Episode 709

Extended Summary

At the store, Marilyn is chatting to Ailsa about the fact she might need a new job soon.Ailsa suggests the new owner might keep her on and discovers Marilyn has signed a reorder form for bread.Blake and Karen enter, having not found anyone willing to give them the money for the tickets.They ask Ailsa and Marilyn but neither of them has spare money.Tony enters and tells Ailsa they’ve found a buyer.Ailsa tells Alf about it when she gets home:The new owner wants to turn it into a furniture shop, meaning he isn’t interested in the stock and they have to get rid of it before the weekend.Alf tells her he isn’t bothered what she does with it.

At the Fletcher house, Pippa and Carly are chatting about the possibility of Michael and Cynthia getting back together.Carly tries to get Pippa to admit how she feels about it but Pippa insists she believes in the family unit and is happy if her actions reunite a family.Ben and Sally arrive home, having been collecting cans on the beach, and Pippa agrees to take Sally to the store.They hear some scratching in the roof which Ben think is a possum.He promises to find a way to get rid of it.Pippa and Sally head to the store where Ailsa pays Sally for the cans even though they’ve closed down.Marilyn explains to Pippa that they’re boxing up all the stock.Ailsa phones someone to try and take the stock off their hand but concludes they need to take it home.Pippa offers to help out.

Patricia has turned up at Don’s place with a food hamper.She suggests to him that they have a picnic down by the beach and then another swimming lesson.Blake and Karen arrive and beg Don to let them have the money for the tickets, protesting that they’ve asked everyone else.Don shuts them down, insisting they don’t have the money.

At the store, Pippa and Sally are helping Ailsa and Marilyn box the stock up.Ailsa talks to Pippa about how Alf isn’t interested in anything but fishing anymore and seems to have lost all his confidence.Marilyn chats to Sally about how people deal with possums, saying they used to use traps and now they use poison and either can lead to a long and painful death.Sally runs out, saying she has to stop him.Pippa asks Marilyn what they were talking about and she says they were discussing possums.Pippa turns back to Ailsa and realises things are getting her down.Pippa heads back to the Stewart house with the first of the boxes.Alf isn’t interested but Pippa remembers when Tom had his heart attack and didn’t have a job, he felt that no-one could like him.She tells Alf that Ailsa’s having a hard time and needs him.

At the Fletcher house, Sally is berating and hitting Ben and calling him a murderer.Carly, amused, eggs her on.Ben insists he isn’t going to kill the possum, just catch it and take it out to the bush.He takes Sally outside and shows her his plan:The possum seems to be getting in via a tree that’s near the house so he’s going to put a sack with a pork ball inside it hanging from the rafters.The possum will smell the pork ball and go inside and its weight will cause the sack to close around it, trapping it painlessly.

Don and Patricia are sat by the wharf.They decide to rest a bit before the swimming lesson.On the beach, Blake and Karen are complaining to each other about Don not getting them the money and how they seem to have no chance of saving the tree.Karen suggests they go to the Diner for a milkshake but Blake reminds her that he’s on beach patrol and she’s keeping him company.At the store, Marilyn asks Ailsa about the frozen stuff and Ailsa tells her to take it to the Diner.She remarks to Pippa they’ve got a quarter of the work done.Alf turns up, explaining about Pippa’s talk to him, and begins helping with the boxing up.

Patricia isn’t feeling very confident as Don leads her down to the pool but he assures her he’ll stay close by.Nearby, Blake suggests they borrow the money from a bank but Karen says they’d have more chance robbing it.Blake jokes that he could get some of his friends from the home to help out.Don is teaching Patricia to breathe underwater and gets her to float with her face in the water and kick her legs.However, when she comes up she can’t breathe.Don calls out for Grant.Blake realises there’s trouble so grabs the emergency kit and he and Karen hurry over.Blake quickly realises Patricia has been stung on the throat by a bluebottle.Don tries to tell Blake what to do, saying he needs to use vinegar, but Blake says they don’t do that anymore and, looking after Patricia, tells Don they need an icepack.After much argument, Don agrees they can go to his place.

At the Diner, Marilyn is telling a confused Bobby she needs to keep some things in her freezer as Karen comes in to get Grant.Marilyn eventually manages to tell Bobby that Ailsa sent the things from the store so Bobby tells her to take them through.At Don’s place, Blake is applying an icepack to Patricia’s neck while Don continues to complain.Grant and Karen arrive and Don demands to know where Grant was and why there was no vinegar in the emergency kit.Grant tells him he’s only on duty from nine to five, after which volunteers like Blake are rostered on to patrol, and research has shown that although vinegar kills the sting it also causes it to shoot out more poison:The preferred treatment is to pick the sting out with tweezers and then apply an icepack, as Blake has done.Don apologises.

At the store, Sally tells Marilyn about Ben’s plan but still isn’t happy about the possum being taken away from its family and thinks they could just block up the hole in the roof.Ailsa decides to call it a day and round up more people to finish off.Pippa suggests calling Ben.Alf finishes off the box he is doing.Alf and Ailsa head home and Alf apologises for not helping out earlier.Ailsa asks him what he wants to do now but Alf still doesn’t want to do anything.He tells her he loves her and doesn’t want to lose her but he’s tired of playing the game and being a community leader:He just can’t be bothered anymore.