“I got it, I got it!”  Lucas yelled as he rode across the church parking lot. 

> >

In school that day, Jason had told Brett and Lucas a story he had heard, a sort of urban legend of the eighties to scare candy loving kids.  Lucas was the only one with any money on him, so he was double dog dared to go to McCoy’s Market and get supplies.  Lucas had strict orders from his mother to never cross the bridge in town.  That was as far as she wanted him to venture from home.  But this was a double dog dare… and you can’t back down from those…everyone knows it, even moms.  He very timidly rode away from his friends across the lot.  He looked both ways, not for cars, but for signs of his mother.  Then he pulled out onto South Street, peddled as fast as he could to McCoy’s and hid his bike on the side of the building.  He purchased his goods and rode home like the wind. 

> >

Back at the church lot, he ditched his bike and ran to where Jason and Brett waited with Joe and Paulie Cooper on the back porch steps.  Joe and Paul were late to hear this day’s adventure, so they sat quietly waiting to see what was up.  Lucas pulled off his backpack and pulled out the packet of Pop Rocks.  Then he reached in again and pulled out two cans of TAB cola.  Lucas grinned. 

> >

“No way,” Paulie said with surprise.  “You can’t do that dude.  Some kid died from that!” 

> >

“No they didn’t,” Joe said to him with disgust.

> >

“Ya-huh,” Jason said with his eyes wide and mouth open.  “And not just some kid.  Mikey!”

> >

“Mikey!  Who the hell is Mikey?” Joe asked.

> >

“You know,” Brett nudged his arm, “the kid that eats all the cereal.  Mikey likes it,” he repeated the catch phrase from the commercials.

> >

“He died?  From Pop Rocks and Cola?” Joe asked skeptically.

> >

They all nodded in unison, then stared down at the bag of rocks.

> >

Jason looked at Lucas, “Okay, who’s first?”

> >

“Not me man.  I got the crap.  Someone else is doin’ this.”

> >

“Paulie’ll do it,” Joe declared.

> >

Paul Cooper shook his little blonde head. 

> >

“We all do it,” Brett said with certainty.  “We’ll open the Rocks, each poor some in our hands, and then pass the TAB around.”

> >

They each looked timidly at one another, and then agreed.  To make it ceremonious, they walked out to the center of the back yard and formed a circle.  They sat Indian Style with the TAB and the Pop Rocks in the center.  Then one at a time, they passed the bag of rocks around the circle, and poured equal amounts out into their hands. They compared them several times, to make sure no one was ‘wussing out.’

> >

“Now,” Jason told them.  “We put the rocks on our tongues and swallow them down.  Then we chug the soda.”

> >

“Count of three,” Brett told them.  “One.  Two…Three.”

> >

They each tipped their heads back and placed the Pop Rocks on the tongues.  Being young boys though, they were completely unable to swallow them down without first listening to the fizzle in their mouths. Next, Lucas popped open the TAB, took down a giant gulp, and passed it to Jason.  Both sodas continued around the circle until they were gone, then the kids laid back on the green carpet of grass and waited. And waited.  And waited.  Nothing happened. 

> >

Joe Cooper sat back up and looked at the others still lying in the face of death.

> >

“Anybody’s stomach explode yet?” Jason asked.

> >

They all sat up in disappointment, as the blue bomber pulled into the driveway.  Mike and Jeff stepped out of the car, as Steve darted out the side door to greet them.  They stood huddled together for a moment before moving inside.  As they passed by the boys, they noticed them sitting in a circle, pausing briefly in wonderment but then carrying on.  “They’ll never let us go,” they overheard Mike say.  Next they saw Jeff shrug his shoulders and reply, “Then we’ll sneak out.”

> >

Lucas whipped his head around to Brett as they both recalled the night last fall when they caught them stealing the car.  The older LACE>WilsonLACE> brothers had gone into the house. Jason, while disappointed that no one exploded, decided that the project was not a total loss.  They still had one small packet of Pop Rocks left.  He poured them into each one of their hands, and they tossed them in their mouths.  They sat in their circle with their jaws open as they fizzled and popped on their tongues.  When Mike, Jeff and Steve all reappeared in the back yard, they yelled to the group of kids.  They each turned around to face the brothers with their mouths open and the fizz drooling down their chins like rabid beasts.  Rolling their eyes, the teenagers walked away.