Pre-pandemic life reminds me of the ‘cringe-worthy’ dares my friends and I would do in elementary school.
At the ages of 7 or 8, our friend group of four would always dare each other to eat or lick the most untouchable items on the playground. On one particular summer day our friend group decided that the wire-metal gate would be the perfect place to conduct this game.
I forget who found the old piece of gum long sundried from the Arizona sun, but soon enough that piece of gum became the center of our attention.
To be fair, our small group never usually accepted dares, instead opting to share our secrets through the guise of ‘truth-telling.’ That is probably why, when our dearest friend, who shall remain nameless, refused to tell us the truth she was placed front and center to the piece of dried gum on a dirty metal gate.
Thankfully for her, cellphones were not yet an item in everyone’s pocket, because I’m sure we all would’ve photographed the moment she just barely stuck out her tongue to lick that part of the fence.
Our laughter echoed throughout the elementary school playground as our friend wiped her tongue clean on the bottom of her shirt. All too soon, her turn came around to challenge us to a truth or dare, and she asked us all to either admit who we had a crush on or dared all of us to lick some part of the metal fence. Not surprisingly, the fence was the easier option.