Ramsay Street
Clive pushes Paul's hand away and says coolly:

CLIVE: If you think threatening me is-
PAUL (snarls): I am *not* threatening you, Clive. Just tell me how I can find my wife.

Jim emerges from No. 26 and pulls Paul away, telling him to calm down. Clive explains to Jim that Paul wants him to tell him where Gail is, but he won't. Paul asks if he hasn't got a right. Jim snaps that this is no way to go about it: two grown men fighting in the street. Paul yells:

PAUL: Dad, the problem is Clive's damn *ethics*.
CLIVE: Paul, I understand how you feel-
PAUL: You haven't got any *idea* how I feel.
CLIVE: A doctor has to respect his patient's wishes.
PAUL: And what about her husband's wishes? Don't *they* come into it at all?
CLIVE: Not if she doesn't want them to.

Jim suggests that they go inside, sit down calmly and talk this thing through. Clive, however, insists that it won't make any difference: he can't break the rules. He tells Paul that he's sorry, but that's the way it is. Paul spits:

PAUL: Thanks a lot - 'mate'. I just hope that one day you're in the same boat. You know what you can do with your damn ethics, too.

With that, Paul storms off. When he's gone, Clive tells Jim that he's sorry: if there was any other way... Jim sighs that he just wishes Gail wasn't so pig-headed: Paul deserves better.

No. 24
Madge is brushing Sky's hair as Harold talks on the 'phone. When he hangs up, he tells Madge that that was another irate customer of Henry's, wanting to know why he hasn't been around to mow their lawn. Madge comments that she's not surprised: with all the chaos of the wedding and Bronwyn changing her mind, she doesn't think he gave his clients a second thought. Harold is standing by the kitchen window, and he chuckles that it would take a hurricane to shift the tent in the garden, the way Toby's hammering the pegs in! Madge smiles:

MADGE: You know, I think you are very gallant to agree to spend the night out there with him. I, for one, am looking forward to flaking out in a nice, warm, comfortable bed!
HAROLD: Well, I can assure you that I shall sleep like a log. Fresh air is the best sleeping tablet ever invented.
MADGE: Oh yeah? You won't feel cold?
HAROLD (chuckles): Compared to the night that Toby and I spent out in the bush, it'll be five-star comfort. Don't you worry: I'll be all right!

No. 26
Helen is sitting on the couch as Jim tells her that he understands about doctors' ethics and all that, but this is family: in *his* book, family comes first. Helen nods that it's certainly very hard on Paul. Jim goes on:

JIM: And I'm finding it very difficult not to be angry with *Beverly*. On the one hand, I have a son who's suffering, and on the other I have a wife who refuses point blank to lift a finger to help. Hardly makes for happy families, does it?

Helen points out that, still, they have to respect Clive and Beverly's professional decision: there's nothing any of them can do other than hope Gail changes her mind. Jim murmurs that he'll keep his fingers crossed. With that, he heads out to work in the yard. A few moments later, the front door opens and Todd comes in. Helen looks at him and remarks that he's finally home: she thought they'd have to send out a search party. She asks him where he's been. He snaps:

TODD: Studying.
HELEN: At the library?
TODD (irritably): Where *else* would I have been studying?
HELEN: I thought you might have been with Melissa.
TODD (sarcastically): Oh, I was. We were studying together at the library - a secret meeting.

He goes to head to his room, but Helen calls him back. She then tells him that she doesn't necessarily agree with this ban, but she thinks it's very foolish to go against Beverly and Jim's wishes. Todd asks why, if she doesn't agree with the ban, she can't stand up for him. Helen explains that she doesn't think it's her place to interfere. Todd mutters:

TODD: That's the problem: *no one* wants to interfere. Melissa's mum's starting to feel the same way, except she's not prepared to do anything about it either.

Helen suggests to Todd that he and Melissa will just have to be patient. Todd mutters that if it wasn't for Hilary sticking her beak in all the time, they wouldn't *be* in all this trouble. He adds bitterly:

TODD: I reckon someone should do the world a favour and put the old bag out of her misery.

No. 30
Hilary walks into the lounge room, wearing a smart suit. Sharon is sitting in an armchair and she tells Hilary that she looks terrific, and she asks her where she's off to. Hilary explains:

HILARY: Mr. Muir has invited me to accompany him to a music recital at the Town Hall. I'm supposed to be meeting him at 7, but if I don't get a wriggle on I shall be late.

She then holds out a box containing some pairs of earrings and asks Sharon which ones she thinks. Sharon smiles that Hilary's all out to impress, is she? Hilary, however, retorts:

HILARY: Kenneth - Mr. Muir - and I share a similar taste in music and we thought it would be pleasant to spend the evening together. That is all there is to it.
SHARON: Oh, I see! You two certainly seem to have been spending a *lot* of time together lately. *Some* people might be excused for thinking there's romance in the air!
HILARY (tersely): Then they would be very much mistaken if they *did*.

Sharon chooses a pair of earrings and, as Hilary puts them in, she says she won't be late, and there's no need to wait up for her. Sharon, however, enthuses that she wants a full report the moment Hilary gets in the door! Hilary demands:

HILARY: On what?
SHARON: On what it was like to get your first kiss from Kenneth!
HILARY: Sharon, really! Sometimes you do talk utter nonsense!

With that, Hilary heads out, leaving Sharon with a smile on her face!

No. 24
Harold is checking that he and Toby have everything they need for their night outside, as Madge sits at the kitchen table with a grizzly Sky. There's suddenly a knock on the front door and Harold goes to open it to find Joe and Kerry standing there! Kerry has had several inches cut off her hair! Harold beams that he wasn't expecting them back until tomorrow, but Kerry explains that they were missing the kids so much they decided to come back early! Madge joins them and tells Kerry that she looks wonderful! She hands over Sky and Kerry starts fussing over her. Toby looks at Joe and asks:

TOBY: Would you mind if I didn't come home tonight?
JOE: Oh, could be. Why?
TOBY: Well... we're sleeping outside in the tent.
HAROLD: The young lad's taken to the outdoor life like a duck to water, so I have agreed to spend the night under the canvas with him.

Joe tells Toby and Harold to go for it! Toby says he'll take the stuff out to the tent. Madge invites Joe and Kerry into the kitchen for a cup of tea. Kerry smiles:

KERRY: So, how have the kids been? Hope they weren't any trouble - especially Sky: she can be such a monkey at times!
MADGE: Oh no - she was a little angel - wasn't she, Harold...?
HAROLD (nodding wearily): Absolute angel...!

No. 26
Todd is sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework. Helen is pouring a couple of mugs of coffee and Todd tells her that he wants to apologise for being so rude when he came in before: sometimes the whole thing gets him down. Helen tells him to keep his chin up. With that, she heads through to the lounge room. Sharon comes in through the back door suddenly and asks Todd if Nick's around. Todd explains that he's gone to the video shop. Sharon says she might wait. Todd asks her if Hilary chucked her out, but Sharon explains about her having gone on a hot date with Mr. Muir! She adds:

SHARON: Can you imagine it? If he ever plucks up enough courage to make a pass at her, she'll probably drop dead from fright!

Changing the subject slightly, Todd says awkwardly:

TODD: Don't laugh when I say this, but...
SHARON: Yeah?
TODD: Have you ever sent Nick a love poem?
SHARON: *Me*?
TODD: Yeah.
SHARON: Once or twice. Nothing I've written myself, or anything; just poems I've seen in English that I liked. Why - are you thinking of sending Melissa one?
TODD: Yeah.
SHARON: Would you like me to help you choose something appropriate?
TODD (eagerly): Would you?
SHARON: Sure!

With that, Todd takes a book out of his bag and Sharon starts looking at it.

No. 32
Kerry is sitting in an armchair, fussing over Sky, when Joe dashes in and asks her to put Sky down for a minute, as there's something very important he forgot to do. Kerry asks what it is, but Joe just tells her that she'll see. They head to the front door and step outside - where Joe then lifts Kerry up and carries her across the threshold! Kerry beams:

KERRY: Oh, you old romantic, you!
JOE: Oh I am, aren't I!

Kerry kisses him and grins that that was nice! All of a sudden, Joe grimaces and puts Kerry down and places his hand to his back. Kerry asks in concern:

KERRY: What?
JOE (grins): Oh - it's nothing!

Kerry rolls her eyes! She then asks if this means he won't be able to help her bring her stuff over from Des's tomorrow, but Joe says he thinks he could manage! He adds that he'll have to get all that junk out the wardrobe first. Kerry tells him that it would be great if he could do that first thing in the morning. Kerry picks up Sky again. Joe smiles at the child:

JOE: Oh, it's good, isn't it, Sky, all this moving-in business? Makes me feel like we're a real family.
KERRY (warmly): We *are*!

Back yard of No. 24
Harold is sitting in the tent that Toby hoisted, telling him that there was no convenience food when *he* was a youngster: they had to catch their own food and cook it over an open fire. Toby asks him what sort of thing he caught, and Harold replies that he wasn't a vegetarian then, so they caught rabbits... fish... even caught a snake once! He adds that the point he's making is that there's far too much soft living these days. There's suddenly a noise outside and Bouncer trots in through the open tent flap! Harold sighs that the dog has obviously escaped from Joe's back yard, and he tries to shoo him away. Toby asks if he can't stay, but Harold retorts:

HAROLD: No, I'm afraid not, Toby. I am allergic to animal hair - it makes me sneeze.
TOBY: But we don't have a guard dog.
HAROLD: Well, he can guard outside, OK? I don't want him running over me all night.

Toby gives in and pushes Bouncer back outside. Harold sniffs and coughs a bit and then says he thinks it's time for lights-out. The two of them wish each other goodnight. Harold takes off his glasses and lies back. Toby lies down, but then sits up again and says:

TOBY: Do you think we could go camping *really*, one day - out in the real bush?
HAROLD: I can assure you, young fella, there's nothing I'd like better.

With that, Harold lets out a loud sneeze!

No. 24
The next morning, Madge yells out the kitchen window to Harold and Toby that breakfast is almost ready. Toby dashes in and Madge asks him if they slept well. Toby smiles:

TOBY: Yep - we didn't wake up all night; not until the sun woke us up.
MADGE: Right! Lucky old you! Now, why don't you sit up at the table, eh? Is Harold far behind you?

The two of them suddenly hear Harold sneezing loudly, and he staggers in, holding his hand to his back, groaning that his body and soul don't seem to be connected this morning. He adds that he didn't sleep, and spent half the night keeping Bouncer out of the tent, and the rest of the time he spent sneezing - and he thinks he may have pulled a muscle in his back. He sits down at the table and Madge puts a plate of scrambled eggs in front of him. He picks up the newspaper and exclaims suddenly:

HAROLD: Oh, look at this: there's a gardening competition on; perhaps we should enter *our* pride and joy?
MADGE: If they were giving awards for weeds, we'd win hands down!
HAROLD: I'll look after that after work - although, mind you, with the way my back is, I suppose I should get some hired help; I'm in enough pain already.

Paul's car
Paul is sitting in his car, keeping a careful eye on his wing mirror. He ducks down as another car approaches and drives past and pulls up into the driveway of a nearby building. Clive climbs out of that car and heads inside. The building is the doctors' surgery. Another car pulls up into the driveway of the building and a woman climbs out. Paul quickly opens his door and calls to the woman, calling her Margaret. He asks if she's got a minute, as he wouldn't mind a word with her...

No. 30
Sharon is in the lounge room, packing her bags for school, when Hilary walks in, wearing her dressing gown. Sharon smiles:

SHARON: You finally surfaced!

Hilary just shrugs that she was home later than she expected, but after the recital they went for coffee and the evening seemed to slip away. Sharon comments that it sounds romantic. Hilary, however, retorts that she and Mr. Muir simply spent an enjoyable time together - that's all there was to it. Sharon then picks up and envelope and hands it to Hilary, saying it must have been hand-delivered, as there's no stamp on it. Hilary opens the envelope, takes out a sheet of paper inside and looks at it. As she reads it, an expression of shock crosses her face. Sharon notices and asks what's wrong. She tries to look at the sheet of paper, but Hilary quickly clutches it to her chest. She just tells Sharon that it's time she left for school. Sharon stands there looking puzzled.

Outside the Coffee Shop
Harold serves a customer at a table outside the Coffee Shop. It's Mrs. Jarrett. A few moments later, Helen walks over and joins Mrs. Jarrett at the table. After the two women have greeted each other, Helen says:

HELEN: I imagine you've worked out why I wanted to talk to you.
MRS. JARRETT (nods): Melissa and Todd.
HELEN: Yes - you see, I'm worried about the effect this ban is having on them.
MRS. JARRETT: So am I - though for slightly different reasons, I suspect. You want the ban lifted, don't you?
HELEN: Well, I must admit, that thought *had* crossed my mind.

Mrs. Jarrett hesitates before saying:

MRS. JARRETT: Melissa has epilepsy, Mrs. Daniels. When her father and I realised the stress that her relationship with Todd was causing her, we decided it was best to end it. Not for any *moral* stance; just simply because we don't want to see the number of her seizures increase. Unfortunately, her *not* seeing Todd has caused her more stress than when she *did* see him.
HELEN: Surely that's good enough reason to reconsider your decision?
MRS. JARRETT: I wish it were that easy! What would a boy like Todd do if he were to witness one of her seizures? Chances are he'd never want to see her again. That would *devastate* Melissa.
HELEN: With respect, Mrs. Jarrett, you don't *know* Todd. You see, he *has* witnessed one of Melissa's seizures - and I promise you he didn't run for cover; in fact, he put off returning to Adelaide so that he could be with her, in case she needed his support.
MRS. JARRETT (murmurs): I'm sorry - I had no idea.
HELEN: It's the truth. That relationship means a great deal to them; it would be a dreadful pity to try and break it up.
MRS. JARRETT: Perhaps Ben and I have been a little harsh?
HELEN: Perhaps a little over-protective...
MRS. JARRETT (thoughtfully): Yes...

With that, Mrs. Jarrett invites Helen to join her in coffee, and Helen smiles that she'd like that very much.

No. 22
Paul is sitting at the desk, looking at some papers, when there's a sudden hammering on the front door. He tuts and goes to answer it. Clive marches in and snaps:

CLIVE: I want to talk to you.
PAUL (sarcastically): Well come on in! What about?
CLIVE: About trying to bribe Margaret into telling you where Gail is.

Paul just shrugs that all is fair in love and war. Clive tells him that he's wasting his time with Margaret. Paul mutters that, yeah, she's very loyal. He then adds that if Clive thinks he's giving up, he's made a big mistake, because he's going to keep on asking until he finds out what he needs to know. Clive says coolly:

CLIVE: You really don't give a stuff about what Gail wants, do you?
PAUL (snaps): It's not just Gail, it's my *kids*. Anyway, that's where you're wrong: I happen to love Gail very much.
CLIVE: Look, Paul, you have got to believe that people *do* feel for you. We understand how rotten all this is, but there is nothing we can do.
PAUL: You can tell me where she is. [Clive rolls his eyes] No? Well, why don't you go, then? Go on - get out.

With that, Clive heads for the door, leaving Paul looking annoyed. He goes and sits back down at the desk and buries his head in his hands.

No. 32
Kerry is sorting through a pile of junk that she's emptying out of a tea chest onto the floor of the lounge room. Joe arrives home from work and tells her that he's hers for the rest of the day. Kerry tells him that she's sorting out junk from the spare room and wants him to sort out what he doesn't want, so they can throw it away. Joe picks up a squash racket and says he'll be needing that: he thought he might give the game a go one day!; and an old radio, saying he can fix that and get money for it... ! Kerry sighs that there must be *something* he wants to throw out. Joe picks up a single skittle and says he doesn't think he'll need *that*, but he doesn't reckon there's anything else. Kerry sighs:

KERRY: Why don't we just pack it all back up and store it under the house? That way, you won't have to part with *anything*.
JOE: Brilliant suggestion!
KERRY (rolling her eyes): Yeah, I knew you'd say that!

No. 26
Todd sits down at the kitchen table and Helen serves him with some lunch. The doorbell rings and Helen goes to answer it. Hilary steps inside, clutching the note she received earlier, and tells Helen that she needs to speak to her. Helen asks what the matter is. Hilary replies nervously that this is very difficult to talk about. She then hands over the note and asks Helen to read it and tell her what she thinks. Helen picks up her reading glasses, saying as she does so:

HELEN: Nothing obscene, I hope?
HILARY: Worse! It's from Kenneth Muir: he... he professes his undying love for me in the form of a poem.

In the kitchen, a grin crosses Todd's face as he overhears the conversation. Helen reads the poem aloud:

HELEN: "She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight.
A lovely apparition sent
To be a moment's ornament.
Her eyes are stars of twilight fair
Like twilight, too, her dusky hair."

Hilary exclaims:

HILARY: Helen, what am I going to *do*? I simply can't *ignore* it.
HELEN: Well, how do you *feel*? Aren't you flattered?
HILARY: Well, I suppose I *should* be, but... but a *love poem*? I really would've expected Kenneth Muir to handle matters in a much more adult fashion. I mean, why didn't he say something last night?
HELEN: Perhaps he was too shy?
HILARY: Yes, well, I mean, I have to respond - and I have no intention of being so juvenile as responding with a 'love poem'.
HELEN: Then perhaps you should talk to him?
HILARY: But Helen, what do I say? I've never discussed such matters with a... a *man*... before.

Helen insists that she's sure there's nothing to worry about: it's obvious Mr. Muir is very taken with her, so it'll only *help* to bring the whole matter out into the open. Hilary pauses before nodding that she thinks Helen's right: she'll arrange to meet him at the Coffee Shop after school. Helen asks if they shouldn't meet somewhere a little more private. Hilary, however, retorts:

HILARY: Under the circumstances, certainly not. Being in a public place will force him to remain decorous *however* strong his feelings.

Helen says she should have realised! She then adds that she's sure Hilary will do the right thing. Hilary sighs nervously:

HILARY: I hope so, Helen. I do hope so...

In the kitchen, Todd has a broad grin on his face.