Episode 146

Extended Summary

Lance and Martin have been to inspect the remains of the car.Lance is carrying a car part which seems to be the only part still salvageable.Martin apologises for messing up the insurance and checks they’re still friends.He decides to confess all to Colleen, saying honesty’s the best policy.Lance and Martin go into the mobile home and a few seconds later Colleen can be heard shouting and Martin runs out, pursued by Colleen with a saucepan.She tells him if she’d been holding a knife she’d have given him a squeaky voice. She and Lance go back inside where she gathers together some fishing equipment and tells him he’s not to have anything more to do with Martin and from now on she’s going to make sure he gets proper financial advice and spends his money wisely.As she leaves the park, she correctly gusses Martin is hiding nearby and calls out that if she sees him near Lance she’ll be using him for fishing bait(or possibly just a part of him).Martin beckons Lance over to the bush where he’s hiding and promises to pay back the money.

Bobby is working at the store while Narelle raves on to her about the cocktail party.Bobby says she had a good time with Frank but afterwards he just dropped her off at home without even a kiss.Narelle is convinced something is going to happen between them anyway.Martin shows up and stresses that he’s going to pay back Lance.Bobby and Narelle are less than convinced that he’ll manage to raise $100,000.

Alf is watching through the window of the Stewart house.Roo comes home and realises Ailsa still isn’t back.Roo again tries to convince him that if Ailsa was a good wife she’d support him.Alf tells her to stay out of it but says he’ll only give Ailsa another half hour.Colleen is fishing off the wharf and sees the seaplane coming into land nearby.Ailsa appears and chats to her for a bit before going to meet the seaplane’s passenger, Rod Barratt.

Later, at the bottle shop, Colleen is moaning to Narelle about Martin.When Alf comes in, Colleen tells him about Ailsa meeting a strange man and taking him for a boat ride in the wetlands.Ailsa is showing Rod, who seems to be an environmentalist, the area where the development is supposed to be built and tells him that wild birds nest in the area.The council will have to rezone the area but Rod tells Ailsa the Macklins will only have to do an environmental report if the council asks for one.However, there’s nothing to stop them doing one themselves.

Martin is still at the store, trying to think up moneymaking ideas, when Frank comes through, telling Bobby he’s going to do some jobs for Tom at the caravan park.Frank jokes that Martin could sell his body and Martin considers being a Playgirl centrefold until Bobby points out they don’t do them anymore.Martin then wonders about auctioning off his clothes like Elton John did but Frank tells him he’d have to be famous first.Martin wonders if he could get famous, by going on TV and telling his story.Bobby and Frank tell him to keep trying.

Brett is on the phone to Gordon in the office, telling him the cocktail party went well and the council are in favour of the proposal.He’s also convinced Alf will be able to keep Ailsa under control.He admits though that he lost his temper when Roo started smoking and drinking and threatened her.Gordon tells him to sort it out, since it’s no good making a success of the development if he messes up something more important. Brett goes round to see Roo and apologises.Roo accepts he had a point but asks him what he meant about Alf and Frank’s happiness depending on what she did.Brett says he simply meant they wouldn’t want her to harm the baby either.He asks how things were between Alf and Ailsa and Roo says Ailsa didn’t come home that morning.Brett stresses that she can’t let Pippa or anyone else talk Alf into going along with Ailsa and it’s in both their interests to get her out of the way.

Martin has resorted to buying scratchcards to try and make money.Narelle comes in, having finished work, and asks Bobby to hang out but she has to work at the store for the rest of the day.Martin announces he’s won $2 but Bobby points out he already owes $22 for the scratchcards and tells him to make up the difference.Martin gives her $7, all he has left until pay day.Bobby tells him he can work at the store for the rest of the day to pay it off and she and Narelle make a quick exit.

Frank is fixing some taps at the caravan park while Lance eats a banana and complains that all his attempts to do something with the money have gone wrong:Stan ran off with the money he gave him, his car was trashed and now Colleen wants to stop him being friends with Martin.Bobby and Narelle arrive and Frank tells Bobby there’s a surprise for her in her bedroom.The girls head upstairs and Bobby finds a bunch of red roses on her bed with a card saying ‘You’re one hell of a lady, will you give me a second chance?’Narelle is convinced they must have come from Frank.A short while later, Bobby is on her bed when Frank appears, saying Narelle said she wanted to speak to him.Bobby says that Narelle told her it would happen but when you’ve been hoping for something that long you never think it’s going to happen.Frank realises what she’s getting at and tells her the flowers aren’t from him, he just collected them from the florist. Downstairs, Narelle is telling Lance that Frank and Bobby are going to get together when Bobby runs through the house, upset and embarassed and ignoring Frank’s attempts to talk to her.Frank asks Narelle to go after her.Lance deduces that Frank doesn’t fancy Bobby after all.And then slips over on a piece of discarded banana.

Martin is sitting with his feet up at the store when Brett arrives and asks for a cappuccino.He decides against sitting down when he notices Martin’s trainers on the table.Martin suggests that they swap business ideas but Brett realises he doesn’t know how to work the cappuccino machine and gives up.After he’s gone, the machine spurts coffee over Martin.

Roo is helping Alf out at the bottle shop as he moans about Ailsa’s recent behaviour.The phone rings and it’s Ailsa, who’s at the Stewart house, with Rod pouring over papers and maps behind her.She asks Alf to come home because there’s someone she wants him to meet.Alf is angry with her for just disappearing and not telling him where she was and says that since he’s been waiting for her all day she can wait for him. Roo encourages Alf on his stance and asks if she can go since she wants to walk on the beach.Alf agrees.

At the store flat, Narelle is consoling an embarrassed Bobby and apologises for getting her worked up about her and Frank getting together.They wonder who did send the flowers:Narelle suggests Lance, since they obviously cost a lot and he’d be dumb enough not to sign them.Bobby suddenly realises something and storms out.She heads to the Macklin office and confronts Brett, accusing him of sending her the flowers.Brett acts as though he’s got no idea what she’s talking about.Bobby takes a vase of flowers and pours both the flowers and the water over him, saying he made her look a fool so now she’s done the same to him.