I dare you to jump that wall.
I must've been 7 or maybe 8, the last hot summer of the 1970s.

A new kid had arrived and being the cliquey, xenophobic little sods we were back then, we ostracised him pretty much the whole summer.

Almost every day it seemed, we were having to fend off his advances to participate in our little 'gang'.

He would bring us sweets from the shop to share. On reflection we could've simply nicked them and given him the hint, but we ignored him whilst he sat there munching away on Ringos and Marathon bars, repeatedly asking us if we were sure we didnt want any.

One of our number, Tim - an arboreal brute of a child - one day decided to throw the gauntlet down to him.

"If you're so keen to hang around with us, you'll have to take a test", he announced.

This was met with enthusiasm from the new lad, who was obviously keen to make new friends.

Tim pointed to a wall at the far end of the playing field. "Jump that wall, and if you can do it without getting hurt, you're in".

New kid agreed and hastily, like a runner preparing for a race, limbered up and began ambling toward the wall, his speed increasing with every step until he was sprinting at it. He jumped, with the grace of a gazelle, in an elegant ballet of upward motion and then disappeared down behind the wall.

What Tim, or indeed anyone else, had omitted to tell him was that although the wall was 4 feet on the playing field side, the ground the other side banked away sharply in a steep descent to the churchyard.

The new boy had landed awkwardly and rolled down the hill, quickly rendering himself unconscious on a headstone.

I have to conclude this anecdote by pointing out that we were true to our word, and once he came out of hospital we all became best of friends, which we have remained to date.

Everybody say Ahhhhhh.
(Vic Flange, Thu 1 Nov 2007, 13:47, 4 replies)

Anecdote?
Or story?

I can never tell with you...
(Pavlov's Frog figures no-one really reads sigs anyway, Thu 1 Nov 2007, 16:57, closed)

You decide.
.
(Vic Flange, Thu 1 Nov 2007, 18:33, closed)

Ah, fuck it, like it matters
*clicks*
(Pavlov's Frog figures no-one really reads sigs anyway, Thu 1 Nov 2007, 22:52, closed)

At the risk of being a pedant
You said "if you can do it without getting hurt, you're in" and so technically he failed!!
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Mon 5 Nov 2007, 16:24, closed)