9-THE BIG GOLD STRIKE

It must have been the island. It changed them all — all but one person. Or was he still the same?

One by one, six people made their way into a campsite. They staggered and fell into chairs around a large bamboo table. Each was dirty, some dirtier, every inch of their body covered in grime.

"How does he do it? First President, then he finds water, now a gold mine and pearls. How does he do it, Professor?" the Skipper asked Roy Hinkley.

The Skipper had staggered in first, followed closely by the exhausted Professor. He had his head down but lifted it when the Skipper said his name.

"I don't know, Skipper. I have to admit, that gold sure felt good in my hands! When I thought of the lab I could have, all that knowledge — now sunk, like all our rescues!" the Professor answered. He shook his head in disgust.

"Forget your labs! That gold was mine to begin with!" Mr. Howell cut in, looking just as dirty and tired as his fellow castaways.

"Who knew gold could sink? All our dollar bills float," Mrs. Howell remarked.

"Gold is heavy, Mrs. Howell. I take it none of you found pearls to make us rich again?" Mary Ann asked.

"Looks like none of us are any richer," Professor said. Mary Ann put her arm around his shoulders, and sighed.

"Hey, least we all still have each other, guys!" Gilligan bounded in with his nice clean clothes, eating a banana.

"Yes, Gilligan. We're all poor together."

"Speak for yourself, Captain!"

The six castaways all stood up and went to their huts, ignoring Gilligan.

"Oh, well, least I've still got my pearls," Gilligan said.

XXX

Gilligan couldn't sleep. He snuck out as usual, but he couldn't seem to write anything down. He laid his head down to think, and fell asleep on the table.

"Mom, please!"

"No, Willie. You already have plenty."

"I need more!"

"NO."

Willie Gilligan huffed at his mother and stormed out of the kitchen and outside. He held ten marbles in his hand. He looked at them and smiled with a sudden thought.

An hour later, he walked back in with a small sack.

"Hi, Mom! Look! I won marbles instead!" he said proudly. His mother closed the book she was reading and glanced up from the couch.

"Oh, Willie, how could you?" she asked, her face showing her disappointment.

"What, Mom? I went and got my own marbles instead, like you wanted."

"No, you were greedy, and selfishly won them from rookie players — kids you probably knew couldn't win," she answered, and Gilligan felt ashamed...

XXX

The now-older Gilligan woke up. "I'm sorry!" he shouted. The Skipper woke up and raced outside.

"Gilligan, wake up!"

"I'm awake," Gilligan answered. He sighed and looked at the ground. "Skipper, today with all the gold, you know why I took none with me?" he asked. "It wasn't because of your order; I wanted someone to trust me," he quickly added.

The Skipper sighed, but took the bait. "Why?"

"Because when I was ten, I only had ten marbles and I was greedy. I took them by playing marbles with all sorts of younger kids who weren't good at the game. I vowed to my mom never to be greedy again," Gilligan answered, and then pulled out not one, but four pearls. "I didn't tell you guys about the others because I wanted them, but that's greed right? So here they're yours, big buddy," Gilligan said, and placed all of them in his friend's hand.

"Gilligan…" The Skipper didn't know what to say to his friend.

Gilligan shrugged. "Share them if you want; they're yours now." "Skipper, I'm kinda hungry, I'm going to go get a snack." Gilligan stood and left his friend still gaping and holding his new present.

XXX

Gilligan went to the lagoon and tossed a rock before opening his diary:

Dear Diary,

I feel good, I kept my prumise to mum. I founded a gold mine and the gold sunk our raft. castaways are gredy but Im not or ever will be agin.

Gilligan