Martha’s worst nightmare has become a reality – she’s trapped in a confined space with a man she’s in total fear of. Meanwhile, Jack is furious to discover that Martha has still not signed the divorce papers.
Extended Summary
As Martha and Jonah dust themselves off after the mine cave in, they realise that their escape exit has been completely blocked off. Martha’s worst nightmare has become a reality – she’s trapped in a confined space with a man she’s in total fear of. Knowing that the mine is off the beaten track, and that it will take some time for people to even realize they are missing, they are about to try and free themselves by digging their way out, but have to abandon that plan when it causes further rock falls. Jonah uses the time to try to put Martha at ease, but without success. He does however manage to inform Martha of the reason he managed to get out of jail so early – medical tests revealed that he’s sterile and therefore he wasn’t the father of Tasha’s baby.
Martha is blown away by the revelation but remains scared of him. While later in the afternoon they can hear Alf and the others searching for them they can’t alert them to their whereabouts. Finally they are forced to face the fact that they’ll be stuck in the mine overnight. The mine is so cold and damp that neither can sleep and, worried about dying of exposure, Martha finally has to conquer her fear of being near Jonah and the two eventually huddle together for warmth in an effort to survive the ordeal.
When Martha fails to turn up for her shift at the Surf Club Alf becomes concerned for her welfare. Irene, packing up from the aborted “town meeting” reminds Alf that Martha had left that with “a head of steam up” and that she may have gone to confront Jonah out at the Farm. With Geoff and Annie in tow, Alf and Irene visit Bruce at the farm where Jonah’s car has been spray painted with graffiti. They manage to convince Bruce to let them check around the property and Geoff finds Martha’s baseball cap on the edge of the bush, but there’s no sign of either Martha or Jonah, who hasn’t reported to the police in fulfilment of his parole conditions. Alf is worried that Jonah has abducted Martha, but the police won’t mount a comprehensive search as there’s no hard evidence to suggest that’s happened. Alf, Irene and the kids mount a search but fail to find Martha.
Jack has arranged to pick up the divorce papers from Martha at the surf club, but when he arrives the papers are there, but they haven’t been signed and Alf has no idea where Martha is. Furious, Jack asks Alf to send Martha around to his place to sign them when she finally turns up. Sam’s also annoyed by Martha’s absence, but tries to keep it to herself as Jack is taking the whole incident to heart. When the Court deadline passes, Jack is beside himself, and even when he finds out that Martha is missing he isn’t appeased. Mindful that Martha recently told him she didn’t need him to be her minder he resists all efforts to get him involved in the search for her. Instead Jack takes Sam and Rory away to the mountains for a few days holiday.