The Swapped Letters [Gilligan's Island short story] ✔️

One

The Letters

It was a quiet night on the island; too early to be sleeping. All the castaways were off doing their own thing. Ginger and Mary Ann lay in their beds, both daydreaming with smiles on their faces. They didn't notice what one another was doing, until Ginger pointed it out.

"Daydreaming too?" she asked Mary Ann, sitting up in her bed. Mary Ann looked over at her and nodded. "About what?" Ginger asked.

"Someone on the island," Mary Ann answered, still smiling. Ginger rested her back against the wall of the hut, gazing ahead.

"Me too," she said.

Mary Ann continued to lay thinking, until she got an idea. She sprung up in her bed. "Hey, since we both have someone we admire on the island, why don't we write letters to them?" Mary Ann suggested. Ginger moved closer to Mary Ann, interested in what she had to say.

"You mean like love letters?" Ginger asked.

"Yeah," Mary Ann agreed. "I guess you could call them that." Ginger squealed in delight and Mary Ann grinned. They found scraps of paper torn out of one of the Professor's notebooks, and some pens from the Howell's. Ginger got to work on her letter at the table, and Mary Ann wrote her's in her bed. They wrote silently for about thirty minutes, trying to think of the perfect things to say. When they both finished, they each planted a kiss on the page, laving an imprint with there lipstick.

"Done?" Mary Ann said to Ginger after she noticed she had stopped writing.

"Yeah, you?" Ginger asked. Mary Ann nodded, and walked over to Ginger.

"Who did you write to?" Mary Ann wondered. Ginger smiled widely.

"The Professor. You?"

"Gilligan," Mary Ann beamed. "Hey, how about in the morning we get the Skipper to deliver the letters for us," she decided. Ginger thought it was an excellent idea. That way they wouldn't have to face them in person.

It got late, but Mary Ann and Ginger couldn't sleep. Both knew what each other was thinking about. Mary Ann turned in her bed so she could talk to Ginger.

"What do you think will happen after we send the letters?" Mary Ann asked her.

"I don't know. Something good I hope," Ginger replied. When they finally fell asleep, they had dreams about Gilligan and the Professor.

That morning, when all the castaways were up and about and Mary Ann was preparing breakfast, Ginger grabbed both letters from their hut. She looked around for the Skipper, making sure he wasn't with anyone else. She finally found him by himself, fishing.

"Hi Skipper," Ginger greeted. Skipper stopped what he was doing, to talk to her. He noticed the papers in her hands.

"Hi Ginger, whatcha got there?" Skipper pointed to the letters.

"Oh, these are letters me and Mary Ann need you to deliver," Ginger told him. "Deliver this letter to Gilligan," Ginger said, handing him the one with an M on it. "And this one to the Professor." She gave him the other one that had a G on it. The Skipper gladly took them and assured Ginger that he was going to deliver the letters.

After breakfast, when all the food and plates were cleared and everyone went on their way, the Skipper realized something. He hadn't delivered the letters like he had promised Ginger. They were still stuffed in his back pocket, probably crumpled from sitting down. He was collecting bamboo, when he looked around to make sure Ginger or Mary Ann wasn't around. When he pulled the two letters out of his pocket, Mr. Howell came walking by. The Skipper stopped him before he could leave.

"Oh Mr. Howell, can you please deliver these letters to Gilligan and the Professor. I'm very busy and I promised Ginger," the Skipper said.

"Sure, sure whatever," Mr. Howell said, not really caring or paying attention to what the Captain was saying. He grabbed the letters from the Skipper and went on his way. Mr. Howell didn't want to deliver the letters. He wasn't some kind of mail man. People were supposed to deliver letters to him. Mr. Howell found Gilligan roaming around, on his way to his hut. Mr. Howell waved his hand with the letters to get his attention.

"Gilligan my boy!" Mr. Howell called.

"Hi Mr. Howell," Gilligan said.

"Here." Mr. Howell shoved the letters to Gilligan. "Deliver these to Gilligan and the Professor," he said, before leaving. Gilligan looked at Mr. Howell then at the letters. He said one of them was supposed to be his, but Mr. Howell didn't specify which one, so he assumed the first one. He tore it open and read the whole letter through. After he gasped at what the letter said and who it was from, he ran off to find the Professor.

"Professor, look look!" Gilligan exclaimed when he found the Professor, reading one of his science books. The Professor looked up to see an excited and panting Gilligan, trying to catch his breath.

"What is it Gilligan?" the Professor asked. Gilligan waved his open letter at the Professor.

"I got a letter from an admirer, and she planted a kiss on it, see!" Gilligan shoved the letter in the Professor's face.

"Let me see Gilligan," the Professor pulled Gilligan's arms back so the letter wasn't directly in his face. He read the letter, and was surprised when he saw the lipstick printed kiss on the bottom of the page.

"This one's for you," Gilligan said, handing him his letter. The Professor opened it and read it. He too found a printed kiss.

"Is it like mine?" Gilligan asked.

"Yeah," the Professor said. He wasn't that interested at first, until he saw who it was from. But because he wasn't much of a romantic, he didn't bother to do anything. Gilligan on the other hand, decided he would write a letter back for the fun of it. He tried convincing the Professor to write one too.

So that night, Gilligan and the Professor wrote their letters. Gilligan had no problem writing it, but the Professor had a hard time thinking of stuff to write that wasn't too boring or scientific sounding. When he finally collected some words to put in the letter, he folded it up and tucked it away in a book for later. He then got into his bed on the floor of the supply hut and went to sleep peacefully.