East Beach Writers' Guild

March Starter Sentence Courtesy of Mike Owens

Go ahead. I double dog dare you.” Willy flashed that confident grin. He knew he had me. The guys gathered around. They knew it too.

Let me explain. You got your regular dare, but that’s nothing to get excited about. A regular dare you can blow off without a problem, so long as you don’t make a habit of it.

Then there’s your double dare. This is a major escalation. You can’t walk away from a double dare, except for something big, a death in the family, something like that.

Then there’s your double dog dare. As dares go, this is the king. This is right below a duel at sunrise with real loaded pistols. If you blow off a double dog dare you’re shunned. Your friends will hang up on you. Your dog won’t come when you call him.

In other words, I had no choice. So I picked up the dead cockroach, bit it in half, chewed and swallowed. Then I ate the other half. I opened my mouth wide so they could all see it was gone.

The guys crowded in, patted me on the back. “Atta boy.”

But Willy, you could see the fear in his eyes. He knew along with everybody else that soon enough he would hear those fateful words himself: “Go ahead. I double dog dare you.”tesy of Mike Owens: "Go ahead I double dog dare you!"