WAITING FOR WATUBI

The wind soon died, and Gilligan fell to the ground.

"Wow, what a wind! Did I do that?" he wondered aloud.

"What are you muttering about, Gilligan? Look at the mess you made," Skipper said, coming out of the hut. There was still a bandage on his head, but the Skipper was acting normally.

"I didn't do it. The wind did. Skipper, are you feeling all right?" Gilligan asked, a worried expression coming to his face.

"Of course Gilligan, I feel fine now. Will you clean this mess up?" the Skipper instructed him. His hand went to his forehead, casually, to scratch, and he found the bandage.

"How..." Skipper started to feel confused, but one look at Gilligan convinced him. "Gilligan, will you get back to work collecting coconuts?"

"I wasn't collecting coconuts. You ran into a tree, Skipper."

"Don't act innocent. You're the one who runs into trees. Now get to collecting! I got to find the Professor before you knock ME out with a coconut."

"But, Skipper..." Gilligan started, but one look from the Skipper made him scurry up a tree. The Skipper nodded and strolled off to the Professor's hut. Then the scientist walked in from the jungle.

"Gilligan, what are you doing?" he asked, as he dodged a coconut.

"Sorry, Professor. The Skipper was looking for you — he's acting strange," Gilligan answered, sliding down from the tree.

Just then, the Skipper came out of the Professor's hut. He smiled when he saw him with Gilligan.

"There you are, Professor; Gilligan, get back to collecting coconuts."

"Wait, Gilligan," Professor grabbed Gilligan before he could start to climb. "Skipper, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, Professor," Skipper said. Then he noticed that the Professor had the same look Gilligan had a few minutes ago.

"Skipper..." the Professor started, but stopped. He didn't believe in voodoo, or any other superstitious nonsense. He hadn't believed it when he was a child and, he certainly didn't believe now. "How is your head? Any headaches or pain? You took quite a hit, knocking your head into that tree," he said instead.

"I'm fine," the captain answered, "Wait, what tree?" he asked.

"I told you, Skipper — I wasn't gathering coconuts — you ran into the tree, trying to get away from..." Gilligan started and Professor clamped his mouth shut with his hand. "Gilligan, we don't want to start that up again: Your little trick and Skipper's second run in with the tree reconfigured his pattern of conscious recollection," the Professor whispered sternly.

"Yeah," he nodded, but then Gilligan looked at the Professor, confused. "HUH?" he asked, not getting it, and Professor sighed. "He's forgotten the whole business!"

"Oh, why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Gilligan asked, and Professor rolled his eyes and walked back to the Skipper, who was watching the two, confused.

"What is going on here? Have I been spending too much time with my little buddy, Professor?" the Skipper asked.

The Professor laughed, and so did Gilligan.

Gilligan wasn't sure why he was laughing, but he watched as the Professor led the Skipper to their hut.

"Skipper, go back to sleep, I think it's the island's heat wave that caused you to hallucinate which made you walk into the tree," the Professor said, and it seemed to work, because the Skipper nodded and closed his eyes. The Professor walked out and ran into Gilligan, knocking them both over. "Gilligan get back," he said sternly. He closed the door and turned to the young man. "He's asleep, Gilligan. Why don't you go fishing, or something, so we don't waken him?" he asked, and headed to his hut.

Gilligan nodded and hurried off before realizing he had no pole. He started back to the huts, but stopped himself when his diary slipped out of his pocket. He sat and wrote instead.

Dear Diary,
I dunt no wat to beleve. skipper beleves in voodoo. he ran into trees. copycat. prafesar thinks he curd him self. I think this iland is hunted.
Gilligan