Episode 152

Extended Summary

Bobby and Steven arrive at the store in the rain only to find it shut.Roo and Alison appear and make comments about Steven’s relationship with Narelle but he isn’t bothered and walks off.Bobby asks Roo if she knows what’s happened to Ailsa, since they live together.Roo replies that she doesn’t anymore:Alf and Ailsa have split up and what’s more it was over Bobby.Steven has gone to the flat and is busy kissing Narelle while Frank looks on in disgust and tells Steven to go to school.Once he’s gone, Frank asks Narelle what she sees in him.Narelle says Steven is a gentleman, the sort of person who holds doors open for a lady, and a great kisser.Frank sweeps her off her feet and kisses her.She gives him six out of ten.He drops her on a pouffe.

Barbara is bewildered by Ailsa’s insistence that she and Alf are over.Ailsa says all they do is argue but Barbara suggests they both need someone to challenge them.She realises something has happened that she doesn’t know about and Ailsa confirms it but won’t tell her what.Later, Ailsa is driving when Bobby appears behind her on her cycle, waving to attract her attention.Ailsa pulls over and confirms she and Alf have split up but says it’s not because of Bobby, Roo just said that to try and hurt them both.She promises to tell Bobby the whole story later, just saying that Alf said something she’s never going to be able to get over.

Bobby is doing her homework while Frank and Steven set the table.Frank tries to put Steven off Narelle, saying if he goes out with someone like her now he’ll be burnt out by the time he’s in his 20s.They move into the kitchen where Frank asks Tom and Pippa to give Steven the same lecture they gave him about not needing to prove he was a man.Pippa reminds him that was because he kept getting into fights and he wouldn’t have wanted them to lecture him about his first girlfriend.Tom says he was in love with Marilyn Monroe when he was Steven’s age but Frank points out he wasn’t taking her to the drive-in.This is news to Tom and Pippa, who didn’t realise Steven and Narelle were actually going out.Steven goes upstairs to get ready and Pippa tells Tom he needs to have a word with him.Bobby doesn’t see what the big deal is.

Roo is giving Brett an update on Alf and Ailsa at the office:Brett doesn’t think moving out for a few days is enough but Roo says they’ve started divorce proceedings.She wants Brett to congratulate her but is interrupted by the baby kicking.Brett asks to feel it and they seem to bond momentarily.Roo suggests things might be better if they were together, they make a good team even if they don’t love each other.Brett seems mildly amused by the suggestion, prompting Roo to tell him he’ll only be a father if she says so.Brett convinces her they’re better off as they are.

Steven and Narelle are kissing at the drive-in when a car containing three rowdy lads and with the number plate “Deadly” pulls up next to them.The lads start making comments about the couple.Narelle tells Steven they’re from the Yabbee Creek panel shop and exchanges a few words with the gang’s ringleader, Revhead, telling him if he doesn’t shut up she’ll smash his car up, before getting back to kissing Steven.At the house, Tom is worried about Steven but Pippa thinks he’s overreacting and Narelle will drop Steven after a week and leave him heartbroken.Frank thinks they’ll last four because that’s how long he dated their 22-year-old neighbour Maria Watkins for.Tom is bewildered, since neither Pippa nor Frank ever told him. At the drive-in, Revhead and his friends are still making comments about Narelle dating a schoolboy. Steven gets out of the car and tells them to stop talking about her.Revhead and his friends get out of their car as well and Narelle hides her face in her hands but Steven easily knocks them to the ground and grabs Revhead in an arm lock.Narelle says they’re her friends and always talk to her like that but Steven orders them to stop and Narelle seems pleased at him for standing up for her.Steven and Narelle get back in the car to cheers and applause from the onlookers.

Barbara turns up at the Stewart house and asks Roo to let her and Alf talk alone.She tries to persuade Alf to talk to Ailsa again but Alf seems convinced it’s over.Barbara asks him what he did but Alf doesn’t want anyone to ever find out.Ironically, Ailsa is in the process of filling Bobby in, telling her that they went from arguing about her to arguing about Ailsa nearly hitting Roo to her father…and then Alf implied that she’d kill him as well.Bobby realises it’s bad but thinks Alf’s sorry and regrets it and that counts for something. Ailsa says after what her father put her through it took her twenty years to find a man who she trusted and who trusted her and now it seems he doesn’t.Bobby accepts she only has one thing to do and Ailsa says she vowed no man would ever make her cry again and she’s not going to change for Alf.

Tom is waiting at the window and tells Pippa that Steven and Narelle have been parked for fifteen minutes. Pippa says they used to do it for an hour and a half and wonders if her father stood watching.When Steven approaches the house, they quickly sit on the sofa.Steven comes in, full of the joys, and says a brief hello before going upstairs.Tom notes he doesn’t look heartbroken.Next morning, Tom and Pippa try to talk to Steven when he and Bobby come back from their run.Bobby tries to get in a few words of her own, saying it’s disgusting, but Steven is too busy basking in his newfound reputation to listen.Bobby goes round to see Narelle and tries to convince her it’s wrong.Narelle thinks that Steven’s her ideal man, after he karate chopped the hoons that were hassling her, and says she’s in love.Bobby thinks she’s insane.

In the Macklin office, Brett is on the phone, apparently to someone who was concerned about Ailsa’s claims, and tells them that Ailsa isn’t a conservationist and only started the protest because she was a bitter woman who wanted to get at her husband.Frank is unhappy about Brett’s tactics but Brett reminds him he’s just an office boy.After he’s gone, Steven appears and wonders if Frank wants to have a pop at him about Narelle too.Frank is too busy and says he wishes he didn’t like his job so much.

Ailsa gives Narelle the keys to the store and says Barbara will be keeping an eye on it.Narelle asks how long she’ll be gone for and Ailsa says it’s permanent.Alf tells Roo that he can’t give her a lift to school because he’s not going to the shop, he’s going to talk to Ailsa.Roo tries to dissuade him, saying everyone else has spoken to her, but Alf says he should have done it himself.He pulls up outside the store where Don accosts him and asks if they’re moving, since there’s a “For sale” sign outside the store.Alf drives off without answering and goes to see Barbara.She says she doesn’t know where Ailsa went and thinks she didn’t want Alf to contact her.Alf sinks into a chair, defeated.Meanwhile, Ailsa drives away from town, with tears streaming down her face.