Episode 142

Extended Summary

Donald wandered on the beach with Bobby sitting up on the hill in the background. The students celebrated Donald’s suspension in the corridor. Barbara took Alan into a classroom and asked him if he pretended that he was dying and wanted to know the truth. Alan lied to his Mum and accused his Father of lying to the Regional Director. Barbara would have thought differently if he had actually been lying, Alan talked about his Father wanting to kick him and his Mum out of Summer Bay but she clarified that it was her fault for putting the boot into Donald and that he wanted them to stay. Both Donald and Alan had a history of crossed wires.

Bobby wandered into the school corridors when Alan saw her and thanked her for keeping quiet even though she had second thoughts about telling the truth. She saw Donald at the beach and she knew what had happened. She wanted to ring up the Department but Alan told her that he had convinced his Mum that his version of events was the truth. The plan that they had had nailed Donald fair and square, that he would hit Alan and then he would have been fired. Now Bobby wasn’t proud of herself for the way things had turned out.

Colleen had plans for Lance to go back to school to knock some sense into him. Donald walked into the store, Colleen asked about a possible enrolment and he told her to talk to the Acting Principal as he had been suspended. Ailsa knew that things didn’t go too well, Donald told her that even though it was all a set up and that he told them everything, no-one could verify his story especially with all those ‘supposedly’ independent witnesses. Bobby had mysteriously disappeared and he doubted that she would help him out as she and Alan had planned it together. Donald was wondering what he’d do next and that he was comparing himself to Walter Bertram and his destroyed career, like blind justice. Alison and her two friends walked into the store and ordered a cappuccino before being rude about Donald, that something was different at the school and that she couldn’t work out why until that moment. Ailsa refused to serve Alison and her two friends and threw them out. Donald left the store and saw Bobby walking along the road, they had a moment before walking away. Ailsa was disgusted with Bobby, refused to serve or talk to her and shut the door in her face.

Carly bought one mouse as it was the only one that they had left. Steven had it in his hands and was teasing Carly about the supposed ‘plague’. Bobby came into the bedroom, they showed her the mouse but she wasn’t interested and didn’t want the mouse on her bed. She was down because Ailsa kicked her out of the shop and was taking out her bad mood out on everyone else. She told Steven and Carly to “rack off” so that she could have some privacy.

Steven, Carly and Lance were talking about the latest scheme to get rid of Colleen from the house and Lance thought that there was a snake in the box as his Mum hated snakes. Carly showed him the mouse and Lance fainted. Colleen saw the whole event unfold and was worried about him, Carly told Colleen that there was a plague of mice everywhere but she didn’t fall for that trick and said that the mouse was sweet. Lance always fainted at the sight of a mouse, so Colleen took the mouse and put it in her handbag so that she could find it a new home. Carly’s plan had failed. Steven had the ‘scientific approach’ to the theory and asked Lance what things scared his Mum. Lance said that she didn’t like ghosts as she reckoned that she saw one as a kid. Steven borrowed some money from Lance to put his plan into action.

Alan wondered what his Father was like before his Mum met him, Barbara thought it was an odd question to be asked but he just said that he was curious. Donald was never Paul Newman in the looks department but he had a fire within him, he was intense and passionate about many things: art and music to physics and philosophy. They used to talk for hours and that he had a lot of charm. He wanted to be a renaissance man but he was his own worst enemy as he wanted to be like his heroes but he hated himself for not being a first rate genius. Instead he was a negative person with so much anger in him.

Lance and Steven were setting up the speakers ready for the experiment when Colleen came home. Carly and Steven quickly left, Lance wanted to know if there was a new moon about before telling the story of the former owners of the home and that they had an epileptic son who drowned after being tied to a tree stump and that there would be noises such as moaning happening about once a month or so. She was therefore very frightened by Lance’s ‘true’ story.

Steven wished that he had tested everything and Carly hoped that it would work as she had one thousand bucks riding on the outcome. Steven mentioned that he should have half the cut of the money as it was his idea and she reluctantly agreed. Lance went out for a while leaving his Mum really rattled, she shut the front door and closed the curtains. In the girl’s bedroom, Lance had arrived and the three of them where making ghost noises to scare Colleen but she was not phased and kept reading her magazine. They stopped the ghost noises, Lance left for home and Colleen was more shocked when Lance came home than the ghost noises themselves. She had earplugs in her ears and said that she would place them in her ears each time there was to be a new moon before making herself cosy by Lance’s side. Steven’s plan had also failed.

Donald was in his office at night packing up his belongings in one box, he took down his degree framed off the wall before turning out the light and walked out of his office. Alan was lurking around in the corridor as he wanted to confront his Father to see if anything was going to happen. Donald wasn’t interested but he was frightened that his son was really dying, he genuinely cared for him and that he would not have had the chance to tell him that but that grin gave it away that it was all a practical joke and that he got what he wanted. Donald said that he had learnt that Alan did not deserve a Father’s love let alone anyone else’s love. Alan arrived home, his Mother accused him of stirring once he told her that he was at the school visiting his Father and that he had cleared out all of his things. Alan didn’t want to talk about why he went to see his Father and left the room.

In the morning, Ailsa opened up the store and Bobby was on her doorstep. At first she ignored her but then invited her in after she pleaded. She recalled the day of the incident and that she was there when it happened, she was really close to the action especially when Donald hit Alan and the facial expression of Donald after Alan keeled over and he was really freaked out. If the truth came out then Bobby felt responsible for splitting them up, his Mum would throw Alan out of the house and she didn’t know what to do. Ailsa convinced her to do the right thing. Bobby went over to Alan’s place and told her that she had changed her mind – she was going to tell the truth. Alan had already told the truth to his Mum ten minutes earlier and she was over at Donald’s place. Alan’s surfboard and bags were packed and that his Mum had thrown him out of the house but he didn’t know where he was to go. Bobby gave him a kiss on the cheek and said that she would see him around.