9
It turned out there wasn't a whole lot of observation or experimentation that needed to be done. Both could feel their love for the other grow more each day. Suppressing it was the hard part. They had no privacy in the cave, not that they expected any in the first place. Hurricane Eva went as quickly as she came. The cave provided the perfect shelter for them as they even saw waterspouts out over the ocean and worried a bit about their huts and camp.
So after 3 days the castaways made their way back to camp. Mary Ann was feeling better but none of the others would allow her to do much more than preparing a breakfast of fresh fruit. The Professor stayed at her side to keep an eye on her just to make sure everything was ok. The others seemed to accept that and didn't appear to suspect anything.
What they found when they returned were all their huts, maybe a little worse for the wear, but otherwise standing. During the day they quickly rebuilt or repaired them. Again, Mary Ann was made to sit on the sidelines. Actually they had her sitting at the table eating double helpings of fish as the Professor insisted so the protein from them would strengthen her weakened muscles.
After another week, Mary Ann began taking over the regular chores again. However, the Professor was always at her side. He asked that he tag along with her as she scouted herself different parts of the island, areas they had not explored yet. He discovered a mirror of his own curiosity. Mary Ann, it seemed had made these regular excursions to find new plants and herbs to enrich their diets. She loved discovering new things about the island.
How did he not notice these things before? He wondered to himself. She was so much like him, they were so compatible. While she boiled lobsters one evening, he looked more closely at the entries in his journal. For the first time, it seemed, he noted that he had listed her first in the list of castaways. On top of that, whenever they were really in trouble, it would appear he always made sure to be beside her and many times was holding her.
Despite the fact that he had never been one to engage in much romantic activity, he noted that when it came to Mary Ann, a very capable instinct would kick in. Every kiss was natural. Every touch occurred almost without thinking and the emotional response he received from merely touching her hand or arm or waist, was fantastic to him.
Two full weeks after her attack, Mary Ann felt better than she had in over a month and not just physically. Her relationship with the Professor had changed and each day brought the two closer together. She thought dating would be more awkward than it was, given that she hadn't dated too much before leaving for Hawaii. There was that short relationship with Horace but he had started being mean to her right before she left. In fact, he had told her she was lucky he even paid attention to her as no man would ever really take her seriously.
The Professor took her seriously. As a matter of fact, he held her hand as they walked around the island looking for new plants and herbs to consume to keep their diets varied. At least he had backed off with all the fish, she thought to herself.
Every couple of nights now, they walked up to the cliff overlooking the ocean. He would point to stars and tell her the names. It was their spot and no one knew anything about it or their relationship. At least not until Gilligan happened upon them after being yelled at by the Skipper.
He almost stomped up to the ridge mad. "Gilligan do this! Gilligan do that! Gilligan can't you watch where you're going!" He just shook his head, "They'll see, they'll all see...I can take care of myself but they can't take care of themselves not without me. Nuhuh, no sir! Fetch the water, collect coconuts, get the lobsters..." Gladys the gorilla was swinging in the trees around him as he explained it all.
Gladys made a grunting noise and took Gilligan's hat, "What?" Gilligan asked and Gladys made a noise back, "You're right I do a lot around here and they should be nicer." Gladys grunted again and Gilligan answered, "Oh no, I only took Mary Ann's and the Professor's piece of pie, they weren't there to eat it anyway. I'm not going back!"
Gilligan then took his hat back and started to walk over the ridge when he caught sight of Mary Ann laying on the Professor's chest as he took her hand and kissed it. Then she looked up at him and kissed him, right on the lips! And he kissed her back!Gilligan eyes widened big and he was so shocked he fell back into the bushes.
"What was that, Roy?" Mary Ann asked as she broke their kiss.
The Professor, still lost in her embrace said, "That was me expressing how deeply I love you, my dear."
She sat up, smiled at him and said, "No, Roy, I mean what was that noise. I heard something over in those bushes."
The Professor sat up and looked in that direction. He kissed Mary Ann on the forehead and told her, "Stay right here and I'll go check it out. Don't forget where we left off."
Gilligan stayed as still and quiet as he could, but figured he'd get caught. He thought to himself, "Roy? Who's Roy?" However, the Professor only took two steps before finding Gladys.
"Gladys...well, I hope you can keep our little secret here. You can keep a secret?" The Professor asked with a smile on his face. Unbeknown to him Gilligan was nodding his head in the bushes.
The Professor went back to Mary Ann and laid back down against the boulder taking her back in his arms, but sitting up more now. He told her, "It was just Gladys." They started kissing again and since they stopped talking Gilligan decided to peek out of the bush.
Gladys made a noise when Gilligan moved so he motioned to her to keep quiet as he carefully got out of the bush, trying to keep his eyes closed and then ran back to camp.
The rest of the castaways were listening to the radio and dancing when he got back. He bumped into the Skipper and Ginger dancing and the Skipper bellowed, "Watch where you're going Gilligan!"
Gilligan nodded and kept backing up and ran into Mrs. Howell who squealed, "Gilligan...its impolite to just cut in, you must request a dance first my dear boy."
Mr. Howell then said, "Yes, and no one cuts in on a Howell! Don't you know that?"
They all seemed to look at Gilligan again and he remembered quickly why he had gotten so frustrated to begin with. "I know lots of things Mr. Howell," was all he said and started to his hut with a smile on his face. "Things you don't know..." he added but under his breath.
At about that time Mary Ann and the Professor made their way back to camp. The Professor walked Mary Ann over to her hut and told her, "Hope you sleep well, you...uh...still need your rest to recuperate adequately."
She smiled back and said, "Thank you for being so patient with me. Good night." Only Gilligan caught that the Professor ran his hand through her hair with one hand before squeezing her hand and leaving.
Gilligan asked as he walked past him, "You going somewhere Professor?"
The Professor had a contented look on his face when he said, "Yes Gilligan I am...I'm going down to the lagoon to take a little midnight swim. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Gilligan looked confused so he asked, "But the water is so cold..."
The Professor just looked back and said, "I know...that's...uh...how I like it."
Gilligan waited til the Professor left and then burst out laughing, having a good idea as to why the Professor needed a cold shower. All the other castaways just looked at him as if he were crazy.
Mr. Howell said, "Skipper, I believe that boy needs some help!"
The Skipper just hollered over to Gilligan, "Gilligan, go get some sleep...you clearly need it."
Gilligan just looked at all of them and for once felt more on top of what was going on in the little camp than anyone else.
The next day Gilligan finished mending the fishing nets early and catching the lobsters.
Actually bringing all this in to the camp gave him the excuse to check on what Mary Ann and the Professor were doing. He walked in to the Professor's hut as he was carving something into a piece of wood with a bowl of plaster looking material with his little fire going under his experiments. "Whatcha doin Professor?" he asked innocently enough.
The Professor looked up at him and answered, "Well, Gilligan, I'm just trying to make a mold here."
Gilligan looked confused, "Mold? But I thought it had to be wet and cold to make mold."
The Professor just chuckled and said, "Not neurospora crassa...I mean green or black mold, a mold for a ring...or object...I mean. I thought I would take some of the natural metals here on the island and see if I can't make the girls some jewelry, you know to lift their spirits." He smiled at Gilligan who seemed to be digesting everything.
Gilligan thought about it and figured the jewelry was probably more for Mary Ann than Ginger. And a ring...wait a minute... Gilligan's eyes got big again and he got the biggest smile of his face.
At about that time the Professor looked back at him and Gilligan hid the smile fast and appeared to be thinking. The Professor stopped and eyed Gilligan for a second when Gilligan asked, "So what metals are on the island? I thought we got all the gold out of that cave?"
The Professor then looked as though he needed to hide something. He started to answer, "Well, I haven't gone back to check, but chances are there may be a nugget or two left, enough to make Ginger some earrings perhaps or Mary Ann a bracelet." Gilligan noticed the Professor move his college ring to the side and push it under a book hiding it.
Gilligan knew that ring meant a lot to him. He had told him more than once about it and how important college was, probably trying to convince him to enroll when they all got back to civilization. Gilligan couldn't let the Professor give up something so valuable to him when maybe he could go and mine him just enough gold for that ring he wanted to make Mary Ann. So Gilligan fibbed a little, "You know, there were a couple of nuggets left. Yeah! I remember seeing them. I could go collect them if you want." He turned to run out and ran right into Mr. Howell.
Mr. Howell again said, "Gilligan, dear boy, please watch where you are going? Now, Professor..." he said as he kept walking in, "I do say old chap, what do you need with my wife's jewelry?" He handed the Professor a handful of jewelry including rings, bracelets and earrings.
The Professor began to explain what he was doing for the girls and that he needed a model to look at as a basis for his mold as Gilligan left and ran off to the cave.
He jumped down in and started looking around the walls, "There's got to be something left in here somewhere." He plucked at each wall and found five big nuggets. Other than that, nothing. So he took what he had and climbed out of the cave and back to the camp.