Episode 398

Extended Summary

Lance is cooking breakfast and singing in a cheery manner when Martin enters. Lance tells him that he’s getting hitched and Martin is aghast, trying to convince him it’ll be the end of his life, no more going out with his mates, no more picking up girls. Lance says he doesn’t care about any of that, he just wants Marilyn.

Marilyn comes downstairs to find Morag frozen in fear as the funnel web spider crawls all over the furniture. Marilyn is scared too but, at Morag’s insistence, she manages to attack the spider with a rolled up newspaper and kill it. Danny comes downstairs and Morag and Marilyn explain what’s happened. Danny tells Morag she should be worried that a nutcase knows where she lives but, although shaken, Morag dismisses the matter, saying everyone knows where she lives and all judges have enemies, leaving him disappointed.

Coral and Sally are saying goodbye to Pippa, with Coral holding Christopher, as she heads off to visit Tom. Sally wants to come too but Pippa tells her to stay and help Coral and drives off. Lance comes up and tells Sally that he’s getting married. Sally asks him if he’s sure and Lance walks off, disappointed that no-one seems happy for him. Coral tells Sally she should be happy for Lance but Sally says she isn’t sure if Marilyn is right for Lance and marriage shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Adam is giving Martin his instructions down on the wharf before McTavish arrives. Martin introduces himself to the explorer before Adam shoos him away. McTavish refuses to pay Adam upfront, saying that if he doesn’t see the bunyip, Adam won’t get paid.

Coral watches as Sally goes to make a phone call to Marilyn. At the house, Morag hears the phone ringing but sits stock still, scared of answering it. Danny comes in and answers it, telling Sally that Marilyn has gone to see Lance. Although Morag is close to tears, she insists she’s all right and snaps at Danny to go and open the office. After he’s gone, she calls the police to tell them about the spider and the phone calls but they don’t seem too bothered and tell her to wait until something more serious happens.

In the bush, Adam is attempting to steer McTavish in the direction he wants to go, despite McTavish’s insistence that the bunyip is the other way. They come across some footprints and McTavish is excited, measuring and photographing them. Nearby, Martin gets into the bunyip costume and begins practising stomping around and roaring in a fairly cartoony manner. He wanders behind Adam and McTavish without either of them seeing him and then falls down an embankment. McTavish wonders about the tracks just disappearing but Adam insists he’s heard the bunyip nearby and leads him to where Martin is meant to make his appearance…only to find no sign of him. McTavish says he’ll lead the way from now on.

Pippa arrives at the Diner and tells Ailsa that Tom is recovering but he’ll need six to seven weeks of rehab once he gets out of hospital. She is bitter about his job with Macklin’s and she and Ailsa both observe that health is the important thing. Morag arrives home with Danny to find someone has graffitied “DEATH JUDGE” on the outside of the house. Morag runs inside and breaks down in tears. Danny comforts her and Marilyn comes downstairs, wondering what’s going on.

Adam and McTavish arrive back at the wharf, with McTavish boasting about the time he met Bigfoot. Adam asks him for his cash, pointing out that even though they didn’t see the bunyip McTavish said he can make money from the photographs of the footprints. McTavish pays him half but insists on seeing a bunyip the next day. Adam goes to confront Martin in the surf club and has a go at him for not keeping his side of the bargain. He tells him he’s got one last chance and he’s not going to pay him for a job he didn’t do.

At the Diner, Marilyn is telling Lance about someone pestering Morag, thinking it could be a rapist or an axe murderer or a “muesli killer”, but Lance is more interested in the fact Morag seems to be with Danny, despite Marilyn not believing it. Ailsa comes up as Lance is talking about older women cracking onto younger men and tells him Morag’s not like that. Lance asks how she knew he was talking about Morag and insists Marilyn saw them together. Ailsa goes round to see Morag to check she’s all right. Morag says she is but hastily asks Ailsa to stay when she goes to leave. Ailsa mentions the rumours and suggests Morag should ask Danny to move out but Morag insists he’s an intelligent young man that she’s helping and she doesn’t care what the gossips say about her.

Lance and Marilyn are looking over bridal magazines at the mobile home as Marilyn tries to pick out a dress. Lance is thrown when she talks about giving up work to have a baby, saying he’d rather have a dog, but seems to come round to the idea when she mentions Lance Jnr. Martin arrives home and is slightly bemused that a lot of Marilyn’s stuff seems to have appeared but is okay about her moving in. However, when Marilyn says he’ll have to move out so they can turn his room into a nursery, he refuses and, annoyed, tells Lance he’s worried about him. In the house, Sally is making a card for Tom. Pippa notices the expensive felt tip pens she’s using and Sally says Coral bought them for her.

Ailsa is back at home when a woman who introduces herself as Samantha Walker arrives looking for her. She says Ailsa has a 17-year-old niece called Emma. Ailsa says she doesn’t but Samantha explains that her sister Bridget, who she hasn’t seen in 20 years, had a daughter and, despite their never having met, she wants to stay with Ailsa. Samantha explains that Emma attacked her stepfather with a vase and, although she claims it was self-defence, he’s laid charges. Emma needs somewhere to stay until the case is heard and can’t stay at home because of allegations her stepfather has mistreated her. Ailsa insists she has no family but Samantha tells her that if Emma can’t stay there she’ll have to go to a remand centre: Ailsa is her only hope.