Hide and Seek in the Dark

Hide and Seek in the Dark

I grew up in an unconventional household, but I have some of the best childhood memories. My mother and father were never married but he was always in my life. My mother’s best friend ran away from home when she was thirteen and my grandmother took her in, so she just became my mother’s sister and my aunt. Well my aunt had two boy’s and my mother had me and neither of them had a husband. The two “sisters” decided to move in together and raise us as siblings. So, my brothers are not connected to me by blood except for the younger one who is technically my cousin but that’s another story for another day. Now you understand the lineage I will tell you my older brother is two years and two days older than me and my younger brother is three years younger than me. This arrangement worked for the “sisters” because my mom graduated from college and had a good job that allowed her to provide for the family and my aunt was able to stay home and take care of us rambunctious kids so they didn’t have to pay for child care. One of my favorite stories is our infamous game of hide and seek in the dark which resulted in a call to 9-1-1 and a visit from the local police and the paramedics.

The game started off as most games usually did at our house with me having a genius idea to take a normal game and make it better. I was always the mastermind behind most of the schemes that ended with us in trouble. My mom and aunt thought we were old enough to leave at home while they went Christmas shopping. My older brother was ten, I was eight and the baby boy was five. We were sitting in their bedroom on their bed trying to think of something cool to do when my older brother suggested hide and seek. Really, we were home alone and that’s all he could come up with. I was disappointed. A light bulb luminated inside my mind and I suggested we play hide and seek in the dark. My brothers were immediately excited by the idea and we laid out the rules of the game. First, every light in the house had to be turned off. The seeker had to count to twenty and then come find the hiders. After a short discussion obviously, the seeker would be the youngest because we could definitely hide from him.

This is where it is important to discuss the layout of the house. Our home was a single-family ranch home. When you entered the front door, you were in the living room. At the back of the living room there was a long hallway to your right that led to the four bedrooms and guest bathroom. In front of the left side of the living room was the dining room which led to the kitchen and the kitchen led to the den. It also important to note this incident occurred in the mid 1980’s when most people had huge, heavy entertainment centers made out of solid wood where the television sat in the middle and there was a swivel on the bottom allowing you to rotate the television in the most optimum viewing position. Our entertainment center sat back close to the wall in the center of the living room allowing enough room for free rotation yet also aligned with the hallway (don’t get ahead me).

Rules established and agreed upon, my older brother and I go to find premium hiding spots while the baby counts to twenty slowly and loudly from the bedroom. I have found a prime hiding spot by climbing into the bottom of the china cabinet in the dining room where it will be very difficult to see me in the dark. I have no idea where my older brother hid, and I wasn’t concerned. Finally, the baby gets to twenty. The next thing I hear is a thundering of footsteps as he comes tearing out of the bedroom at the end of the hall and his feet pick up speed as he accelerates down the hall as fast as his little legs can take him and then I hear the loudest ear splitting thud I’ve ever heard in my life and then a softer thud a few short seconds later. I sat there for two minutes after thinking he was trying to lure us out of our hiding spots so he could win. Then I realized I didn’t hear any movement and I don’t think the baby had ever been still for two whole minutes in his entire life. I heard my other brother whisper my name from somewhere in the living room, but I didn’t answer because I wanted to win. My older brother came out of his hiding spot behind the couch and called the baby’s name. He did not answer. I grudgingly left my hiding spot and turned on the light in the living room so we could see. It took a minute for our eyes to adjust and then we both saw the baby laying on the ground eyes closed with the biggest knot on the right, front side of his forehead that I’ve ever seen on a human being. We both ran to him and started shaking him and saying his name with no response from him. I could now see he had run full speed into the side of the entertainment center, and it appeared the solid wood had held its ground in the collision while my brother’s body had not.

I am not proud of this part of the story but remember we were children. So, the conversation that proceeded after we found the baby in this condition went as follows:

Older Brother: He’s dead.

Me: I don’t think he’s dead.

My brother puts his face close to the baby.

Older Brother: He’s not breathing.

Me: I have an idea.

I run down the hallway to my aunts’ room and grab her makeup mirror and run back to my brothers. In a television show I watched at some point I saw them stick a mirror under someone’s nose to see if they were breathing. If they were breathing the mirror would fog up. I stuck the mirror under the baby’s nose, and it didn’t fog up.

Me: You’re right he is dead.

Older Brother: Our moms are going to kill us.

Me: Let’s call 9-1-1. They can come get him and take him away and we’ll just say he ran away.

Older Brother: I guess but I’m not calling it was your idea.

I pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1.

9-1-1 Dispatcher: This is 9-1-1 emergency how may I help you?

Me: Yes, my brother is dead can you come get him before my mom comes home?

9-1-1 Dispatcher: Excuse me can you say that again? Did you say your brother’s dead?

Me: Yes we were playing hide and seek in the dark and he ran into the tv stand and now he has a big knot on his forehead over his eye and he’s not breathing because I stuck a mirror under his nose and it didn’t fog up.

The 9-1-1 dispatcher takes my address and sends help while I’m telling her to hurry up before my mom gets home from Christmas shopping.

To make a long story short my mom and aunt get home to the baby in an ambulance parked in our driveway being treated by a paramedic and the police parked out front waiting to question them about leaving us home alone. The good news is everyone survived even though my older brother and I were grounded for a long time and the baby had a concussion but there was no permanent damage as I am happy to report he is currently an emergency room doctor which I would like to take some credit for. Even though we all three live in different states now whenever we get together we never fail to ask if anyone wants to play hide-n-seek in the dark and people just look at us like we’re crazy while we laugh hysterically and the baby rubs his forehead as I’m sure he’ll never forget that knot.