Episode 1223

Extended Summary

As Tug and Sarah enjoy the sights in the big city, a thief snatches her handbag and runs off, with Tug in hot pursuit. He loses him momentarily but then spots him again and the chase is back on, only to lose him again. He goes looking for him on a nearby ferry and ends up going for a ride because the ferry has started its crossing. As he looks back to the docking site, he sees the thief searching through Sarah’s handbag and there’s nothing he can do. He finds out from a ferry attendant he’s going to be on the ferry for quite a while. Meanwhile, Sarah is walking around aimlessly, wondering what’s happened to Tug. She reports the theft to two passing constables, who tell her she’ll have to go to the local police station but she says she has to stay put until her friend comes back. They tell her do it later and they continue on their way, after she assures them she’s okay. As she waits for Tug’s return, Sarah’s finding it hard to breathe and a man stops to see if she’s okay. He recognises her symptoms because he has a daughter who is asthmatic and when he finds out about her bag being stolen, he persuades her to go with him, to get another puffer. They return and there’s still no sign of Tug, although he had just got back and is looking for her. The man convinces her to go home with him, where he says his wife and two daughters are. He takes her to his car, just as Tug gets back to where he last left her and he goes searching for her. Just as the man’s about to drive off, Sarah sees Tug and goes to get out of the car, but the man tries to stop her. Tug hears her cry for help and as he rushes to her, she manages to escape and runs to him. The man speeds off, as Tug comforts her. They return home and Ailsa and Alf are relieved she’s safe. Ailsa tells her to tell Nick about the attempted abduction and as Sarah sees Tug to the door, Ailsa and Alf agree it would be best not to tell her about Dale. Sarah tells Tug that he saved her life and they hug each other.
At the Ross house everyone’s walking on eggshells. Pippa refuses to come downstairs because she wants to be left alone. She won’t even talk to Michael and it upsets him. He goes downstairs and poor Damian is feeling bad about his behaviour over the last few days and apologies to Michael. Bobby has returned with Christopher, who is upset because Pippa didn’t pick him up from Day Care. She tells Michael he knows something up and they go out to the car, to talk to him but he wants his mummy. So Michael takes him upstairs and for a short while Pippa seems to be her old self again, until Christopher asks where Dale is? But he’s too young to understand what’s going on and as he plays with his toys on the bedroom floor, Michael and Pippa have a brief conversation about it. He persuades her to come down for dinner later and tells her he’s taking Christopher over to the Stewarts for the night, and she agrees. At the Stewarts, Ailsa finds Michael sitting alone in the sitting room, after sorting Christopher out and finds Alf in the kitchen, reluctant to talk to Michael because he doesn’t know what to say. She persuades him to go and talk to him and although the conversation is difficult, they do talk. Michael tells him he’s worried that Pippa’s bottling everything up and remarks that this is the sort of thing you never expected to happen to you. Michael returns home and finds the kids are in a sombre mood and Pippa’s still upstairs. Bobby persuades Michael to let her go and talk to her but when she gets up there, she’s devastated when Pippa insinuates that it was her fault, Dale died. All because of a remark she made about Dale being dead to the world, when she looked in on him as he slept. Close to tears, she goes downstairs and manages to blurt out that she had no luck, before rushing out, leaving Michael and the kids bewildered. Pippa comes down for dinner but nobody eats much and the conversation is very strained. When Michael asks Damian if he would mind finishing the work at the kiosk by himself, he says yes. Sally tells them she’s been asked to read a composition she wrote, to the school assembly on Monday and they congratulate her but Pippa says nothing, she just gets up and walks out. Michael tells the kids to finish their meal and he goes after her. The kids are too upset to eat and Michael catches up with Pippa on the beach and when he tries to talk to her, she turns on him, when he says he knows just what she’s going through. She yells at him, he can’t possibly know because she carried Dale inside her for nine months and she’s angry that he’s gone and doesn’t know why. When they return home, Pippa goes mental when she finds the kids are gathering up Dale’s things and she shouts at them to leave his things alone. The kids go downstairs and Michael tells her they were only trying to help.

It ends at bedtime and Pippa finally breaks down and Michael encourages her to let it all out…

Avril M Harrison