(Mike walked down the steps to get to the beach where he found Davy and Peter sitting on rocks with the wind blowing their hair and the sound of the waves were kind of soothing Peter's heart a little…)
Mike (Sitting down on another rock): I don't think Micky meant to say what he said to you Pete.
Peter: It sure sounded that way. (There was silence for a minute) You wanna know why I'm so funny all the time? It's not because I'm dumb or stupid; it's because it's the only way to hide my feelings sometimes. I grew up in a home where we moved all the time. My dad was in the military and instead of leaving us behind, he took us with him. And everytime that I would enter a new school, I found it hard to make friends by being myself. So I created this funny side to me and in doing that it worked. I made a lot of friends. But none of them compared to the three of you. I never had a stable place or long-term friends until I came across you three. Not only did you allow me to be part of this group we created, you became my friends; my brothers so-to-speak. The laughter, the jokes…all that is a cover- up. I haven't been the real Peter in a very long time because I forgot how to be; `til now.
Mike: The real Peter? You mean there's more than one of you inside that body? (Peter laughed) Ah, see..? There's that smile. Now listen here. Nobody can make you what you are but you.
Davy: You know that almost made sense Mike; almost. (They laughed again) But I see where he's comin' from mate. I've only known you for a few small years and in those few small years I've seen the real Peter.
Peter: When?
Davy: When you thought that something happened to Micky because we couldn't find him for three days. He'd gotten lost in the woods while camping and we searched and searched and when we didn't find him on the third day you began to cry. You thought that we'd lost him so you set out on your own looking for him. Mike and I tried to warn you that a bear had been hanging around but you didn't care. You were determined to find Micky and you did; you found him somewhere in the middle of the woods and he was wounded. You carried him all the way back to the camp and saved his life. That was the real Peter and I see nothing wrong with him.
Peter: Yeah, well, I do. I haven't seen that Peter in a long while and I…
Mike: Why do you hate being the real you man? Did something happen to you that we don't know about?
Peter: When I was sixteen, I met this girl while at one of the army camps. She was real beautiful; but she was the general's daughter and my father told me she was off limits. It was a small camp so I was bound to run into her sooner or later and I did. We sat talking the whole night about how it felt being the kids of army personel. We had a lot in common and we ended up falling in love.
Davy: Oh this sounds like a good story.
Mike: Anything involving girls to you is a good story. (They laughed) Let him finish would ya?
Davy: Sorry.
Mike: It's okay. Go ahead Peter!
Peter: Anyhow, we fell in love. We were so much in love that we snuck off the grounds, found a judge and got married because we didn't want to end up living apart since there was no guaranteed we'd be on the base the next day. (Their mouths dropped open)
Mike: You're married? That's wonderful!
Peter: *Not* so wonderful Mike. The marriage only lasted 32 hours. We tried to pretend we weren't married; that we were just friends but one day while we were in school, the general came in with my father. I was escorted out of school by the both of them where they sat me down and yelled at me. They not only found out about us getting married, they had our marriage annuled and my father was kicked off the base. I never saw her again. After that, my father wouldn't talk to me. He wouldn't do anything but give me orders and threaten to send me to boot camp. I thought by creating this funny side to me, not only would it help me gain friends but it would help my father come back to me; but he hasn't.
Mike: All that because of a girl?
Peter: Yes. My father took the army life seriously and expected us to do the same. School came before anything else and I wasn't supposed to have any girlfriends; let alone a wife. So when my father acted that way I had to create another side of me to keep away the pain of not having the woman I loved with me *and* not having my father talk to me.
Mike: I guess I can understand why you guarded your heart; we've all done something like that. But to not like who you really are is what has me puzzled. You're a good man Peter with or without the humor.
Peter: Tell that to Micky would ya?
Davy: Look, enough talk about Micky all right? He made a bad choice and I think it's time we get our minds off of it. Let's go for a ride in the Monkeemobile. That'll cheer us up.
Mike: Not if you think *you're* driving it!
Davy: What's wrong with my driving?
Mike: You gotta be able to see over the steering wheel to drive.
Davy: That's what telephone books are for.
Mike: You're still not driving it.
Peter (Keys in hand): I'm driving!
Mike: How'd you…(He looked at Peter and laughed) Never mind. C'mon! (The three of them left for the Monkeemobile)