by Vince Ford
“Let me see,” said Ivan, ignoring Adam. “I get a roll and some cheese.” He popped them into his bag. “You get a chicken sandwich. That’s a good swap.”
“I’m not swapping,” cried Adam, his ear and the side of his face had gone an angry red.
“Yeah you are,” Ivan growled. He picked up the roll, pulled the wrap off, made a hoicking sound in the back of his throat then stuck his tongue out and licked down its entire length. He wiped a trail of mayonnaise off the side of his face with his sleeve and licked more off the corner of his mouth. “Mmmmm, nice,” he grinned at his mates. They cracked up laughing as Ivan stood and walked away.
Adam squirmed and aimed a wild kick that missed Ivan’s departing bum by miles. “You big jerk,” he yelled, red in the face and wild. Finn grabbed Adam as Ivan’s mate gave his ear a final twist and let him go.
“Shut up Ad, just leave it mate,” hissed Finn.
Ivan and his gang trailed away in a rowdy mob, punching each other in the shoulder and laughing outrageously, each of them trying to make out that they thought it was funnier than the others. The only one that didn’t join in was Muzz. He walked at the back of the group with his hands in his pockets and glanced over his shoulder at Adam.
Finn stopped Adam from flying at Ivan’s back but he couldn’t stop him from swearing. When he had calmed down Finn picked up the mushed chicken sandwich. “I can’t figure out why he swapped this. Usually he’d just nick your lunch and walk away.”
“Okay, I’ll write that in the rules too,” said Kim, hastily scribbling on her pad.
“Why don’t we start now?” asked Adam.
“Can’t,” said Kim, still scribbling quickly. “We’ve got to catch our bus in about five minutes.”
“Oh yeah,” Tara glanced at her watch and got to her feet as Kim packed her pad away. The others started to move.
“Back here with some dares next week,” said Robbie.
“Yeah,” cried Adam. “Some way out ones!”
A couple of days later Adam sat down for lunch at school with Finn. He was desperate to think of a good dare, something that would catch Tara out.
“How about swallowing one of the science room goldfish?”
Finn shook his head, “Kim would never agree, she gets all squishy about things like that.”
“Lighting farts?” asked Adam.
“Yeah right, the girls would do that!”
Adam frowned, “How about the smiley face thing, where you leave a lighter going till the metal bit gets really hot then burn a smile on your arm with it.”
Finn raised his eyebrows. “Maybe…”
Ivan Spittle and his mates were coming towards them, pushing each other and swaggering as they walked. They kept looking at Adam and cracking up. Ivan dropped his bag on the seat and sat down next to Adam.
“He’s just a head case,” said Adam, still foaming slightly at the mouth. “I’d like to see him try that if I had a chainsaw.”
“Eh?”
Adam pretended he had a chainsaw and swung it straight up from crotch height, “Raaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-aarrrrrrrr,” he didn’t stop till it came out at head height.
“Messy,” winced Finn.
“Serve him right.”
Chapter 7
Everyone was at the choir loft shortly after swimming on Thursday. It was a bright day, the air was still and they were all stripped down to shirts and shorts.
“Right, let’s get moving,” said Tara. “We’ve got to catch the bus in half an hour.”
“Has everyone got a dare?” asked Finn.
Everyone fished through pockets and bags for their dares. Kim tipped her bag out and put it in the middle.
“Everyone put your dares in my bag and I’ll draw them out one at a time.”
Adam, who was the first to move, pushed his folded paper to the bottom of the bag. The others followed suit.
Finn cleared his throat. “I think that before it’s too late everyone should have the chance to back out if they want to.”
“If they’re chicken,” added Tara.
“That’s not fair,” said Robbie, looking evenly at her. “If anyone has something they don’t want the rest of us to know they should be able to pull out.”
Tara rolled her eyes.
“Does anyone want to back out now?” Finn asked again.
There was a charged moment as everyone glanced around the room. The loft was painfully quiet, time seemed to glug, like thick cream poured too quickly over peaches. Adam was the only one not to feel it. He noisily removed the foil wrapper from a muesli bar and started eating it, chewing wetly and loudly.
“Okay,” said Kim, frowning at Adam. She shook the bag around then fished a paper out and read it. “The first dare is to swim across the Morven River, just below the dam.”
Robbie whistled softly. “The Morven’s really fast there.”
“And it’s just above the gorge,” said Finn. “If you get washed down there you’d never get out.”
“I reckon it’s too dangerous,” said Kim, giving Adam a sideways glance since he was the weakest swimmer.
“We’ve gotta vote on it!” shrilled Tara.
Kim shrugged. “All right, who votes that they’d swim the Morven if that dare came to them?”
Tara put her hand up immediately. Adam wasn’t going to be beaten and put his up too. Finn, Robbie and Kim didn’t move.
“Pussies,” muttered Tara.
Kim fished into the bag again, pulling out a sheet of pad paper. “This one is to eat … something … I can’t read it.”
“Eat what?” asked Robbie.
Tara grabbed the paper from Kim. “I think it’s cockroach. It’s to eat a live cockroach.”
“Urrrrgh,” said Robbie.
“Don’t even bother voting,” said Kim. “I wouldn’t do that in a million years.”
“It’d wriggle all over the place,” Robbie agreed.
“Imagine when you actually bit through the shell,” said Adam.
“It’d make its own sauce,” grinned Finn.
“Stop talking about it, it’s not going to happen.” Kim put her hand over her mouth. Finn looked a little disappointed as Kim reached into the bag for another dare. “Okay this one’s to run across Mr Keeley’s road paddock.”
“Far out,” said Finn. “That’s where he’s got that humungous black bull that went after those kids. You knew them didn’t you Robbie?”
Robbie nodded. “They were chucking stones at it and it charged straight through the fence. It would have got them too, but it got tangled in the barbed wire and went nuts. It cut itself up really bad. The vet had to knock it out so he could get close enough to stitch it up. It’s been nuts ever since.”
Adam was impressed. “That’s wicked. It was in the paper eh? He’s going to send it to the works as soon as it’s healed up enough.”
Robbie nodded.
“Do you reckon someone could get across the paddock?” asked Kim, doubtfully.
“I reckon you could,” said Finn. “It’s quite a long paddock, if the bull was up the other end you’d probably get across before it’d get to you.”
“If you were too slow you’d be meatloaf,” added Tara, grinning.
“That’s a cool dare,” said Adam, bouncing with excitement.
“Who votes they’d do it if they drew the short straw?” asked Finn.
Adam’s hand flew up, and Finn and Tara lifted theirs.
“I dunno,” said Robbie. “The guys that bull went after reckoned it was mental. It was still trying to go at them with barbed wire wrapped around its guts.”
“What about you Kim?” asked Tara. “You’d do it wouldn’t you?”
Kim made up her mind. “I’ll vote for it if Robbie does.”
“Awwwww,” groaned Robbie. He stared out the window for a long moment then finally put up his hand.
“Wicked!” cried Finn.
“Weerrrhoooo!” called Adam. “Let’s see whose dare it is.”
&
nbsp; Kim pulled five straws out of her pocket, one shorter than the others. She grinned and put on her best cooking show voice. “These are some I prepared earlier.”
“Wow, organised,” said Robbie.
Kim turned around, arranged the straws then turned back, the straws hidden in her hand so the others couldn’t tell which one was the shortest.
Kim gave Robbie the first pick, he hesitated then drew a straw in the middle, a long one. Finn was next, he plucked another long straw from Kim’s fist. The others glanced nervously at each other.
Adam’s hand stopped over the straws then picked the one closest to Kim. He pulled it slowly from her fist. Everyone watched.
“It’s going to be a short one,” breathed Finn.
The straw kept coming and Adam started to grin. He pulled it right out and Kim frowned. There were only two straws left: the dare had to go to Kim or Tara.
Tara wiped her hand on her skirt, bit her lip and plucked a straw. Kim opened her hand to reveal the other one. Tara’s was two centimetres shorter.
“Thank God,” whispered Kim.
Tara stared briefly at her straw and shrugged. “At least I get mine over with.”
“Go the bull, go the bull, go the bull,” chanted Adam.
“You get to ask a truth as well,” interrupted Finn. “What’s it going to be?”
“Forgot about that,” said Tara, glaring at Adam.
He was standing up, using his jersey as a cape, waving it beneath his arm and prancing about. He fluttered it forward and as the imaginary bull charged towards him he swept it aside. As he whisked it away he dropped the cape and grabbed at his side. “I’ve been hit, I’ve been hit.” He staggered forward, dropped to one knee then pitched forwards and collapsed onto the floor.
“What’s your problem?” yelled Tara, pouncing to her feet. “Do you have to be a complete dork your entire life?”
“Eh?” asked Adam, lifting his head.
“That’s my truth question.” Tara’s eyes sparked angrily. “Why do you act like a five-year-old the whole time?”
“That’s not a truth question,” cried Adam, shooting a glance at Finn. Finn could only shrug. Adam looked at Kim and Robbie.
“I suppose it does count,” hesitated Kim.
“Of course it does,” cried Tara. “And he has to tell the truth.” She stared at Adam, hands on hips. “Is it brain damage or were you the result of some hideous scientific experiment?”
Adam suddenly went serious. He sat up on the floor, frowning.
“Well?” growled Tara, tapping her foot.
“I’ve got ADD,” murmured Adam.
“What?” asked Tara.
“I’ve got ADD,” said Adam. “Attention Deficit Disorder.”
“What’s that, another name for a nutcase?”
Adam clenched his teeth and frowned.
“Easy Tara,” said Finn quietly. “It’s a disorder, it means he has a real hard time concentrating and he gets all hyped up.”
“Well shouldn’t you be on drugs or something?” she asked, starting to lose steam.
Adam shrugged, “We tried some for a while, but Mum and Dad didn’t like me taking them. The drugs helped, but I’m supposed to be quite mild and we reckoned we could handle it.”
“So you’ve got this thing that makes you act kind of loose and you’ve got it for life?” asked Robbie.
“Kind of,” said Adam, squirming. “Dad had it when he was younger and he reckons he’s heaps better than he used to be.”
Robbie nodded. Tara had lost all of her fire and even looked a little sorry that she’d asked the question. No one wanted to look at Adam because he was exposed, like a cicada that had just slipped its skin and was waiting for the new one to harden.
Finn broke the silence. “When are you going to do the dare Tara?”
“It’s not far from the swimming club. I’ll do it after swimming on Tuesday. Who’s coming as a witness?”
Finn, Robbie and Tara all nodded. Adam was still sitting quietly.
“Are you coming Adam?” asked Tara.
Adam looked at her for a moment then nodded. “Yeah.”
The girls had to catch their bus, so everyone made their way out the back door. The others made Finn hide the key under a block of wood so they could all get in when they wanted, but he made them swear never to tell anyone where it was.
The group made their way through the undergrowth and sneaked through the fence behind the bus shelter before going their separate ways. Finn started off before Adam. Adam waited a moment then nudged Tara.
“What?” she asked.
Adam looked at her seriously. “You know on Tuesday when you go across the paddock?”
Tara nodded, serious too.
“Don’t wear red,” Adam winked and trotted to catch up with Finn.
Chapter 8
Mr Keeley’s bull paddock ran up a small gully on the town boundary. As the kids got closer a series of low moans rumbled from the gully, then built up in a series, each one louder and higher pitched till they gave way to a full blown bellow. Tara glanced nervously at the paddock, but they were nearly there before the bull came into view.
He was a huge, coal black beast, his body tapering from a neck that swelled with muscle, to massive shoulders and a fleshy rump. Pale scars crossed his head, shoulders and belly and patches of skin were still pink as they healed. His thick head was covered with dust where he’d been rubbing it in the dirt and he paced along the far fence, stopping to roar at a distant group of cows.
Finn gave a low whistle. “Look at the muscles on him. He looks like a body-builder.”
Adam nudged Robbie in the background. “Look at the size of his balls!” he whispered. Robbie could only nod, blown away by the giant bull.
The paddock was long and narrow with a stream running through it. The road they stood on ran along one edge till it turned and climbed back into town. The grass was short apart from some clumps of thistles and there were a couple of trees along the stream. The bull was near a gate, two thirds of the way along.
Kim pointed to the far end of the paddock, near where the road went up the hill. “I reckon if you run across at that end you’ll be across before the bull realises. He won’t get anywhere near you.”
Tara nodded and led the way over a rise and towards the far end of the paddock. The road had recently been sealed and everyone picked up handfuls of gravel and made a competition of trying to hit road markers. Robbie hit one 20 metres in front of them.
“Bet no-one else can get it from here!” called Adam. Finn snorted and they scrambled for stones.
Finn was first; he tossed a stone in his palm to get the weight and sighted the marker. As he did there were yells from ahead of them. The kids looked up as Ivan Spittle’s gang stormed down the hill and around the corner on a motley collection of bikes.
Ivan’s gang spotted them at the same time, the first bikes stopped pedalling and the others closed with them to form a tight bunch of five riders. Ivan stood out with his dark beanie in the middle of the pack. Muzz wasn’t there.
“Look out!” warned Finn.
“Jerks,” Tara spat.
Suddenly the riders climbed onto their pedals again and sprinted, picking up speed and heading straight for them. They were still 50 metres away but closing fast. Kim started to move towards the side of the road.
“Wait!” called Robbie. “Stay where you are. When I yell, make like you’re going to throw your stones at them.”
The bikes bore down on them, Ivan leering over his handlebars. The gap closed, 25 metres, then 20. The Dare Club bunched tight, knuckles white as they gripped their stones.
“Whatever you do don’t throw the stones!” called Robbie. Fifteen metres and the bikes were only seconds from them.
“Now!” yelled Robbie.
Everyone pulled their hands back and pretended to throw the stones. The riders suddenly lost their grins and swerved across the road. They yelled at each other and Ivan tore past, abus
ing another rider as he was forced away. The bikes were past them in a second and the group was left standing, stones still in their hands. The riders carried on, yelling insults and pushing amongst themselves. In a few seconds they disappeared over the rise.
“Man,” breathed Finn looking around. “That was close.”
“Yeah,” agreed Kim. “If anyone had thrown a stone we would have been in for it. Good thinking Robbie.”
Adam was stuffing his hands quickly into his pockets.
“Good acting Ad,” grinned Finn. “I really thought you’d thrown your stone.”
Adam shrugged. “Yeah.” He didn’t mention that he had fired his rock, aiming it directly for Ivan’s pug nose. Fortunately his aim was terrible and the stone had clattered somewhere around Ivan’s wheels.
Tara had one foot on the fence, ready to cross the paddock. She was wearing bike shorts and running shoes. The bull was still bellowing at the cows, trotting up and down the distant fence line.
“If you go nice and slow,” said Kim, “I bet he won’t even notice you.”
Tara nodded. “Okay, wish me luck.”
“Luck,” called Kim as Tara climbed over the fence and walked across the paddock. She looked terribly exposed, walking into the paddock by herself.
“If she makes the stream without the bull seeing her she’ll be fine,” said Finn. The others watched the bull closely.
Tara picked her way among the thistles and was getting close to the stream when whistling and yelling broke out from over the rise, opposite the bull. Tara froze. The bull’s head was up and it was trotting towards the stream. Suddenly a clod of earth exploded beside it and the yelling got louder. The bull angrily swung its head and broke into a canter.
Ivan Spittle’s gang appeared over the rise, yelling and waving their arms at the bull. A couple of them stopped to throw stones then jumped on their bikes and pedalled hard to catch up. The bull broke into a run, obviously following them, but heading in Tara’s direction.
“Mongrels,” cried Robbie. “They’re leading it straight for Tara.”
Tara was nearly halfway across the paddock but the bull was speeding up and charging in her direction. She turned and started to run back. The bull saw the movement; its head went higher.