Monday came bright and sunny. I was up at the first sound of my Mom opening my door to wake me. I wanted to be ready to go to school with enough time left to play with Kenny before I had to go.
“Excited for you first day of first grade?” Mom asked as she pulled my cloths out of my little white dresser.
“A little bit. I just want to have time to play with Kenny before school.” I answered as I dressed as fast as I could.
“Isn’t Kenny going to school too?”
“Not to my school. He says his Mom teaches him school at home.”
“Oh, I see. So you won’t see him all day.” Mom said with a smile that made her look like she knew something that I didn’t. But I was too busy to pay attention to her at the time. “Well get down stairs so you can eat breakfast. Then you can play with Kenny for a little bit before you need to wait for the bus.”
“Okay Mommy.” I called back to her from halfway down the stairs.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs I went left into the kitchen. I fallowed the outside of the stair case to the table that was already set with dishes. Boxes of cereal and jugs of milk and juice were already sitting out too. I went to my seat and poured Honey O’s into my bowl. I grabbed a small banana from the fruit bowl and cut it into my cereal with my spoon while I waited for Mom to come and pour the milk and juice. The jugs were too heavy for me to lift and pour. After Mom poured my milk, I sat munching my cereal and thinking what Kenny and I could play that would be short enough to play before the bus came. I thought that I would tell him we could play hide-and-seek because you could stop that game any time and it was Kenny’s favorite. When I finished breakfast I took my bowl and cup to the sink. I was heading back passed the stairs when my Mom stopped me.
“Lorna?”
“Yes, Mommy?”
“What do you want for lunch today?”
“Peanut butter and strawberry jelly. Can I go outside now?”
“Just stay in the back yard and keep your cloths clean. And you need to come right away when I call you so we can wait for the bus.”
“Okay Mommy.”
I was out the back door in no time, picking up speed as I reached the grass. Kenny was already waiting for me at the picnic table.
“Hey Kenny!” I called from a few feet away.
“Hey, Lor. So what do you want to play?”
“I was thinking hide-and-seek.” I said as I sat on the table next to Kenny.
“How long do you have before you have to go?” Kenny asks sounding a little sad.
“My Mom said the bus is going to be here at 8:15. But I need to go when she calls me.”
“Okay you hide first and I’ll count. The middle swing is safe and we count from the table.” He said patting the wood between us.
“Okay, close your eyes.” I took off to the left of the table then when I was far enough away that Kenny couldn’t hear me I went the other direction. I went to one of my best hiding places. Behind the biggest tree in the yard and up the old tree house ladder nailed to the trunk facing the side yard fence. I could still hear Kenny counting as I reached the perfect spot, just above the first branches where the leaves would cover me from below.
“Ready or not here I come!” Kenny shouted.
I couldn’t see Kenny once he left the picnic table and I couldn’t hear him either. I can never hear him coming when we play hide-and-seek. I started climbing around the tree, to the side that faces the back yard. There a knotted rope hung down from the bottom of the old tree house. I just reached the “V” in the branch where the rope came closest to the tree, when I heard a little noise. I turned and saw Kenny coming around the other side of the trunk. I was trapped. I would have grabbed the rope and slid-jumped down like usual, but Mom had told me to stay clean. So I would have had to go down knot by knot and that was too slow. I knew Kenny could get to me faster than I could go down that way. If I had to go slow I would chose to go down the ladder anyway, so I stayed where I was.
“You always find me to fast!” I teased Kenny.
“You need to get some new hiding spots.” Kenny teased back as he made his way over to me. “Going down the rope?”
“Na, I’ll use the ladder, Mommy doesn’t want me to get dirty before school.” I said as I started to move back to the ladder.
“You’re movin’ slow today, Lor.” Kenny said from behind me, even before my feet hit the ground.
“How’d you get down here so fast?” I said trying to cover that he scared me.
“I took the rope, dummy.” Kenny said, shaking his head.
Before he could say anything else I took off running as fast as I could, strait for the picnic table. He was right behind me as I raced him across the whole back yard, until he was in front of me. No matter how fast I am Kenny always beats me when we race. I had to catch my breath when I finally got to the table. Kenny was sitting there not out of breath at all.
When I could talk again I said, “Okay it’s your turn to hide.” I climbed onto the table next to him and closed my eyes and started to count. “One … Two … Three … Four…” As I counted I tried to hear which way he was going. I couldn’t hear the slightest sound. “… Nineteen … Twenty. Ready or not here I come.” I shouted so Kenny could hear me where ever he was hiding.
I opened my eyes and looked around the back yard, to see if I could see any sign of Kenny anywhere. I didn’t see anything but it felt like someone was watching my back. I turned around and looked at the tree a foot away from the picnic table. No one was there, at least not where I could see. Then I looked up into the branches. Starting at the spaces closer to the trunk then moving along the branches that stretched out to shade the table I was still sitting on. That’s where I spotted Kenny’s foot hanging down between some smaller branches. It was right over the bench of the picnic table closer to the tree. I got up as quietly as I could, and moved to stand on the bench right under his foot.
“I found you!” I shouted as I jumped up to hit his foot. But my hand went right through his foot. I looked up and saw Kenny looking down at me in the same spot his foot was a second before.
“Good job Lor!” Kenny was grinning until he saw my face. “What’s wrong Lor, you look like you just saw Bonnie kissing a boy.” He was trying to make me laugh but it wasn’t going to work this time.
“I saw my hand go through your foot! That’s what I saw.”
“You’re joking? Right?”
“No I’m not joking.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Maybe you just missed.” Kenny said with conviction, like he was trying to convince both of us.
I shook my head, “It was hanging right here!” I said as I stretched my arm up as far as it would go just inches from Kenny’s face still peeking between the branches. “And I jumped to make sure I would get you.”
“Well I didn’t feel you hit my foot, maybe I moved just before you could touch me?” Kenny didn’t sound so convinced anymore; it sounded more like he was asking me not telling me.
Just then I heard my mom calling me from the back door “Lorna, time to come in.”
“Maybe.” I said up to Kenny. “I’ll see tomorrow Kenny.” I jumped down from the bench and walked quickly to the house.
