Bravo

Bravo goes first. That is the arrangement.

Into the dark cave, across the wobbly bridge, up the tallest tree: Bravo goes first, and everybody follows, and nobody has ever once asked whether Bravo minds.

At the bottom of the Big Drop, the whole group looked up at it and then looked at Bravo.

Bravo looked at the Big Drop.

It was much higher than it had been in Bravo's head. Bravo's legs had gone funny. Bravo's mouth had gone dry. Under the helmet, which is a very useful thing to have, Bravo's face had done something Bravo did not want anybody to see.

"Come on then, Bravo," said Zippy cheerfully.

And Bravo nearly did it. Bravo nearly said easy and marched up there with a swagger, the way Bravo always does, because that is what Bravo is for.

Instead Bravo said, "I'm scared of this one."

Four words. They came out much quieter than Bravo meant.

Nobody laughed. That was the first surprise.

Shivvy, of all fluffs, came and stood next to Bravo and said, "Me too. Really scared."

"I thought you were never scared," said Zippy to Bravo, sounding a bit wobbly himself.

"I'm scared loads," said Bravo. "All the time. I just go anyway. I thought that was the deal."

"It is the deal," said Shivvy. "You just missed a bit out. The bit where you say it."

They went up together. Bravo felt the scared, took a breath in, and made one small step, and then another small step, and the small steps worked exactly as well as a swagger would have done and used up considerably less pretending.

At the top, Bravo was still frightened and did it anyway, which is the only kind of brave there has ever been.