Photo: An Errant Knight @ Wikimedia Commons
“The sign says not to hike beyond this point.”
“Signs can’t talk,” Jerry guffawed, “and anyway, that’s just legal butt-covering.”
Robert looked at the icy terrain. It looked awfully slippery. It was getting late and they still needed to hike back. He didn’t think they should continue. He also hated being Nagging Grandma. He shrugged.
Bennett elbowed him and pushed to the lead. “Well, I’m no sissy. All the fun’s up there. Road less traveled and all that.”
Robert’s neck warmed at the insult. Bennett always had to make things a competition, including who was Jerry’s ‘real’ friend and who the fifth-wheeler.
“You coming or you chicken?” Bennett sniggered.
“Last one up’s a rotten egg!” Jerry grinned.
The two barreled ahead.
Robert trudged below them, full of dread.
Later he would wonder how to tell their parents that chicken and rotten egg were the last words they ever said.
For What Pegman Saw: Bridal Veil Falls, Utah
Na'ama Yehuda 
Captures the competitiveness and character so well. Everyone has one or two friends like that… who are hopefully luckier than those two.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! Yep. I think we all know (or knew, even if not to such awful ending) some like these …
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew this would not end well… What is it with boys that they feel the need to one-up each other all the time?
Must be that survival of the fittest thing… or natural selection 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Natural selection AND survival of the fittest (which includes, I presume, those with better … um … balance in all things …). OY, though, yeah, the one-upmanship sure is an issue tied to the Y chromosome, me think. All too real sometimes!
LikeLike
I knew I forgot one! Survival of the fittest (or in this case, smartest). That Y chromosome…
My dad used to say that his mother used to say: Better a live chicken than a dead duck
LikeLiked by 1 person
OHHH, I love that! 🙂 Yep. Me agree.
LikeLike
😁 As the mother of boys- now adults- me too!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
At least Robert survived to tell the tale, though he was no doubt traumatised by the events he witnessed! Good dialogue and great structure to this little piece
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! I bet he was. Thanks, Lynn. Peer-pressure leads youth to do all manner is unwise things, and sometimes with terribly consequences not only to those who are hurt but to those who witness or survive it. I hope Robert got a lot of support …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Young men especially are prone to this kind of rash behaviour. Great story though
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly! And thank you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A sad tale indeed!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes … and alas some form of sadness is too frequent a consequences of peer-pressure of certain kinds …
LikeLike
There are rule-followers and rule-breakers. Dont know how one got to be more charismatic than the other. Risk is such an seductress for some, for others a scary old hag. Nice portrayal of both types.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you … and yes, I think that over evolution there was some benefit to risk-taking (especially in males) and perhaps it got tied into rule-breaking in some. The ‘egging on’ is certainly something that all too often is mistaken for strength of bravery when it may well be immaturity and inability to ‘see around the bend’ of possible consequences. While risk-taking may have charisma, rule-breaking is not particularly charming, though perhaps it can be confused by the young. …
LikeLiked by 1 person