Ginger was numb all over as she drove back home. All throughout the fifteen years she'd spent on the island and the six years since she'd returned to civilization, she'd barely been sick a day. And now this had happened. Why? She'd always tried so hard to take care of her health, eating only healthy foods and exercising regularly. And she wasn't even fifty years old yet. She had to fight back tears as she parked the car and walked into the house, where Igor had decided to surprise her by preparing dinner.

As soon as he saw her pale face, he knew that something was seriously wrong. "Ginger, darling!" His voice was full of concern as he went to her and put his arms around her. "What is wrong?"

"I have a mass on my uterus," Ginger mumbled into the front of his shirt. "I have to go for a biopsy next Thursday morning."

"I am sure that it will be all right," Igor murmured as he stroked her hair. "It is just to be safe, yes? Come, sit down. Dinner is almost ready. I am cooking Filet Mignon. It is favorite of yours, yes?"

"Oh, it smells delicious!" Ginger exclaimed.

"It will be ready in just one minute," her husband replied. "Salad is ready now. Spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, broccoli, onions, boiled eggs, and shrimp. Just like you like it, yes?"

"Mm." Ginger smiled. "You do know how to make me happy."

"As you know how to make me happy, as well." He winked at her, and she giggled.

After the meal, they sat on the sofa watching television together. A movie from 1963 in which Ginger had portrayed a surfer girl was on.

"I can't believe how young I look in this!" Ginger sighed as she leaned back against her husband's strong shoulder.

Igor chuckled. "You still look young," he assured her. "Nothing has really change. You are still same beautiful woman you were then, if not even more so."

"I remember how jealous I always was of Annette Funicello," Ginger reminisced. "She always seemed to get parts in the best movies. In fact, she and I were planning to try out for some of the same movies, and then the shipwreck happened..." Ginger looked very sad.

"That is all right." Igor patted his wife's knee comfortingly. "Just think of all parts in movies you have been offered since rescue. Annette Funicello is probably jealous of you now."

"Yeah." Ginger laughed, instantly feeling better.

On the morning of the biopsy, Igor drove his wife to the clinic and sat in the waiting room with her holding her hand until they called her back. Before she left, he hugged and kissed her and told her he loved her.

In the small white-walled room in which the procedure was to be done, she obediently removed all her clothing and lay back on the hard table, just as she'd done for her regular examination the previous week.

"Now I'm gonna give you something to make you really sleepy, Miss Ginger," the nurse said cheerfully. Normally her condescending attitude would have really irritated Ginger, but today she was too anxious to care.

Within moments the sedative had taken effect, and the procedure took on a vague, surrealistic quality. When it was over, Ginger was helped back to the waiting room.

"She did great," the technician told Igor, who put his arm around his wife and helped her back to the car. "Are you all right?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," Ginger replied. "Just very, very sleepy."

"We will be home soon," he said.

Ginger slept for most of that day, awakening only for meals and restroom breaks. That night she slept with Igor's arms around her holding her tight, just like she did every night.

Igor and Ginger were relaxing at home together when the eagerly anticipated telephone call came. Ginger grabbed the receiver on the second ring.

"I'm afraid I have bad news," the nurse told her. "The cells we removed from your uterus were malignant. Dr. Green will have to perform a hysterectomy as soon as possible."