Episode 440

Extended Summary

Carly and Adam are at the Diner talking to Ailsa about Rory. Ailsa says at least he died doing what he enjoyed. She comments on how determined he was and how he got the two of them back together. Adam says he was so enthusiastic and had to experience everything at once; it was almost as if he knew he was going to die.

At the store, Celia is talking to the reporter James Donohue about Rory. She doesn’t know anything about his family and suggests he talk to Pippa. Alf returns from the city with fabric for Celia and hopes Celia hasn’t been blabbing to Donohue, reminding her that he wrote the exposé on Morag. Celia tells Donohue to get out and he says he’ll see them at the meeting about whether to close the beach.

Carly and Adam return to the house where Pippa has had a phone call from Rosemary White, Rory’s sister. She is coming to collect his things tonight and says Rory’s real name is Colin.

The meeting takes place at the surf club in the evening. Alf says if they close the beach the surf carnival and Ironman can’t go ahead, and most of them rely on the tourist industry for their livelihoods. Martin backs him up but Gordon Macklin says if they don’t take precautions now they could jeopardise their future industry. He tells Alf if there’s any more loss of life he will hold him personally responsible.

Carly wonders if Rory lied about more than just his name. Rosemary arrives and looks at the family photos. She tells Pippa that “Col” was so looking forward to becoming part of the family. Donohue and his photographer barge in and want photos of Rosemary for the human interest angle but Rosemary tells them that Carly was his fiancée!

Celia arrives at the store the next morning where Alf is in a bad mood over an article about him on the front page of the Courier. Adam arrives and says the article is pretty accurate; he never thought Alf would put making a buck over saving lives.

Adam goes to Summer Bay House and is surprised when Rosemary tells him Col was thrilled he had agreed to be his best man! Pippa, Carly and Adam exchange nervous glances. Rosemary reads the paper and asks why the article calls him Rory. Adam makes up a story that there were two Colins at the surf club so they called him “Raring Rory” because he was always raring to go. Rosemary says it’s funny they don’t mention him saving a girl’s life or beating the champion in the surf ski race.

Lance and Martin arrive at the store and Celia wants to know why the hot dog stand was closed for half the day yesterday. She concedes that helping search for Rory is an acceptable excuse but if takings don’t improve she will withdraw her support.

At the beach, Rosemary tells Carly and Adam that Col never stopped talking about this beach and his new family. Adam asks what was wrong with his family back home. Rosemary says their mother died when Col was 11, and she herself got married ten years ago so it has just been Col and their dad. Col’s heart wasn’t in taking over the property and their father was ashamed of him. She thanks Carly and Adam for being his friends and helping make his dreams come true.

Donohue buys a hot dog and suggests Lance will have to close with the beach being deserted but Lance thinks the beach should have been closed like Gordon Macklin said. Donohue meets Gordon at the Sands restaurant and says the resort can’t carry on at reduced occupancy; he suspects Gordon is planning to cash in on the macabre tourism. He says he may be able to help him since sharks make good headlines. Gordon says they’ll have to wait until the shark pays them another visit but Donohue says not necessarily.

Rosemary is getting ready to leave. She tells Adam to look after Carly and gives Carly Rory’s favourite possession: a signed photo of his surfing hero Tom Carroll.

Donohue finds Lance at the mobile home and says he’s got a dilemma. He claims to have seen a fin in the water but doesn’t want to be accused of just trying to sell newspapers so asks Lance to report it. Lance says he can’t lie but Donohue suggests he won’t sleep well if some little kid gets attacked!

Carly and Pippa sit on the couch and talk about why they think Rory lied about everything. Carly thinks he came here to live his life the way he wanted to but he didn’t fit in here either so he just imagined things the way he wanted them to be and wrote it to Rosemary. Pippa says Rory’s greatest goal was to surf and that was the last thing he did. Carly says he was the happiest guy on earth and Pippa tells her that’s how she should remember him.

Ailsa serves Donohue at the Diner while Alf starts having a go at him, but Lance runs in and announces he’s just seen a fin sticking out of the water like in Jaws.

Carly walks along the beach looking at the framed photo. She talks to Rory, saying they didn’t have time to tell him how much he meant to them. She throws the photo into the water and we see a couple of flashbacks of Rory superimposed on the water as Carly thanks him for making her realise how lucky she is to have people around who care about her. She hopes Rory is happy wherever he is.