Daily Updates

From: rika@netcom.com (Melissa Martin)
Subject: GH: Update, Wednesday, 12/27/95
Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 22:05:10 GMT

              General Hospital Update for December 27, 1995
              by substitute updater, Paprika Peel (aka Rika)

Our stories for today:
    * Storm Warnings at Isla Patito - And Some Bad Weather, Too
    * Oscar and Felix Have Breakfast
    * The Family that Hustles Together, Bustles Together
    * When Angels Cry

STORM WARNINGS AT ISLA PATITO - AND SOME BAD WEATHER TOO
--------------------------------------------------------
A violent storm is raging in paradise - in other words, Katherine is
running around the room freaking out about the weather.  She seems to
have a storm phobia.  Mac, unaffected by the storm, is in bed and in an
amorous mood.  He figures that the "storm" he and Kevin conjured up for
Maia and Lucy wasn't half bad by comparison.  At the mention of Lucy's
name, Katherine spits out some bile about Lucy's presence on the other
side of the wall.

Meanwhile, in the room next door, Lucy is hiding under the covers
shrieking that she hates storms.  Kevin finds them rather unsettling
too.  As he tries to coax Lucy out from under the blanket, the door
blows open and Kevin rushes to force it closed.  This finally gets Lucy
to emerge, and she laughs at Kevin's efforts.  "You see what happens when
I become spontaneously romantic?" asks Kevin, a point that I imagine the
Doc will ponder more than once before this Vacation From Hell is over.

Lucy urges him to come join her in bed, and they dive under the covers.
Lucy begins to see the bright side of the situation - here they are,
forced to spend long hours together in bed.  Besides, considering the
rough patch in their relationship which they just successfully weathered,
if the whole island sank into the ocean, she would drown a happy woman
"in the arms of my one great true love."  Kevin is touched by her remark,
but just then the door blows open - and then the window - and then the
door again.  Lucy blames the whole thing on Katherine, but then realizes
that these negative thoughts are harmful.  As Kevin continues to
wrestle with the door and window, Lucy thinks "sunny, happy, generous
little thoughts."  The portals all temporarily latched, Kevin joins Lucy
on the bed - and the door blows open again.  Lucy dissolves into giggles as
Kevin stands in the doorway getting rained on.

Kevin and Lucy would know how to put a dry room with a latching door
and window to good use, but Mac and Katherine can't seem to figure out
the code.  Mac tries to get Katherine out of her clothes, but she
insists that she needs her breakfast.  This is no surprise given that
Katherine went the entire episode on Tuesday without being seen with
food.  Katherine gripes about Lucy - she is sure Lucy will tell Damian
where Kath is.  Mac assures her that won't happen, but she isn't
buying it, and she shouts insults through the wall to Lucy.  Yeah, if
I wanted someone to keep a secret for me, I know I'd encourage them by
calling them nasty names.  Sheesh.

Meanwhile, Lucy is listening through the wall and hurling insults back
while Kevin is still fighting with the window and the door.  Kevin
suggests that they go next door for refuge from the weather.  Lucy is
reluctant to say the least, but he drags her over there, where the
welcome is lukewarm at best.  Lucy and Katherine hold a glaring contest
while Kevin and Mac bravely attempt to make jovial small talk.  Kevin
mentions the amazing odds against what is happening, and Lucy asks how
how on earth Mac found out about Isla Patito.  He explains about finding
the brochure on the floor at the GH Christmas party.  "It fit the bill",
he explains.  Kevin pipes up, "So to speak", earning him a smack from
Lucy for the bad duck joke.

The guys move on to practical matters - breakfast.  The phone is dead,
so a trip to the restaurant is necessary.  The guys fight over who will
go - nobody wants to stay behind with the female combatants.  They decide
to go together.  Mac figures the women can "clear the air."  Kevin gets
him to admit they are more likely to kill each other.  "Oh, well!"
chortles Kevin.  Mac replies, "More food for us!", and they prepare for
departure.  Lucy is sure they are going to "hurl themselves into the
raging seas", leaving her alone with "that witch!"  Kevin asks, "Why
would we do something like that?"  The answer springs to mind when he
realizes Mac has left and he is alone with the warring women.  He
sprints out the door, hollering for Mac to wait up.

While they are gone, Lucy and Katherine make the most of the time
available to them.  Lucy can express contempt just by biting into a
banana, so she has a definite advantage.  What Katherine (or "Toots",
as Lucy called her at one point) lacks in style, she attempts to make
up for in sheer spite, without much success.

Lucy suggests that they imagine that they are about to die in the storm.
Could Katherine face her maker with a clear conscience?  Katherine asks
what she means.  Too bad Lucy doesn't know about Katherine's sabotage of
the AIDS ball, or about her destruction of A.J. Quartermaine, because
either of those would have provided a nifty comeback.  Instead, Lucy
suggests that Kathy might be using Mac for some sick purpose and is
still in cahoots with Damian.  Katherine denies this, and suggests that
Lucy spilled the beans to Damian about Katherine and Mac's relationship
because Lucy wanted Damian for herself.  Katherine refuses to believe
Lucy's contention that the information just slipped out, and they are
toe to toe ("Why, I oughta - ") when Mac and Kevin arrive and drag the
combatants into opposite corners.

The guys have learned that the power is out all over the island, and
the airport is closed.  The hotel kitchen can't cook, but the guys
scavenged and found some fruit and some champagne.  Mac, holding a can
of Spam, asks, "Anyone for processed meat product?"  Kevin comments
that he didn't realize Mac's brains were available in a can.  Okay, so
Kevin didn't really say that, but wouldn't it have been great?

I sure hope the fruit was safe to eat - who knows about the water on
this island - or else the next disaster may be entitled, "From Here to
Eternity in the Rest Room."

OSCAR AND FELIX HAVE BREAKFAST
------------------------------
Sonny, clad in pajamas, stumbles out to the kitchen to find it full of
enough smoke to nominate Warren Harding.  It could be smoke from cooking
or from cannon fire - the 1812 Overture is blaring, and Mike is making
breakfast.

Mike is preparing a ranch hand's special, and offers to share it with
Sonny, who refuses everything but the coffee.  Sonny grumpily finds
fault with most of it, especially the coffee ("It tastes like dirt!"
he declares after spitting a mouthful of it on the floor), the music
(apparently he doesn't like Tchaikovsky before he shaves), and the
cheese grits ("They're all lumpy...this is a big nasty uncooked lump
of grits").  Sonny starts to cook his own eggs, and Mike offers advice.
Sonny is full of zingers this morning - "Where did you get your chef's
certification, clown school?" - and suggests that Mike go back to his
lumpy grits.  Mike, who has had just about enough (this IS Mike's place,
after all), wonders how Brenda ever managed to live with Sonny.  That
was the wrong thing to say.  Mike insists that Sonny's "surly attitude"
has to do with Brenda, and he figures that if he's going to be Sonny's
punching bag, he deserves to know why.

After getting dressed, Sonny explains that he's not using Mike as a
punching bag, he's just in a bad mood.  Mike acknowledges that it's
Sonny's prerogative not to tell what's going on with Brenda, and Sonny
asks why Mike thinks there is anything going on with Brenda.  Mike says,
I know you think I'm dumb, but give me credit for having eyes.  He recaps
Sonny's seemingly inconsistent behavior of late, and offers to help if
he can.  Sonny tells him to stay out of it - there is nothing he can do.

They move into the living room, where Mike's clothes tree is ablaze in
Christmas lights.  Mike tells Sonny he is welcome to stay as long as he
likes, on the condition that they never attempt to be in the kitchen
together again.  Sonny enthusiastically agrees and heads out the door.

Later in the episode, Lily pays Mike a brief visit during which they
discuss Sonny's situation.  Mike is willing to help in any way Sonny
will let him, and Lily remarks that Sonny's situation "was rough."
Mike picks up on the use of past tense and tries to probe for more
information.  Lily smilingly deflects the conversation to Sonny's
present mood.  When she speaks of the benefits of sharing burdens with
another person, she nearly glows with happiness, and Mike seems to
file this away for future reference.

THE FAMILY THAT HUSTLES TOGETHER, BUSTLES TOGETHER
--------------------------------------------------
We find Lucky at Casa de Spencer, practicing reading marked cards,
which is certainly a useful skill on one's resume (if one is a Spencer,
anyway).  Luke wanders downstairs and corrects one of Lucky's calls
from nearly across the room, demonstrating that age and treachery can
indeed overcome youth and skill.  Laura, absent as usual, is probably
out shopping for a deck of Fisher-Price "Baby's First Marked Cards"
for Lesley Lu at the after-Christmas sales.

Emily and Raoul arrive, and Luke takes the opportunity to charm the
daylights out of Emily, even taking her perceptive (and typically
blunt) remark, "You guys are so weird", to be "grand praise from the
high-rent district of town."

Emily invites Lucky to go tobogganing.  He suggests playing cards as
well, but she explains that she is pretty much broke, having already
lost her allowance to him (apparently life in the high-rent district
doesn't allow for a separate supply of gambling money).  After Emily
and Raoul depart, Luke grills Lucky, finding out that the Luckster has
been cleaning up at the card table at the expense of his best pals.
Luke explains that Lucky shouldn't do that - not because it's wrong
("Wrong is relative - there's a concept that's useless to me"), but
because you want to know your friends will be there for you when you
need them, and so it's probably not good to hustle them.  (You sure can
trust Luke Spencer to cut right to the heart of good clean living.)
Conning a mark is a different matter, and Lucky should feel free to go
wild.  Luke completes this little moment of moral confusion by asking
Lucky how much money he won from the pre-teen crowd and initiating a
triumphant hand-slap at the answer.

Sonny arrives and asks for some help.  He's still locked out of the
penthouse, and he wants to break in to retrieve Stone's ashes.  Luke
and Lucky are charmed by the idea, and the Ash Retrieval Gang sallies
forth.  Lucky stands guard and cleverly draws off the building manager
when he approaches.  (If Lucky were my kid, I'd spend a lot of sleepless
nights worrying - he is entirely too good a liar for comfort.)  Luke
works on picking the lock while Sonny tells him it will never work -
and just then the door finally opens.

Updater's note - the tone of all of the above was so whimsical that
at the time I considered using the title, "Stone Gets His Ashes Hauled".
Considering what happened next, that would have been tasteless at best,
and possibly bordering on sacrilege.

WHEN ANGELS CRY
---------------
Robin is alone in the Scorpio house until she receives a visit from A.J.
She talks about her sorrow, and about hiding behind being "brave, stoic,
and cheerful".  She finds it hard to function at all - she misses Stone
so much that sometimes she thinks she could die herself.  A.J. wishes he
could help, but Robin tells him he can't, because she doesn't know what
she needs.  A.J. suggests that part of it may just be to let time go by.
He offers her a comforting hug - she comments that she likes the warmth,
as she feels so cold inside.

After A.J. leaves, Luke and Sonny arrive to deliver the wooden box
containing Stone's ashes.  They explain their search and rescue mission,
and Robin is deeply relieved to have the ashes for safekeeping.  Sonny
reminds her that when she is ready, she needs to decide what to do with
them.  Sonny and Luke depart, and the episode's final scene is a series
of Stone/Robin flashbacks, accompanied by Janis Ian's "When Angels Cry".
The episode ends in heartbreaking silence as Robin, sitting alone on the
floor in front of her uncle's Christmas tree, clasps the box in her arms,
rests her head on its lid, and cries.