The sun set across the ocean with reds, yellows and oranges lighting the sky beautifully. Mark and Beth held hands as they walked across the sand to enjoy the beautiful weather. 

“Isn’t this beautiful babe?” Beth asked, “It certainly is. I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful end of a day with the most beautiful woman in the world.” Beth smiled at Mark and leaned in to give him a kiss. He grabbed the sides of her face and pulled her in for a deep passionate kiss. When they released from their kiss Mark noticed something floating up to the beach.

“Hey look there.”, Mark said and pointed at a bottle that was resting on the shore. They both walked over to the bottle and Beth smiled. Both wondered if there was a note inside the bottle. Mark picked it up and held it up to the sun and smiled. Sure, enough there was a note inside, so he popped the cork out and tapped the note out of the bottle.

“I wonder if it is from someone that is on a deserted island like Gilligan.”, both of them laughed at this and Mark unrolled the note and read it out loud.

Help, I’m in a cove along the coast. A man has me held captive. I can’t get out from the cove and I’m almost out of fresh water. Please send someone to help me…please hurry.

Both Mark and Beth read the note again and then realized this was more desperate than anything Gilligan might have faced, even the Japanese soldier on the island. “We need to call the police about this note.”, Beth said. Mark agreed but where are these coves that the person was being held. It could easily be on an island out far away or this note could be from days to months ago. 

“I suppose we can deliver it but I’m not sure where they are going to look.”, Mark said. Both of them ran off the beach to their car and headed to the local police station to deliver the note. 


When they arrived at the police station they ran into the doors, ran to the front desk, and handed the not to the desk sergeant, “We found this note on the beach.” They said in unison. The desk sergeant took the note and said, “Let me go get the Lieutenant so he can look at this.”. 

When the Lieutenant came back the sergeant he smiled and told them to follow him. Both Mark and Beth looked at each other and took each other’s hand while the followed him to the back of the station. He told them to sit down and then threw the note on the desk. The look on his face was serious and then quickly turned into a smile.

“I want to thank you two for bringing me this letter.” Beth and Mark felt confused but relieved that they had done the right thing. “This note you have here, it was put there by one of our uniformed officers to see how people would respond to the urgency of someone requesting help. You two are the only one to ever bring the note here to us to help the lost person.” This just took Mark and Beth by surprise, and they felt a little shocked. The detective reached into his desk and handed the couple an envelope and told them to open it up. When they opened up the envelope their jaws just about dropped to the floor. It was a check for $1 million dollars. The Lieutenant smiled and said “See doing the right thing does pay. The city thanks you.”