by Tony Brent
BRAD
Hey! What tha! You could've gotten yourself shot!
HAROLD
Brad? Is that you? Brad Tucker?
BRAD
Henry?
HAROLD
It’s "Harold".
BRAD
You're Zeke's daddy, right?
HAROLD
Zach's dad, yes. Why are you in a sleep bag, it's not even dark yet?
BRAD
Just taking a little nap, I had to get up at 4:00 this morning. Never mind that, what are you doing up here? It's the first day of hunting season. You could get shot.
HAROLD
I'm here with the Trailblazers club on a camping trip. Your wife and son are here too.
BRAD
Forgot about that; bad weekend for it; its hunting season, what are ya’ll thinking? You could get shot!
HAROLD
That's just it; turns out that Dan invented the Trail Blazer club! Made the whole thing up and didn't tell a soul! Then he planned the trip and of course, he has no idea what he's doing and now look at the mess we're in! If that wasn't bad enough, there's a bear and I'm hate to break it to you, it chased your son and Connor Baker into the woods!
BRAD
A bear is after my son? How big was it?
HAROLD
I don't know, I didn't see it, your wife saw it! Now come on and help me find the boys!
Brad grabs a rifle and both men quickly exit
ACT 2 SCENE 7
CAMPSITE
(Dan continues to moan about his leg. Brenda is trying to start a campfire as the boys huddle
around. Two tents are erected and one tent appears to have partially fallen over.)
ZACH
Do you think Brian and Connor ran very far Mrs. Tucker?
BRENDA
I don't know son, but I'm sure they are okay and Harold will be back with them directly.
ROBERT
None of this would be happening if Baby Foot Connor hadn't tripped my dad! He would've gotten us back home by now!
CHASE
Why is it you hate everybody?
ROBERT
I don't hate everybody, just the stupid people.
CHASE
Which is pretty much everybody except you, right?
ROBERT
Watch it rich kid or I'll add you to the list. All you ever do is brag about the stuff you've got.
ZACH
I don't think Robert hates everybody except himself, I think he hates himself the most.
(Everyone pauses, including Brenda, letting that soak in.)
ZACH
(Continues)
Bullies are never really happy, even when they are bullying someone, you can see it in their eyes. They
may say that's not true, but their eyes don't lie.
ROBERT
You take it back!
ZACH
(Standing up)
No, I'm not taking back the truth.
ROBERT
(Pauses, then averts his eyes and walks away and over to the ledge)
Dad, how's it going?
ROGER
Don't get too close to the ledge, you don't want to wind up down here with us.
DAN
Do you have some bubble bath?
ROBERT
Huh?
ROGER
He's gone completely bye-bye now.
ROBERT
Oh...
CHASE
You didn't stutter at all that time Zach.
ZACH
I usually only stutter when I'm nervous; I'm not going to let a bully make me nervous ever again.
(From offstage we hear growling and then see foliage begin to shake violently. The boys and Brenda huddle together as close to the ledge as they can without falling. A full-grown bear emerges from the woods. Brenda and the boys scream. )
BRENDA
Stay close, stay close!
(The bear rears up on two feet and Brenda starts running.)
BRENDA
Run!
(Everybody splits up and runs in different directions until everyone is gone except for Dan
and Roger on the cliff below .)
ROGER
Hey! What happened up there?
DAN
Can we go swimming in pudding?
ACT 3 SCENE 1
Connor and Brian are still trapped on the rock; the bear sits several yards away and is swaying
back and forth, growling in a low voice. It's nearly dark.
CONNOR
Maybe we can distract it!
(Connor finds a small rock and throws it into the woods hoping the bear will follow it. From the woods we here an "OUCH!" and then see Robert run in, his hand against his forehead.)
ROBERT
I think I'm bleeding!
(The bear turns and sees Robert. Robert freezes, too panicked to move. The bear growls and begins
moving slowly toward Robert.)
CONNOR
Don't run, Robert! He's too fast! You can't outrun him!
ROBERT
Ma, ma, ma...help me.
(Brian slides down off of the rock, grabs a branch and shakes it at the bear, drawing it's attention
briefly away from Robert. The bear advances toward Brian.)
CONNOR
Quick, climb up Robert!
(Robert comes to his senses and a start trying to climb the rock, Connor grabs his hand and helps
pull him up.)
CONNOR
(Continued)
Brian!
(The bear begins to circle Brian, moving closer. Unable to find anything else, Connor takes off his
shoe and throws it at the bear, hitting it in the face, angering it. The bear turns back toward the
rock, giving time for Brian to run into the woods. The bear briefly turns to look for Brian but
doesn't see which direction he went. The bear tries again to climb the rock with no
success, finally the bear sits, stares at the boys and moans, swaying back and forth.)
ROBERT
It, it's really big. What are we going to do?
CONNOR
Nothing, we are not gonna do a thing but stay right here.
ROBERT
What about Turkey...Tucker...Brian?
CONNOR
If the bear stays here he should be fine, maybe he can find his way back to the others.
ROBERT
He saved my life and so did you.
CONNOR
All I did was throw my shoe. Guess my little feet were actually good for something after all. Imagine what would have happened if my feet were big.
ROBERT
Do you think it can figure out a way to get up here?
CONNOR
I don't know, I'm not sure how smart bears are. Maybe we should just sit still and it'll go away. Let's talk about something else...
ROBERT
Turk...Brian saved my life and so did you.
(The boys sit in silence for a moment. We see a new figure come to the edge of the forest, it
stands upright on two feet, however is crouched down somewhat, partially hidden by the foliage,
watching.)
CONNOR
When I was in the third grade a kid named Trevor made fun of my feet on the playground every day; he got some of the other kids to join in too. I went home one night and asked my mom if she would buy me bigger shoes. She wanted to know why, so I told her about the kids making fun of my feet. After dinner that night my mom took me to Payless and said to buy whatever size shoe I wanted to, whether they fit or not. I bought these really big black Keds. For some reason I thought the color black made them look bigger. The next morning I
put on two pairs of my thickest socks and the shoes were still too big. I stuffed some toilet paper into the toes of the shoes and I had to shuffle my feet when I walked; took me forever to get to the classroom from the bus stop. I wore them for two days and no one said a word about my feet, then during recess, I was trying to swing on the monkey bars and I accidently
kicked off one of my shoes, toilet paper flew everywhere and there was Trevor, seeing the whole thing. He started laughing and pointing and then he grabbed to toilet paper and ran around the playground, waving it and telling everybody what happened. I was so worried about kids making fun of me that in the end I wound up making it worse.
ROBERT
I promise I'm never gonna make fun of your feet again.
CONNOR
I wish my dad where here, he'd know what to do.
ROBERT
Why didn't he come? Your dad, I mean?
CONNOR
He's in Afghanistan, in the army. I haven't seen him in nine months.
ROBERT
That's tough.
CONNOR
At least we get to Skype a lot, unless he's on a mission or something, then sometimes we don't talk for
weeks. He can't really talk about what he's doing. My mom cries a lot.
ROBERT
You probably talk to your dad more than I talk to mine and he lives with me.
CONNOR
Is that why you are a bully?
(Robert looks away in silence)
CONNOR
I know they say that if the parents bully their kid then the kid may wind up being a bully too.
ROBERT
I don't know what you are talking about, well, I guess I know...I just don't really ever think about it. Most of the time kids just make me mad, most kids are so stupid!
(Robert finds several small stones, stands up and starts throwing them at the bear in frustration.)
ROBERT
Stupid bear! Why don't you just go away and leave us alone! Can you understand that, you stupid bear!
(The bear becomes agitated and lumbers back over to the rock and rears up on it's hind legs. The boys
back away as far as they can. We see a shadow appear in the woods, watching, standing on two feet.)
CONNOR
Stop, you're just making him madder! He's never gonna leave!
(The bear moves around the side the rock cropping.)
ROBERT
Wha, what's he doing?
CONNOR
I don't know!
(The bear moves to a corner of the rock cropping next to some moss and earth and manages to get a foothold; he pulls his body up several feet; both boys scream and hug each other. Suddenly, the figure that has been watching from the woods quickly emerges and we see that it is Bigfoot! Both boys see Bigfoot and scream even louder than before. Bigfoot growls, then grabs a large tree limb and hits the bear in the back with it. The bear loses his grip and tumbles backwards. The bear rolls over to a four-legged position and begins to scramble backwards away from Bigfoot. Bigfoot looms over the bear, arms outstretched. The bear turns and runs deep into the forest with Bigfoot in pursuit. The boys sit, still in shock, mouths agog.
ROBERT
What...just...happened?
CONNOR
He is real.
ROBERT
Bigfoot.
CONNOR
Bigfoot just saved us.
ACT 3 SCENE 2
(Harold and Brad walk briskly through the forest, Brad holds a flashlight in one hand and his rifle
in the other hand.)
HAROLD
(Loud whisper)
Connor...Brian...Connor
BRAD
Brian, it's me, your dad.
HAROLD
I think we are coming up on where we were going to camp. Dan and Roger fell off a ledge and the only rope we had went over with them into a crevice. Now, they're trapped and we can't get them up. Do you have a rope?
BRAD
No, no rope, are you sure this is the way the boys went? They wouldn't have ran toward the camp if they were running away from the camp.
HAROLD
I think so.
BRAD
Because when you ran up on me you were coming from the other direction.
HAROLD
I was?
BRAD
I'm pretty sure, yeah.
HAROLD
Maybe I was going in circles and didn't know it.
BRAD
There's a tent!
(Just as Brad spies the tent, Harold falls; as he falls he grabs Brad's shirt and they fall backwards together, both yelling as they fall.)
ROGER
Harold?
HAROLD
Roger...Dan?
BRAD
Are you kidding me?
DAN
Hi fellas, you're late, did you bring the chips and dip?
ROGER
Don't pay any attention to him, his leg is broken and he's gone coo-coo from the pain.
HAROLD
Where are the others?
ROGER
A bear showed up and they all ran.
BRAD
Including the men?
ROGER
There ain't any other men with us, just your wife.
BRAD
You guys let my wife get chased by a bear?
ROGER
It was supposed to be a father, son weekend so I guess that means you let her get chased by a bear, Brad.
BRAD
Well, the first problem is you decided to go camping right after a hard winter; the bears are hungry because they hadn't had much to eat so naturally they are more predatory than usual, also maybe you stumbled upon a den and the momma bear is just trying to protect her cubs. And speaking of my wife, I didn't know she was going to go on this little trip in the first place.
ROGER
You know an awful lot about bears but not much about what goes on in your own household.
ACT 3 SCENE 3
(Brenda runs through the forest until she enters the clearing, she leans against an old tree to
catch her breath. Something falls from the tree and lands directly in front of her, startling
her. She picks up the item and realizes it's a cell phone. She looks up in the tree.)
CHASE
Sorry Mrs. Tucker, I was trying to get a signal.
BRENDA
Chase?
ZACH
I'm up here too Mrs. Tucker.
BRENDA
Zach? Who else is up there? Brian?
ZACH
Just us two, we don't know where Brian is.
BRENDA
Were you able to get a signal?
CHASE
No, my battery is still dead.
ZACH
Of course it's still dead, Chase.
BRENDA
I've got to find my son.
CHASE
I suggest you get in the tree with us Mrs. Tucker, that bear was a grizzly and they can't climb as well as
black bears can.
ZACH
But, they can climb, is that what you're saying?
CHASE
Yes, but not as good as black bears.
BRENDA
My poor Brian, where are you?
(A noise is heard from offstage and suddenly the bear appears running on all fours. Brenda grabs a branch and as she puts her weight on it, it breaks. She struggles to reach a higher branch and finally gets a handhold and pulls herself up into the tree right before the bear reaches her.)
(The bear rears up putting its front paws o
n the tree, causing it to sway slightly. The bear swats a paw at Brenda's foot. Brenda screams.)
CHASE
Don't show fear Mrs. Tucker, don't show fear! That was in the book I read!
BRENDA
That's easy for you to say, you are higher up in the tree!
(Brenda tries to climb higher and slips, the bear swats at her leg and barely misses. Brenda kicks at the bears paw. The bear begins to shake the tree violently. Brenda is about to fall out of the tree when...
Bigfoot appears and tackles the bear from behind, both roll over on the ground. Brenda and the boys are screaming. Bigfoot stands, arms outstretched with a deep growl. The bear, back on all fours, shuffles back and forth, unsure of what to do. Bigfoot slowly begins to step backward into the forest and the bear follows, gaining confidence. It is clear Bigfoot is luring the bear away from the humans. They continue to move slowly, Bigfoot backing up and the bear advancing until they have vanished from sight.)
BRENDA
Oh, my Lord, what was that?
ZACH
Bigfoot!
CHASE
Impossible, my father says he doesn't exit!
ZACH
Well, your father didn't just see what we saw!
CHASE
I'm not what I saw, it's kind of dark, and maybe it was two bears fighting.