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

Two

The Mishap

The next morning wasn't like any other morning. There seemed to be an extra spark of excitement and joy in four of the seven castaways. The Skipper and the Howell's noticed it. Gilligan came out of his hut, grinning from ear to ear. The Professor was up greeting everyone and the girls were humming cheerfully as they made the biggest breakfast they had ever made since getting stranded.

The Skipper couldn't figure out why they were acting this way. It's not like they were going to get rescued. Nothing had floated onto the island that day. Maybe there was something he didn't know? No, that couldn't be possible since Gilligan knew already. They were probably just a having a really good morning.

After breakfast, Gilligan and the Professor both grabbed their letters from where they had hid them the night before. They waited until nobody was around, and they carefully sneaked into the girls' hut to place the letters.

Ginger and Mary Ann were picking berries when they got extremely exhausted from kneeling down on the dirty sand. They decided to take a break so they went to their hut to relax. Mary Ann brought the basket of fruit they had collected and she set it on the table. She went to lay on her bed, but she felt a piece of paper under her body. She pulled it out from her and got a glance of what it was.

"Ginger!" Mary Ann squealed. She leaped off her bed with the letter gripped in her hands. "Gilligan sent a letter back!" she exclaimed in excitement.

"So did the Professor!" Ginger waved her letter in the air as she jumped up and down like a little girl. Both girls sat down to read their letters thoroughly. Mary Ann was captivated by every sentence. She read it over a few times letting Gilligan's words sink into her brain.

"Wow, I didn't know Gilligan could be so thoughtful," Mary Ann said breathlessly. She showed Ginger what Gilligan had wrote.

"He sound's so smart," Ginger said reading it over. Mary Ann nodded in agreement.

"How's your letter?" she asked. Ginger looked back at hers, a bit disappointed.

"I don't know. You would think the Professor would have more to say," she said. Mary Ann saw that Ginger's letter had barley any words. It just said: I think you're very pretty and I like you too.

"Huh, well at least he got to the point," Mary Ann said. Ginger agreed, but she wanted something more romantic. Something where they could both express their feelings, but not just in a measly old letter. They needed a party.

"A party?" Mary Ann questioned Ginger's idea.

"Yeah, like a dance or a ball," Ginger suggested. "We can have it on the main part of the island with decorations and music." Ginger marveled at her own idea. She pictured herself and the Professor slow dancing to romantic music and as the night went on she hoped to tell him how she felt in person.

"I love dances Ginger, but what good will that do?" Mary Ann asked. Ginger stood next to Mary Ann with a hand on her shoulder. She looked ahead, painting a picture of what she had in mind.

"Picture this," she said, waving her arm across the air. "Gilligan and the Professor come to this party looking all handsome. They ask us to dance and we accept of course." Mary Ann followed along as she imagined it in her head. "Then after we dance for a while, we both tell them how we feel," Ginger finished. Mary Ann grinned.

"I like the sound of that. Let's do it!" she agreed.

Back outside their hut, Gilligan kept pacing around. Sitting at the table, the Professor was trying to read, but he couldn't focus with Gilligan pacing like that. He noticed Gilligan walking past him, with a nervous look on his face. The Professor stopped reading so he could figure out what was going on with him. "Gilligan, why are you pacing like that?" he asked. Gilligan stopped to look at the Professor.