[Felix Foley sits on the stage of his former funhouse, his legs dangling off the edge. Behind him sit the puppets he’s recently neglected. He looks out into the audience, which is us.]
[Felix Foley] I blame myself.
That sounds strange, doesn’t it? But I do.
[Foley looks saddened, his head lowered.]
[Felix Foley] When I think about what young men like The Black Panther have done to others, I kinda take it personally. I feel responsible. Because once upon a time, he would’ve been a child that I wanted to reach. He would’ve been someone I hoped to help.
And look what’s become of him now.
[He shakes his head.]
[Felix Foley] I used to look out over a sea of happy faces and know that I was making a difference. Their smiles lit my soul alight as they sung and danced along with The Funhouse Band.
[A feint smile crosses his face, soon fading away.]
[Felix Foley] Letting this get taken away from me has resulted in the loss of our youth. They’ve been lost to violence and rage. They’ve been lost to the abyss of hatred and disarray.
I failed The Black Panther; I’m sure I did.
[There’s a sense of loss and sadness in his voice.]
[Felix Foley] And now I sit on the grandest stage of them all… Olympus. My reach is far and wide greater than it ever was. But when I look out into the crowd of variable children, what I see scares the bejesus out of me.
[His eyes are wide and focused on us – the crowd.]
[Felix Foley] The Yellow Python… a boy consumed with rage because his once friend turned his back on him. He’s angry and there’s no-one for him to talk to. He’s following a path of rage towards a sticky end and there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of stopping him.
Narcissa Balenciaga… a little girl betrayed by someone she loved; humiliated and abandoned. All she wants is love. All she wants is to be loved back by the person she loved most and since she can’t get it, she’s on a collision course with innocent people who have no stake in her pain.
Destructo Boy… a poor kid who lost his mom. He lost… his mom. He’s consumed by grief and there’s no outlet, no help, no saving him from the very thought of vengeance that plagues his mind.
And then there’s my best friend, Doom. I wish I was older than him by enough to have been on this stage when he was a boy. All he wants, deep down, is to be accepted.
[Foley sighs, carefully getting back to his feet.]
[Felix Foley] When I take to the stage at Lambs to the Slaughter, it’s to right the wrongs of my past. It’s to speak to the children of Old School Wrestling, no matter how old they are. It’s to show them a better way.
I need to win Lambs.
Not because I want to. Not because I deserve it.
[He points at us, the children.]
[Felix Foley] But for the children.