WAGBAI: DARES

DARES

            I’m sure there were more of them, but there are two dares I remember. If you refused to do the dare you were subject to punishment and there was some secret part of me that enjoyed the punishment more than the dare. There were different kinds of punishment, but the favorite was to take down your pajama bottoms and stick your bare bum up in the air. One boy would take a slipper and slap your rear end with it several times while the rest of the boys would stand around on their beds and cheer. I certainly would not have understood it at the time, but I suspect these “punishments” were among my earliest sexual experiences, part innocent masochism, part childish exhibitionism.

            The first dare involved the risk of more severe punishment, from Mr. Chris himself, on being caught—but little actual danger. You had the choice, which way to go. You could either tiptoe very carefully down the stairs in your pajamas—avoiding the creaky steps for fear of being discovered—then past the library and through Pevensey. You then had to enter the chapel in near total darkness and grope your way to the stairs to the organ loft, climb up those stairs, and then on, up the second flight of stairs and back into the dormitory, where you would be greeted with the cheers of all your friends. Or you could go the other way, down through the chapel and back through Pevensey and past the library to the main stairway. Either way there was the risk of being caught, whether by one of the masters or by Mr. Chris on his nightly rounds. It was a great adrenalin rush, if you survived the trip, and you’d probably find it hard to go to sleep afterwards.

            The second dare was shorter but more dangerous, by far. There was a narrow ledge that ran a foot or so below the dormitory windows, and the dare was to climb out of one of the windows onto the ledge, inch your way along, outside, at dead of night, belly tight to brick, hands groping ahead for finger holds on gutter, eave, or downpipe, and climb back in the next window without falling three floors to the ground below.

            Did I dare to do this second dare? I know I did the first one several times. I like to think I remember dong the second, but I’d be lying if I said I did for sure.