FOREGT ME NOT

"Gilligan? Can you stand up?" Skipper asked. Gilligan stared at him in confusion as he clutched his aching head.

"Which one of you is Gilligan?" he asked innocently.

"You're Gilligan! Gilligan my boy it's me - Thurston Howell the Third," one of the men answered him.

"Okay... If you're Mr. Howell, then who are you?" he asked the second man.

"I'm the Professor, Gilligan," the other answered. The three men held on to Gilligan as he tried to regain his balance.

"So - I'm... Gilligan?" he asked, trying to sort the names and faces in his head.

"Yes, little buddy. I'm the Skipper - Captain of the S.S. Minnow. You're my first mate," the Skipper explained gently.

"Minnow? Are you pulling my leg?" Gilligan asked. He looked around at the island dazed. "Okay, Mark – joke's over. Mary? Are you helping him?" Gilligan called out. The three men watched him stunned.

"Gilligan? Your siblings aren't here. It's only us and the three women here. I know you're homesick…" Skipper said gently, but Gilligan backed away from him.

"No! Stay away from me. I don't care what those two told you, or how much you were paid, the joke is over take down those silly props!" Gilligan yelled.

He tried to knock over a tree but it wouldn't budge, being firmly rooted in the ground.

"This sand... the palm trees... real island," he muttered after trying for a few minutes to destroy the island, with no luck. "Sk… Sk... Skipper… Where am I?"

"An island, little buddy. Now close your eyes and think. I know you can remember," the Skipper answered, urging his young friend on.

Gilligan did as he was told and shut his eyes tightly. A bunch of pictures swam in his head, the castaway's faces and the visitors who had betrayed them.

He opened his eyes and took a breath. "Sorry - I saw a bunch of people, but I just don't remember them," he replied.

The Professor went to him and touched his arm - Gilligan flinched. "Sorry, I am trying to believe you all," he explained, and the Professor nodded.

"No need to apologize, Gilligan. It's all right. Do you remember how we got here?" he asked gently.

"The Minnow?" he said, but the Professor could see it wasn't a memory but a wild guess based on what the Skipper had said.

"Correct, but do you remember sailing on it?" he tried again, and this time Gilligan shook his head and closed his eyes again.

"Must of been a bad storm - was only supposed to be a three-hour tour, Skipper told me," he muttered, following the pictures in his head.

"That's right, Gilligan. Mr. Howell and me, and the women were your five passengers," the Professor said, and Gilligan opened his eyes again.

"I still don't know who I am, though, Professor," Gilligan said. His knees buckled and he sank to the sand.

"All right - I'll have to try hypnotism," the Professor whispered to the others as Gilligan played with the sand watching it slip through his fingers like it was his first time at a beach. "Come on, Gilligan. Let's go to camp. I'm sure the girls are preparing dinner by now," the Professor continued, speaking to Gilligan, and with Skipper's help, he hoisted him back to his feet.

Gilligan resisted, so the Skipper ended up carrying him - Gilligan fussing in his arms like a bratty child.

"Let me go! Let go of me!" he whined.

XXX

"What's going on? Why is Gilligan yelling?" Mary Ann asked when they got to camp and she saw the scene.

"Gilligan fell from the ladder looking for the ships. He has amnesia, and it's all my fault!" Skipper explained.

"Oh, Skipper! No one blames you," she told him, shifting her attentions to Gilligan.

"Hey, Gilligan, I made a coconut cream pie," she whispered in his ear and Gilligan smiled.

"Thanks... uhhhh…" he paused and stared at her face trying to jog a memory of her name.

"It's me Mary Ann. Your ever-loving wife, she lied, hoping to shock his memory back. Don't you remember the Skipper marrying us after Mrs. Howell got us to date each other?" she whispered.

"I did?"

"Oh, Skipper, must everyone try to make me cry? Now I'll be a widow," Mary Ann sulked, tears falling from her eyes.

Then Gilligan did something he never did, and possibly would never do again. Mary Ann had sat at the table and laid her head down crying into her arms. Gilligan sat beside her and rubbed her back gently till she looked at him, then he cupped her chin. Turned her face up to meet his and kissed her lips.

It was a soft gentle kiss but then…

"AHHHH! Mary Ann!" Gillian panicked, fell off the chair - toppling backward in the sand. Quick as a flash he was on his feet only to dash forward without looking, straight into a tree.

"OWW, my head!" he moaned, and when his vision cleared he screamed "NOOOOO! Skipper! Help, make them stop kissing me!" seeing Mary Ann again, and he and darted toward the jungle, all before the Professor came back with his hypnotism charm.

"Looks like he's back," Mary Ann said with a grin.

XXX

It was a couple of hours before Gilligan returned. When she saw him, Mary Ann quickly went over to him. "I'm glad you're back - you still haven't touched your pie," she told him, taking his hand and leading him to his seat. The other five watched as Mary Ann spoon-fed him and Gilligan only smiling back in return.

"They should get married, Lord knows they make a sweet couple," Ginger remarked, softly.

XXX
Much later, Gilligan snuck out of his hut to write.

Dear Diary,

Im not shur wat hapined, but Skipper got amneesea. Prafeser said he lost his memore. Prafesser tryed hipnotis on him but first Skipper thawt he was a child, then he thawt we all was japinise soldiers. I cant imagin how he mistaked the gerls for guys. I think I cot it diary, caus Mary Ann kissed me agin. I wish shed stop. I still likes her tho diary.

Gilligan