Episode 158

Extended Summary

Bobby is telling Pippa about her meeting with Ailsa and how she’s confident she’ll visit her soon to see Christopher.She asks Pippa to tell her when she does so she can arrange for Alf to be there to meet her. Pippa replies that Ailsa will be expecting that and she has another plan, which involves Alf and Ailsa meeting later on.Alan is waiting for Bobby in the corridor, looking uncomfortable.He is relieved when Bobby says they can go but then Carly arrives with Lynn.Annoyed at the delay, Alan says he’ll wait outside and storms off.Bobby exchanges greetings with Lynn before going after Alan.Carly and Lynn go in to see Pippa, who is delighted to see Lynn and says Christopher is with Tom.Carly goes off to join them. Lynn tells Pippa that things haven’t been perfect with her parents but she’s glad she gave it a try and Pippa was right, it was worth the risk for both of them.She heads off to see Christopher.

Steven is telling Alan and Bobby about how Narelle pretended he’d dumped her and the credit he’s getting at school because of it.He says Philip has gone back to the city but will be back in a couple of weeks.Bobby suggests keeping Narelle away from him for his own sake.After Steven has gone upstairs, Bobby questions Alan about his odd behaviour earlier but he fobs her off and decides to watch TV instead.Meanwhile, a miserable looking Alf goes to the bottle shop.He finds the bottle he was drinking from when Ailsa left and, after contemplating it for a few seconds, throws it to the floor in disgust.

Don finds Barbara putting some notices up at school.He tells her that he’s been speaking to Brett and he’s agreed for the Macklin corporation to sponsor Alan.He asks her to tell him but Barbara suggests Don tell him himself.Don says he’s only supporting Alan because he’s relieved to see him actually interested in something but admits he is good and reluctantly agrees.Alan is still watching television until Bobby turns it off and asks him about the hospital.Alan eventually admits he’s afraid of ending up like one of the patients hooked up to a machine if his aneurysm half-ruptures.Bobby reminds him she promised not to let that happen and says he means even more to her now than when she made the promise.They hug.

Next morning, Alf is clearing up the broken bottle when Bobby comes in and tells her about seeing Ailsa and how she’s convinced she’ll come back to Summer Bay.Alf doesn’t let on that he was there and acts as though he isn’t bothered.Don watches Alan surf on the beach and asks to have a chat to him.They go to the store and order two coffees.Don tells Alan that Brett’s been pestering him about wanting to sponsor him so asks Alan to give him an answer either way.He then tells Bobby, who’s serving, to just get Alan a coffee and put it on his tab before leaving.Alan tells Bobby he’s landed himself a sponsorship deal but Bobby is horrified when she hears it’s Brett and tells him he can’t take it, since Ailsa sacrificed her marriage trying to stop the development.Alan says the development will go ahead anyway and he just wants to surf but Bobby tells him if he accepts she won’t have anything to do with him.

Carly is telling Lynn about Lance’s lottery win and how all he’s got to show for spending $300,000 is the mobile home.Lynn tells her about the money Bobby kept so Tom could put it in the bank and how Floss and Nev are keeping it in their caravan.Carly decides to have some fun at Lance’s expense and gets Lynn to keep watch while she sneaks into the caravan and takes the shoebox full of money.Heading back up to the girls’ room, Carly empties the money into a bin bag and then starts cutting a newspaper into pieces the same size as bank notes.After a few moments of wondering whether they’re doing the right thing, Lynn gets into the spirit and joins in.

Floss visits Pippa and talks about the trauma of accepting a lift from Martin.Pippa thanks her for keeping an eye on the family.Floss gives her back the letters she wrote in case she died and Pippa rips them up and throws them in the bin.Nev has just finished listening to his radio at the caravan park house when Floss comes back.She wonders why he has so little change from $10 when he only bought a carton of milk and he admits he had a flutter on the horses, which didn’t come through.She gives him a list of jobs to do and says Carly has been putting some old clothes aside for a charity collection Colleen’s doing.She goes upstairs and takes the bin bag full of money without looking inside it.Carly and Lynn go to Lance’s mobile home with the shoebox, now full of pieces of money-shaped newspaper.They knock on the door but he isn’t home so Carly insists they sit on the steps to wait.

Alf turns up at the hospital with a bottle for Pippa.He is pleased when she asks him to be godfather, saying he was the first person she and Tom thought of.

Alan finds Brett at the store and thanks him for the sponsorship offer but says he has to turn it down for personal reasons.Brett thinks he’s turning it down because it was Don’s idea.Alan is surprised but pleased at the news.Down on the beach, Barbara asks Don why he didn’t take the credit.Alan comes running down onto the beach and calls out to Don, then suddenly stops in his tracks, his vision going blurry, and collapses clutching his head.Don wonders if he’s joking before he and Barbara run over.Barbara crouches by Alan and shouts at Don to get an ambulance.