Episode 139

Australian Air Date: 28th July 1988
UK Air Date: 24th August 1989
Writer: Rick Held
Director: Andrew Friedman

Alan is determined to drive his father out of town, while Celia receives a pre-paid ticket to Tahiti.

> Alf, Morag, Celia and Barbara’s parents decide to stay permanently in Tahiti in this episode.

Extended Summary

Bobby was at the school lockers with Alan, they were discussing Carly and how Matt left a note for her instead of saying goodbye to her in person. Alan invited Bobby to the beach, she couldn’t go as Pippa was coming back from hospital and she wanted to score a thousand bucks. Alan knew from Steve that it was the reward that Lance was offering to get rid of his own Mum. If Alan had that type of money then he would use it to get rid of some people too, starting with his Dad.

Barbara had a headache after her encounter with Donald and she started to question her motives for coming to Summer Bay, wondering if she and Alan should move on. Celia had a suspicion that Donald had something to do with it. Alan eavesdropped on the conversation and spoke up, which gave Barbara a fright and she told him not to interrogate her each time he saw her as she was talking things through with Celia. Barbara went to lie down for an hour as she had a headache and was tired, so Alan tried to get the information out of Celia but her lips were sealed.

Lance bought a drum kit after Bobby suggested it in order to get rid of his Mum from the mobile home. After helping to set it up and affectionately calling him Bonzo, Bobby left as Pippa had arrived home but not before parting with two pieces of advice for Lance: i) When his Mum got back he had to bash the guts out of the drums and ii) To hand over the thousand bucks if it worked.

Pippa arrived home from the hospital with Tom and was greeted by Sally and moments later Bobby came in, upon her arrival Lance’s drumming could be heard.

At the store, Alf and Ailsa discussed being an agent for dry cleaning, that she could use the hall cupboard between the shop and the lounge to store the dry cleaning and that she would deduct ten dollars from their rent. Alan walked in wanting surfboard wax but the delivery person was another fifteen minutes away otherwise there would be one dead delivery man as the order was due yesterday, so Ailsa offered him a free cuppa while he waited.

A parcel arrived at the shop in the afternoon mail for Celia from Tahiti, it rattled and but it didn’t tick so Alf signed for it. It contained a statuette, a letter and an airline ticket. Their parents had decided to stay in Tahiti indefinitely.

Ailsa found the board wax at the bottom of the box, Alan paid for it before he tried to leave as Donald came into the store to taunt him about going surfing instead of studying. Ailsa tried to calm the situation down but Alan provoked Donald and told him to stop forcing him and his Mum out of Summer Bay. Donald got angrier and was tempted to be violent but after a few short, sharp words to Alan in front of Ailsa he left the shop.

Floss and Pippa were in the kitchen while Sally was playing dolls, Floss sensed that something was wrong and Pippa took her into the dining room where she handed over letters for her family if anything were to go wrong with the birth of her baby as they had still no idea of how risky it would be. Just as Bobby left for the beach Celia came to visit Pippa so Floss tucked away the letters safely. Later Floss cracked under pressure from Pippa’s secret while she and Neville were going to clean out one of the caravans.

Bobby was at the beach with Alan and told her about his day. Bobby said that Donald wouldn’t hurt him as he was his Dad and also his Headmaster. She told him that if he did hit Alan on school grounds then he would be out of a job and that that would never happen but Alan would find a way to make it happen.

Alan had a plan to encourage Celia to go to Tahiti to visit her parents after talking things through with his Mum and Uncle Alf. He wrote a letter on behalf of his Grandmother to get Celia to go, he told Alf to say that he opened it by mistake and gave it to Celia. As long as Donald didn’t find out about Alan’s plan otherwise he’d be accusing Barbara of turning their son into a criminal. Celia had a nightmare and when she woke, she recalled her nightmare to Alan and Barbara. She was determined to go to Tahiti to save Mummy from watching Daddy being seduced by a group of heathens.

Tom and Pippa were discussing baby names and Pippa liked Christopher if it was a boy or Christine if it was a girl.

Alan needed help from Bobby with the plan to make his Dad hit him. He already practiced forging Donald’s signature after he stole a letter from his Mum’s papers. Bobby obtained a blank letter headed memo after she bumped into Donald in the corridor and Alan typed up the memo. His plan was well and truly in motion.