Dan was about an inch taller, but much larger. By this time, which was around 8th grade, I think he was around 200 pounds. Thankfully for me, he wasn't muscular like Kenny otherwise I wouldn't stand a chance.
Dan was also shirtlesg. Instead of blue jeans he wore basketball shorts. I looked at his flappy chest and was scared that my mouth would come near his nipples during our match. Kenny was no longer the announcer and had now transformed into the ref. Instead of the riveting announcer voice he had been using before he was now talking in a low, quiet, and serious tone just like you'd imagine a ref would use when telling two prize fighters to keep things clean as we pummeled each other.
We didn't actually pummel each other. There was no way Joan and Craig would let us kick or punch each other. That'd take too many trips to the hospital. Plus I don't think anyone -- except for maybe Kenny -- would want to strike each other. Instead we wrestled closer to the olympic style where you had to pin your opponent.
I remember seeing Dan's face trying to gauge how seriously he was approaching this match. Would this be like play? Or would he be treating this like an actual competition that he was trying to win? Was he going to try to actually beat me? I had thoughts of trying to smile about it. In serious situations when I get scared I think I can smile and joke with the other person and magically their guard will fall. Then it'll be revealed that they weren't serious about it at all.
I did this with Dan as we were circling around on the ring with our hands out in front of us, occasionally slapping at the other person, measuring their response. And Dan didn't smile back. All he did was say "come on" in a focused manner. I looked over at Kenny who was staring seriously at us. I could tell that if neither of us engaged soon he would get pissed and start using his actual Kenny voice and goad us into each other.
With no idea how to wrestle I charged at Dan, trying to get a headlock on him. I remember Dan's batlle-cry beginning. I remember Kenny's voice slipping out of the ref voice for just a second as he got excited and cheered us on.
Dan was also shirtlesg. Instead of blue jeans he wore basketball shorts. I looked at his flappy chest and was scared that my mouth would come near his nipples during our match. Kenny was no longer the announcer and had now transformed into the ref. Instead of the riveting announcer voice he had been using before he was now talking in a low, quiet, and serious tone just like you'd imagine a ref would use when telling two prize fighters to keep things clean as we pummeled each other.
We didn't actually pummel each other. There was no way Joan and Craig would let us kick or punch each other. That'd take too many trips to the hospital. Plus I don't think anyone -- except for maybe Kenny -- would want to strike each other. Instead we wrestled closer to the olympic style where you had to pin your opponent.
I remember seeing Dan's face trying to gauge how seriously he was approaching this match. Would this be like play? Or would he be treating this like an actual competition that he was trying to win? Was he going to try to actually beat me? I had thoughts of trying to smile about it. In serious situations when I get scared I think I can smile and joke with the other person and magically their guard will fall. Then it'll be revealed that they weren't serious about it at all.
I did this with Dan as we were circling around on the ring with our hands out in front of us, occasionally slapping at the other person, measuring their response. And Dan didn't smile back. All he did was say "come on" in a focused manner. I looked over at Kenny who was staring seriously at us. I could tell that if neither of us engaged soon he would get pissed and start using his actual Kenny voice and goad us into each other.
With no idea how to wrestle I charged at Dan, trying to get a headlock on him. I remember Dan's batlle-cry beginning. I remember Kenny's voice slipping out of the ref voice for just a second as he got excited and cheered us on.
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