We don't know why Dooley and Mac agreed to the dare. Fifteen minutes in the middle of the road was a lot of time not to flinch. If they did flinch, the time would start all over again. They huddled together, watching the oncoming cars with their roaring engines and belching tail pipes.
Their friends cheered them on from the side of the road and razzed them the one time they flinched four minutes into their first try. On the second try, they were victorious and were led around the pond in a loud procession of quacking and honking.
When Dooley got home, the ducks playing on the pond could hear his mother yelling.. "If all of the other ducks jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?" Dooley didn't care, his mother could quack all day. After all, this is how legends began.
tim mcmurdo 