A/N: hello again, everybody. Here is hoping everybody is enjoying the Super Bowl if you are watching. If not, may this Valentine's Day weekend be going well enough for you as it is for me. As I said, I was writing a special edition on Pinger. And here is that special conclusion in keeping with the spirit of this Super Valentine's weekend. May you all enjoy this story. Back with more later! Enjoy! :D
The seven castaways gathered around for the Valentine's Day party later that evening. Mary Ann and Ginger came together to make heart-shaped Coconut Cream Pies, gathered around barbequed shrimp and fish, along with many fruits and libations to mark the occasion.
As Skipper got in an occasional dance with every woman on the island, it was the three couples who were living it up together. The Howells were dancing and moving the music, as was Gilligan and Mary Ann, as well as the Professor and Ginger.
The music was flowing on KHSL-FM this evening. Coming in strong, in particular, was a singer who had recently begun to receive heavier air play on the station. It was a singer named, Syl Johnson. Within the past year, he had broken through with a song called, Different Strokes. The song was so bass-laden that Gilligan, Mary Ann and Ginger each moved as frantically to this song as they had to recent offerings from James Brown. They all liked Syl's music instantly.
"Say, this guy is really good," Gilligan said. "I hope he puts out some more music soon."
"You're right, Willy Baby," Mary Ann said. "I can really feel myself moving to his music."
"Me, too" Ginger said. "Even I am finding out how many dance moves I now have that I didn't even have!"
"That means, you are starting to get some soul, Ginger," Gilligan said.
"Oh, William, what a kind thing of you to say," Ginger said, shaking her body so hard that her curves wiggled and jiggled, along with the rest of her body parts as she danced.
"Actually, honey, Will's right," Professor Roy said. "Even since we have been listening to this station, your dancing, like so much of you, has, indeed, changed for the better!"
"And I am so very glad that both of my men see this," Ginger said, regarding her two boyfriends.
All throughout the evening, all kinds of love songs played, ranging from Baby, I Love You, by Aretha Franklin, Don't You Know and Hallelujah! I Love Her So by Ray Charles, You Got What It Takes by Brook Benton and Dinah Washington (a song The future Gilligans lip-synched to great effect), Don't Mess With Bill by The Marvelettes, which took on an extra-added meaning with Mary Ann and Gilligan less than four months from their own wedding, My Guy, which Ginger did a song-and-dance around her Professor on, and My Girl, by The Temptations, which the three couples all danced to.
Then, following a quick commercial break, the Professor called Gilligan to the side to ask him something.
"Say, Gilligan, would you mind the music down, please?" he asked him.
"Sure, Professor," Gilligan said, in kind. "Is everything all right?"
"Well, in a minute, we're about to all find out," Professor answered.
"Is this about that speech you were talking about making?" Gilligan asked him.
"Exactly," the educated man answered.
"Sure, Professor," Gilligan said, as he went over towards the radio to lower the volume.
On that note, the Professor asked for everybody's attention for a minute. Once the other six castaways were gathered, he then began to speak.
"What is it, Professor?" Skipper asked.
"This is what it is, Skipper," he said. "At this time, I would love for Ginger to please join me on stage."
Ginger, wondering what her boyfriend had in mind, followed him up to the stage.
Once the two of them were on stage, the Professor began talking.
"First off, I want to say, I am having a wonderful time this evening on this year's Valentine's Day party. I am having a great time with everybody here this evening and may we all be having a great time here together," Professor said.
All the other five castaways watching him and Ginger on-stage responded in kind.
From there, the Professor turned to his Ginger.
"And as for you, my love, would love to wish you a very special Valentine's Day," Professor said, holding her hands in his.
"Thank you, and I wish you a very Happy Valentine's Day, too," Ginger said, with a big smile on her face. She and The Professor then kissed briefly. The Professor then continued talking directly to Ginger while on stage.
"For years now, ever since being stranded on this island, I have gotten to know you very well," he said. "I have gotten to know you from watching you on television and the movies, from being a passenger aboard the S.S. Minnow, a fellow castaway, a friend, and finally, my girlfriend. Someone I have come to love more than I love life itself. And I have wanted this day to come all of my life, not just on Valentine's Day, but for a woman like you to come into my life. A woman who is beautiful, talented, intelligent, caring, sharing, generous, and just a very loving woman just to love and simply be around. And now, that that said woman is here in my life, on this very special day of days, I believe the time has come to bring everything together, with every member of our island family gathered before us."
On that note, the Professor released his hands from Ginger's, unbuttoned his corduroy blazer, and dropped to one knee. Ginger wondrously looked on.
Professor then pulled out a small jewel box from inside of his blazer. He opened the box to produce a small diamond ring.
Ginger then gasped and began shaking at the sight of the ring. Tears began forming in her eyes.
Professor then asked her a question. The question he had been waiting to ask his entire life. To the proper woman. A woman who was now before him.
"Ginger Grant," Professor asked, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"
"YESSSSS! I WILL MARRY YOU, ROY!" she cried. "I will be more than happy to become your wife and have you as my husband!"
On that note, Professor Roy took the ring out of the box, slipped it on his fiancée's third finger of her left hand, then got off of his knee, swept her into his arms and locked into a very, very deep kiss!
The other five castaways cheered Roy and Ginger on! Both Mrs. Howell and Mary Ann were in tears.
After their first kiss as an engaged couple, Roy yelled out to Gilligan to bring back the music. Gilligan obliged by turning the volume back up…only to hear Aretha, Lady Soul, sing her cover of The Impressions classic, People Get Ready.
Ginger and The Professor stayed on stage to slow dance and kiss throughout the song. The Howells and The Gilligans-to-be then danced, as well, likewise.
While dancing, Mary Ann asked her fiancé a question.
"Willy, I need to ask you something," she said.
"Anything, honey," he replied.
"Did you know anything about this?" she said, referring to what had just transpired on stage.
"Well, I knew the Professor had to make a speech," he said, "I just did not know it was going to be about this."
"Good," Mary Ann said.
"You mean, you are not mad at me?" Gilligan asked.
"Oh, no, not at all" Mary Ann said, "the Professor asked you to keep what he was doing to yourself. And you did that. You did not betray his confidence. And for that, you are a very special part of all of our lives, William Gilligan. And I love you for that."
"And I love you, too, Mary Ann Summers," Gilligan said, going on to kiss the woman he was soon about to marry.
Meanwhile, The Howells had something else on their mind.
"Well, Thurston, I guess this means another wedding for us to plan for on the island," Mrs. Howell said.
"Yes, Lovey, darling, and I know you are looking forward to doing that," Mr. Howell said. The wealthy couple then kissed.
After Aretha's stirring cover ended, another song started up. A song from the film, To Sir, With Love, starring Sidney Poitier. This was a song from the end-of-the-term dance, in which Sidney dances with one of the students, as played by Judy Glesson.
On that note, Roy jumped off the stage, then helped his future-wife off of the stage. From there, the rest of the castaways formed a circle around Roy and Ginger, as they danced to the song, Getting Harder All The Time, by the Mindbenders. As Ginger danced gleefully, Roy found himself dancing, unbeknownst, as Sidney did during that scene. Roy's smile got wider and bigger, as if he was a man who was finding himself coming fully alive, dancing with a woman he was about to marry!
As the song ended, the five other castaways gathered around them to congratulate them on this momentous occasion.
Ginger, in particular, made it a point to kiss both Gilligan and Mary Ann.
It was a kiss neither of them had gotten from Ginger, ever!
"Wow, what was that for, Ginger?" Gilligan asked.
"Oh, it is a reminder that you will always be my boyfriend, William," Ginger said.
"Yes, it has been fun," he said.
"And it still will be," Ginger said. "I'm still your girlfriend."
"You are?" Gilligan responded.
"Yes, you are, Will," Roy said. "My fiancée loves both of you. That is never going to change."
"Okay," William said.
"And that goes for you, too, Mary Ann," Roy said.
"It does?" she asked him.
"Yes, darling," Ginger said, kissing her girlfriend in the process. "We are all going to be married. If anything, I feel even closer to the two of you than ever. Which means I love the both of you that much more."
On that note, the future Gilligans and Hinkleys came together to hug to the tune of the Lulu-sung theme song to To Sir, With Love. It would be a slow dance between four people, all engaged and further bonded having gone from strangers aboard the Minnow to now all getting married.
They had all, indeed, come a very long way!
