Gilligan didn't say much at dinner, beyond things like "Please pass the salt." It was sea salt of course, the only kind he'd had for three years.
The two big dinner topics were the Professor's amazing discovery and Ginger's offer to Gilligan. The Howells now knew about the lessons and they offered to demonstrate their moves if Gilligan ever wanted to learn "the old-fashioned way." Since Ginger didn't react with shock or embarrassment, it was clear that someone had told her that he had told the Skipper that they were dance lessons. She did, however, look amused. Gilligan wondered who told her, the Skipper or Mary Ann? Or maybe the Professor? And he wondered if she'd told the person the truth.
If it was the Skipper or the Professor, they sure weren't acting like the lessons were anything other than dance lessons. The Skipper was still teasing Gilligan the way he had that afternoon, not as if he knew about Ginger wanting to make Gilligan into the world's greatest lover. As for the Professor, he seemed bored by that topic and eager to get back to his discovery.
Unfortunately, that topic was almost as uncomfortable for Gilligan, because, although the Professor had no way of knowing this, it was linked to the first topic.
"...So you say that the snake jumped off a cliff? By George, I haven't seen anything like that since the Crash of '29!"
"Well, I don't know that the snake was necessarily suicidal, although it is possible for animals to suffer from depression. Um, psychological not economic."
"That's what I'm saying. I've known a few snakes on Wall Street." Mr. Howell chuckled.
The Professor ignored this and said, "The snake might've been fleeing an enemy, although they don't generally plunge off cliffs."
"Lemmings?" the Skipper said.
"Here you go, Skipper," Mary Ann said absent-mindedly, passing him a citrus fruit.
The Skipper chuckled. "Lemmings, not lemons."
"Lemmings aren't snakes," the Professor pointed out.
"No, I know, but they jump off cliffs, don't they?"
"Actually, that's a myth. And I've certainly never heard of any reptiles doing it."
"Well, I hope you find out what's causing it, Professor," Mrs. Howell said. "I don't want a pride of snakes falling on my head when I'm going for a nice stroll on the beach."
"Lovey, I believe it's a 'congress of snakes.' Or is that 'snakes in Congress'?" Mr. Howell chuckled again.
"Wouldn't it be a swarm? Especially if it's falling from the sky?" the Skipper suggested.
"It's a nest of snakes," the Professor said impatiently.
Mrs. Howell shook her head. "Snakes aren't birds."
"The point is," the Professor continued, "I don't know yet if this one snake is an aberration or a harbinger."
Normally, Gilligan would've said, "It looks more like a python." The problem was, this was the snake that Ginger had rescued Gilligan from. And he knew exactly why it had plunged off the cliff and been mangled on the rocks below.
Ginger spoke up for the first time that evening, other than when she said things like "Please pass the poi." She now suggested, "Could someone have thrown the snake off a cliff?" She said it with a straight face but Gilligan thought her tone was a little mischievous. He shoveled more food into his face to keep from reacting.
"Well, that raises an entirely different set of questions. Obviously, none of us did that. So that would mean that there's someone else secretly on the island. If so, we don't know if they're friendly or not. After all, the act of hurling a snake could be a simple act of bravery. Or it might be an indication of psychopathy."
"What if this madman starts throwing poisonous snakes at us?"
"Calm down, Lovey," Mr. Howell said, patting his wife's hand. "It might just be a suicidal serpent."
"Professor," said Mary Ann, who hadn't been saying terribly much either, "couldn't it just be an accident? Maybe the snake didn't realize that it was going off a cliff until it was too late."
"Well, that's possible I suppose. In any case, I'll investigate this further."
"How?" The Skipper chuckled some more. "Are you going to fling snakes off the cliff yourself and see how they land?"
"No," the Professor irritably said. "Well, I might throw lines of rope, but I'm not going to harm snakes myself. I'm simply going to observe the snakes on the island and monitor their behavior for the next few weeks."
The Skipper and Mr. Howell looked at each other like they thought this was a weird way to spend your time, but Gilligan saw it as typical of the Professor, who was always doing something mysterious and scientific, always for the good of the castaways.
Gilligan was tempted to speak up, since in this case the Professor would be wasting his time. After all, Gilligan could say that Ginger saved his life with her flute-playing, without going into the true nature of her offer. But he was worried that someone might put two and two together and wonder why Ginger was going to give Gilligan dance lessons after saving his life. It wasn't something that naturally followed. Even if he said that that was her reward, what kind of reward was that for a woman who'd danced with so many famous, handsome, and suave men?
Of course, what kind of reward was it for her to teach him to be a great lover? He still didn't see what she was getting out of it. Maybe it was like when she kissed him. It wasn't like she had a lot of options on the island.
"Well, I guess it's time for what you've all been waiting for," Mary Ann said abruptly.
Gilligan wasn't the only one to look at her in surprise. What did they all want? The six of them never wanted the same things, except for things like rescue from the island and maybe gold.
Then the Skipper exclaimed, "Oh boy, banana pie!"
Gilligan did his best to react with his usual enthusiasm, but his heart wasn't in it.