It would have been hopeless, had she not found me. She took me by surprise, emerging not from the crowd but from behind me somewhere.
“What are you doing here, bumface?” Rosely demanded in a spiteful tone she reserved only for me. She had friends with her—plainly I was an embarrassment to her, but her amazement at my presence had caused her curiosity to overcome the peer group pressure. Her friends stood back and giggled.
“You gotta come with me,” I said, as assertively as I could. “Mum’s in hospital.”
“What’s she doing there?”
It was obviously too broad a diversion
from the present course of events for her to take it in properly.
“She’s had a stroke.”
Rosely’s bitchy persona shattered, and genuine horror passed onto her expression. “Oh my God, is it serious?”
“Not sure. I don’t think so. You’ve got to come now.”
She hated it, having to do what I told her. Only such dire circumstances could have forced her to comply. With a snort of distaste, she backed off and explained the situation to her friends in the most dramatic terms she could muster, and only then could she agree to accompany me.
Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale,
A tale of a fateful trip
That started from this tropic port
Aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailing man,
The skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day
For a three hour tour, a three hour tour.
The weather started getting rough,
The tiny ship was tossed,
If not for the courage of the fearless crew
The Minnow would be lost, the Minnow would be lost.
The ship set aground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle
With Gilligan, The Skipper too,
The millionaire and his wife,
The movie star
And the rest,*
Are here on Gilligan’s Island.
If you don’t recognise the ditty, there is definitely no point in trying to explain it to you. *And the rest refers to The professor and Mary Ann, which line, as the series and the characters grew more popular, was eventually substituted rather awkwardly into the song.
