5

Mary Ann sat up, feeling completely refreshed again. She ran back to the camp and put together breakfast quickly. Then she knocked on her hut and the Howells to get them up before running back out to the lagoon to gather some shellfish for a special dinner.

As soon as the three men made it back to camp they were greeted by the Howells and Ginger sitting at the table tired and a little upset. They heard Mr. Howell first, "I don't understand Lovey...I call for breakfast, I don't need breakfast calling me."

Mrs. Howell patted her husband's hand and told him, "Now darling, don't be angry with Mary Ann. After all, if it weren't for her we would have had to pack everything and go out collecting those nasty vines again. We must thank her Thurston for doing all those chores for us."

Ginger took another bite and said, "She has been amazing. I don't know how she does it all."

The Professor was stunned and he walked slowly over to the table letting Skipper and Gilligan go ahead of him, clearly making a beeline for the plate of food.

"Wait a minute...are you saying...Mr. and Mrs. Howell...that neither of you have been helping out like we thought?" he asked.

"Professor my good man, we helped, every morning until tee time. Then Mary Ann relieved us." Mr. Howell explained.

The Professor then turned to Ginger, "You too? How long did you pitch in before turning it all back over to Mary Ann?"

Ginger looked at the Howells already looking down at the table and answered, "Well, I worked, I did, just not for as long as Mary Ann. She had my quota filled in about an hour. It was so much more efficient..." She lost her argument as she caught the looks of the men.

The Professor then took a deep breath and asked, "So now tell me...and this will make up for this some...was it Mary Ann's idea for you girls to haul the majority of the supplies up the cave last night?"

The Howells and Ginger looked at each other in confusion and Mr. Howell spoke up, "Whatever on earth are you talking about?"

Mary Ann smiled and started to laugh. She didn't even know why exactly, but so few things brought laughter on this island so she went with it.

She looked down in the water and the shells all seemed to move around about her feet, the colors swirling. "How pretty!" she said out loud.

Then she went swimming, she had energy to work off. She felt as though she could even swim back to Hawaii and rescue the others herself. The idea probably stayed in her mind longer than it should have, but she turned around after reaching the edge of the lagoon and swam back.

Little did she know that the men had eaten and were launching a search party to find her.

Gilligan found her and then shouted to the others. "Mary Ann!" He called to her. She saw him wave to her to swim in.

She looked back at the open ocean and then swam back to the shore line. "What do you need Gilligan?" She walked out but kept walking, almost pacing around him.

He started to get dizzy as he walked in circles to keep eye contact with her. "I...uh I...uh...the Professor and Skipper want to see you." Then he did fall over.

She squealed, "Gilligan!" She bent down and shook his shoulder to wake him up, "Wake up!"

The other two men came running over and the Skipper stepped up and knelt down over Gilligan, "Gilligan, little buddy...speak to me!"

Mary Ann kept moving, this time her arms and the Professor took note of that while looking over the Skipper's shoulder at Gilligan.

Gilligan came to and said, "Stop walking in circles!" He then blinked and started to sit up.

The Skipper picked him up and told the Professor he was taking him to his hut as he clearly needed some rest.

That left the Professor and Mary Ann alone. He asked her softly, "What happened?"

She answered, "I was out swimming and collecting shellfish for dinner when he yelled to me from the shoreline. I came in and asked what he wanted and then he fainted."

He kept watching her move her arms and asked, "What's wrong with your arm? Did you injure it?"

She stopped and then started to walk out to into the water to get her basket, "I didn't injure it, I'm fine."

Taking her basket, she carried it up to him and opened it so he could see how much she had gathered so far.

He looked in and was impressed with the number of shellfish she had gathered. She smiled and then started to jog back to camp. His concern quietly mounting for her along with a new emotion he wasn't familiar with.

After the delicious lunch of shellfish, the men went back to hauling the remainder of the crates up to the cave. It had started to rain on and off again. Ginger and the Howells were listening to some hollywood and rich and famous radio show while supposedly listening for weather updates and that left Mary Ann alone. After cleaning up after lunch she passed out again. This time in the center of camp by the table, but there was no one to see her there.

She heard voices, off in a distance as she came to. Mary Ann jumped up quickly and dusted herself off before sitting at the table trying to act like she had just sat down for a minute.

"Well...that's the last of it gentlemen. The only things that remain were the dishes and the pot we use for the stews and soups. Other than that..." The Professor said as the three sat down.

They looked at Mary Ann who looked even worse than before, but all three men knew not to say that now. So the Professor spoke up, "We got everything up there..."

"Except my things...I'm sorry..." Mary Ann started and then ran off crying. She felt that although she was trying as hard as she could, she still fell short. What had she just been doing, for crying out loud...sleeping!

This time the Professor chased after her as she got down to the lagoon. He lost sight of her for a second before she emerged from some bushes. It appeared she was eating something, but by the time she got to him, she had swallowed whatever it was.

He walked up to her and said, "Mary Ann...you have nothing to be sorry for. We couldn't pack any of those things. We were still eating and living here." He told her this very clearly and concisely with his hands on her shoulders.

She closed her eyes and composed herself quickly before saying, "I'm sorry...I don't know what's wrong with me."

She sat down and he sat beside her, putting his hand on her back. "Mary Ann, I think you're just tired. We've all be working overtime to get everything moved for weeks now. You work as hard if not harder than anyone here, but your body can only handle so much. When one becomes physically exhausted usually they have a hard time reigning in their emotions causing an abnormal emotional response." She looked at him confused so he continued, "I've never seen you like this either since I've known you. I think your body has been telling you to rest, but because you push yourself, with the fatigue, other emotions are coming to the surface...Come back with me to camp and take a nap. Ok?"

His rubbing her back made her feel better but the beans were starting to kick in. She went back with him, but as soon as he left to gather the fish and transport them to the bay near the cave she got up and worked to pack all of the dishes up they would not be using tonight and then did all the laundry, so everyone would have all clean clothes when they got there.

The men got back late and the Howells and Ginger were already eating. Mary Ann sat down and played with the food on her plate but didn't eat anything. She just kept staring at it. Not one of her actions went unnoticed by the Professor.

After the food was eaten she cleaned all the dishes, packed them and got them ready to go to the cave. Although the Professor had told her they would take them in the morning, she planned to that night. She had a whole handful of beans to help her this time. Five clearly hadn't been enough and then she tried 6, then 7 and still fell asleep. Tonight she would take 10.