The Kissing Bridge, #4
Original air date: Oct. 7, 2002

The scoop: Andy and Harold are dealing with an STD outbreak in the high school; Ephram is fretting over the upcoming fall dance; Delia experiences first time "boy confusion."

What's up with Andy: Andy becomes concerned when he diagnoses a handful of teenagers who have Gonorrhea of the throat. He approaches Harold and suggests they get together to educate the kids on the ways STDs can be transmitted. The two doctors go before the School Board and get permission to hold an informational assembly at the high school. In addition to holding the assembly, Andy is anxious to find out how much Ephram knows about sex. He doesn't push the subject any farther after Ephram completely shuts him out from that topic. The assembly proves to be a success in Andy's eyes. Unfortunately, his pride is quelled when he gets a call from the high school informing him that Ephram didn't attend any of his classes that day. Later that evening he still doesn't know where Ephram is or when he's coming home, until Harold shows up and tells him that Ephram and Amy are in Denver. Both doctors drive together to Denver as fathers and on the way Andy seeks advice from Harold on how to deal with Ephram. When he and Ephram return home Andy takes Harold's advice and grounds Ephram for two weeks. He also sits Ephram down to tell him about a 17-year-old patient of his back in New York who died of AIDS. He expresses to Ephram how much he loves him and it seems as though, for that night anyway, he has proved that he can be just as good a father as he is a doctor.

What's up with Ephram: The Annual County High School Fall dance is just around the corner. The tradition is that the girls ask the boys to this dance by hanging pinecones on their desired date's locker. Ephram is ecstatic when he sees a clump of pinecones from Amy hanging from his. He experiences another huge let down when it turns out that Bright hung the pinecones on his locker as a joke. Amy, wishing she could ask Colin to the dance, has no intention of even going. When Ephram sees how badly Amy wants to ask Colin, he suggests that the two of them skip out on school and take the bus to the Denver hospital where Colin remains in a coma so that she can do just that. Afterwards, the two miss the last bus while getting something to eat and are forced to call their dads. Ephram isn't the least bit worried about getting in trouble from his dad. When he actually does get in trouble, rather than being upset Ephram seems grateful.

What's up with Delia: Delia is confused that her new friend, and former bully, Magilla seems to like her only when nobody is around them. When Magilla asks her over after school she doesn't know what to think of it until she has a talk with her dad who gives her a slightly better understanding of young boys. At Magilla's house, the two play video games, which begin to bore them. Delia is pleasantly surprised when Magilla, after suggesting they do something more fun, takes out a trunk full of beautiful dolls and they play with them together.

What's up with Dr. Harold Abbott: When Harold finds out that Bright has dated two of the girls diagnosed with Gonorrhea, he's nervous that Bright has been exposed. He goes to his son and is relieved to find out that, despite Bright's desire not to be, he still remains untouched. Ever since Edna decided to remarry, Harold's relationship with his mother has been strained. He can't understand how she could have moved on and married someone else so quickly. When it's decided that Everwood's rickety old bridge, dubbed "the Kissing Bridge" for obvious reasons, is going to be torn down, Edna becomes depressed. She takes Harold out to the bridge reveals to him that it was where she and his dad shared their first kiss as well as where he proposed to her and where she told him she was pregnant with Harold. She tells him how much she loved his dad and then proceeds to blow up the bridge, somehow letting go of the past and hopefully beginning to mend their relationship.