The taste was stronger than he expected. The little sandy grains stuck to it gave it a salty twinge. Altogether, it wasn’t all that unpleasant, until the earthworm wiggled against the roof of his mouth. At this, Hans began to make heaving motions as his thorax contracted in preparation to expel. He closed his eyes, thought of spaghetti and gulped. The other boys cheered as he kept fighting the urge to vomit.

ONE!

Hans took a look at the bowl of earthworms and had a passing thought that it just wasn’t worth it.

But you don’t just walk away from a double dog dare, you know?

The Braunau sky reddened as the sun set in the horizon and Hans stared at the almost empty bowl. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and took the last mouthful, which he promptly swallowed without tasting (it takes the edge off, he would boast to Anna a few days later). All but one of the other kids stared at him, holding their breath — waiting to see if he would finally heave. Once they made sure he was keeping his meal, they erupted in raucous cheering.

TWENTY!! TWENTY!!! WOO!!!

Hans’s face was red and he felt a little dizzy, but he turned to face the one kid who wasn’t clapping and laughing, and stared him in the eye:

- You know what you have to do now, don’t you?
- I… yeah. It will take some time, though…
- We’ve got time. We can wait. Can’t we, guys?

The other kids laughed and agreed. They were ecstatic at the sight of Hans’s prowess. The black haired kid just nodded, smiled nervously, stared at the ground and started the way home, leaving Hans and the others to celebrate.

He was greeted by the smell of freshly baked apple strudel, which he nibbled at without enthusiasm as his mother washed the dishes. He wasn’t really hungry, so he excused himself shortly after and bustled up to his room. Once there, he unfolded the map of Europe that was included with his geography schoolbook, and stared at it long and hard, drawing lines of communication and supplies, and marking important spots in his head.

Russia would prove the most difficult, he realized, and for a few moments little Adolf thought of calling the whole thing off… But you don’t just back off a triple dog dare, you know?

— sergio on September 07, 2004