Hiding and ...

7/24/19
Prompt or not: hiding
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When I was child, us neighborhood kids played a hide-and-seek game called Sardines. One person would hide while the rest of the players closed their eyes. One designated close-eyed would count out loud to 100 giving the hider time to hide. Once the counter shouted, "100!" the seekers opened their eyes and started to hunt. When a seeker found the hider, the seeker would join the hider, hiding from the rest of the seekers. That's why it was called "Sardines," because the hiders packed into the hiding place like sardines in a can.

I don't recall what happened to any seekers who couldn't find the sardines. Looking back, I'm intrigued that any of us trusted that the seekers actually closed their eyes for the whole count of 100. I played Sardines in elementary school.

Werewolf was another favorite. This was a traditional hide-and-seek tag game, except that it was always played at night. That's why it was called Werewolf. One person was "It," the Werewolf, the seeker, who also protected a spot designated as home base. The rest of the players would hide and then try to run and tag home base before Werewolf could tag them. If Werewolf tagged the runner, then the runner became Werewolf, the seeker.

Sometimes we played Werewolf at Oakwood Cemetery. I didn't play Werewolf until my teen years, the same years I was learning how to French kiss and ....

Oakwood Cemetery is where I learned to drive a car at 14 years old. Mom used to take me there so I could practice for when I would legally learn how to drive. I don't think I told her about the Werewolf game. I definitely didn't tell her about French kissing and ….