‘It’s an easy one!’ Ben encouraged.
‘Get up here!’ yelled Robert, taking a more forceful approach. After a heavy pause he slowly, and teasingly, added, ‘Don’t be such a girl, Maddy.’
Well, that was enough to get me out of my strop and up the tree instantly. Talk about succumbing to peer pressure. Ben was right, it wasn’t as hard as some of the others they’d forced me up and, as long as I looked up it and not down at my feet, the height didn’t seem so bad. I just took my time.
‘I knew that would get you up here,’ Robert laughed with a cheeky wink, once I’d joined them on the steady branch they were both perched on.
‘Very clever,’ I smiled, looking out at the rest of the park.
Putting my fears aside, there was nothing like being up high in a tree with Robert and Ben. Even though we were realistically only seven or eight feet in the air, to us that seemed ginormous – we might as well have been at the top of the Empire State Building, it would have evoked the same feeling of wonder. The air seemed different up there, cooler and fresher, and the view more beautiful than when we were grounded. We could see the whole park. There was also something about becoming invisible to others as we hid behind the tree’s leaves and branches that felt magical. I completely understood why the boys loved being up there so much. An overwhelming sense of peace would take over us for a moment or two when we first sat there, as though we’d entered a new world.
Inevitably, at some point, the peace and tranquillity we’d marvelled over would descend into chaos with the boys shaking the branches and trying to do forward rolls on them. I’d clamp my arms and legs onto the branch and scream my head off at them to stop, scared that we were on the verge of falling and breaking all of our bones. They never listened to me, they just cackled, finding my fears hilarious.
Getting down was always fun too … NOT. The boys would courageously swing and leap to the ground, landing with ease, whereas I’d painstakingly hold on for as long as I could while the boys shouted at me to jump – occasionally pulling at one of my legs if they got really bored of waiting for me.
That’s how it had been on that day in the middle of our summer holidays – the boys had teased me just as much to get down the tree as they had to get up it. That’s why, as we were walking back through the park heading home, I decided it was time to get my own back on the overly
confident duo. I hated being the weaker one. It was time for them to squirm instead. And so, as we walked towards a tree we’d nicknamed ‘The Big Green’, a monster of an oak tree that had been too difficult for any of us to master with its wide girth and sporadic branches, an idea popped into my head.
‘Go on, then,’ I said to them both, pointing towards the giant feat, feeling pleased with myself for thinking up such a great plan. ‘I dare you.’
‘What?’ shrieked Ben, laughing at the ridiculousness of what I’d suggested, shaking his head so vigorously that his cheeks wobbled. ‘No chance.’
‘Why not?’ I demanded.
‘Because!’
‘That’s not a proper answer,’ I said.
‘It’s dinner time. We have to get back,’ he replied, his voice becoming shrill with panic.
‘Don’t be such a wimp.’
‘I’m not being a wimp.’
‘You are,’ I goaded.
‘I’m not!’
‘Are.’
‘Not.’
‘Are!’
‘Not!’
‘I’ll do it,’ Robert said calmly, breaking in on our bickering, causing Ben and I to whip our heads round to face him.
‘Really?’ Ben asked, clearly as shocked as I was by his bravery. Or stupidity.
‘Of course,’ he shrugged, as though it was nothing.
I was impressed, although sure he’d change his mind as we made our way closer to the Big Green; after all, the nearer we got, the more of a monster it became. Just standing beneath it and looking up at its expansiveness was enough to make me nervous and dizzy, even though I wasn’t the one about to climb it. There’s no questioning the fact that Robert was the most confident of the three of us – that was something we’d always been aware of – but surely even he had his limits! I’d expected the pair of them to quake at the very thought of it – not for one of them to give it a go!
‘You sure?’ I gulped.
‘Yep,’ he barked, without the slightest quiver in his voice.
And off he went, up the tree, hugging it as he pulled himself higher and higher. His legs and arms were strong as he scrambled up to near where its branches began to poke out.