From: Marni Centor <marni@panix.com>

GUIDING LIGHT UPDATE -- THURSDAY, FEB. 29, 1996

             THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
                         -or-
         TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR THE GOOD STUFF

Written by Roger Newman & directed by Irene M. Pace

Highlights:
* Hart tries to get the goods on Rog.
* Rog throws Ross off his scent temporarily while Leo doctors the books.
* Nola & Matt try to share Van's pain, but Van doesn't want to share.
* Michelle & J exchange apologies.
* David tells Bridget how he really feels.

A sad morning in Springfield, USA...

WSPR: Gilly & Roger disagree over a "prima donna" with a Cronkite-esque 
voice that Rog wants to hire. Rog says it's his call when it comes to 
money. "I hope it's not Dinah's money you're talking about," says Ross 
as he barges in. Rog asks Gilly to leave & Ross presents him with some 
papers that say Rog has to account for every penny of Dinah's dough. 
Once Rog complies, Dinah will be free. Rog calls Ross a fool & says he's 
shoving Dinah right into Hart's arms. The lesser of the two evils 
strides angrily into the station on cue.

BAUER HOUSE: Ed yells at Michelle to get her butt downstairs for 
breakfast if she wants a ride to school. She mopes into the kitchen & Ed 
hopes she's in a better mood today than yesterday. Michelle announces 
that she intends to leave town.

BOARDINGHOUSE: J joins Nola on the stairwell window seat. She mourns the 
wise, dependable Henry & wonders what they will do without him.

REARDON HOUSE: Van makes some arrangements on the phone. Matt asks who 
she was talking to. She ignores this & asks him if there's any news on 
Marah. Matt says no, but she can't have gotten far. Van turns away from 
him & he asks if his escapades in CA don't seem pretty insignificant 
right now. She turns to him with a very odd look on her face. "My father 
died," she announces, adding that she was just talking with the funeral 
parlor. Matt gets all choked up & takes her in his arms. They hug as the 
lighthouse begins to spin.

WSPR: Hart listens outside Rog's door as Rog & Ross argues. Rog warns 
that Hart is just laying in wait for Dinah. "How would you like it 
knowing somebody slept with your wife while you were trying desperately 
to save your marriage?" asks Rog. Neither of them realize the irony of 
this question. Ross doesn't feel sorry for Rog. Rog rants about Hart's 
deliberate seduction of Dinah while Hart listens angrily. Ross doesn't 
care who Rog wants to blame. Dinah knows now that Rog only married her 
for her money & Ross wants it back. Rog says he's guarded the money as 
if it were his own [and we know where that went!] & he just wants to 
protect Dinah from Hart. He calls Hart a "vile, malicious man" who he is 
ashamed to call his son. Hart glowers outside the door. 

BAUER HOUSE: Ed asks for clarification on Michelle's pronouncement. She 
says it's not working out for her in Springfield. She doesn't fit in 
anymore. She wonders if she could go to boarding school in New England. 
Ed wants to know what's going on. M insists that it's not a guy. She 
complains that Ed is treating her like a kid. Ed doesn't have time to 
talk right now. M tries to get out of going to school, but Ed insists 
that she go, & they'll talk later. M sulks & Ed leaves.

BOARDINGHOUSE: J brings Nola some tea & Nola asks J if he's talked to 
Michelle. He says he will fix things with her. He joins his mom at the 
table & worries over a "dorky" bowtie that he bought at the last minute 
for Henry last Xmas. Nola says Henry told her he loved it. "He was very 
proud of you," she adds. J asks if Quint is coming to the funeral. Nola 
doesn't know. J says that if Quint calls, she should let J talk to him. 
He doesn't want Nola getting upset. 

Bridget & David enter with boxes of supplies for Company. Jet asks if 
Nola is OK & David offers his condolences. Jet notes how much Peter 
loved his grandfather. She goes to open Company & David follows with the 
boxes. J says he's got to get going. He kisses Nola & says he loves her. 
"You've still go me, you know," he reminds her. Nola sighs.

REARDON HOUSE: Matt asks Van how Henry died. She tells him Henry died in 
his sleep. Matt thought Henry would keep on going forever. "I'll miss 
him," he says, choking back the tears. Matt always envied Van's 
relationship with her dad & remembers that Henry was one of the 1st 
people to approve of their relationship & see what they meant to each 
other. Van says she has to make some arrangements. Matt wants to help 
her get through it. Crying, he hugs her.

Matt wants to forget about their problems for now & begs Van not to put 
up a wall between them. "I'm fine," she insists. "I need you too. I 
loved him too," cries Matt. Van doesn't want to talk to Matt right now. 
"I don't know if I can forget what you did." Forget or forgive, asks 
Matt. Van doesn't know. She puts on her coat & leaves the house.

COMPANY: Bridget is less than thrilled about restocking the pantry. 
She'd rather be just about anywhere else, in fact. The house is old, 
ugly, dirty. David suggests painting it. He likes the house--it has 
character. Jet thinks that's like saying a girl has a good personality. 
She complains that the house is drafty too. David suggests a new furnace 
as they take the chairs down from the tables. Jet thinks there's nothing 
that will help. David tells her she's being a real downer. She says her 
life isn't a real treat right now.

David deduces that it's about Hart leaving town. Ever since she heard, 
Jet's been whining & complaining. He tells her to get Hart out of her 
system & stop clinging. She's making everyone's life miserable. Jet 
wonders what David's problem is.

WSPR: Rog continues to warn Ross about Hart. Hart continues to eaves-
drop. Ross just wants Dinah's money back. Rog says he doesn't want the 
money. He thinks Ross must have a very low opinion of Dinah if he thinks 
no one could love her for herself. Ross says if it was Dinah that Rog 
loved, why did he make her give him power of attorney. Rog points out 
that it was mutual. Ross says Dinah hasn't seen a penny of her money 
since she signed the POA on Dec. 19. Rog says they had a full & open 
partnership & warns direly of Hart yet again. Ross demands to see the 
books & threatens subpoena them. Rog says the meeting is a waste of both 
their time. Ross should be with Dinah, consoling her in her time of 
tragedy. Ross says the divorce is a triumph, not a tragedy. Rog was 
referring to Henry's death. This is news to Ross, who immediately 
leaves. Rog watchs him go, then gets a really nasty look on his face as 
he spies Hart. He grabs Hart by the shirtfront & calls him an ingrate.

Rog drags Hart into his office & berates him for spying. He's trying to 
save his marriage & doesn't intend to let Hart screw things up even 
more. Hart says Rog is only looking out for himself & he intends to find 
out what Rog is up to. Rog warns Hart to stay away from Dinah. "You 
don't care about Dinah any more than you care about me," says Hart. Rog 
does his old song & dance about how all he ever wanted was to be one big 
happy family, but Hart's not buying. He liked it better when Rog was up 
front about trying to screw up his life. Rog warns Hart that he can't 
win this fight. Hart thinks he's got a good chance & leaves. "Damn you," 
whispers Rog to himself. He grabs his coat & leaves as well. On his way 
out, he tells Gilly to fire the security guard & make sure his son is no 
longer allowed access to the building.

Gilly finds Hart hiding behind a potted plant & introduces herself. Hart 
recognizes her as David's sister. Gilly tries to make him feel better by 
telling him Rog has an awful temper, but you get used to it. Hart thinks 
Gilly might be able to help him figure out what's going on with Rog 
lately.

BAUER HOUSE: Michelle arranges a ride to school as J knocks at the 
kitchen door. She tries to blow him off, but he gets her to let him in. 
She apologizes for acting so insensitively & he tells her to shut up so 
he can apologize for acting like a jerk. He wants to make it up to her & 
bares his midriff so she can punch him. She doesn't want to. "What do 
you want to do?" he asks.

REARDON HOUSE: Ross arrives & Matt confirms that Henry is dead. Ross 
asks if Van is there, but Matt says she went out to make arrangements. 
Ross figures she's pretty upset, but Matt says she won't talk to him.

BOARDINGHOUSE: Van arrives & Nola invites her in. Nola is still in her 
robe. Van isn't quite sure what to say; she didn't know if Quint would 
call Nola... Nola says she heard from Michelle. "Are you OK?" she asks 
Van. Van says she is. "I'm not," replies Nola, and the 2 women hug. Nola 
cries & says she's glad Van came by. Van gives her a tissue. Nola shares 
a happy remembrance of Henry & says they were real lucky to have him.

REARDON HOUSE: Ross figures if Van won't talk, then she needs Matt more 
than ever. Matt realizes this, but doesn't know what to do about it. 
Ross doesn't have any brilliant advice, but he won't be able to forgive 
himself if the Amanda-thing ruins Matt's marriage. Matt knows Van is 
going through hell & it's worse because she's going through it alone.

BOARDINGHOUSE: Van wants to talk about funeral arrangements, but Nola 
breaks down & says she can't deal with arrangements right now. She 
encourages Van to cry,too. Van just sighs impatiently.

COMPANY: Jet doesn't want to fight with David. Neither does he. She 
admits that she is mad at Hart. David says she should be glad that he's 
out of her life. She thinks Peter deserves to have a father, but David 
disagrees, if his father is a bad man. Jet serves some customers, then 
returns for more free psychoanalysis from David. He thinks Jet won't 
stay mad at Hart for long, because she's like one of those dolls that 
pops right back up after you punch it. Jet is not flattered. She never 
wants to see Hart again. David wonders what Hart did to her this time. 
Did he try to get her in bed? "No, Dinah had that dubious privilege," 
she replies. David realizes that Jet is jealous.

DINAH'S APT: Leo admires Rog's lock-picking skills as Rog lets them into 
the apartment. Rog hands Leo a set of disks & says they've got all the 
records of the accounts he set up in the Caymans. Leo says Rog is lucky 
Dinah didn't get her hands on them. Rog is more worried about Ross. He 
wants Leo to set up a set of dummy books that will pass muster with the 
accountants. It should look like he's invested the money in a lot of 
losing domestic stocks. Leo balks slightly at committing a felony, until 
Rog promises double his yearly salary, right out of Dinah's accounts.

WSPR: Hart thinks Rog is lucky to have Gilly. He asks if it was a 
problem for Rog when Dinah worked at the station. Gilly says no, because 
*she* was the one who had to deal with Dinah. Gilly wonders how close 
Hart is to Dinah. Hart knows Dinah can be difficult. Gilly notes that 
Dinah doesn't know beans about running a TV station, but after she came 
on board, all the station's monetary problems just vanished. She even 
remembers the date: December 19. This rings a bell for Hart, who thanks 
Gilly for her time & takes off.

BAUER HOUSE: Michelle says she's not mad at J & is glad that he came by. 
J says there was no good way for him to hear about Henry. Michelle 
thinks she has a problem about saying or doing the right thing when 
they're together, like that night at the lighthouse. J apologizes for 
going "Alt-F11" on her (referring to some computer macro that doesn't 
ring a bell with me. Anyone? Is it a WordPerfect thing?). He just 
followed instructions, i.e., did what he thought was expected of him in 
that situation. But if she's "not there yet," that's OK. M says she's 
not some little kid, she did go to school in Europe. 

Ed arrives & J says he has to get back to the boardinghouse. Ed offers 
his condolences on Henry. J tells Ed he just came to apologize to 
Michelle. He gives her a kiss on the cheek & leaves. Michelle worries 
that Ed will be late for his meeting. Ed says he cancelled his meeting 
so he could talk to Michelle about her leaving. M says she has no 
intention of leaving & runs outside to catch her ride to school. "What 
just happened here?" wonders Ed.

REARDON HOUSE: Ross offers to try to smooth things over with Van about 
Amanda, but Matt doesn't think Van will listen. He doesn't blame her for 
being upset. He slept with women for money! He beats himself up & 
wonders how Henry would have reacted. "He'd want to knock my head off," 
says Matt. And then he'd pick you up & tell you to make things right 
with your wife, adds Ross. Matt doesn't know if he can. Van grew up with 
principles. Ross says there was a time when those principles went right 
out the window. "Vanessa didn't always have those qualities you admire." 
He thinks she will come around. Matt was just a kid when he was dealing 
with Amanda, but that kid is gone now. Van has changed too--when Matt 
met her, she was angry & lost. And Matt found her. And Henry loved him 
for it. "You can get Vanessa back," assures Ross. Matt starts to believe 
this.

BOARDINGHOUSE: Van doesn't think being emotional will do any good. Nola 
thinks it will do a lot of good. Van doesn't want to make her feelings 
for her dad public. She just needs to try to accomplish something. She 
shows Nola the list of people she selected as pallbearers. Nola sees 
that Matt's name isn't there. She thinks this means Van wants Matt to be 
with her. That's good, maybe Matt can get her to express some emotion. 
Van asks Nola to leave it alone.

DINAH'S APT: Leo worries about Rog breaking into Dinah's apt every day 
to check the mail. Rog tells Leo to just get working on the dummy books 
so the money can live on in the Caribbean sun, and no one will be able 
to touch it or him. 

SPAULDING MANSION: Hart disturbs Alan, who wonders who the hell Hart is 
& how he got in. Hart introduces himself as Roger's son. "I want you to 
help me nail my father."

BOARDINGHOUSE, EXTERIOR: David tells Jet if she wants to spend the rest 
of her life pining for Hart, she's welcome to it. Jet can't believe she 
let herself think there was a chance for anything with Hart. But it's 
really over now. Is she sure? David asks. Yes, she says. Good, says 
David, because he's been hanging back, watching what's happened to her 
for a long time. He thinks he knows her. She's great, & a wonderful 
mother to Peter. Peter loves you too, she says. "And I love him. And 
you. I love you, Bridget," says David. "I love you too, David," says Jet 
brightly. David realizes she didn't quite get it. He repeats himself 
with all the seriousness he can muster: "No, what I'm trying to say is, 
I love you."

Inside, Nola asks if Van is just going to keep all her feelings bottled 
up inside until she ends up yelling at someone for no reason. Van says 
she will call Nola when the arrangements are made. She opens the door & 
comes face to face with Quint. Freeze frame on Nola's miserable face as 
the screen fades to black. 


--Marni (marni@panix.com)


