From: Marni Centor <marni@panix.com>

GUIDING LIGHT UPDATE -- THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 1996

                   BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

Highlights:
* Griff gets grief.
* Gilly gives good-byes.
* Dirt dotes.
* Lillian lambastes.
* Phillip fumes.
* Annie agonizes & advises.
* Rick regrets.
* Josh gets a clue.

DINER: Buzz & Reva stand outside, wishing they could be back in their 
tub. But Frank has called them here on important business. They enter to 
find Frank surrounded by 5th Street's denizens, who are up in arms about 
the Griffin Williams scandal. Buzz says the "scandal" is a bunch of 
trash, but Frank says it doesn't matter. The people have lost faith in 
Griffin & are thinking of selling out to Alan.

BEACH (CAYMAN ISLANDS): Dinah sits by a campfire wearing a green bikini. 
Hart watches her & smiles.

CEDARS: An agitated Phillip finds Rick in the locker room & hands him 
the separation papers from Beth. "I thought I was having a bad day," 
replies Rick morosely.

Over in Shayne's room, Annie makes the bed & plumps the pillows. Josh 
enters & asks where Shayne is. Annie says they took him for more tests, 
but he's doing great. She sees Josh's face & asks him what's wrong. He 
asks if Annie & Rick are having some kind of problem. Annie says no, 
why? Josh says Rick "said some things" & Annie starts to dismiss it. 
Josh says Rick's worried that Annie might be addicted to her medication.

Annie gets bent out of shape. Josh says Rick was just concerned. Annie 
says what matters is what Josh thinks. Josh remembers asking her before 
if it was OK for her to take those pills. She reminds him that she told 
him she could handle it. She knows she's an alcoholic & that she has to 
be careful. Josh & Shayne & Marah are her life. "Do you think I would 
risk that over a couple of headache pills?" She puts her arms around him 
& hugs. "You believe me, don't you?" Josh doesn't look convinced.

In the locker room, Rick tries to put a good face on things. He says the 
papers are only for a separation & Beth probably regretted it the minute 
she dropped them in the mail. Phil disagrees. "Her mind is made up, man. 
She called lawyers!" Rick doesn't think it sounds like Beth. Phil says 
she's been pulling away from him for a long time, long before he came to 
Springfield. He never told Rick because he was hoping he could fix 
things. He has begged her to come to Springfield with Lizzie until his 
work is done, but she won't even consider it. Rick repeats that it 
doesn't sound like Beth, just as Lillian enters. Phillip doesn't 
understand why Beth is doing this.

"I'll tell you why," says Lillian. "She's at the end of her rope." Phil 
says he is too. He repeats that he's begged Beth to join him, and if she 
loved him, she would have. He would do anything for her. "Anything but 
give up this quest," points out Lillian. Phil says he doesn't have a 
choice. He *has* to do it. Lillian says he's chosen being a Spaulding 
over having his wife & daughter.

ROOSEVELT PARK: Griffin finds Marcus sitting on a bench. He's been 
trying to reach Marcus, but Marcus hasn't returned his calls. He knows 
people have been saying horrible things about him, but he only cares 
what Marcus thinks. Marcus doesn't know how to "wrap his mind" around it 
all. Griffin asks Marcus not to turn his back. Marcus says he didn't 
want to believe what he read in the papers. 

A pair of salt&pepper muscle-bound dudes walks through. They recognize 
Griff & comment on how sleazy he is for trying to seduce his own 
daughter. Marcus gets angry & defends his dad, saying Griff does more by 
9 AM then they will do in their entire lives. "Did he go after you too?" 
asks one dude. Marcus jumps him & a 4-way fight ensues. Marcus has to 
hold his father back.

CAYMAN BEACH: Hart joins Dinah by the fire & looks at her hands, 
especially her perfect little thumbs. She thinks he should pay more 
attention to the rest of her & pouts prettily. Hart encourages her to 
smile & compliments her beautiful mouth. Just as they're about to kiss, 
a boy selling beads interrupts them. He's trying to support his sick 
grandmother & offers the beads, which he made himself, for $5. Hart's 
about to buy, but Dinah pulls out an identical strand that she bought 
for $1 in town & tells the boy that he'd better have a good explanation. 
They boy calls her "one tough customer." He repeats that his grandma is 
sick. She watches him while his mother cleans bathrooms at the hotel. He 
wants money to buy cleats so he can join the soccer team, so he sneaks 
away to scam rich Americans on the beach. They learn that the boy's name 
is Tyrone. 

Dinah pulls out $500 and tells Tyrone he can buy his cleats, but he 
should also go to school. She says her grandfather gave her the money & 
he was a great man. She warns Tyrone to follow her advice, or she'll 
hunt him down. The boy smiles, promises, thanks her & runs off. Hart 
thinks Dinah is unbelievable & not half as tough as she says.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Gilly is standing with her parents as Griffin & Marcus 
enter. Gilly starts to walk over & Vivian is appalled when she realizes 
that Gilly invited them. Gilly tells her mom to shut up because tonight 
is very important to her. She goes over to Griff & Marcus, who is 
nursing a cut lip. They briefly explain about the scuffle & apologize 
for not changing, but they didn't want to be late. Griff didn't know 
Gilly was inviting the Grants. Charles didn't know Gilly was inviting 
Griff. He refuses to stay. Griff offers to leave. Gilly asks them all to 
stay & make the effort to get through dinner. Viv thinks she's asking a 
lot, but Gilly says she won't be asking anything else for a long time. 
"After dinner, I'm leaving town."

DINER: Buzz tries to convince everyone to ride out the storm with 
Griffin. Smitty is very opposed, & thinks Buzz doesn't have the same 
problems as everyone else because he has a rich son-in-law to take care 
of him. Reva tries to defend Buzz, but Smitty thinks she's an outsider. 
Reva says they welcomed her with open arms & treated her like family. 
She tells everyone that they're the best in town. They're loyal & have 
convictions worth fighting for. "I wouldn't give up this place for all 
the Spaulding millions in the world. And if you choose to go, if you 
choose to leave something that's so special, then you'd better be ready 
to live with fact that you may never find anything like it again."

CEDARS: Josh knows that Annie has been through a lot lately. He was 
worried about the effect of the strain on her. Annie says he's worried 
about the pills. Josh just wants to make sure she's safe. Annie says she 
will prove to him that she is in control of the pills. She throws them 
away & says she will find another way to deal with her headaches. Josh 
accepts this & thanks her. Annie says she would do anything for him. 
They hug. Josh says he has to go to Marah, but will be back later. Annie 
warns him that Marah has trouble with fractions. Josh leaves & Annie 
stares at the pills in the trash.

Nurse Annie & Evil Annie debate the matter of the pills in the trash. 
Evil Annie, in a red dress with her hair down, says she can leave the 
pills in the trash because she has 30 more at home, from when she 
changed the scrip from 5 to 50. Good Annie says she should throw those 
out too. Evil Annie says if she does, she'll have to go back to Dr. 
Stein with another lame-o excuse about losing them. He might ask 
questions. Nurse Annie says she doesn't want to use them anymore. Evil 
Annie says it's no big deal--they're just for headaches. She doesn't get 
the shakes in the morning or miss work or cut herself off from people, 
like when she was drinking. Nurse Annie admits that this is true. She 
agrees with Evil Annie that she'd know if she was hooked. They both 
agree that she is in complete control. Evil Annie fades away & Nurse 
Annie scoops up the pills from the trash & puts them back in the bottle. 

DINER: Frank tells everyone that 5th St. is the best neighborhood 
they'll ever live in. Abby shows up with a gift for Shayne. Reva says 
they have a lot to catch up on. Abby suggests coffee. Reva is surprised 
to hear that Abby drinks coffee now. Decaf only, says Abby. She tells 
Reva about having coffee with Rick, but says he's interested in a tall 
blonde woman that she doesn't know. Abby admits she was reading Rick's 
lips from across the room. "A very useful talent, as long as you don't 
hear something you don't want to hear." Abby agrees. Reva wonders if the 
woman is Annie, but Abby doesn't think so. She just wants Rick to be 
happy & she knows he doesn't have feelings for her. Reva says sometimes 
things can sneak up on you when you least expect it. Sometimes you find 
the right person, but it's just the wrong time. Abby accepts this sadly.

CEDARS: Phillip says Lillian doesn't have a clue about what's going on 
with him & Beth. Lil suggests that Phil go home to talk to Beth. Phil 
doesn't think it would do any good, since Beth's mind is made up. Lil 
can't believe Phil's answer. Phil says Lil should talk to Beth, not him. 
Lil says she has & Beth says once he gets back into Spaulding family 
business, she loses him. Phil says this isn't business. "It's my life. 
It's this little portion of my life that I've gotta get fixed before I 
can move on with the rest of my life. Which I want to do with Beth. But 
that's kind of hard to do..." On the verge of tears, he escapes.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Gilly sits at the head of the table & says she doesn't 
have much time because her flight leaves in less than 2 hours. She's 
going away for awhile, somewhere there are no newspapers or telephones. 
David is going to join her for awhile & they plan to go camping in the 
Rockies. Marcus is jealous. Gilly hopes it will help her get her life 
into perspective. Lately she feels like she doesn't know anything 
anymore. But she plans to find out, to heal, to see where she fits into 
the lives of the people she cares about.

She tells Charles that he will always be her father. He taught her how 
to think for herself & be proud of herself & to persevere. He also 
taught her how to love people in spite of their faults.

She tells Griffin that she hopes they get a chance to know each other 
better, but she has to get to know herself first. Griff says he'll be 
there when she's ready.

She tells Marcus that finding him has been the best part of what has 
happened. Vivian breaks in to say that Gilly doesn't have to go. Gilly 
says she most certainly is going, but before she does, she has something 
to say to Viv.

Gilly says Viv will always be her mother, but she's not welcome in 
Gilly's life until Gilly says so. Viv should not call her or write to 
her. Gilly will return her letters unopened. Viv knows Gilly is angry 
but can't understand being shut out so completely. Gilly doesn't want to 
hold onto her anger; she will try to get past it, but in the meantime 
she doesn't want anything to do with Viv. Viv pleads to the table in 
general to talk Gilly out of this. No one says a word. Viv asks why 
Gilly bothered to even invite her. Gilly says she wanted to say good-
bye. Now that she has, she'd like Viv to leave. Viv shakes in silence 
for a moment, then gets up & walks away. Gilly watches her go with a set 
face, but brimming eyes.

CAYMAN BEACH: Dinah says she is so tough. Hart begs to differ. She 
admits it, but asks him not to spread it around. She says the tough 
exterior is what she needed growing up in the carnival. It made people 
leave her alone, but she was also lonely. When families came to the 
carnival, she would want to go with them, but learned that it was 
useless. She tells about finding a book about a beautiful unicorn & she 
used to dream that it would come & take her away. But he never came, 
says Hart, empathizing. "No," she says, looking at him. "He came. It 
took awhile, but he came." Hart smiles.

CEDARS: Rick asks Lil why she's making Phil choose between his family & 
Beth. Lil should know that Phil doesn't respond well to ultimatums. "But 
he's going to lose Beth," she cries. Rick says he'll call Beth & explain 
the situation to her. Lil doesn't think it will help; Beth is too hurt & 
angry that Phillip is choosing his family over her. Rick says Beth has 
got to understand that Phillip cannot walk away from this situation. All 
Lil knows is that they're both so unhappy & there's nothing she can do 
to help. Rick promises to call Beth & Lil goes back to work.

Abby arrives with forms for Rick to sign. She asks if something's wrong. 
Rick says yes, some friends are in big trouble.

PARK: Phillip calls Beth on his cell phone & says he's coming home right 
away so they can sit down & talk & work things out. He doesn't want to 
get into it right now. He can't promise he won't come back to Spring-
field. She doesn't understand that if she asks him not to deal with the 
situation, it's like asking him not to be himself. He asks for a little 
bit of leeway. He doesn't want to talk about it now; he'll be home 
tomorrow. She doesn't want him to come. He begs her not to shut the door 
on them. He insists he loves her & he knows he can make her understand. 
He listens for a minute, then replies, in utter frustration, "Well, if 
you could stop saying `NO'!" She hangs up on him & he runs his hand 
through his hair, then crumples a piece of paper & tosses it to the 
ground, along with the cell phone. Annie's white clogs show up next to 
the cell phone. He looks at her concerned face & says she doesn't want 
to know. "Maybe I do," Annie replies.

CEDARS: Rick explains that he loves Phillip & Beth so much, but their 
marriage is breaking up & there's nothing he can do. Abby says he can 
try. Rick thinks that outside the hospital, he's useless. Abby 
disagrees. "You helped me," she says. Rick asks how. Abby sees that he's 
upset & says she'll come back later. After she leaves, Rick says to 
himself, "I helped you all right. I helped you right out of my life."

PARK: Annie picks up the crumpled paper & Phillip says it's the 
separation papers from his wife. Annie is sorry & surprised--she thought 
they were so happy. Phillip did too. "You had no idea?" she asks. Phil 
says he didn't know it had gotten this bad. Annie asks how long he's 
been away from home. A couple of months, says Phil. Annie says if it was 
her, she would have hired a hit man by now. She says sometimes a woman 
picks a fight with a man just to get his attention. Phil says it's more 
than that. He knows that Beth is serious. 

Annie says she knows what she's talking about. Josh wanted to go on a 2-
month construction junket to Siberia. She didn't want him to go away for 
so long. So she started making plans for a 2-month trip to Antigua. She 
bought a new wardrobe, hired a hunky personal trainer. Josh finally got 
the picture & he cancelled his trip, and gave the ticket to Siberia to 
the personal trainer. Phillip manages a weak smile.

SPRINGFIELD INN: Marcus makes a toast to his "bright, talented, very 
strong sister." He wishes that she will always find what she's looking 
for & always be happy. Gilly is sorry that she won't have the chance to 
get to know Marcus better right now. Marcus is glad that they have found 
each other, no matter what the circumstances. Everyone drinks to this. 
Outside the dining room, Vivian lurks.

CAYMAN BEACH: Dinah says Hart is a bigger softie than she is. He bought 
tons of stuff for Peter. Hart says it's his right as a dad to spoil his 
son rotten. Dinah remembers the first time she saw Hart & Peter 
together. She looked at him & thought he had great... thumbs. They kiss.

DINER: Griff arrives & Buzz thanks him for coming. Reva explains that a 
lot has happened since the scandal broke & they are losing support. Buzz 
thinks it might be best if Griff backed off from the 5th St. cause for 
right now. Griff vows to come through for the people of 5th St.

PARK: Phil doesn't think Beth is pulling the same kind of stunt as Annie 
pulled with Josh. Annie says she didn't want to go to Antigua; she 
wanted Josh. Maybe Beth just wants Phil. Phil says the thing with Annie 
& Josh was all in good fun, but his & Beth's problems are more serious.

CEDARS: Josh kisses his sleeping son & takes some torn gift wrapping 
over to the trash can. For some inexplicable reason, he starts sifting 
through the trash. He doesn't find Annie's pills. Freeze frame on his 
worried face as the screen fades to black.


--Marni (marni@panix.com)


