side-probably because Billy was just a little better at the game than Kevin. With ten points for the throw, Kevin might beat him. There was no way Billy wanted that, especially when the winner-Johnny of course-got to pick the dare.
Kevin understood these things, yet could not have verbalized them. He didn’t begrudge his friend for his denial of support.
The last time Johnny gave Billy a dare it was a difficult one. Billy had to steal a candy bar from the five-and- ten store. Although he hadn’t wanted to shoplift-he was stuck.
Back then everything seemed like it was going smoothly. Billy had walked into the place, the other kids watching from outside, and walked out with the bar stuck in his pocket, into the grayness of night. Mr. Clawson, the owner, came out running, grabbed him and shook him hard, finally calling Billy’s father to pick him up. Twenty-five whips was what Billy received. Along with two weeks grounding, he got no dessert for a month, which he couldn’t sit down for anyhow, and no allowance until he put two dollars in the church poor box. That was the worst part, Billy told them all, because he only got twenty-five cents a week so it took two whole months. No baseball cards, no movies that whole time. Nothing he lived for, just chores and school. Soda bottles he found at the schoolyard only grossed him a few cents. Enough for a few pieces of candy once in awhile, nothing more.
So he was not going to side with Kevin this time. Not if it meant the same ghastly punishment. Even if they were best friends, it wasn’t worth it.
Kevin got to throw one more time. A cool breeze rushed past him, chilling him to the bone. It was as if he could feel defeat in the air. He raised the ball, and threw it. Though it hit the ledge and shot off in a startling angle. Instead of catching it, his nose stopped its descent. His score remained five points.
Tony’s turn yielded thirty points, while Jimmy got forty. Billy only got five points before he missed the ledge.
Johnny kept throwing the ball and catching it, throwing it and catching it. It looked like a tennis match. Back and forth-back and forth. The school building favored him by leaning out at a right angle, allowing him to hit its ledge. Sure it was an optical illusion of the fading light, but that was what it looked like-at least to a child. He made three ten pointers in a row, which was pretty astonishing. Even to Johnny. He seemed to sense the inevitable doom, which lurked just out of sight…waiting to claim his streak…so he made the final two throws five pointers. As if by magic, Johnny won the game within two rounds-it usually took at least three and sometimes four. He had never hit three ten pointers in a row. After the third one, Johnny wimped out and shot at the easier five-point ledge. Had Johnny tried-Kevin knew-he would have hit all ten pointers, or won a baseball throwing championship that day. The knowledge left him unsteady and scared. The wind seemed to blow the boys in a certain direction-forward, and wouldn’t allow them to turn back. Kevin sensed it-Johnny could have won with two broken hands and ten busted fingers.
Everyone congratulated Johnny. Except for Billy who was terrified what Johnny’s dare would be. This was the first time anyone had tied for the losing spot-him and Kevin. “Kevin and Billy!” Johnny exclaimed in excited tones. “You both lost so you both have to do the dare!”
“No way!” Billy yelled back, more from fear than to question Johnny’s authority. “The last time…”
“You’re such a wimp.” Jimmy cut him off. “Kevin’s not complaining.”
“No. We’ll play sudden death,” Tony said. “Whoever gets the most points on one ball wins. Loser does the dare.”
“Yeah,” Johnny agreed, still flying high from his amazing triumph. Had he not been he would have required both boys do the dare. His smile said it all: he was feeling good, even god forbid, generous.
Billy’s face registered terror at the sudden death prospect.
Kevin, sensing Billy’s heightening fear, made his first adult decision. “No way-I’ll do the dare. If you want you can make it doubly hard. I’m sure that’s okay by everyone.”
Everyone nodded approval.
Kevin noted Billy’s eyes saying, “Thanks, I owe you one.” A pang of guilt, like a slow rolling cloud passed over Billy’s features. Guilt, Kevin knew, for not supporting the earlier decision on his five-point throw. But Kevin didn’t begrudge him that.
“Okay,” Johnny said. “I will make it twice as hard.”
“Whatever,” Kevin replied, not actually believing Johnny would do it, but accepting his fate. A black wave of panic crept into his heart, but he shook it off as childish fear. Fear of the dark unknown.
“I dare you to sit on the train tracks,” Johnny said.
“That’s easy!” It was easy, but now that Kevin said it-he was sorry. Johnny’s face showed it was a mistake.
“I’m not through giving the dare yet,” Johnny said. “Sit on them until the train comes down the tunnel.”
“That’s too easy Johnny,” Jimmy moaned.
“You Dork!” Johnny snapped. “I’m still not done. Kevin, I’ll put you on the tracks with your back to the tunnel. You can’t move until I tell you to.”
“No way,” Billy yelled. “That’s too risky. Don’t do it Kevin.” An undulating tremor rose in Billy’s words. “Pick something else.”
“No way. Either Kevin does it or he’s out of the gang. It’s up to him.” Johnny put his arms together over his chest-a sign of power that meant “do it or suffer the consequences.”
Several minutes of quiet deliberation followed. Kevin decided to try it. Johnny would get nervous the moment he saw the train’s light at the back of the tunnel, then tell Kevin to move, giving him ample time to get off the tracks. “Okay, I’ll do it. When?” A couple days of preparation time would be nice.
“Now. Right now, before you chicken out,” Johnny said.
“But Kevin…what if…?”
“Billy,” Kevin cut him off, “I’ll be fine. I’m sure of it.”
A half-hour later the boys walked to the tunnel site. Johnny positioned Kevin two yards from the tunnel mouth. Placing Kevin on the tracks-not on the metal rails-but on the gravel between two railway ties, with his legs crossed.
“Kevin, don’t do this. Please,” Billy pleaded. The sound of his begging was like an incessant buzzing bee.
“Let him be,” Tony said. Then he pushed Billy.
Kevin yelled, “Leave him be, or I’m not doing it.”
Johnny saw defiance on Kevin’s face. “Yeah, leave him alone Tony.”
The incident ended. Kevin seated on the train tracks, sensed the excited tension running through the group. No doubt, Johnny did also. Which made it important to Johnny. “You know, if I do this…,” Kevin saw his opportunity in this situation, so he let the idea of not completing the dare linger for a minute. “…then I’ll never have to do another dare. None.”
“No way,” Johnny said instantly. His face said that wasn’t true.
Just then the ground began to rumble. The 5:30 train would be five minutes early, making the 7:30 early as well.
“I won’t do it then,” Kevin said, getting to his feet.
At that moment Billy’s face changed from being screwed up tight to the calm, happy-go-lucky face Kevin knew well. An insupportable weight looked to have been lifted from his soul.
“Wimp,” said Tony. Johnny followed, then Jimmy. Their tone indicated disappointment, a sense of loss, an anticlimax, like the anticlimax at the end of a roller coaster ride.
Johnny knew that if Kevin didn’t follow through with the dare the other boys would lose the thrill. That would make them lose faith in him as their leader. Kevin knew it too. Since they all had to be home for dinner by 6 or 6:30 this would be the only time Kevin could attempt the dare that evening. After today, the dare would lose its excitement, because things did that the next day. It was like going to the ballpark and seeing a double header where your team won both games, then trying to retell it with the excitement you felt, the next day. Impossible.
“Okay,” Johnny said, seeming to understand all these things innately. “This is your last dare, as long as you don’t move until I tell you to.”
Though the boys grumbled about the concession, they talked animatedly about the dare.
“He’ll never stay,” Jimmy said.
“Yes I will.”
