“You're such a pussy!” Eric Sanders was the neighbour who lived next door to Max and Heath for most of their childhood. Fifteen years old, two years older than the twins, he had no friends to speak of so would spend his days annoying his identical twin neighbours with a laugh that reminded them of Gonzo from The Muppets. Not to mention a nasty habit of picking his nose and eating it or disposing of it on the nearest surface; even if that happened to be Max and Heath’s couch or wall.
“Get stuffed. You do it.” Heath protested as only a thirteen year old could.
“Come on. Pick up the can.” Max said, daring his brother on.
Heath stood his ground, “You idiots understand this will burn our hands?”
“That's the point!” said Eric.
“It doesn't have to. Just hold it as long as you can. I'm just saying I'll hold it longer than you,” said Max.
Krissy Vaughan was a little redheaded twelve year old neighbour who was very small for her age and hid her chronic loneliness in an overly outgoing personality. It wasn’t that she was fun or entertaining to be with, she just put forward such a full on personality that Max could never bring himself to ask her to leave. Heath was intimidated by her even though he had at least six inches of height and close to thirty kilograms on her.
She had been sitting on the washing machine, listening to the three boys argue. She kicked the back of her heals on the side of the machine to draw their attention. “Just do it, Heath. You can let go when it hurts too much.” She lived across the road but while she was younger than the boys she could be away from home all night without her parents caring. Her inattentive mother and father had one rule for her, ‘Don't come home pregnant’.
Resigning his protest and succumbing to peer pressure, Heath picked up the small tin cans, holding one in each hand like cups. Eric and Krissy were happy with their win. Krissy hopped off the washing machine and knelt on the ground with the three older boys.
Eric jumped up and ran out of the small shed-cum-laundry, heading next door to his house. “Great! Wait here,” he said as he ran off.
A few minutes later he returned carrying a small metal container which he placed on the ground. Inside were burning coals. “Just in time. They’re still crazy hot. Dad was cleaning out the barbecue.”
“Did you get in trouble?” asked Heath.
Eric shrugged. “Pfft. No. He told me to put it back, I told him to get stuffed.”
Max and Heath were ready and waiting, holding their small tin cans as though about to drink. Heath was still apprehensive but peer-pressure was all he needed to go through with something he knew he shouldn't. He didn’t want them to tease him any more than they already did. It wasn’t uncommon for Max, Eric and Krissy to all start laughing at him for some small infraction which Heath himself didn’t even notice.
Max was a mixture of excitement and nerves, “Alright, get it happening.” He didn't want Krissy to know he was a little scared as well.
The little redhead was getting excited and clapped her hands as she repeated what Max just said. “Alright, get it happening.”
Using barbecue tongs Eric placed one hot coal in each of the four tins. Immediately the heat radiated up the metal surfaces and seared into the hands of the two young brothers. Heath frowned at the pain but hid it as best he could while Max smiled and laughed. Encouragement from Krissy distracted them for a moment until Eric placed another coal in each tin. The pain intensified and Max did his best to laugh it away. Heath's face was covered in sweat. The sweat hid his tears.
The brothers continued their challenge with neither wanting to be the first to give up. Krissy continued to cheer which kept them going while Eric mocked them in anticipation of whoever would give up first.
It was Heath. He released his grip on the tin but didn't count on his skin having melted and as he pulled his fingers away the hot tin ripped flesh from the palm of his hand. The tin cans remained attached. He panicked and screamed while tipping the tins upside down to get the coals out.
He hit the tins on the ground to rip them from his palms. Max saw this and did the same as he realised the damage done. Heath ran outside crying with his hands in the air, calling for his parents. Max just knelt there staring at his hands - in shock. Eric was laughing so hard he was crying. Krissy began to cry and ran off.
In the years following this incident she rarely showed up again.
Krissy and Eric weren’t around during the next two years until the brothers could say their wounds were healed. The two neighbours weren’t there for the skin grafts conducted over countless hospital stays or the constant dosing on pain-killing medication which would still leave them in too much pain to sleep at night. It was close to a year before the brothers could hold anything in their hands. They were off school for months and during this time Heath rarely left his room. Choosing to simmer and mentally self-flagellate.
Max would limit his intake of pain killers as his own misguided attempt at penitence for what he quickly realised was an incredibly stupid idea. Heath, though, would lie in his bed descending into episodes of depression and became addicted to his medication.
Their mother had to quit her job and stay home to care for them with a daily, sometimes more than once a day, routine of changing their bandages, helping them use the bathroom and taking them on trips to doctors to have their wounds reviewed and their guilt deepened.
Fed-up with their sons’ immaturity, Max and Heath’s parents changed their approach to parenting during the aftermath of their stupidity and became more like prison wardens keeping criminals in line. It took a long time for Max to fully appreciate the sacrifice his parents made during that time. In his early twenties he made a point of sitting down with them to explain his understanding of the effort they went to and how much he appreciated how hard it must have been for them. His parents cried with joy.
Both, Eric and Krissy, would spot the brothers coming and going from their house with hands bandaged but they’d look away. The six parents got together when it was revealed all four kids were involved. Eric’s parents, Chris and Anita Sanders, sympathised and assured their boy would be punished, he never was. Krissy’s parents, George and Jan Vaughan, however, couldn’t have cared less and didn’t pretend that they thought this was anything other than Max and Heath being stupid little kids who deserve what they got.
Neither Max nor Heath ever found out that their father punched George Vaughan and broke his jaw. No charges were laid.