Days of Our Lives
June 1976
Trish had doubts in other areas, too. Since Mike Horton had returned to the apartment they shared after his release from the hospital, he had resumed their old platonic relationship, which had caused Trish to doubt herself as a woman. Mike had admitted, however, he didn't realize how much he could miss her. Shaken to the core over the fight with her mother and what Trish thought was bad news from Phoenix, she asked Mike to hold her, after they were ready for bed. He crawled into bed with her. She asked him to kiss her, like someone in love. They found themselves in the midst of the first sexual encounter for both of them; however, it ended badly. Mike was unable to perform. He concluded he was impotent, despite Trish's reassurances that they were both scared and preoccupied with other things in their lives. Mike refused to listen, dressed, and ran out of the apartment.
Mike went to Linda Phillips. She could tell he was shaken, but didn’t push. Eventually it all came out. Linda told him he was not the first or the last to have a problem in the first encounter. She recounted the story of her first, disastrous encounter. Her boyfriend had the same problem. Linda told Mike that unless the lovers were totally committed, mind, heart, soul, it would go wrong. She pointed out he was very preoccupied with Mickey Horton, and he had to relax. Trish called Brooke Hamilton, who rushed over, to give Trish much the same advice. She told Trish a girl could fake it, but a boy couldn’t. She also told Trish she and Mike had too much pain in their lives to really make a success of becoming lovers.
Mike moved into Linda Phillips’ apartment, temporarily. Trish was crushed when he moved out. Don dropped by with papers for Linda to handle for him and saw Mike in his pajamas. Later, he refused to believe it was innocent. He asked Linda if she wasn't robbing the cradle.
Adele Hamilton, Brooke’s mother, an alcoholic, had refrained from drinking for several weeks, thanks to the love and support of the Grants, a compassionate black family. Paul Grant, a recovered alcoholic, and his wife, Helen, conducted a self-help group at their church for people with problems. Adele had been attending lately, with Bob Anderson in tow. - Bob was unaware that Brooke was his daughter, conceived during an idyllic summer with Adele 28 years ago. - Brooke had told Adele she would tell Bob the truth, if Adele fell off the wagon.
David Banning, with whom Brooke was in love, and for whom she had an abortion, felt Brooke was a worthwhile human being. David had been living with the Grants since a big blow up with his mother, Julie. David had become great buddies with Valerie Grant, to Brooke's dismay. Val was compassionate and loving, and David was attracted to her. Knowing how David treated her, and how he would treat all women because he felt he had been denied his mother's love, Brooke tried to interfere. But it was inadvertently that Brooke disillusioned Val about Dr. Laura Horton, one of the doctors for whom Val, a student nurse, worked. Val greatly admired Laura, and welcomed Laura's encouragement to become a psychiatrist. Brooke appeared as Val and David were having lunch, asking him to help Mike, who had just turned away from Laura, because he found out Bill, not Mickey, was his father. David later asked Brooke why she was so destructive. He hinted she deliberately told Val about Mike so Val would be hurting like Brooke was. Brooke honestly meant no harm. When David again found out Brooke told Alice Horton there was more than friendship between Val and him, he descended on her again, telling her to stay out of his life. Brooke went to the Grants to find out if there was really anything between Val and David. She confronted Val's brother, Danny. He told Brooke she was just a nasty troublemaker, and if anything did develop between David and Val, Brooke should remember she started it by planting the idea in people's minds. David arrived and asked Brooke to leave. Before she went, she warned David that if he hurt Val, he would answer to her, because she owed the Grants for all their kindness to her mother, "And those are the kinds of debts I pay."
Bob Anderson offered to search for Brooke's father for them, but both refused. Brooke said there was no point to it. Meanwhile, Bob had given Adele a job as assistant head night janitor. He found himself staying late at work to talk to Adele.
July 1976
Brooke Hamilton asked Dr. Neil Curtis if her mother, Adele, an alcoholic, had been keeping her appointments. Unbeknownst to Brooke, Adele had changed doctors and was then seeing Dr. Tom Horton. Neil told Brooke about the switch. Brooke went to Tom to ask him not to give Adele any bad news, fearful Adele would return to the bottle, having been clean for some weeks. Adele, meanwhile, had asked Tom not to tell Brooke any bad news.
Tom told Brooke that Adele had suffered irreversible liver damage from the alcohol. Adele should quit work, rest, eat well, but ... Brooke asked if there was no hope. Tom told her about a liver shunt operation that was sometimes successful. The operation was risky and expensive. Brooke said she would get the money, even though Tom assured her things could be worked out. Brooke refused to accept charity. She reminded Tom that bad news could drive Adele over the edge. Tom was circumspect and as optimistic as he could be with Adele.
Not knowing where else to turn, Brooke went to David Banning, her ex-lover, ex-fiance. During this visit to the Grant home, Brooke admitted to Valerie that she was jealous of her because David obviously respected and idolized her. Getting no help from David, Brooke went looking for her mother at her job as a janitress at Anderson Manufacturing - Unbeknownst to him, Bob Anderson was Brooke's father, the result of an idyllic summer Bob spent with Adele after grad school. - While looking for Adele, Brooke wandered into the accounting office, and idly went through Paul Grant's desk. On a whim, feeling it might be a way out of the money trap, Brooke stole three checks. Given another opportunity, Brooke stole more such checks. But she didn't know how to cash them. Bob's daughter Mary gave her a clue. Brooke had a "for deposit only" stamp made, almost caught by Mary. Brooke later speculated that she would have to open several phony bank accounts to process the checks. She felt her father owed it to them.
Trish Clayton and Mike Horton had broken up their platonic housekeeping arrangement, following an unsuccessful attempt at lovemaking. Mike moved out, to camp on Linda Phillips' couch, feeling she was the only one he could turn to. The Hortons were all incensed at this arrangement, castigating Linda for tempting Mike, accusing her of using Mike to get at Mickey. Laura, meanwhile, had taken her son's rejection so hard that she seldom left her room or allowed Bill near her.
Meanwhile, Mike made drunken, clumsy passes at Linda, who easily fended them off. Mike kept falling off the couch, so Linda put him in her bed and took the couch. When Trish called Bill, he rushed over, also making remarks about Linda's taking advantage of Mike, to take revenge on Laura. Linda finally convinced him he was wrong. Bill, who already knew about Mike's problem with Trish, tried to get Mike to talk, to no avail. Bill decided to let well enough alone. He finally went to Mickey, asking him to help Mike, pointing out only Mickey could help since Mike rejected Laura and him. Bill told Mickey about Linda's involvement. Mickey had Mike visit and told him the measure of a man was his reaching and helping people. Linda went to Mickey, afraid of what Bill had told him. She assured him she had no designs on Mike, but was hurt by a hint of disbelief on Mickey's part.
Brooke opened a phony bank account, but was very nervous. She was then determined that Bob Anderson would pay for abandoning her mother before she was born. However, her nervousness got to her when she overheard Bob say Paul Grant, from whose desk Brooke stole the checks, was doing a good job, but the proof would come out when the auditors arrive. Brooke dropped a coffee pot.
August 1976
Mike and Trish Clayton had an unsuccessful attempt at lovemaking, which caused Mike to move out and away from Trish, unsure of his manhood. Trish's step-father, Jack Clayton, came by her apartment looking for her mother, Jeri. Jeri, encouraged by Trish's natural father, had moved out on Jack and planned to file for divorce, Jack followed Trish to the new apartment. Jeri told Trish she was not letting Stanhope pay for the apartment, that she had a great engagement at an inn outside of town, neglecting to mention she was a waitress. After Trish warned Jeri about Jack and left, Jack forced past Jeri and made lewd remarks about how she would pay for such a nice apartment. Jeri remained adamant about the divorce, despite Jack's insistence that she owed him for taking Trish and her in to keep Jeri off the streets. Jeri told him she paid her debt long ago.
Mike went to Trish to apologize for his recent treatment of her. He promised he would always be her friend. He noted he just saw himself through his father's eyes, as his father, despising Laura. Trish urged Mike to reconcile with Laura. Instead, Mike went to Linda. He exposed his deepest fear. Considering the disgust he felt for Trish while trying to make love, and the fact that he had never even tried before, he felt he might be ... Linda wouldn't let him say the word. She pointed out that some men matured faster than others sexually. She again reminded him that he and Trish were under great emotional strain and inexperienced. Mike didn’t buy it. When words failed to reach him, Linda took Mike's hand and gently led him to the bedroom.
The following morning, Mike was elated at his success. He asked if "a man thanks a woman at a time like this?" Linda put off talking about it, but Mike kept at it. She insisted to Mike that what happened last night shouldn't stand between Trish and him, and asked him not to blow it all out of proportion. He exhibited such a proprietary air about her, that Linda began to wonder about what she did. In order to discourage Mike, Linda deliberately accepted another lunch date, with Johnny Collins, the man who left Rebecca North LeClair at the altar.
Meanwhile, Jack Clayton found Trish's door unlocked and walked in. Trish was asleep after having been up all night with Brooke Hamilton. Jack didn't disturb her, but creeped back out and knocked. Jack talked about David Banning as her new boyfriend. Trish denied it. Jack said he never could abide the thought of any man near her. To get rid of him, Trish promised to sing a special song for him that night. Outside, Jack mused on the foolishness of young people who didn't keep their doors locked.
Brooke Hamilton was very proud of her mother Adele, an alcoholic with cirrhosis of the liver, because Adele hadn't taken a drink in weeks. Brooke knew, as informed by Dr. Tom Horton, that the next drink could kill Adele. Tom had agreed not to tell Adele. Knowing Adele had to get away for a rest, Brooke had been stealing checks from Anderson Manufacturing. Brooke felt owner Bob Anderson owed it to Adele and her - Bob was Brooke's father. Adele and Bob spent a lovely summer together 27 years ago. When Adele learned she was pregnant, she found Bob was engaged to Phyllis, presently his ex-wife, and never told Bob about Brooke. - Adele accidentally discovered liquor in the cabinet in Bob's office, where she was employed as assistant night janitorial supervisor. She took a bottle, just to prove she could have it around without touching it. Brooke, meanwhile, refused all offers of help. As she wondered if she had enough money one night at work as a cocktail waitress at Doug's Place, Adele wandered in — drunk. When Brooke saw Adele, she went into shock — sure Adele would die. When nobody could budge Adele without a scene, Mary Anderson, Bob's legitimate daughter, called Paul Grant, a reformed alcoholic, who had been very helpful to Adele in the past.
Paul’s wife, Helen, overheard him say he would be right over. When she found out where and why he was going, Helen demanded he not go. Helen was frightened Paul might find the temptation too great. She had had a recent scare. Paul went to pull David Banning, Julie Anderson's son, who had been living with them since a falling out with Julie some months ago, out of Doug's Place and Paul came home with liquor on his clothes from a drink David knocked from his hand while Paul was trying to shock David into sobering up. Helen told Paul, "Our lives are not going to be ruined by the drinking of other people." David had overheard and he took it upon himself to go help Brooke, his former fiance/lover.
As David was leaving, Valerie, the Grants' daughter arrived home from a date. When she found out what was going on, she was startled that her parents could refuse help to anyone on any grounds. Helen insisted she didn't understand. Paul went to get dressed; Helen followed. Paul, dressed, explained Helen's deep fear to Val, who then apologized. Her date, Jerry Davis, was confused by Val's concern that her parents would let David go alone. He asked if she had just been dating him to try to forget David?
Bill Horton was at the restaurant and called Tom. David arrived. He reached Brooke briefly, but she again lapsed into incoherency, chanting, "I want my father." Bill and David finally persuaded Adele to go home. David promised Brooke he and Bob would help. At the apartment, Adele began to hemorrhage. Tom and Bill rushed her to the hospital by ambulance. Brooke remained at the apartment in shock. Mary Anderson told Bob what had happened. They went to the apartment. At the sound of Bob's voice, Brooke's chant stopped, and she threw herself into Bob's arms. He took her to the hospital.
Adele was rushed into surgery for a liver by-pass operation. Bob assured Tom he would handle all expenses. David noted how Brooke was perked up. She said it was because her father was with her. Alice interpreted it to mean God was with her. David was surprised at Brooke's vulnerability. Adele made it, and Brooke resumed some of her old personality, telling Bob she would handle expenses. But she did indicate she'd like to change, asking where to start. He suggested she try to regain some of her stolen youth. She asked about the people she had stolen from. He replied that they would forgive her.
David had breakfast with Valerie. She told him of Jerry's increasing possessiveness. David indicated he thought Val would give any man a bad time, until she fell in love with him, then it would have to be marriage first. David refused to discuss his mother, saying the only thing that concerned him was Val. Brooke came up, with Bob. Bob and Val left for work. Brooke told David she thought he was in love with Val. David admitted it!
Adele, feeling she was going to die, asked Bob to be Brooke's father. Brooke fought the idea of Adele's dying, stopped only when Bob revealed Adele's request.
My Introduction to 1976 Days of Our Lives
