Owen's Stride in Anxiety Saved the Day
(Scene 1 --- East High School where Owen Schumacher is sweating while creepy horror music is playing)
Teacher: (Approaches Student) Knock it off, Richardson.
Richardson: (Turns off cordless CD player) Sorry.
(Theme Song: "Mama's Room" by Under the Influence of Giants)
(Scene 2 --- Schumacher house where he and his family are having dinner)
Cristina (Owen's mom): Owen, I want to talk to you about something.
Owen: Okay, is it about school today?
Cristina: Sort of. It's an email from Ms. Kenly. It reads, "Cristina, Owen needs new binders, etc. His current ones are falling apart and he just stuffs his worksheets in his planner and then can't find them. He's also missing a lot of assignments in History. He currently has a D in math for reasons including a couple of missing assignments and an F in Science for reasons including low grades on 2 tests that he has not corrected and a C in English. He should have brought home Progress Reports for Math and Science on Thursday. He's been off the last couple of weeks…Will you check with him about meds?" She probably thought you stopped taking your ADD medicine again. Never took your medicine. And it doesn't get stuck in your throat, as you say it does.
Owen: Well, sometimes it does.
Cristina: No, it doesn't get stuck. It may feel like it but it doesn't.
Owen: Well, it does make me feel a little like I want to faint.
Cristina: Really?
Owen: Yeah.
Dean (Owen's dad): Well, have you been taking it every night?
Owen: Well, actually, seriously, I've done an experiment with the medication and I found out that not only does it have highly soapy powder, which I already knew before the experiment, but the outer layer is soft rubber. Who wants to swallow soft rubber?
Dean: What, do you feel you need smaller pills?
Owen: No!!!!!!!!!
Dean: Okay, then why do you feel that way?
Owen: Because the outer layer is rubber!! Cheez! Anyway, I just wish that kind of like Boniva, I wish the limit you could take it was once a month.
Cristina: Well, they don't do that. Just take a big glass of water or take a big swallow.
Owen: There's got to be some solution to this besides medications. Like, you know those ads for the knee relief guides? They tell you that you wouldn't have to take medications that you have to take every day when there is actually a guide of solutions to it.
Cristina: Well, there's not other solution to A.D.D. besides medication.
Owen: Then how else would you explain that some biker dude in the ad says, "Why take pills that you have to take every day when you can…"
Cristina: Well, that's a topical thing. It's not something that requires some psychiatric drug. And these pills really help you and it's important to take them.
Owen: Well, I did until I found out that they can give you a bad throat. And last year, I had a 6-hour major throw-up event and maybe that was caused by the medication. And the thing is, I can't even swallow it for a long period of time.
Cristina: (Rubbing her forehead) Okay, so now, can I see your progress reports?
Owen: Sure. (Hands Cristina progress reports)
Cristina: (Looks at Progress Reports) D in Math and F in Science? Honey, those grades are not acceptable.
Owen: Well, on the bright side, I got more A's in assignments in Math and Science than anything.
Cristina: Yeah, but you didn't turn in some many that you got an F for your overall grade. Because look, the recent Science test you didn't do so good on and you didn't do so good on Earth's History Time Line, either.
Owen: Well, it's a hard unit!
Dean: Okay, but other kids aren't getting F's, right? Then, it's not a hard unit, because if it's hard, everybody got an F. So it's not hard because everybody's not getting an F.
Owen: Well, it is a hard unit for me. It's like I always say, everybody has a different knowledge.
Cristina: And "Classify Fossils" and "Personal Time Line", you didn't turn in it looks like and the Progress Report on February 8th, you didn't turn in that either. How come you didn't turn in your progress report? And I ask you every night if you've got homework. Fossil Test: 23 points out of 70.
Owen: Well… I… I… Well… (Grabs backpack from his chair and starts digging into it)
Cristina: What are you looking for?
Owen: I'm trying to show all the good things I got so that you don't have to worry about all the bad things I got.
Cristina: But you need to get your whole grade up. You're missing all these assignments!
Owen: It's my disabilities!
Cristina: No, it's not your disabilities. You got A's and B's last year.
Owen: Well, I got easier units!
Dean: Well, that doesn't give you an excuse for not turning your work in.
Owen: Well, what if I need more time?
Dean: Then, you ask for it. But not turning in a progress report, that costs you 5 points.
Owen: (Gets up from table and into the living room nearby) I think we're better off home schooled! We'll get easier work and less strict teachers!
Alanna (Owen's older sister): What do the teachers do to you?
Owen: They talk to me too strictly. Oh, and it's not just that! They're always digging, digging, digging, digging into my personal stuff!
Dean: That's because you don't keep it organized and they're trying to help you find your assignments.
Kari (Owen's younger sister): What personal stuff you have in your binders?
Owen: Like medical stuff I have, a bunch of documents I made when I was little…
Cristina: Well, I think the best bet for that is to just leave it home.
Owen: Well, I just want to make going to school more fun and…
Dean: Owen, come and sit down, don't get all excited.
Owen: (Sits down) I just think we're better off home schooled after all.
Cristina: We can't home school. That's not an option. Daddy and I both work.
Owen: You don't work until 2:20pm!
Dean: Well, she can't home school. She's starting to get to the level when she doesn't know well anymore.
Kari: (to Dean) Just for the record, you've never known that well yourself.
Owen: But what about too strict teachers?
Cristina: They're not strict. They're just doing their job. You can do better. You can get all your work done.
Owen: But they're giving me too hard work!
Dean: No, the work isn't too hard.
Owen: Hatchet! That was a too long book for me to read! Too hard words! Too many pages! I can only read up to 150 pages!
Dean: No, you can read more than that.
Owen: No, I can't!
Dean: Sure, you can.
Owen: No, I can't!! I just want an easier book! Something I'm interested in! Something that doesn't have too many pages! Or else it's too hard for me to read!
Cristina: Owen, my dear, it's important to challenge yourself. When you get into high school, you need to be able to do stuff like that. It's all part of being older and being in high school.
Owen: But disabilities! Brain can't handle!
Cristina: Brain can handle. Brain can handle all kinds of stuff like "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" facts.
Owen: That's an interest!
Dean: But that shows that you can handle that much information.
Owen: Just not too much information or my brain will overload and explode!
Dean: No, your brain won't overload and explode. A little leak will probably happen, maybe but it won't overload and explode.
Cristina: Is there anything we can do to help you stay on task better?
Owen: I don't know.
Cristina: Do your homework every night?
Owen: Well, I just sometimes feel so uncomfortable with the balance in levels of difficulty.
Cristina: Okay, so just tell me. What are some things we can do?
Owen: I don't know! Easier work, maybe?
Dean: What specifically do you find hard about the work?
Owen: The reading assignments; I get too long books and…
Dean: Well, you don't spend any time reading, though. You just spend hours and hours watching "Millionaire" and doing your videos and everything else. You don't read so of course you can't finish the book.
Owen: Or maybe they should narrow my problems down from 10 to 7 maybe like they did back in junior high.
Dean: In math?
Owen: Some of them.
Cristina: So they should make it easier for you rather than you work harder.
Owen: Well, I'm just getting too… well, I'm reading the problems carefully and I think them through and they're just too hard! So do you think I should get excused from way too hard assignments? And maybe they can narrow my problems down for History or Science or something. Just look at Gage and Ingrid. They're just as autistic as me and slightly smarter. And they're more basic tests than me.
Dean: So you think your work should be easier because…
Owen: Well, my disabilities, maybe…
Cristina: Well, what if there is a kid without disabilities that is not as smart as you are? Should they have easier work, too? You think that when you get out of school and get a job, you think they'll give you easier tasks because of your disabilities? Or do you think that you should work just as hard as the rest of the troop?
Owen: Maybe, but just make sure that I get easier work and…
Cristina: No, we're not going to give you easier work. We'll just give you the regular work. I think that you're having problems with the fact that you don't understand. It takes a little work for you understand it. And I thought you said History was your favorite subject.
Owen: Now everything is just too hard for me!
Cristina: Sounds like you lost your confidence, huh, baby?
Owen: Well, take this math test from a couple weeks ago for example… (takes a sheet of paper out of his backpack)… "give the data about the population of New York and New Mexico. Find the population density of each state." I got that right but then came this: "How many people from New York should move out of the state to make the population density of New Mexico and New York even?" I put down 185.62 people and it was wrong.
Dean: (takes the test sheet) But isn't that obviously wrong, Owen? 185 people? For New Mexico to have the same population density as New York, you have to take the area of New York, multiply it by the density of New York, and then multiply that by 13.63 and that would give you a certain number of people and you subtract that by 18,169,000 and that would give you the answer that question. So clearly, if 185 people move of move out of the state that's not going to chance the population density hardly at all. So that's obviously.
Owen: Okay, wait a minute. If you could figure all that out… how come you can't work a payphone?
Dean: Because it's important you get your grades up.
Owen: So what should I do if I give silly answers?
Dean: Just… uh, don't give silly answers.
Owen: Don't Give Silly Answers?!?!?!?!?! That's the best response you can give me?!
Cristina: Owen, calm down. Now we're all on the same team. That's your team. We all want to see Owen succeed. Okay? We all do. The teachers, for History, English, Science, Math, they all want to see you succeed.
Owen: (thinking) It's all right, Owen. Be strong. You can get through this. It's not like anyone's gonna bring up your old karate instructor, Mr. Hewitt. You dropped out of karate last year.
Dean: They just don't want to pass you. It'd be like… what if Mr. Hewitt said…
Owen: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!! No, no! No, no! No, no, no! No, no, no! No, no!
Dean: What? Why won't you listen to me?
Owen: You've just made the biggest mistake of your life!
Dean: What? I'm just trying to give you an example.
Owen: Please? It makes me uncomfortable.
Dean: Why?
Owen: That kind of stuff makes me nervous when I re-enter something. I'm always nervous in the hallways.
(Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock)
Dean: Are you upset about dropping out of karate?
Owen: NO!!!!!!! You are not getting my point.
Dean: What is your "point"?
Owen: When I re-enter something, I…
Dean: What do you mean by "re-enter something"?
(Flashes back to Owen's sweating face from the beginning of the episode as Owen talks)
Owen: Whenever I enter school, I get nervous because I think about stuff like what you brought up.
COMMERCIAL BREAK, THEN WE'RE BACK
(Shows Owen getting off the bus as a nervous wreck)
Owen: Like when I get off the bus and into school, I get nervous because I'm thinking about stuff about "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire".
(Flashes to when Owen is entering a karate studio as a nervous wreck)
Owen: Or if I were still in karate and you got through to what you were about to say, I would think about what you would have said and blow it.
(Flashes back to the kitchen)
Dean: Just… uh, think of something else, then.
Owen: (Sobbing) But when I get on the bus, I st… start to think about stuff our f… fa… family did and other things, then I suddenly st… start to think about m… mill… "Millionaire". And then as I c… continue to think of "Millionaire" when I get to sc… school, I'm always so ner… nervous that I don't know what I'm s… saying or d… doing. (Sniffles)
Cristina: Well, that probably explains your birthday.
(Flashes Cristina and Owen meeting in the school hallway with Cristina holding a Happy Birthday helium balloon behind her back)
Cristina: Owen.
Owen: Mom.
Cristina: (Gives Owen balloon) Happy Birthday.
Owen: (Takes balloon and sniffles)
Cristina: Sweetie, what's the matter?
(Close up on balloon as Owen squeezes it until it pops and two guys, alarmed, are showed at different times, then shows Cristina alarmed, then Owen angry)
Cristina: Honey, I… I don't understand.
Owen: No one will ever understand! (Runs off)
(Flashes back to kitchen)
Owen: I'm just nervous because I'm thinking about "Millionaire" at school when I should be thinking about stuff like "What chemical does Iron Oxide and Magnesium Sulfate make together?". We need a solution to this like…
(Flashes to Cristina taking Owen to school in Cristina's Mitsubishi with the car radio blasting Green Day's "Wake Me up when September Ends")
Owen: …maybe taking me in a car rather than the bus at 7:30 so that I get there later and I'm not as nervous.
(Flashes back to kitchen)
Dean: You're probably just a little anxious, son. But you can't just stop riding the bus. You've been riding the bus for 7 or 8 years now.
Owen: But I'm Getting Nervous!! (Whimpers)
Dean: Well, you have to deal with that somehow.
Owen: NO!! I can't just deal with it!
(Flashes to Owen's head when he is sweating)
Owen: I wouldn't like it if I was sweating and…
(Shows an upperclassman kid walking up to Owen to talk)
Owen: …someone wanted to talk to me and they noticed I was sweating and…
(Shows Owen and UCM kid in the hall running into each other)
Owen: …later on the day they said…
UCM kid: What's up, Sweaty?
(Flashes back to kitchen)
Dean: (Rubbing his forehead) Okay, what kinds of things make you nervous? Is someone bothering you?
Owen: Huh?
Dean: Is there a bully who makes you nervous?
Owen: No! For the umpteenth time, I get nervous because I'm thinking about "Millionaire"!
Cristina: Okay, what else does your anxiety cause?
Owen: You think I may have anxiety?
Cristina: It sure sounds like it with your nervous in school issue.
Owen: Oh, yeah. Anyhow…
(Flashes to Dean screaming at Alanna and Kari with Owen watching)
Owen (voice-over): I have a very intense fear of getting yelled at. So I always try to stay on top of things in order to not get yelled at.
Dean: (in flashback) I DID REMIND YOU!!!!
(Flashes back to the kitchen)
Cristina: You've always been on top of things, sweetheart. You're the goodie two-shoes of the family.
Owen: But I wouldn't be if I weren't so afraid of getting yelled at.
Cristina: That's not the only reason why you're the good one. You've always known what's right and what's wrong. You never fight like Grant and the girls do.
Owen: That's the one thing I don't like about this family now. You guys are always fighting, and over little things too, and I try to stop the fight but they always end up saying, "Shut up, Owen," and the keep fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting until one of them gets seriously hurt. Remember when Eddie and Kari were fighting because Eddie broke Kari's Britney Spears CD?
(Flashes to Kari and Eddie beating each other up on their sidewalk)
(On a special note, Eddie is Owen's little brother)
Owen: They kept punching and kicking each other until Kari broke Eddie's right patella by jump front kicking him, causing him to fall while swirling and landing on his front and his knees went to the ground first really firmly and his patella shattered. He was in the hospital for a week. All over a stupid Britney Spears CD.
(Kari holds the broken CD up and cries, then it flashes back to the kitchen)
Cristina: Well, honey, you know Kari. She can tend to get pretty intense over things like that.
Kari: Yeah. (pause) Hey!
Owen: Well, I know it's healthy for a family to fight and everything but that doesn't mean we have to fight all the time. We should start to become more of a carefree, enjoyable environment for a family.
Cristina: Environment?
Owen: That means we should be a good family and have a clean house from now on.
Cristina: Okay, I'm in. I mean, look at this place.
Cristina and Owen: Phew!
Cristina: Anyway, I'm glad you shared that stuff with me. And from now on, if there's anything that's bothering you, you can tell me or daddy or Alanna or Eddie or anybody.
Owen: And I promise from now on, I'll try my best to be at the top of my class.
Cristina: Good. (She and Owen hug)
Dean: Lay one on your old man. (He and Owen hug)
(Happy Ending music plays)
ANOTHER COMMERCIAL, THEN WE'RE BACK
(Scene 3 --- East High School with bicycling paper boy on the sidewalk, then the paper boy crashes into a tree and falls over)
(Cut to Owen in Guided Study)
Ms. Kenly: (Approaches Owen) Owen, I got the e-mail from your mother. It seems you have an anxiety disorder?
Owen: Yeah. I get nervous in the halls and I'm afraid of getting yelled at.
Ms. Kenly: Well, you're going to have to prove that to me. Because no one's prescribed any meds for that yet.
Owen: But it's only been yesterday since I even brought up my problems. Well, I guess this'll be the start of something, all right.
(Ending music and then fades out)