It’s the morning after the night before, and Adele Murray is sitting bolt upright in her bed, in true Brookside fashion, with nary a hair ruffled and with her pyjamas looking crisp and freshly ironed. But the girl is perturbed and wears a worried expression, furrowed of brow, staring intently into the distance. Needless to say, this is the intense expression that Adele wears 90% of the time, however today it has special significance, for today is A-DAY. (‘A’ is for ‘abortion’ as the primers say).
There is a knock on the door. It’s Diane, with a peace offering of a cup of tea. Adele asks what time it is, and Diane tells her it’s 7:30 in the morning. Hearing that, Adele refuses the tea, saying that she’s not allowed it. Diane insists, saying that it’s only a cup of tea; but Adele maintains that she’s not to have it before the surgery. (Is Diane trying to surreptitiously sabotage the abortion act by tricking Adele into disregarding the NIL BY MOUTH routine? You might say that; I couldn’t possibly comment.)
Adele maintains that she’s still going through with the abortion, so Diane is not to try to change her mind. Diane remarks that Adele still could change her mind; she’d done it before. She could change it in the car, going through the hospital door, in the waiting room. She could even change it right at the last minute, with her feet in the stirrups and all.
There follows ‘issue Brookie’ at its best. Adele says that she wants the abortion; in fact, it’s her right to have it, a woman’s right to choose.
Diane makes a snorting sort of laugh - it’s actually the same sort of laugh, but made through the nose, that Adele made when Diane first reacted to her pregnancy announcement. The sound is a scoffing sort of sound, as though she doesn’t take Adele seriously. Where on EARTH did she get that sort of idea? From some of those magazines she’s been reading? Adele replies that she didn’t get the idea from any place. It’s what she believes.
‘You think this makes you a woman?’ asks Diane. ‘You’re still only a fifteen year-old child.’
Adele interrupts her to repeat that having an abortion is her right and she DOES have rights. Diane wants to know if Adele has the right to determine the fate of her unborn child. Adele replies that she has the right to determine what happens to her own body.
She then tries a tender tack. She wants Adele to know that if she does change her mind, she, Diane, loves her and will be right here at home for her. In fact, she’ll always be there for her.
Of course, by this time Adele is shedding tears and Marty enters the room, having half finished his shave. Peremptorily, he wants to know what’s going on and particularly if Diane is pressurising Adele again. Diane rises from Adele’s bed and leaves the room. Marty asks Adele if she’s all right and Adele responds in the affirmative. Marty reminds her that they have to be ready to go in one hour’s time.
Over at Bev’s Bar, Leanne is doing a mean (and I DO mean mean) impersonation of Kathy Bates’s Academy Award-winning role in Misery. She’s reading the riot act to assembled staff, which includes Lance and Rachel, as the phone rings furiously in the background. She announces only that Bev is gone and she’s in charge. Rachel immediately wants to know where Bev has gone. Lance remarks briefly that Bev’s gone on an around the world cruise.
Rachel smells a rat; she remarks that it’s not like Bev just to up stakes and leave like this and tell no one. Leanne says it was a spur of the moment decision, and Bev DID tell someone of her plans. She told Leanne. Rachel then demands to see some sort of proof that Bev has left Leanne in charge. (Good one, like power of attorney, a written document etc.)
Leanne shouts at Rachel to shut up or she’ll sack her. Rachel, showing some good common sense and spirit, remarks that Leanne can’t do that. She hasn’t got the right to do it. Oh, yes she does, replies Leanne. She’s in charge. She’s got the keys and, as if to emphasise her point, she dangles them in front of Rachel’s face.
Rachel quickly snatches them from her grasp, saying that possession of the keys means nothing. Look, now SHE now has the keys, so SHE’s in charge. Acting as mediator and beginning to weary of Leanne’s attitude, Lance grabs the keys from Rachel, saying that the situation is getting more and more like Lord of the Flies. HE has the keys and that’s the end of that.
With the phone ringing and ringing in the background, Leanne snaps at him and Rachel, saying that SHE has the bank book. She’ll pay the brewery, she’ll do the ordering of stock, and SHE’LL pay the wages. (Question: Dave Burns was made co-signee of Bev’s business account. No time for her to arrange such a thing with Leanne. One can only presume Leanne will forge Bev’s signature? Another crime to add to her list).
Finally acknowledging the phone’s presence Leanne rushes to answer it, surmising that it might be an important business call; while her staff are left to look at one another and shake their heads in disbelief, Lance included. Leanne answers the phone brightly with: ‘Bev’s Bar, relief manager, speaking ...’
Needless to say, the phone call is from a frantic Bev, who appears to be in a hotel room somewhere. She needs to know what’s going on. Can Leanne talk? Smiling to the assembled staff, Leanne announces that it’s the Brewery. Whilst Bev asks frantic questions on one end of the phone, Leanne dissembles on the other. Bev needs to speak to her now. Leanne won’t be needing another order this week, and she can’t talk now as she’s having a meeting. There are some people here. The police? Questions Bev. Yes, says Leanne, still smiling and ringing off.
Meanwhile, back at the Murrays, Adele contemplates her lipsticked image in a mirror in her room. Suddenly she hears her father’s voice, telling her it’s time to leave for the hospital. She wipes the lipstick from her mouth and a tear from her cheek.
Downstairs, Diane, still in her dressing gown, Antichrist Ant and the Plank are seated in the lounge. Diane and the Antichrist are watching breakfast telly, whilst the Plank filling his face with a plate of toast. Marty warns the assembly that they are NOT to go pressurising Adele. She’ll be going through enough. He means it, not a WORD from anyone, he specifically means the Antichrist. Adele appears and puts on her cardigan. Diane and the Antichrist stare rigidly ahead, not acknowledging her presence at all. As she and Marty are about to leave, the Plank shoots his sister a sympathetic wink, which makes her feel a little better. The leave for the hospital.
As they go out the door, Antichrist Ant looks heavenward and murmurs a pious, ‘God forgive her.’ The Plank tells him to shut up, that Antony doesn’t have a clue. Diane rises suddenly from her chair and stalks from the room.
Mick and Vonnie are leaving for the day. They approach Mick’s car, which has gone from being a P to a J reg. Mick is musing about how nice it will be to have a grandchild across the way, maybe get to see it every day or so. Vonnie remarks that he’ll probably see more of Leo too. She asks Mick if he’s told the Murrays that Leo is coming home for the weekend, and Mick replies that he’ll go over later to tell them, commenting that Marty and Diane are ‘sound people’.
Vonnie reminds him that only a few days previously, he and Marty Murray were brawling in the street. Mick says he sees that from a different perspective now. They’ve ironed out their differences. They were all in this one together. As a matter of fact, if the roles had been reversed, and had Steve Murray done likewise to RGemma, Mick would have reacted the same way as Marty. (Can you imagine the child born of a Steve and Gemma union? On second thought, don’t ...)
Vonnie makes a joke about Mick and Marty not being battling granddads anymore and the couple depart.
Marty and Adele Murray pull into the hospital car park. They sit briefly for a moment after parking. Finally Marty asks Adele if they are going in and the girl nods silently. As she is getting out of the door, Marty sighs wearily.
Mike Dixon hobbles out the door of the Dixon home. Anthea is on her knees in the front garden. Mike remarks how nice Anthea’s hair looks. Immediately suspicious, Anthea asks him what he wants her to do. Seeing his ruse blown, Mike admits that he thought he’d go downtown to repay the loan payments. Anthea remarks that she thought Rachel was going to do that, but Mike says his doing it will be one less job for Rachel to do later. Besides, he could do with getting out of the house; sticking around there was doing his head in. Whilst downtown, he hoped to pop into the Job Centre (so for the first time, it appears that Mike is no longer employed at the Bar - er, isn’t it against the law to sack someone in a senior capacity because of injury?)
Anyway, Mike was wondering ... Anthea finishes the request for him ... If Anthea would mind Beth. Mike WOULD take her with him, but (and he wordlessly indicates his crutches). He assures Anthea that he’s just put Beth down to sleep. Anthea reluctantly relents, being reassured that Beth has only just gone to sleep. Mike promises to be only an hour and then thanks Anthea profusely for loaning him and Rachel the dosh to make their loan repayments. He promises her that they will repay every penny of it to her. And he hobbles off.
Marty and Adele are seated in a small, dark waiting area at the hospital. Seated with the pair are a plethora of silent mothers and sad-eyed daughters. It’s oppressive and depressing, but then it’s not supposed to be a happy place.
In an awkward attempt to alleviate the situation, Marty whispers an attempted joke with Adele. He tells her he reckons that the rest of the people in the waiting room figure him to be the father of Adele’s baby. Adele shushes him, telling him there’s no way anyone would figure that. Marty reckons she’s wrong and bets that they do.
Adele remarks that perhaps he might want to wait in the car, or maybe she should refer to him as ‘Dad’ in a loud voice, but Marty tells her that would only make matters worse. This provokes a slight smile from Adele. But at that moment, a nurse appears at the door and calls out Adele’s name. The girl hesitates. Marty asks her if she’s going in. After another moment’s hesitation, Adele rises and follows the nurse. When she leaves, the camera holds a close-up of Marty’s eyes, as we watch them fill with tears which he can’t hold back.
Mick Johnson stands on the Murray doorstep, speaking with Diane, who looks totally distraught. Mick just dropped by to tell her that RLeo will be home for the weekend as he doesn’t have to work. Mick thought that since Leo would be home, it might be a good opportunity for the two families to get together in order to sort things out properly.
Diane looks slightly confused, as if she’s unable to comprehend what Mick is saying. Instead, she abruptly asks him if Leo wants the baby. Mick is slightly taken aback by her response. He says that Leo was surprised at first, they all were; but gradually the lad had ‘come around to the idea’. ( In other words, Leo accepted the fact that he’d virtually got caught with his back against the wall and his trousers down around his knees and at it with an underage girl, so it’s best he come clean and accept responsibility for the child, or there could be trouble of the legal sort). Mick continues. He’d like the Murrays to come round his place for a get-together on Saturday night - or they could come round the Murrays, whichever was easier.
Again, Diane continues to look at him in a befuddled manner, finally saying that there would be no need for that. Mick, however, insists that he was serious when he mentioned helping out with the baby. In fact, Leo had asked him to try to get the Murrays’ telephone number, because Leo wanted to know if it would be all right to phone Adele from time to time - or he could give her his mobile so she could telephone him.
Diane says it’s too late for that. Mick doesn’t understand, thinking Diane’s attitude stems from the Murrays’ reaction to Leo’s part in the proceedings. But Diane explains that, as they speak, Adele may be having an abortion. She’d left for the hospital with her father that morning. Mick is left dumbfounded.
Adele is prepped and ready for her surgery. We see the nurse tell her to get onto the gurney and make herself comfortable. She’ll be taken to theatre and given an anaesthetic. When she wakes up some twenty minutes later, it will all be over. The camera follows the girl, looking frightened, as she is wheeled down the corridor to the operating theatre.
Mike Dixon enters the Bar, as Rachel appears to be counting a jarful of change. Mike greets her with a cheery ‘Hello, Gorgeous’, and Rachel explains that she’s counting her tips. She’s made slightly over five pounds. She’s curious as to why Mike’s appeared, but he tells her he’s come to walk her home. In fact, he’s been downtown this morning making the loan payment and had been by the JobCentre.
Anthea, he tells her, is minding Beth.
Rachel asks him if he remembered to thank Anthea for lending them the money with which to make the loan payments, and Mike assures her that he did. Looking ruefully at her jarfull of change, Rachel muses that the pithy amount was hardly enough to go dancing on. Mike, however, has some good news to share. It might not be that long before they can have a dance. Propping his crutches against the bar, he turns and slowly walks toward a nearby table, where he sits down. As he does so, Leanne stops by briefly to joke that he’d soon lose his mobility allowance, and that he’d be doing the tango by the end of the week. (Was it me, or did she seem particularly friendly there, almost nice?)
Rachel joins him, pleased that he’s beginning to walk again. Harking back to Leanne’s joke, Mike remarks that it would be a long time before they would go dancing again, they were so skint. But Rachel is optimistic. In fact, she thinks that they should celebrate by having a drink. Mike demurs. He doesn’t think they should. After all, he’d told Anthea he’d only be gone an hour and he’d already been gone three. Rachel insists. How long has it been since they’ve had anything to celebrate? They could use her tip money, and anyway, Anthea wouldn’t mind looking after Beth. She’d call Anthea right now to clear it.
Persuaded, Mike agrees to have a drink, but only one, he hastens to add. Rachel jokes that one drink is all they could afford on her tips. She tells Mike to walk to the bar and order the drinks while she phones Anthea. Eyeing his crutches still propped against the Bar, he agrees, but adds that Rachel will have to carry the drinks back to the table.
Back at the Murray household, Diane is tidying up. Opening a drawer in the big sideboard in the lounge, she finds a calendar, opened to July. Today’s date, the 10th, has been circled, with the words ‘Mum’s baby due’ written over the date. A brief tragic look crosses her face, but she quickly hides the calendar as she hears a key in the door.
The Plank enters, holding a small cakebox in his hand. Diane is surprised that he’s home early. Plank is equally surprised that Marty and Adele haven’t returned from the hospital yet. He made sure they’d be here. He explains that Geoff’s allowed him ‘an early dart’, in order that he’d be home to see his sister. Diane is shocked, surely he hasn’t told Geoff what was going on in the Murray home? Plank denies doing so. Indicating the box, Diane enquires what Plank’s bought. It’s a cake, he says, he saw it in a shop on the way home and bought it for Adele; it was her favourite. Thoroughly appalled, Diane snatches the box from his grasp and dumps it unceremoniously in the rubbish bin. ‘What do you think this is?’ she shrills, ‘Some sort of celebration? Well, it’s not. You celebrate the birth of a child, not the death. There’ll be no cake-eating in this house tonight.’ Whatever was the Plank thinking?
Looking abashed, Plank tries to explain that he only did that to cheer Adele up. It’s probably not going to be easy for her, he reminds Diane. With the wind up her proverbial sails now, Diane isn’t about to let go of this subject. Ripping open the cabinet drawer, she takes out the calendar, shoving it at Plank. She draws his attention to the circled date, today’s date, and the words, in ADELE’S writing, she hastens to add. She’d gone through and marked all the family birthdays at the beginning of the year, before Diane had had the miscarriage.
There’s divine irony in the fact that Adele was getting rid of her baby on the day Diane’s baby should have been being born. She begins a litany of how she’s now got to face taking a pregnancy test tomorrow to see if the two implanted embryos have taken and if she is, in fact, pregnant. And there was Adele, getting rid of hers.
The Plank tries a sensible tack. He tells Diane that the deed’s done now, or - at least - it probably is. The best thing to do is to accept Adele’s decision and get on with it, in fact get on together.
Looking at the Plank in disbelief, Diane asks him to reiterate the fact that her fifteen year-old daughter left the house to have an abortion and she was to merely accept that fact and get on with it? As far as she was concerned, she would never believe Adele had had an abortion until the girl stood and looked her in the eye and told her that the deed had been done. The whole ordeal hasn’t been fair at all. It’s not been fair on Diane; it’s not been fair on Adele, and it’s not been fair on the baby.
The Plank attempts another logical argument, saying that it isn’t as if Adele’s baby were ...
Diane interrupts him, telling him NOT to say the baby wasn’t a ‘real baby’. She lost her baby at 12 weeks, and Adele’s baby was bigger. It WAS a baby, just as the implanted embryos inside her are real babies. And if she found out tomorrow that she’d lost them, she would have lost three babies in two days. And with her miscarried child, it would have been four in six months. All she seemed fit to do was to lose babies. And begins to cry hysterically, leaning against her plankish stepson for support, whilst Plank makes a blank attempt to look mournful.
Rachel and Mike are having an animated conversation, whilst finishing their drinks. Mike feels a bit antsy about lingering, thinking of the fact that Anthea has been stuck minding Beth for the better part of the day. But Rachel IS content to linger. Surely Anthea wouldn’t begrudge them an extra half-hour. How long has it been since the couple had had a half hour alone together.
As if by magic, an angry Anthea appears at the door of the establishment, furious of countenance and furiously pushing Beth in her push chair. (Now did you notice something different about Anthea here? Think back to the scene in the garden and Mike complimenting her on her hair. Between that scene and this one, Anth’s had a cut and blow-dry, and distinctly different from the longer style she was wearing in her previous scene).
‘What do you call this?’ she greets Mike and Rachel sarcastically. ‘So am I supposed to think this is how my money’s being frittered away?’
It was no wonder the pair of them were skint, if they could afford to sit around a bar, having drinks in the afternoon. The couple should be trying to save every penny they could. Rachel tries to explain that the drinks were bought with her tip money.
‘Well, here’s a tip for you, Rachel,’ says Anthea. ‘Ron and I aren’t made of money. That extension cost us an arm and a leg.’
Mike speaks. Hang on a minute, he says, he repaid the loan this morning. Ah, but that was this morning, says Anthea. He was only supposed to be gone an hour. She’d been stuck with THEIR CHILD all day.
Both Mike and Rachel take the blame for the situation. Mike explains that he went to the JobCentre and ran into a lad he knew from college. They started chatting and he forgot about the time. Then he figured he’d stop by the bar for the end of Rachel’s shift and walk her home.
Rachel says that she persuaded Mike to stay for a drink at the end of her shift. She says she tried to Anthea earlier to tell her of Mike’s whereabouts and to ask if she minded keeping Beth longer, but Anthea hadn’t been home. No, says Anthea, of course she hadn’t been home. She had to do the shopping and because Mike hadn’t shown up, she had to take THEIR CHILD with her. (This said as the camera shows a contented Beth sitting in her pushchair).
And she screamed, continues Anthea. She screamed all the way from the fresh fruit area to the check-out. The point of the harangue is that Anthea feels she’s being made to look a mug - cooking, cleaning, looking after Beth. She hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in ages and her whole body aches.
Mike attempts to placate his stepmother, but she’s having none of it. In fact, she’s had enough. She parks the push chair. They can have THEIR CHILD back, and they can lug her shopping home too. And, leaving them justifiably speechless, she flounces out.
As she leaves, we see a wee selfish side of Mike and Rachel, not surprising in Mike (as he’s one of life’s great takers) but very much out of character in Rachel. Mike gazes after Anthea and remarks that her reaction was very narky. If she hadn’t wanted to look after Beth, she should have said so. Rachel, grumbles that she bets Anthea won’t want to lend them any more money either.
Back at the Murrays’, Plank spies his father and sister parking the car and announces to Diane that they’ve returned. He pleads with his stepmother not to have a go at Adele, but Diane only replies with a rhetorical ‘What’s the point?’
Diane asks the Plank how Adele looks and he confirms that she looks OK. Marty and Adele enter the house. Adele, in fact, looks drained and very subdued. As Diane and the Plank congregate in the hall to greet her, Adele tells her father she’s going to have a lie-down. Diane speaks, hesitantly asking the girl if she’ll want her tea tonight, to which Adele replies in the affirmative. As Adele goes upstairs, Diane looks at Marty expectantly. Anticipating her question, Marty replies wearily that yes, Adele has had the abortion and maybe now this would put an end to all the strife and people could just get on with life.
Diane is so overwrought, she runs into the kitchen, where she collapses in tears against the fridge. Marty gazes sadly at the Plank, who is trying to cry in character, but only manages a half-hearted sniffle.
Mike Dixon stands at the Bar, having no success in obtaining Bev’s phone number from Leanne. Mike can’t understand why Leanne refuses to give him a contact number for Bev. Leanne explains (and she’s obviously done this before from the tone of her voice) that Bev doesn’t want her phone number or her whereabouts disclosed. Mike can’t understand why. He has a right to know. Sorry, Bev’s only given Leanne that privileged information. Well, does she know when she’s coming back? Who knows, says Leanne, when she’s ready. Until that time, she didn’t want to be bothered.
Leanne is curious to know why Mike wants Bev’s number. When he explains that he was thinking of asking her if he could have his old job back, Leanne reveals that perhaps she could help him there. You see, she was in charge of all the hiring and firing of personnel.
Mike balks at Leanne’s revelations and says he has a right to know Bev’s whereabouts. Bev can’t shoot off to anyplace in the world at anytime, taking his son who knows where, without his knowledge. Leanne (truthfully) remarks that Mike paid Josh scant attention at the best of times. If Mike wants his old job back, he has to ask HER. So this is exactly what he does.
Leanne immediately refuses. Mike replies in consternation that she can’t do that. Mike USED to be barman there, in fact he USED to be manager and USED to be the licencee.
Leanne cattily points to his crutches, but Mike assures her that he won’t be needing those before long. Leanne remarks that in that job, one has to be quick on his feet. She can’t have HER staff picking him up off the floor. Mike explains that he won’t be on crutches forever. But Leanne cruelly remarks that he would put the punters off. Crotches, yes, they liked to see that, as well as plenty of cleavage, but not crutches.
(Aside: A question here - if Mike is no longer the bar manager nor the licencee, when exactly did this occur and who is? Bev can’t hold a licence because of her police record and neither can Leanne for the same reason. It can’t be Lance, because surely some mention would have been made of a promotion (for either him or his sister). One can only assume that the manager-cum-licencee is Quiet Paul, which would explain why no mention was made of the fact. And anyway, Mike is a senior member of staff - surely Bev wouldn’t sack him whilst he was recovering from an accident, if his injuries were recoverable - if she did, surely that’s grounds for a labour complaint - i.e. Tribunal?)
Vonnie and Mick enter the bar, Mick having told her about Adele’s abortion. As they take their drinks to a table, Vonnie suggests that they don’t have to see a film tonight; but Mick assures her he is all right. He would rather they spent an evening out together before tackling the task of calling Leo to tell him this unexpected news.
It’s dinnertime at the Murrays’ and the clan are seated at the sitcom table, although this evening, Adele and the Plank sit with their backs to the camera. The Antichrist sits beside Marty. When the scene begins, Antichrist Ant has requested something from Marty, which Marty has categorically declined. Antony asks the rhetorical ‘Why not?’
The request has something to do with matches and fire (see below). After refusing a couple of times, Marty offers a reason for his refusal of Antony’s request. He doesn’t want Antony playing with matches. He could cause a fire. But the persistent, little prick continues badgering the man, until he finally decides to use the age-old trick of playing one parent against the other. Protesting that what he wants to do isn’t dangerous, he asks for support from Diane: ‘Tell him, mum.’
Diane, looking as hard as nails, and determined to nail Marty to the cross of blame, fires the flames.
Diane: ‘You heard your father.’
Marty: ‘He did.’
Diane: ‘His word is law.’
Marty (sarcastically): ‘It is.’
Diane: ‘The final word is down to him.’
Marty (still sarcastic): ‘It is.’
Diane: ‘King of the Castle.’
Marty: ‘That’s me.’
Then the Antichrist speaks, saying Marty’s more like King Herod, approving the killing of babies. Quick as a flash, Marty clips the boy around the back of his head, saying he’s had enough of his lip. Adele rises abruptly from her meal and runs to her room.
‘Now, look what you’ve done!’ Marty berates the Antichrist. ‘With all your religious mumbo-jumbo.’
Antony begins to protest, but Diane tells him to eat his tea.
Meanwhile, Leanne is enjoying her newfound executive status by sitting idly at the bar, flipping through a magazine. Glancing up briefly at the young girl working behind the bar, she snaps that she doesn’t want to be disturbed for anything. At that moment, the telephone rings and the young barmaid answers it. Before long, she’s telling Leanne that Bev’s on the line. Lance, who’s clearing tables, looks up expectantly. Leanne jumps off her stool and dashes to the phone. She’ll make an exception for this phone call.
There follows another one-sided and phoney conversation. Bev, still in the mysterious hotel room someplace and devoid of her body, apart from her head and shoulders, is nervous. She needs Leanne to tell her what’s happening.
Leanne lowers her voice to a whisper, telling Bev that it isn’t safe to call the Bar anymore. The police are keeping a heavy presence. In fact, Leanne thinks the lines have been tapped. Oh my God! What’s Bev to do? Thinking fast, because she spies Lance approaching the bar, Leanne hisses that in the future, it’s probably best that Bev e-mail her on the bar’s computer; and Leanne could keep in touch with her through that medium. Under NO circumstances should Bev try to contact Leanne via the phone; anyway, it’s best they hang up now, because the longer Bev’s on the line, the longer the police will have to trace the call. Frightened out of her wits, Bev quickly hangs up, but Leanne, looking at Lance, continues her end of the phonecall.
Is Bev having a good time? Awwwwwww, that’s wonderful! And Josh, how’s he? Awwwwwww, bless him. Lance, meantime, is frantically motioning his sister. He wants a word with Bev. Leanne flaps her hand at him and speaks into the phone, asking the phantom Bev if she’ll have a word with RLance. Oh, Bev, she says, he’d be so made up to talk to you, you know, to make it up with you for what happened.
She pauses for effect. Then begins to plead with the phantom Bev. But he just wants to talk, to apologise. Then, seemingly sadly, she hangs up the receiver. She turns to Lance, saying that she’s sorry, but Bev wants nothing more to do with him. In fact, Bev blames him for the fact that she had to leave so suddenly. Lance, is, as they say, gutted (or rather, gooted).
Later at the Murrays, Diane lights a candle in Antony’s room, telling him that if he wants a candle lit for tonight, he has to keep the curtains drawn. Antony wants to know what will happen if his dad comes into the room. Diane assures him that he won’t. Marty likes to think he’s King of the Castle, but he’s not, drawn.
Antony wonders if Marty will hit him again. He hadn’t been hit like that in years. In fact, he hated Adele for doing what she did. He’d never forgive her.
Diane tells Antony that he has to find it in his heart to forgive Adele, but Antony can’t rid himself of the notion that his sister is a murderer. Diane patiently tells him that he must hate the sin, but forgive the sinner. But, Antony argues, Adele killed her baby. But, Diane, rejoinders, isn’t that exactly what Antony did when he prayed for her baby to die? Surely he’d forgiven himself for that? Being awkward, Antony tells her that he hasn’t. Diane tells him to get some sleep and they would talk more in the morning. As she leaves, the sactimonious little prick is saying his prayers, gazing intently at the two posters of Pope John Paul II, on the wall above his bed.
She then knocks on Adele’s door. The girl is sitting up in bed, when Diane enters. Her stepmother offers to warm her tea, but Adele says she wasn’t hungry anyway. Diane is concerned and asks Adele if she’s in pain. Adele replies that it hurts a little, but she’d taken some paracetamol. Diane asks her if the procedure was awful, and Adele tells her that it wasn’t exactly pleasant.
Diane sits on the side of the bed and tells Adele that she must remember that Diane will ALWAYS be there for her, whenever she wanted to talk about something. And that she would ALWAYS love her, no matter what the girl did. The two then hug each other, crying.
Across the Close, Mick and Vonnie return. As they enter the lounge, Mick parts the curtains and peers at the Murray house. He notices the candle in the window, remarking that that must be a sign that Adele had the abortion. Vonnie thinks that a bit extreme, a candle in the window for an abortion, but Mick dismisses it as some sort of action on Antony’s part - he being a bit of a God-bod.
Vonnie asks him if he minds about the abortion. Amazingly, Mick doesn’t seem that bothered. He tells her, perhaps it was for the best, this way, with Adele so young and Leo starting out. Then taking Vonnie in his arms, he asks what he would ever do without her. Vonnie, extricates herself and jokes that without her, there would be no one to make his tea and goes off to brew a cuppa. Mick is left, silently musing after her, to call Leo.
Marty and Diane lie in their marital bed, in the stock Brookside scene - lying on their backs, staring upward, camera being shot from above. Marty exhales a long sigh, remarking that now that all that saga was over, perhaps things would get back to normal. Diane looks at him with contempt and disbelief, before turning away from him. She speaks, saying that she could forgive Adele her part in this. Adele was a child. But she would never forgive Marty for his part in condoning the abortion.
Marty remarks that the deed’s been done now. It was time for them all to get on with life, for Adele to get on with hers. It hadn’t been easy for her, and it had been stressful for them all.
Yes, Diane agrees, and SHE was the one who wasn’t supposed to be stressed out. Did he recall that the following day, she has to go through a pregnancy test?
Marty, too, turns away from her on his side of the bed, his face suddenly
weary and worried at the thought of the battles to come.
Summary © 2001 Marion Watts
Brookside and all related materials are © Mersey Television 1982-2001