 1964

First mate's log:

Well, all the ladies came back and Mr. Brady is working on sketches for separate huts. It's nice to have the women around, and not just because we men aren't very good at cooking, laundry, and all that. It just seems nicer, "more gracious" is how Mr. Howell put it.

I did want to be helpful domestically, so I cut up the weather balloon (the one I thought was a dragon) into pieces so that the fabric could be used for clothing. It took me a few days and I was so proud when I showed it to the Skipper and the Professor. It turns out that they wanted to use the balloon to send up a message. Oops! Still, the women were grateful for the fabric.

I had a dream about all five of them. This was while they were gone. I dreamed I was a bullfighter and they were my adoring fans. I've always been shy with girls but not in my dreams. I wish I could do something heroic in real life and impress Mary Ann and Ginger.

August 10, 1964

Carol Martin's diary:

Well, it turns out we're not alone on the island! Wrongway Feldman, the famous pilot who disappeared back in '31 (my parents told me about him), has been on this island all that time. I don't know how we managed to not run into him these past weeks, or why he didn't reveal himself when Gilligan set off all those signal flares, but he and his old propeller plane, The Spirit of the Bronx, were in the jungle until Gilligan found them today.

The Professor thinks he can fix the plane with spare parts from The Minnow. The plane is of course too small for sixteen passengers, but Mr. Feldman can fly to civilization and send someone back for us. This is so exciting! We're going to be rescued!

The construction on the huts is of course halted for the moment. The only one that's been finished in the past week is the Howells'. It's partly that they're wealthy enough to offer Mike Brady money when we get back home, not that he's entirely motivated by money of course, but he does have three young sons to bring up on his own now. Another factor is that the rest of us knew that life in the communal hut would be more peaceful without the Howells bickering. (Not that the children don't quarrel of course, but at least they don't argue at night.) The Howells wanted a very elaborate home, as close to a mansion as could be made in bamboo, but Mike convinced them to settle for a large one-room "flat." The rest of us worked on making furniture and their hut is really quite pleasant considering, but of course they'll soon be leaving it for one of their many homes. (They claim at least one in every state!)

I don't mind putting up with this hut for awhile longer. I wonder how long it will take for Mr. Feldman to get to Hawaii. I know, he does have a tendency to get lost, which is where his nickname comes from, but Mike pointed out that even if Mr. Feldman did lose his way, he could still be spotted from the air.

Just think, maybe in less than a week, I'll be back with Tim! The girls are so excited about going home (well, not Cindy, who's still too little to understand all that's happened), but I'm just as eager as Marcia and Jan.

August 12, 1964

It turns out that someone else has been living on the island. In fact, he's been here longer than I've been alive. Wrongway Feldman landed here in '31 and hasn't left since. We were hoping he could rescue us but his old prop plane has a lot of problems. First, the Professor fixed the engine with parts from The Minnow, but then yesterday the propeller fell off. We fixed it, but then today we found out that someone had cut through one of the support beams!

The Professor thinks someone else is on the island and that person doesn't want us to leave for some reason, but how many people could be living here without us knowing? Wrongway thinks one of us sabotaged the plane, but we all want to go home. I wonder if one of the chimps could've done it. They're pretty smart and mischievous. But the Skipper says they couldn't work a saw. I hope we find out soon who's doing it, so we can stop them and be rescued.

The Skipper's got all us men on watch, twenty-four hours a day. We each do five hours, except Mr. Brady only has to do four hours, because he's got kids. Alice looks after the boys while Mr. Brady's on watch, but she minds them most of the time anyway. She's not a replacement for their mother, but I'm sure it helps the family having her around.

August 15, 1964

Well, so much for being rescued. It turns out that Mr. Feldman was sabotaging his own plane, since he was afraid to fly after so long. Then he trained Gilligan as a pilot, neither of them telling anyone, which is a shame because it turns out that the Professor was a pilot in World War II and could've flown if he'd known. It ended up with Mr. Feldman flying off in the plane after all, and "Wrongway" or not, he made his way back to New York! Yes, he completely skipped over Hawaii and most of the continental U.S.

Still, he was back in America and we hoped to be rescued soon. The problem is that his directions were so confusing that we're no closer to being found than we were.

The only good thing is that he reported that we're all alive and well, except for Barbara Brady of course. Mike told me that at least now her parents know her fate and can mourn her, and he finds that comforting.

I understand but I can't help thinking of my own parents, and my brother Jack. Are they relieved that we're still alive, or angry that Mr. Feldman couldn't save us? And I think of how Jack got engaged just before I left, to a sweet girl named Pauline. Will I be back in time for their Christmas wedding? Oh, I hope so! I don't want to think about being here even in the Fall, but that's increasingly a possibility.