Ginger and Mary Ann had been trying to organize the storage hut. Over the past three years, many objects had been created for short-term purposes, including the instruments for Mrs. Howell's orchestra.

"Look, Ginger, it's your xylophone!" Mary Ann exclaimed, striking a few bars with her fingertips.

"Mm hm," Ginger murmured. She'd found the Professor's bamboo flute and couldn't help thinking of how his hands and mouth had touched it.

"Oh, I just remembered I have a pie in the oven! Ginger, how about we get back to this later?"

"All right." Ginger left after her friend, taking the flute with her.

She'd taken some music lessons while in Hollywood, not enough to be a very good musician but enough to be able to play a variety of instruments in a rudimentary way. It'd been years since she played the flute, but she longed to put her hands and mouth where the Professor's had been. She left the clearing and went off into the jungle, so she'd have privacy to practice. Perhaps she'd get good enough to someday serenade the Professor. After all, music hath charms.

However, she ended up being seriously sidetracked. First of all, she took the uphill path, wondering how the music would sound by the cliffs, flying out across the sea. It felt like something out of a movie, and therefore right. Secondly, the tune that came to mind was the one from her movie set in India, the tune of the snake charmer played by Sabu. And lastly, she saved Gilligan's life.

When he said he'd give her anything, she decided to ask the impossible. He wasn't the shy, frightened fawn he was his first year or so on the island, but he still wasn't exactly amorous. Still, she'd thought more than once what it would be like to "make a man out of him." Putting it as teaching him to be "the world's greatest lover" was a bit strong, but she did think he had potential. And who was to know if he was merely in the Top Forty?

She thought he might run away. There was a slight chance that he'd leap at the opportunity. But instead he just stood there, frozen, like a, well, shy frightened fawn who'd been hit on the back of the head.

Then mostly he seemed puzzled why she'd chosen him and what exactly she meant by "lover." Could any man be this naive? Well, maybe Gilligan could.

She teased and flirted with and then kissed him. By the end of it, he seemed to be kissing back more than usual.

And he remembered the Sabu movie. She wondered if part of the problem was that she didn't seem real to him because she was still the larger-than-life movie star to him. But then Mary Ann was the down-to-earth girl next door and he was just as shy with her.

She heard the Skipper yelling, "Gil-li-gan!" and knew the first mate would have to go. He did kiss her cheek before he went, which surprised her a little. It wasn't like Gilligan to initiate affection. Was he tempted by her offer?

After he went off, she played the flute again. She thought how much she desired the Professor and how she'd given him preliminary love lessons. There was the time she tried to teach him how to imitate Cary Grant (no relation), in order to distract Mary Ann from the marriage of her supposed boyfriend back home. And Ginger tried to show the Professor how to woo Erika Tiffany Smith. Both times, she'd hoped he'd decide to woo her instead, but for a clever man he could be remarkably slow about some things.

Or maybe he just didn't want her. Yes, he kissed back when she kissed him, like when they filmed a kiss of gratitude for the movie that was supposed to get them all rescued, but he never initiated it. If she'd rescued him from a snake, would she have made the same offer she made to Gilligan and how would he have reacted if she had?

It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to Gilligan. She wouldn't have kissed him so much if she weren't. After all, she could've been kissing the Skipper and getting favors from him. But she didn't dream about Gilligan the way she dreamed about the Professor.

What would she do if Gilligan accepted her offer? She could just say she was kidding, or simply give him advice without demonstrations. Or maybe he'd let her down gently and the two of them could pretend it never happened. She could ask him to build something or fetch her something instead. It wasn't like he'd never saved her life after all.

But what if they went through with this? What would that be like? Would they both enjoy it? Would it change the way they felt about each other?

And how would the Professor react? Would he be jealous? Disapproving? Or happy for them?

Then she thought of Mary Ann. After all, it'd been obvious almost from the beginning that the farmgirl was sweet on the young sailor. Would she be angry with Ginger? It was hard to imagine her being happy for them. Jealousy aside, her strict old-fashioned virtue might be offended if Ginger took things further than the hugs and kisses that both girls indulged in with Gilligan.

Mrs. Howell would definitely disapprove. The former Lovey Wentworth hadn't wanted to cohabitate with her own husband when it appeared that the Howells' marriage was illegal. And Mrs. Howell had insisted on a chaperone the time everyone but the Professor tried to leave the island and then Mary Ann had offered to stay behind and keep the Professor company.

Ginger thought she might be able to get around Mrs. Howell, but there'd be no fooling her sensible roommate. And Mary Ann was like a sister to her. She decided she couldn't proceed any further until she talked this out with Mary Ann.

Gilligan would certainly understand if she changed her mind. After all, it wasn't something he'd gone looking for and he could probably live without it, particularly since he didn't seem to fully understand what she was offering. She lowered the flute and a smile played upon her lips as she thought of how many men, from the president of her fan club to the head of her movie studio, would've said that Gilligan was a very lucky young man.