The old, rusted pipe stretched across the river, next to the bridge adorned with gilded cherubs that separated town from park.
"Bet you can't walk across it" Tommy dared.
"Bet I can, but I bet you can't do it as fast as me" double dared Mike, as he hopped up on to the wall and eased himself onto the pipe.
Tommy stared, mouth agape, as Mike, poised like a tight-rope walker, arms held out straight beside him, broke into a run and ran the length of the pipe in no time at all, with only the slightest of wobbles at the end.
"And it's all 9's from the judges, the crowd goes wild!" shouts Mike from the other side, bounding around in mock celebration while Tommy tries to quell the butterflies in his stomach. He eases himself on the pipe, closes his eyes and tries to centre his balance. The wind conspiratorially blows with a powerful gust that sets his knees a-wobble and he lets out the slightest of whimpers. Tommy's scared, but he's not about to lose face, and besides, Mike's bragging would be unbearable if Tommy, double dared, couldn't replicate the task. He inches his feet forwards tentatively, the slipperiness of the riveted metal slight cause for alarm beneath the soft soles of his sneakers.
"Come on! Just leg it!" shouts Mike, but Tommy can't. His legs are betraying him, like leaden lumps of awkwardly joined metal they creak, resisting his commands, his body refusing to take the risk his mind has instructed.
"I...I can't. I think I'm stuck." wails Tommy, standing there, stiff legged and half-crouched like a rodent poised to flee. He looks to Mike, hoping to see something in his face that will help him move, but instead all he sees is his own fear mirrored in his friends features.
"Oh shit...stay there man, I'll go get help." and with that Mike disappears from sight.
OK Tommy, you can do this, he tells himself unconvincingly. But this was, of course, typical. He tried to be more like Mike, he really did, and he envied the ease at which his friend competed in all things physical with out a worry or concern for the possible outcomes. Always lunging in for a challenge on the football pitch, crunching bodies together in rugby, jumping the yawning gap between stairwells at school with the greatest of ease. Tommy wanted to be more like Mike, but his fear always let him down.
No, he resolved, he was going to do this. He'd been double dared. Taking a deep breath, he finally found his balance and, exhaling, he broke into a run, arms streaming beside him and shoes slapping against the slick, rusting metal beneath his feet. In the split-seconds he had in this moment, he felt exhilarated. He had, for once, overcome his fear and now, he was going to make it! He really was, as Mike's face reappeared at the other side with a gaggle of concerned and alarmed grown-ups.
And then the pipe simply wasn't there any more. For a brief, infinitesimal second he was free, completely detached from any surface his body hung, feet flailing in empty air, before the cold, hard grip of gravity brought the pipe back towards him. He crashed side-on to the metal, hitting his head and feeling something crack beneath him. An arm? A rib? He couldn't be sure, as he looked into the shocked faces of the on-lookers and fell towards the river, hitting the surface of the shallow water with a splash.
He knew he was in pain, but it was a dull annoyance in the background. His head felt warm and sticky, his blood leaking freely from a gash on his temple to mix with the steady trickle of water that flowed beneath his form. He tried to move, but only succeeded in wracking his body with pain, so instead he laid there and waited. It wasn't long before he heard the splash of feet through water and Mike arrived, grown-ups in tow. He looked into his friends face, ashen white as he stared at Tommy's broken form, so Tommy smiled, attempting to let him know he was OK, speech beyond his grasp through the cloudy haze of concussion, as if all the air had been knocked out of him.
Later, with two broken ribs and a fractured elbow, Tommy sat in the hospital bed, eating crisps with his one good arm and watching TV. His parents had arrived earlier and fussed over him, but now had to return to work, which frankly he was grateful for. His mother's tears were unbearable. The man who had drove him there came to visit, he was a mechanic at the nearby garage and laughed as he said he'd never seen anyone flip like that in mid-air. Mike came to visit not long after, but he was subdued. Either because he was feeling guilty at daring Tommy into making the run, or because this was the first time he'd seen a situation turn sour, Tommy couldn't decide.
So instead he settled for a dare. "When I get out of here, I bet you can't jump off the pipe into the river."
"Too bloody right!" Mike replied, with a laugh.
