The Golden comb
by Brent Kellogg

Katherine Chancellor Sterling may have forgotten she was once in Jill Abbott's rob the cradle shoes. It was late 1977 when hairdresser Derek Thurston appeared in Genoa City. The young stud instantly became the focus of both Chancellor's and Abbott's attention. Chancellor was so hot for Thurston she was willing to do almost anything. Abbott did see the stud first but Chancellor had power and money.

In 1978, Katherine offered Derek the money he needed to open his own beauty shop. Her next step was to get Derek drunk and tricked him into marrying her. But later, Katherine told him they weren't married and that he had found himself in her bed because they had hooked up during a moment of passion. But, when Derek said he wanted Jill the rules of the game changed.

Katherine switched to her drinking mode and then told Derek they were in fact married. When Derek didn't buy it, Katherine attempted suicide and Derek came running to her side.

Upon recovery, Katherine and Derek worked out a deal. They would live together without sex for one year. She would set up a 100-thousand dollar trust fund for Jill's son, Phillip, on the condition that Derek not tell Jill. At the end of the year, Derek would get full ownership of the Golden Comb and his freedom. Derek agreed. He knew Katherine would contest the divorce he wanted otherwise.

While waiting for the year to expire, Jill turned her attention to Stuart Brooks. Jill hoped the newspaper publisher would give her the security blanket she desperately needed.

Katherine learned that Derek had a son named Jamie he hadn't seen in years. She hoped reestablishing a relationship with his son would make him love her. Katherine started by finding Derek's former wife, Suzanne Lynch.

Suzanne warned Katherine to dump Derek because the mob was after him for killing the brother of a low-level godfather. When in fact the mob moved in to get Derek, Katherine took a bullet meant for Derek and became paralyzed. Katherine was sure that now she couldn't walk, Derek would never leave her. When Katherine began having some feeling in her legs she paid Suzanne off to get her out of town. And, she dropped her plan to reunite Derek with his son.

In the meantime, Derek had become interested in his son and summoned Suzanne back to town. Also at this time, Jill's mother, Liz Foster has become interested in Stuart Brooks who had given Jill a job managing the classifieds at the newspaper.

Stuart soon found himself becoming confused. He loved Liz but he had feelings for Jill too. Jill got Stuart in bed when she found out he might marry her mother. As it turned out, Jill almost got Stuart to marry her but he couldn't stand the thought of being married to a woman young enough to be his daughter.

Liz knew Stuart was seeing another woman but she didn't know who. She got a makeover at the Golden Comb hoping a younger looking woman would draw Stuart closer. Stuart's daughter, Lorie, found out what was going on and told her father that Jill was a skank. A Brooks family was called resulting in Stuart's trying to dump Jill. His efforts failed when Jill told him she was pregnant.

In 1979, Suzanne tricked Katherine into revealing she could walk. Suzanne had decided she wanted Derek back but her plan backfired. Derek proposed to Jill and Jill demanded a guarantee he would marry her.

Katherine created a family emergency which sent Derek and Suzanne out of town. Jill flipped and married Stuart! When Derek returned he had no choice but to stay with Katherine.

Jill still had a problem. She wasn't pregnant and Stuart's sperm wasn't working so she went to a clinic in New York to get artificially inseminated. When Jill returned, Stuart confronted her. An argument broke out resulting in Jill falling down the stairs. Stuart asked the doctor about the baby. What baby?

When Jill got out of the hospital, Stuart kicked her to the curb and sought to have their marriage annulled. Jill turned around and urged Derek to divorce Katherine. Stuart offered Jill a mere 25-thousand dollar settlement.

While all this was going on, Suzanne was trying to get her hands on Katherine's fortune. She began drugging the old woman by feeding her chocolates laced with poison. Katherine was eventually committed to the local nut house where the doctors agreed she would require years of therapy.

Katherine finally figured out what was going on and it just so happened, the nut house burned down. Suzanne thought she was home free but she didn't know the patient who set fire to Katherine's room was the person who died - not Katherine.

Derek mourned but Katherine decided to stay dead and even went to her own funeral. Then, she went to tell Liz the truth. Katherine returned to the estate and soon Suzanne began hearing strange voices. A bed full of spiders didn't help Suzanne's situation.

Katherine reached a point where she didn't want Derek. She wanted him and Jill to be together so that Liz would be happy. But Jill wasn't about to let Stuart off the hook. As they argued one night, Stuart began to choke. Jill called for help and thanks to her, Stuart lived. Now, how would Stuart ever be able to pay Jill back? How about 100-thousand to end the marriage? No deal. Stuart threatened court action. Jill didn't want this because Derek had since proposed so she gave in and got nothing from Stuart.

Derek and Jill were wed. But when Katherine showed herself Jill wound up with nothing at all. Derek went back to Katherine. Suddenly, Brock Reynolds began to fear Derek might hurt his mother.

1980 saw Liz and Stuart married. Jill told her mother she didn't know how to satisfy a man and then blurt out that she was pregnant with Stuart's baby. But later, Jill came clean and tried patching up her relationship with Liz.

Liz ended up being shot by gangsters who were after her son, Greg Foster (married to Nikki Reed at the time). She recovered. Greg went on to divorce Nikki and married April Stevens who was thinking of putting her daughter, Heather, up for adoption.

Jill was tired of waiting for Derek to leave Katherine. She stopped working at the hair salon and got a job at Jabot Cosmetics. Quickly promoted to head of merchandising, Jill caught the eye of John Abbott. She also convinced Jack Abbott to start working for his father. John was so pleased he assigned the two to work on a new ad campaign.

Katherine had found herself attracted to Douglas Austin, an old friend of Victor Newman's. Victor encouraged Katherine to make Derek jealous. Douglas challenged Derek to a dual during which Derek was shot in the butt. Douglas then joined Victor in an effort to get Derek out of Katherine's life.

Douglas followed Katherine and Derek on their second honeymoon. When Derek spotted Derek he immediately returned alone to Genoa City. Confused, Katherine jumped off the cruise ship they were on. Derek tried to have Katherine declared dead so he could get her fortune. Attorney Mitchell Sherman told Derek he would need a body. Without a corpse, Derek's claim would take five years.

Meantime, Victor had been left in charge of Chancellor Industries.

As the city mourned Katherine's death, she had been rescued by Felipe Ramirez, a Cuban terrorist hiding out in Jamaica. Felipe hated rich people and put Katherine to work on the island. As time passed, Felipe became attracted to the woman. When a cut on her leg threatened Katherine's life, Felipe took her to a hospital where she soon recovered.

Katherine wanted to take Felipe home with her but it wasn't to be.

By the time 1981 rolled around, Jill was in love with John but when he wouldn't take her with him on a business trip, she turned to Jack. John found out and announced he would move to New York. Subsequently, Jill quit Jabot and Jack fell for Patty Williams.

Katherine ordered the firing of Derek. By now, Derek had met Victor's former secretary, Eve Howard and they conspired to destroy Victor. But, the plot failed and Derek became part of Genoa City history.

In 1982, Katherine would set her sights on a guy named Cash, wanted to marry him and move to Paris but alas, Cash would soon be killed by angry creditors. Cash had gambling debts he couldn't pay.

Jill's next move would be to get her hands on Katherine's money.

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Lorie and Lance

Lorie and Lance Prentiss eloped. They flew to the Prentiss estate at Lake Geneva to tell Vanessa and to pack for their honeymoon trip. Vanessa began plotting to breakup the the happy couple. She invited Leslie to her home and told her she wasn't pleased with Lori. Leslie reminded Vanessa that Lori gave up plans to write a second book which if published, could have destroyed Leslie.

Vanessa hired a PI to track down the book and one day took off her veil for Lorie revealing terrible scars on her face. Lorie noted that Vanessa's doctor had told her Vanessa didn't have a heart condition as Vanessa had claimed. Lorie added that Vanessa could have had plastic surgery years ago but didn't so that she could hang onto Lance. Vanessa threatened Lorie that if she told anyone Vanessa would tell Lance how Lorie had written a book. In My Sister's Shadow outlined Leslie's misfortune.

Vanessa set a plan in motion whereby Lance would go to Chicago on business. While Lance was gone, Vanessa planned to kill Lorie and then claim a burglar did it. Unfortunately, Vanessa shot Lance by mistake. Lorie agreed to take the blame in exchange for Vanessa moving out of the house. The plan failed for Lorie when Lance refused to let his mother move.

While this was going on, Brad and Leslie where enjoying married life. Brad was blind by this time and Leslie was pregnant. One day, Brad hit Leslie in the gut by mistake. Leslie didn't tell Brad what he hit and later had a miscarriage. After some time had passed, Leslie told Brad the truth.

Brad went to Chicago where the same doctor who had worked on his case earlier ran more tests. Surgery was performed. Thinking he wouldn't live through the surgery, Brad had file for divorce before leaving Genoa City. But, the surgery went well.

In other news that year, Liz Foster was having trouble adjusting to her husband's death after pulling the plug on his respirator. Only Snapper knew what Liz had done. David Mallory, the young stud who had received Bill Foster's eyes, comforted Liz. Meantime, an investigation was started with Snapper ending up the prime suspect. Snapper was charged with murdering his father. Liz confessed everything to Jill and then had a stroke which wiped out her memory.

Snapped was released on a technicality. The State couldn't prove the time of death so all charges were dropped. However, Snapper was suspended from his job at the hospital. Then, Liz got her memory back! She wanted to tell the cops what really happened but Snapper wouldn't let her. Snapper moved on to open a free clinic on the poor side of town.

Adding to his problems, Snapper was concerned that Chris was bonding with little Karen Becker. What if the Beckers showed up demanding Karen's return? One day Stuart Brooks got a call from a nut house nurse about a patient calling herself "Mrs. Fran Jackson" who might really be Nancy Becker. Stuart zoomed to the nut house and discovered Nancy was a basket case. The doctors wanted Stuart to bring Karen to see her mother hoping it might shock Nancy back to reality. The plan didn't work. Chris sought legal custody but Ron Becker did return and demanded his daughter.

Estranged, Ron had Nancy removed from the nut house and told her that if she didn't go along with him she would never see Karen again. Once home, Ron overmedicated Nancy to make her appear normal for a court appearance.

Brock Reynolds represented the Fosters in court and foiled Ron's plan so Ron snatched Karen from school and told the kid they were going on a trip. Fortunately, Karen got sick so Ron went to the nearest medical clinic which just happened to be the one being run by Snapper! Ron dropped the kid and went off to swallow some poison. He didn't die and was never charged with a crime! In the end, he helped Snapper and Chris with the adoption and planned to leave town.

Before leaving, Ron told Nancy who demanded to see her daughter. Later, the kid decided she wanted to live with her real parents. The court agreed and Chris left Genoa City to find herself.

During a lull, The Brooks' became concerned about Peggy's emotional state. Peggy told Jack she wanted to marry him. She would still live at home but would visit Jack as time permitted. Jack agreed to the part-time marriage and the two eloped.

Thinking Jack had tricked his daughter, Stuart burst into Jack's apartment. Hiding in the bathroom, Peggy listened as Stuart accused Jack of being sex-crazed. As Stuart ranted, Peggy emerged and told her daddy the truth. She was trying to get over her sexual hang-ups but now, it would never happen. Peggy went home, packed her bags. moved in with Jack and later told Stuart they had consummated their marriage.

Tired of the game, Jack raped Peggy one night. Jack turned his attention to Joann who was still in love with her former husband. The two had sex. When Jack told Katherine Chancellor his marriage to Peggy was over she told him that Joann was hot for another man.