High Dive

A three-meter board.
Nearly ten feet off the water
To the boy it seemed like a mile
“Dare you!” His friends would challenge
“You chicken?” Others would taunt
It was a public pool packed with kids all summer long
“Come on!”
“You a scaredy cat?”
Geez
He finally built up his courage
He climbed the ladder carefully step by step
He inched his way along the board to the end
Heart pounding he stood looking
The glistening blue water
The black lines on the bottom of the pool
The crowd of blurring people
All going suddenly silent in his brain
No turning back now
He cleared his mind and stepped into space.

Later he sat on the side of the pool
His friends slapped him on the back “Way to go!”
Accolades galore rang in his still terrified ears
While he feverishly made up every possible excuse
He could think of
Never to jump again.