Face the Fear Lockie Leonard

# Worlds away from anyone

# They were burnin' themselves out in the sun

# Worlds away from anyone

# They were burnin' themselves out in the sun

# There was just enough to get that far away

# Ooh

# Ooh-ooh-ooh... #

ALL: Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

'People have some weird fears, don't they?

'Philip is afraid of becoming like pop,

'wetting the bed till he's 110.

'Sarge is afraid of running out of rhymes.'

His words were bitter, just like lemon

He spat them out and cried to...to...

'Mum is afraid that everyone will look at her bum

'and think it's too big.

'Me? My fears aren't that weird.

'I'm afraid of getting beaten up by big hairy bogans, like Curtis.'

Hope you've said your prayers, Leonard.

Does anyone know why I'm here? Or how this all started?

Or why Curtis is as angry as a bee in a brown paper bag?

So did your mum say what was so important?

She just said I'd to ask you.

She baked a cake and everything. And mum never cooks.

I'll come straight over. Lockie, apple or orange?

WHISPERING: I've lost my voice.

You should have got out of your wet suit straight away.

Lockie and Vicki went water-skiing yesterday...

Aargh!

..and crashed and burned, and now they're not talking.

Philip!

What? You've lost your voice?

-I was just filling in the gaps.

-Have you done your assignment?

What assignment?

You have to make a speech in front of the whole class.

If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?

Don't think I like that. What's wrong with being who you are?

So, you want me to pose for a sculpture?

I-I know it's late notice,

but the judging closes tomorrow. Cake?

'Apart from her bum, Mum was also afraid of hurting anyone's feelings.'

I'd be honoured to pose for you.

Oh, great!

Oh, you don't have to eat it.

BLOWS RASPBERRY

'And, if I'm honest,

'I probably should have said

'I'm also a bit afraid of Vicki Streeton.'

-You should have caught her straight away.

-I did!

BEES BUZZ

Bees?

But did you say you were sorry for being an idiot?

No. Because if you did, everything would be sweet.

But I was NOT an idiot.

It doesn't matter. That's just what you have to say.

Hurry up, Vicki, we've got a class to get on with!

Ha-ha, there's no class in here, Miss Twaddle!

Right! Heads on desks.

If you're going to act like children,

I'll act the grumpy school-teacher.

'Egg was right. I just need to say it. Tell her I'm an idiot.'

-HOARSELY: I know you think...

-What?

I'm a...

All right, let's hope you've used up

all your silliness for today. Heads up.

Who would you be?

BEES BUZZ

Since when does she hang round bogans like Curtis?

I thought you said you were gonna apologise for being an idiot.

HOARSELY: I tried.

What's that for?

'If only I'd known

'these few steps would put me into the face of my fear,

'maybe I would have had a chat to my feet.'

What do you want, wax-head?

"Dear Vicki,

"I'm an idiot." He's got that part right.

-THEY LAUGH

-Yeah!

"And I'm sorry that..."

The only time I ever want to see your face again

is when you bring me a new vanilla slice.

Got that?

Yeah!

CROCKERY SMASHES

Your mother just found out that

your mother needs to sculpt her in the nude for this competition.

Mum's got a bum thing.

MUM MUTTERS

'I should've rung Vicki straight away and apologised.

'I should've bought Curtis a new vanilla slice.

'Or alternatively,

'I should have just stayed in bed till I turned 18.'

HEAVY METAL MUSIC PLAYS

WOOD CRACKS

'So where's Mr Streeton?

'He should be out here screaming his brains out by now.'

FALLING BIKES RATTLE

HE SIGHS

Unless you're here to deliver me a new vanilla slice,

I'm gonna be very unhappy.

HEAVY METAL GUITAR SOLO

'Things were getting too intense for words. I had to get some

'serious air guitar translation done.'

MIMICS GUITAR WITH VOICE

And what did you say?

-I just said, "Yeah, whatever."

-Oh, no.

-What?

You just agreed to fight Curtis tomorrow at four o'clock,

in the canteen after school. And you better not be late.

He said all that?

He specifically said in the canteen after school?

-MIMICS GUITAR WITH VOICE

-In the canteen.

After school.

There is another option.

You can tell Mum and Sarge and then they'd stop it.

HOARSELY: No way.

And if you tell them, I'll be using your head for practice, alright?

-HE SIGHS

-I don't want you to go, Lockie.

-I'll be OK.

-But he's 15.

And he's big.

Go to sleep, Philip.

20 hours till showdown, Leonard.

'If I could be anyone, who would I be?'

ALL: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

'Maybe a man of peace - Ghandi, or some Indian guru.

'Just zap him with my kindness. Have him eating right outta my hand.'

HE GRUNTS

HE ROARS

'Or not!

'In which case, I should be a boxer. Muhammad Ali!

'Gotta float like a butterfly,

'sting like a bee.

'Or maybe Philip's right. Maybe I should tell Sarge.'

Sarge!

Sarge!

You're supposed to come when I call you.

-Would you stop blathering on?!

-It's my dream.

I don't care! Four o'clock, Leonard. Four o'clock.

'Eight and a half hours to go.' HE SIGHS

You are a bit hot.

D'you think you should stay home?

I-I dunno, Mum.

It's OK to be scared, Lockie.

I know you don't like making speeches.

Sometimes, they say, it's better to face your fear.

Yeah, I know.

Hmm - always sounded like a load of tripe to me, too.

And you know what? I will support you if you want to stay at home.

I think it's a silly assignment, anyway.

Well, that's it, then.

We're both staying at home.

Hmm. Won't be able to pose for Mrs Eggleston's sculpture now. Shame.

-So, Leonard chickened out!

-CROWS LIKE A CHICKEN

'Word was out.

'I was home in bed with a bad case of gutlessness.

'And it looked like I'd given it to Mum, too.'

I'm so sorry, but I'm afraid Lockie's home sick

and I couldn't leave him.

Yes, you can.

Really, I don't think...

I'm going to school.

Yes, that was him. He seems to have made a recovery.

Oh, good, OK...

I'll see you at four.

You gotta face the fear, Mum.

And that's why I'd be Oprah Winfrey's dog.

SLOW CLAPPING

I had a late note.

-Gave it to Mr Flint.

-Good-o.

Staying home was the smartest thing you've done all day.

And now you've stuffed that up, too.

I know about the fight.

-I'm gonna stop it.

-Vicki, you're required at the Principal's office.

Your father's waiting to see you.

-My dad's not meant to be home till tomorrow.

-Immediately, please!

And Vicki, I think you'd better take your bag.

Mr Leonard, just enough time for you to do your assignment.

Who would you rather be?

LOCKIE CLEARS HIS THROAT

In choosing someone, there were many things I wanted to have.

Like, characteristics.

But I couldn't work out who had them all.

First off, I tried to think of someone who was fearless.

But Mum said some fears are healthy,

otherwise we'd all go around picking up spiders.

Then, I thought, maybe it'd be better if I was someone who's brave.

CROWD: Fight! Fight! Fight!

Brave people still get scared.

Like Sarge, sometimes he has to do scary stuff,

but he does it anyway.

Cos he knows it's the right thing to do.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Hope you've said your prayers, Leonard.

And maybe that's the key -

knowing what's worth doing and what's not.

And the brave bit is not caring if anyone thinks you're a coward.

BELL RINGS

And that's what I was going to tell Curtis...

if he'd only given me a chance.

I can't show you exactly what happened.

Can't stomach it again.

But this is it in interpretive dance.

On skates.

I will be played by Sarge cos he's brave.

CROWD CHEERS

Curtis will be played by himself

cos he's a bogan.

How many bee stings?

Three, four, five?

OK, we're done here.

Does it look bad?

What are you going to tell Sarge?

It was an accident.

We were playing handball and I was running backwards.

I just don't understand why there were bees at school.

They used to be part of the biology course,

until Lockie crashed into them.

Stop eating all those jubes, Philip, you'll be sick.

TELEPHONE RINGS

Get that would you, please, Philip?

-DOORBELL TUNE PLAYS

-That'll be Wingnut.

So, how did it go?

How did what go?

The assignment.

You made the speech, even though you were just a little bit fearful.

It was all right.

But it was good to do it, wasn't it? Just to get out there.

You know, not hiding at home, just doing it.

Yeah, it was great.

Oh, you don't seem very happy about it.

These bee stings are sort of distracting me

from my happiness, Mum.

I just want to go for a surf and forget today ever happened.

Vicki's on the phone.

What?!

-Hello?

-I'm not even supposed to be using the phone.

I just had to make sure that...

FOOTSTEPS

'..that you were OK.'

'Yeah. Terrible accident, really.'

Well, I'm grounded, in case you care.

-How come?

-Because of what Curtis' mate did to Dad's table.

They shouldn't have been here while Mum and Dad were away.

-Oh, good-o.

-I'm gonna go.

Well...

'OK.'

Sometimes you just need to get away,

where there's just the sun, the sand, the surf

and no-one to mess with your head.

Until some noodle tells you Curtis reckons

he's going to beat you up every day till Christmas.

Not great news.

Almost as scary as the jumble in my head about Vicki.

You can't hide in bed all day. Get up.

You've got penance to pay.

What did I do in my sleep last night to get me into trouble with Sarge?

Did you tell them about the fight?

Only the bit about Curtis beating you up every day until Christmas.

PHILIP LAUGHS

Lockie!

CROCKERY SMASHES

Joy, if you don't like the plates we can get new ones.

Mrs Eggleston's sculpture won.

Oh, well, that's, that's good, isn't it?

"Mrs F Eggleston, winner in the sculpture category...

"prize 300 cash...

"winning sculpture will be on display

"at Main Street, Angelus for...three...months."

Oh, well, that's good. That's good, isn't it?

That, that, that's great.

-That's great, isn't it?

-No, Sarge, I'm in the nude!

With my big, back veranda exposed for everyone to look at.

Well, there is that.

BANGING

Oh, I forgot. I've got Curtis in the back of the paddy wagon.

Curtis is here?

'Sarge never comes at things head on.

'He likes to sneak up on problems.

'Give them a touch of showbiz.'

Right. Two coats ought to do it.

Oh, nearly forgot.

Here are your brushes.

Are you for real?

Am I prone to making jokes, Lochlan?

Never made a joke in your life.

Never made a joke in your life, who?

Sir! Never made a joke in your life, sir!

Now, I don't know about you, Curtis...

but I know Lochlan!

So I'm assuming he started this.

But you could've turned the other cheek.

Now, Monday morning, if you two are thinking of moving in to round two,

oh, you'll be back in here Monday night.

Nice one, Sarge. There's one problem with the plan though.

He can see through the bars.

Curtis is going to see that I'm not painting.

No, he won't.

I'm not going to use the word "disappointed".

There are very few reasons in this life to raise your fists, Lockie,

and Curtis is not one of them.

You almost had the right idea by staying at home.

Yeah. That's what Vicki said.

Smart girl, that.

Complicated but smart.

She phoned again, by the way.

Maybe you'd like to go round...

once you've finished painting.

'Pssst! Vicki!'

I have to make sure every shrub is the exact same height.

To the millimetre.

Umm...quick! Get in the recycle bin.

-What?

-Oh, they never use it. It's just for show.

That section's a little bit higher than the rest, kitten.

He doesn't get it, does he?

Get what?

It's weird to go away and leave you.

I don't know if you can talk about being weird.

Well, some bogan got all hot and sweaty over my girlfriend

and then decided to beat my head in.

Is that what I am? Your girlfriend?

I don't know.

Mostly, you're my confusion.

I just get sick of being good all the time.

I'm confused already. I thought we were talking about the Curtis thing?

Yeah, I am. I knew they would chuck a fit if I invited him over.

But they weren't here.

Maybe I wanted you to chuck a fit too.

I said stuff like I loved you and you didn't say it back.

Yeah, but you say that you love heaps of stuff, Vicki.

You love fishing, you love falling asleep in front of the telly,

you love nachos.

You're just being thick now.

'But I wasn't. I'm just not as complicated as Vicki.

'All this whole love thing.

'I realised what makes stuff scary.

'It's when you don't know what's going to happen.'

-Do you think you'll ever say it?

-I don't even know what it means yet.

Does this... Does this mean we can still hang out, or not?

All right, folks, it's showtime!

The winner of the sculpture prize,

with her very naturalistic piece entitled Mum,

Mrs Florence Eggleston.

Yeah, Mum!

Kiss. HE LAUGHS

OK...let's see it.

APPLAUSE

Ahh... Oh, it's inspirational, love.

It's around the wrong way! Come on! I thought I said bum to the wall!

Oh...I almost forgot.

I made you a card.

-Oh...

-"Mum...

"we love your bum."

And we do.

Quick, come on, quick, quick, quick! >

Oh-ho-ho, look at that!

I just don't think I'm happy with EVERY Tom, Dick and Harry

staring at my...back veranda.

You've gotta face the fear, Mum. Face the fear.

# Boy, it's breaking

# Underneath the wave of strength

# Hey, hey, hey

# Hey, hey, hey

# Worlds away from anyone

# They were burning themselves out in the sun

# There was just enough to kick the ball away. #