ONE LIFE TO LIVE RECAP FOR 
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2000
 
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Lindsay, crying, stares at the syringe in her hand and then drops it. Colin yells, “What did you do?” as Nora collapses. She begs Colin to help her, and he in turn urges her to fight. Realizing that Lindsay has injected Nora with the drug she had been talking about, he screams at her that the drug has never been tested. Nora’s eyes close.

Nora finds herself in a courtroom populated by her family and friends. Viki presides as the judge, and calls the court to order. Nora questions the judge as to why she’s there and who she’s representing. John, as the bailiff, responds, “Nora Hanen Gannon Buchanan vs. the Commonwealth of her memories and knowledge.” Nora wants to know who is prosecuting, and the light falls on Lindsay. Colin walks in and, ignoring Nora, sits at the prosecutor’s table. Renee is the court reporter. Kevin and Kelly are covering the ‘trial’ for their respective papers, while Joey snaps picture after picture, constantly blurting out “photo op.”

Viki begins by asking Nora if she’s “cognizant of the sentence this charge bears?” “I guess,” is Nora’s less than confident response. “She guesses, everyone,” Viki echoes, as those present in the courtroom burst into laughter. Nora muses that “you’re nobody without your memories. I might as well be dead.”

Asa perks up at this word. “Is someone going to chop off her head?” he inquires hopefully. “Off with his head,” Viki orders, before adding that she’s kidding and just always wanted to say that. Judge Viki tells Nora to sit and allows Lindsay to make her opening argument. Lindsay weaves a tale of Nora’s happy life and pronounces her a lucky lady, while she laments her own days of “never ending disaster and difficulty.” She blames Nora for everything and demands that Viki find Nora guilty of ruining her life. Colin objects, but Lindsay reminds him that he can’t – he’s on her team. Nora stares at the man before her and states that he held her captive. Only while she healed, Colin counters. Viki prepares to hand down her sentence, but Nora voices her objections. She hasn’t even had a chance to present her case. Viki airily dismisses her, declaring she’s not interested, but she eventually changes her mind and allows Nora to call her first witness. She’d better make it snappy though, the judge suggests. “How much time do I have?” Nora asks worriedly.

Back in the real world, Colin is desperately thumbing through medical books in search of an antidote. Lindsay insists there’s no time, but Colin finds the name of a drug he thinks might work and he hurries off to procure some. Before leaving, he urges Nora to hang in. Once alone with Nora, Lindsay falls apart, wondering “why does everything I do go so wrong?” She then muses that it wouldn’t be so bad to lose memories, since everybody has some they’d like to forget. Lindsay then regretfully declares that she’d undo everything if she could.

“Move it, NHGB,” judge Viki quips. Nora is disoriented and can’t marshal her thoughts, but Colin provides her with a photo album. She begins to page through it and marvels at all the happy memories it engenders. Lindsay, hearing Nora’s reminiscences, pronounces them “boring.” They aren’t to her, Nora counters, they’re her life. She envisions the dance contest she won with Bo, then calls him as her first witness. Her face falls as Bo fails to appear. RJ derides her for thinking he would, as Kevin judges her “unprepared.” Colin remarks bitterly that Bo won’t show up, as he’s too busy with Colin’s wife. As she glances through the photo album some more, Nora calls “my husband.” “Which one now?” Viki wonders. Hank takes the stand and Nora reminds him of their early days together. “Our parents had a fit, but we did it anyway.” RJ declares that “we did it, too.” Visibly disturbed, Nora insists this is not a memory she wants to keep, but she’s told she can’t pick and choose what she’ll remember. She turns back to Hank and talk turns to their daughter – whose name she momentarily can’t dredge from her memory banks. Eventually, it comes to her, as Hank urges his ex-wife to think of the good times.

Nora then flashes back to a time when she and Rachel walked on the beach together. When she snaps out of it, Rachel has taken her father’s place on the stand. They reminisce about Rachel’s dance recitals and a sit-in she staged in sixth grade. Lindsay dismisses Nora’s “sweet memories,” while Colin insists Nora should have every chance to defend them. Lindsay reminds her former brother-in-law that he’s the one who’ll pay if Nora remembers, which prompts him to quickly sit back down. Nora and Lindsay then trade barbs, with Nora commenting on the fact that Lindsay’s own daughter never comes to visit. Rae, observing the two, opines that “they need a psychiatrist, not a judge. They need me.” No one takes her up on the offer, though.

Glancing at her photos again, Nora then visualizes the time Sam carried her through a snowstorm when she was in labor with Matthew. She begs Sam to help her again. He replies that he can’t, but he urges her to remember who she is. She then calls for Matthew. “Mommy needs you.” She turns to see Matthew sitting on Lindsay’s lap, as her nemesis assures her that the little boy “doesn’t need you,” since he’s already forgotten her.

At the Cherryvale clinic, Colin rifles through the restricted medicine cabinet. Just as he gets his hands on the vial he needs, Lanie appears.

Nora’s fantasy then takes her to Bo’s office. She searches for him, pleading for help. He eventually walks in and they begin to discuss the moments just preceding the train wreck. She needs him, she confesses, because so many of her memories are tied to him. Bo counters that he can’t help her, as he can only conjure up his own memories. But they have the same ones, and she wants to keep them, Nora remarks. She picks up a photo of the two of them taken at the dance contest off Bo’s desk, and is stunned to notice it fading before her very eyes. Nora begins to worry that she has nothing with which to fight Lindsay, but Bo urges her to remember who she is – junk food, dancing… “Remember the steps. They’ll be your evidence.”

Back at Colin’s, Lindsay retrieves the syringe from where it had fallen. She gingerly places it in her purse, which she then sets down on a table in the foyer. She backs away, staring at the bag as if it’s accusing her. Meanwhile, Lanie announces that she knows Colin is not on the roster for the evening. After surreptitiously pocketing the medicine, he makes an excuse about wanting to ensure that everything is ready for Viki’s last chemo the next day. Lanie then demands to know why he didn’t tell her that Will was at his house, asking for her. Colin maintains it’s because Will is a fugitive, then hightails it out of the room as fast as he can.

Sam is the next person on the stand. Lindsay grills him about his love for Nora, even during their marriage, but Sam turns things around and accuses Lindsay of being behind everything that’s taking place in the courtroom. He takes over the cross-examination, leaving Nora shaking her head. She’s even more baffled at Viki’s sudden appearance behind her. Her head shoots up at the sound of the gavel and she notices that Asa is now sitting on the bench. The elder Buchanan immediately charges Sam with attempted murder and RJ, now dressed as a bailiff, prepares to lead Sam off. Renee reminds her husband the judge that this is not about the Rappa-Davidsons, but he maintains that Sam is responsible for what happened to Bo and Nora. Nora counters that Asa is to blame for her being on the train. Asa demands that Renee strike that from the record, but she figures there’s no point, since everybody heard it. “The truth is what I say it is,” Asa declares, in true patriarchal fashion. Nora calls Will as her next witness, but she’s informed that he’s missing. At this, Nora despairs. “I can’t possibly defend myself.” Todd emerges from the shadows. “You have no right to defend yourself. You were supposed to defend me, but you hung me out to dry. What kind of a defense attorney are you?”

Nora cringes as Todd accuses her of throwing his case and her mind flashes back to her summation. She doesn’t want this memory, she blurts out, but Asa tells her it’s all or nothing, and Viki adds that, “He’s right. And Asa’s never right.” Todd whispers to Nora that she’s been bad and she’s never paid the price. “She’s guilty,” he pronounces. Lindsay seconds that, but Lanie arrives, claiming she has something to say in Nora’s defense. “No, she’s going down,” Asa curtly dismisses her, until he notices she’s young and attractive. At this, he agrees to allow her to speak, as long as she meets him in his chambers later. Melanie practically gushes about all the good things she’s heard from Bo and Sam, and she reminds Nora of the men’s love. She deserves to be a part of their lives, Lanie adds. Asa dismisses the testimony as sentimental hogwash. Nora’s head spins as she hears all the people in the courtroom variously encouraging or condemning her. She collapses on the floor. Sam urges her to call her next witness, but she doesn’t know who that is.

At the moment that Lanie notices that Colin didn’t sign for the meds he took, the doctor in question arrives home and quickly injects Nora with what he hopes is an antidote to the mind-erasing drug.

Asa intones that he’s prepared to render his verdict, and Viki adds that she’s ready to pronounce sentence. “No, not yet,” Nora begs, as she pulls herself off the ground. She stares at the faces in the courtroom but fails to recognize them. Lindsay taunts her foe that she’s losing her mind. The gavel bangs. “I get to redirect,” Nora protests, as Lindsay suggests that will be a laugh, since Nora won’t remember what was said previously. As Nora struggles to remember who she needs to question, she hears Matthew calling, “Mommy.” Nora turns to see the boy in Colin’s arms. “I save him for you, Scarlet,” he proudly claims. Nora hugs her son tightly, explaining that she didn’t leave him on purpose and that she won’t leave again. Lindsay sighs impatiently. Nora speaks passionately as she declares, “I need my memories. I don’t want to lose a single one.” She states that memories are what keep people alive. “Please. I deserve my memories. The defense rests.”

At Nora’s bedside, Colin and Lindsay hover over her. Lindsay wonders what they do now. “Wait. Pray it works,” is Colin’s simple response. “If it works, we’re both going to have to pray,” Lindsay reminds him. Colin expresses his doubts that the medicine will work, but he assures Nora that he’s done his best and he apologizes for all he’s put her through.

RJ returns with a piece of paper. All those present in the courtroom rise. Viki and Asa both silently read the verdict as Colin turns to look at Nora.

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Recap written by Ann McGowan, copyright by Katherine Thurston, 
and , 2000.