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Jim tells Patricia
he'll have to have a word with Beryl - she'll wonder what he's doing there.
Patricia tells
him to hurry back. Beryl tells Lynn to leave them alone for a while, and she
walks off. Jim kisses Beryl,
who says nothing. He tells her he's been helping Patricia, who's going through
a bit of a rough patch. He
adds that Patricia phoned him up earlier and said she needed a bit of moral
support, so here he is. Jim
asks her if she understands. Beryl tells him they need a private talk, but
Jim says he doesn't want to
leave Patricia - she doesn't know how upset she is. Beryl asks him if he can't
see what Patricia is doing,
but Jim tells her they'll talk tomorrow and goes back to Patricia. Lynn asks
Beryl if everything's okay
and she says no. Lynn asks her if she'd like to go home, but Beryl says no
- she won't give Patricia that
satisfaction. She tells Lynn they'll bide their time until she can get her
alone. She looks furious.
Later, Jim is being the life and soul of the party by telling jokes. Patricia
tells him she's just going to see
how supper is getting on, and walks out. Beryl follows her into the dining
room. Patricia tells the caterer
to organise the coffee and she walks out. Beryl tells Patricia she's going
to tell Jim exactly what she is,
and that'll be the end of it. Patricia tells her to tell him what she likes
- he won't believe her.
Patricia
says that, in Jim's eyes, she's pathetic and vulnerable - that's the only
way he's ever known her.
She adds that when they first met she actually was, but first impressions
tend to stick. Beryl tells her that
too many people know what she's really like. Patricia asks who? She says Gordon,
Barbara and Fiona don't
mean anything to Jim - he knows Beryl and he thinks he knows her. Patricia
tells Beryl the more she tries to
turn Jim against her, the more he's going to think of her as a vindictive
cow. Beryl raises her hand to strike
Patricia, but changes her mind. Patricia goads her by saying that a nice red
hand print on her cheek would
really prove the point. She walks out, and Beryl is fuming.
Patricia
opens the door to the living room and catches Jim's eye. He comes out and
she looks upset, telling
him she'll be in her room for a few minutes. Patricia goes upstairs and Jim
asks Beryl what the hell she said
to her. They go into the dining room and have an argument. Beryl tells Jim
she's wasting her breath, and
he'll believe every rotten thing Patricia says about her. Jim tells her she's
the one with all the rotten things
to say. Beryl tells him she's sick to death of smug, self-righteous men who
don't have the sense to know
when they're being taken for a ride. She storms out.
Later, most of the guests have left. As she shows Shirley out, Patricia tells
her that her proposal was the
one that appealed to her the most. She says that she has her number, and will
be in touch. Shirley leaves.
Patricia goes into the living room, and tells Jim she's sorry that she seems
to have caused problems between
him and Beryl. Jim says he's glad he saw that side of Beryl before he got
too heavily involved with her.
They sit down, and Patricia says she couldn't have coped if he hadn't have
been there. Jim tells her she's
a lot stronger person that she gives herself credit for, and it's time she
realised that.
The next day at Toorak, Patricia opens the door to Jim, who is wearing a football
hat and scarf. Patricia
laughs and tells him that when he asked her out, she thought they were going
to do something civilised
like go to a museum or concert. Jim tells her it's no wonder she's depressed!
He says she needs excitement.
Patricia says she's never been to a football match in her life. Jim tells
her she'll love it, and tells her to
go upstairs and change.
LEILA
HAYES (as Beryl Palmer), SEAN SCULLY (Jim O'Brien), ANTONIA MURPHY (Lynn Palmer),
SONJA TALLIS (Shirley Ryan), ROWENA WALLACE (Patricia Morrell)
Written
by IAN COUGHLAN
Directed by GRAEME HODGSON
Channel
Five broadcast: Sunday 9th February 2003