Episode 118

Extended Summary

Carly is holding court at the store with a group of classmates including Matt and Alyce, telling them about the documentary and how she’ll be staying in a five star hotel and being paid heaps.Matt isn’t happy that Brian Driscott kissed Carly in front of everyone because he wanted to kiss someone famous but Carly laughs it off.Matt tells Carly he’ll have to walk her home now because he’s going back to school for astronomy class.He doesn’t seem impressed when Carly says another of the boys present, Mick, can walk her home instead.Roo comes in and asks Ailsa for some pencils, Ailsa says she’s been trying to persuade Alf to talk to her.Alyce wonders loudly if Roo will be able to get a school uniform in maternity size.An upset Roo tells Ailsa not to bother about the pencils or the peace talk and isn’t happy about Carly sticking up for her either.Carly tells Alyce that Frank told them to go easy on her so anyone who wants to be friends with her has to be nice to Roo.

Pippa is cleaning the girls’ bedroom when Tom comes home from work and notes Don was surprisingly civil.The letter from George Morris containing Carly’s contract has been delivered.Pippa says she spoke to Miss Molloy and the department is okay with it if Carly is properly chaperoned;Pippa doesn’t think they’ll have a hard time finding a chaperone to stay in a five star hotel.Neither Tom nor Pippa trusts George.

Roo comes home and complains that the town is all laughing at her, apart from Alf who hates her, and Carly can only afford to be nice because she’s on the way up whilst Roo is on the way down:seventeen, pregnant and unmarried.Celia is sympathetic but has to leave to see Betty Fulwell about the Ladies’ Auxilliary meeting:She thinks something needs to be done about Floss’ pagan practise and she’ll need to make a full retraction to be allowed to stay.Roo points out that Floss was right about Frank and Celia considers there might be something in it for a moment before dismissing the idea.Roo says Floss has been getting some of the kids at school to join a witches’ coven, with animal sacrifices and dancing round fires. Celia isn’t sure if she’s teasing or not.

Floss arrives back at the caravan and tells Neville she’s never going out again, having ripped her shoe running away from a crowd of children calling her a witch on the beach.Neville tries to laugh her out of it but Floss says next time someone calls her a witch she’ll act like one.

Barbara is giving instructions to the astronomy club, including Steven and Matt, for their outing, where a local farmer has agreed to let them use his field for stargazing if they respect it.Matt notes last time he was there the farmer chased him out with a shotgun for nicking apples.Barbara dismisses them but Steven offers to stay behind and help clear up.Don comes in and asks Barbara to have dinner with him that evening. Barbara reminds him about the outing and he suggests they make it another night instead.Barbara looks less than thrilled at the prospect.

Carly comes home and Tom and Pippa give her the registered letter from George.Carly opens it and is delighted to see she’s being paid $5,000.She runs upstairs to tell Steven, who jokes she’s always been his favourite member of the family.Carly thinks Matt can’t get enough of her with her new status:Steven points out he wasn’t very happy with her before but Carly says that was when she was pretending to be something she was not and now she really is famous.Steven reminds her that Tom and Pippa paid $8,000 for the damage she did to Bertram’s car and she promised to pay them back as soon as she could, Carly protests she needs the money to support herself while she’s in the city.Downstairs, Tom is making plans to use the money to repair caravans.Pippa has also realised Carly will need the money in the city and tells him not to bring it up unless Carly does.Carly comes downstairs and says she’s going to give them some of the money…$500 and she’ll pay them the rest when her modelling takes off.Tom and Pippa look flaberghasted.In the hall, Steven shoots Carly a disgusted look.

Neville persuades Floss to go out for a walk, since she doesn’t want to go to the Ladies’ Auxilliary meeting, and she agrees as long as they stick to the back roads.Barbara’s group have set up in a field with Matt in a sullen mood.Steven is working the big telescope.Neville and Floss are nearby and run into a goat. They see Celia cycling along, singing ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ and taking a short cut to the church hall. They hide in the bushes but Celia sees them.At that moment, Steven manages to find the star Barbara has been directing him towards and the group loudly celebrate.Confronted with a group of teenagers dancing around a campfire, a bleating goat and Neville and Floss running away, Celia seems to draw all sorts of conclusions…

Celia goes home and tells Roo what she saw.When she mentions it was Darts Hill, Roo realises what really happened but Celia thinks her expression means that’s where the coven meet.At the store, Alf helps Ailsa by putting out the last of the bird seed she’s trying to get rid of.Ailsa tells him about her meeting with Roo earlier and asks why Alf can’t forgive her when Frank and the rest of the town have.Alf says he just can’t and snaps at her to leave it.

The next morning, Celia tells Barbara and Roo that she’s going to put an end to the worship of the Dark Arts in the town and advises Roo to be on her guard.Once she’s gone, Barbara asks Roo what she was talking about and Roo explains.Barbara says she has to put a stop to it.Roo admits that she needed a laugh but says she’ll put Celia straight next time she sees her.Celia runs into Neville and Floss outside the store; they try to apologise for their behaviour the previous night but she’s having none of it.Neville and Floss go into the store and tell Ailsa that Celia’s angry with them for hiding from her because they didn’t want another lecture about the witch rumours.Ailsa jokes Floss will have to put a spell on her.Floss looks like she’s counting to ten.

Don finds Barbara in a classroom and again asks her to dinner with him.Barbara says they’ve said all they had to say and there’s nothing else to discuss, unless he wants to talk about Alan.Don thinks their history is a good basis for a friendship and Barbara agrees to give it a go.

Pippa comes into the store, complaining about Carly.Roo comes in to buy the pencils and apologise to Ailsa for snapping at her.Alf appears but when he sees Roo he says he’ll come back later.Ailsa tries to comfort Roo but she pulls away and heads off to school.Ailsa tells Pippa that she has one last idea to get Alf and Roo back together but it’s pretty desperate:If it fails, Alf will probably throw her out as well.