Episode 1224

Extended Summary

At the Stewart home, Roxy finds Sarah sitting alone in the dining room, having just been told by Alf the terrible news about baby Dale. She’s trying to imagine how Michael, Pippa and the kids are coping and Roxy just says, “in their own way”. Their conversation is interrupted as Imogen comes bounding in with her photos from the barbeque and the first one she flashes around, is of her and Luke together. If it was meant to make Roxy jealous, it didn’t work because she tells Imogen that it’s a good one of them and that she can keep it and she’ll get one from the set she gave Luke. When Imogen finds out Luke’s coming over shortly, she dashes off to get ready. Sarah tells Roxy she’s shouting Tug a thank you at the Diner, for saving her from that man, which prompts Roxy to ask if she resolved her problems with him, yet. Sarah looks sheepish, so Roxy tells her she should, sort it out.
Shane’s on the phone to Adam, to tell him that Fisher has returned the encyclopaedias and he’s boxing them up for him to collect. He says he can’t understand why Fisher changed his mind and as he finishes talking, he puts the phone down just as Fisher comes home. Shane tackles him about why he changed his mind but Fisher is in no mood to talk about it, because he’s still reeling from the shock of Dale’s death. All he does say is, he hopes, Shane was telling the truth about stopping Adam forcing that poor mother into debt, just for a sale. Greg arrives and when he asks Shane about getting someone to replace Damian, Shane’s a little surprised and says he’ll go round and speak to him first. Fisher thinks it’s a good idea.

Damian is at the Surf Club putting in some weight training and Angel comes in and tells him to ease up and gives him a bottle of water to drink. Shane arrives, having just come from the Ross house and says he found it difficult being there. Damian says he’s finding it hard and that’s why he’s doing his work-out, in preparation for the afternoon footy practice. Shane tells him he thought he’d want to give it a miss under the circumstances but the thought had never crossed his mind. As Shane leaves, Angel has a go at him, telling him, it’s Damian’s way of dealing with the tragedy. She tells him to leave Damian alone and goes back to watch over his training. Shane stands there for a moment, glaring at her and then he leaves.

Luke arrives at the Stewart home and Roxy tells him Imogen coming to the rehearsal and hopes he doesn’t mind. He says it’s going to be a mad house anyway, so it will be okay. Imogen comes in and when Roxy says they’ll have to pick the coffee and sandwiches up first, Imogen cleverly manipulates Roxy into doing it, thus leaving her alone with Luke! Imogen thanks him for not telling Roxy about that lunch, to which Luke replies, “as far as he’s concerned, it never happened”. They head off to the Surf Club.

At the Diner, Bobby’s still reeling from Pippa’s outburst and Alf tells her she did nothing wrong and that Pippa would probably have done the same thing, when checking on Dale. She thanks Alf for his understanding and he leaves. Sarah and Tug are sitting chatting and he goes and spoils it by telling her to give up the part in the play because he doesn’t want his girlfriend kissing a loser (Shane). She’s clearly annoyed about him still going on about Shane’s motives and says she’ll think about it, just as Roxy arrives to pick up the coffee and sandwiches.

Luke’s disappointed about the lack of support at the rehearsals and when Imogen offers to ring around for those who have not turned up, he says unfortunately, he’s left his list of contacts at home. She says it’s not a problem because she’ll go and get it, that is, if he trusts her with his key. He says he does and she takes the key and leaves. Luke gets the rehearsals started, with a little help from Angel, and Nicky Mersetti is first up and her singing leaves a lot to be desired! When Angel comments that it sounds like a cat being strangled, Roxy retorts that at least she’s has the guts to stand up there and tells her to put a sock in it. But Angel still mocks the poor girl and when Luke suggests she auditions, she shuts up, prompting Shane to call her a motor-mouth, to goad her into doing it. While Angel and Shane argue, Imogen arrives at Luke’s van, finds the list but starts looking around and finds the set of photos that Roxy talked about. She finds the one that Roxy was going to ask him for and takes it, smirking. She returns, just as Angel has blown everyone away with her great singing voice and is arguing with Luke about why she doesn’t want to be in some dorky amateur musical. As Luke, Roxy and Imogen walk along by the beach, Imogen suggests they take a walk up to the lighthouse but Luke tells her that he and Roxy have other plans. He tells her there’s nothing to stop her going on her own but then suggests she check out the talent amongst the local soccer team, which is just about to start training.

Down at the Diner, Greg and Shane are at loggerheads over Damian being in the soccer team but Greg tells him, now is not a good time to exclude him. He then see Sam tucking into another ice-cream and goes and tells him off because he’ll make himself sick. He tells him to go and find someone to share it with and then tells Bobby she mustn’t let what’s happened to Dale cloud her judgement over Sam. Shane goes over to a guy named Bruiser McGuire, who’s sharing Sam’s ice-cream, with a proposition. Down on the beach, Greg’s elated that Shane has got this Bruiser to play on their team but when Shane says they won’t need Damian anymore, Greg has a go at him again. Shane tells him that he doesn’t want to see Damian end up in hospital but before Greg can say anything, Sam comes up and tells him he’s got a stomach ache! In the changing room, Bruiser inadvertently tells Tug how Shane persuaded him to join the Sharks – he’s up in court for vandalism next week and Shane’s brother will get him off the hook. Tug soon puts him straight on that record because Nick’s so straight, he didn’t even stop Shane from going inside. With that, Bruiser picks up his gear and walks out. Sarah, having heard all this, agrees with Tug that Shane can’t be trusted and agrees to pull out of the musical. Tug wastes no time telling Greg that Bruiser is not joining the team but Shane wipes the smile off his face, by telling him, it was he way of getting Damian out. That wiped the smile off Tug’s face!

At the store, Fisher is telling Alf he can never come to terms with the death of a child and Alf agrees. Luke comes in for some sweets and when he’s asked how the rehearsal went, he tells them Angel was sensational but refuses to take part. When Luke says she could have had one of the leading roles, Fisher goes looking for her and finds her in the Diner, taking to Damian, who’s hobbled in with a leg injury. He takes her to one side, to try and persuade her to join the cast but she refuses point-blank and still insists she has no intention of returning to school. She tells him to get off her case and she goes back to talk to Damian. Fisher leaves but Damian has picked up on her set-to with Fisher, that she said she couldn’t go back to school but she tells him to drop it. But he thinks there’s more to it than she’s letting on. He tries to get her to open up to him but she just gets defensive and leaves. Bobby comes over to clear the table and Damian tells her Angel’s got a major hang-up about going to school and she won’t tell him, what it is.

Luke and Roxy are enjoying their time alone and having found the photo missing, blame the Chemist for it but Luke doesn’t think so. She goes off to prepare a meal, to bring back later. She gets home, as Tug is telling Sarah why Shane wanted Bruiser on the team and Sarah is starting to rethink her decision about being in the musical. Imogen follows Roxy into the dining room and has a go at her for being so long, but Roxy appears to be oblivious to her scheming. She goes off, leaving Sarah wondering why she said she’s been waiting for Roxy to return, but then as soon as Roxy comes in, she goes out. The answer is, she’s headed straight over to Luke’s place and wants him to show her some more sights the next day. He tells her he’s busy with the musical and she cons him into letting her be his assistant. He asks her if she saw that photo when she was round earlier, but she says she didn’t. Having told her that Roxy’s coming back later, she smiles sweetly at him and tells him she’ll be back early in the morning and no sleeping in, and to have an early night. He’s left wondering what she’s up to!

Damian limps into the Surf Club and bumps into Angel. He tackles her about refusing to go to school.

Avril M Harrison