- Chapter Seven -
Hide and Seek

In Decatur, I don't remember any specific game that we always played. I know we did play various games, or just sit, talk, and joke around. Usually it would be Violet and Erin Cook, and me playing, since their brother Jonathan was closer to my brother's age. We liked to climb the many trees that were in both of our yards, and it was all good fun.


Katie, Brian, Daniel
After moving to Lafayette, though, there were games that were often played among us neighbor kids. Katie, Brian, and sometimes Daniel Smith, Richie Brickler, and I often played Kick the Can over at the Smith's house. Brian, the youngest, was a crybaby. If anyone was able to kick the can two consecutive times while he was it, he would yell and cry and say he hated us, and would quit and go inside. Kick the Can consisted of the person who was it trying to get all the other players out. This happened if he saw you, called out your name and touched the can-a milk jug with rocks in it-before you were able to kick it. This process continued until someone was able to kick the can, or all the other players got out. If the can had been kicked, the one who was it must remain it for another round. If all the other players got out, the first one who got out becomes it.

Another game we played was called Twelve O'clock Rock. I only played it once or twice, so I don't really remember the rules, but I'll tell how I think it goes. One person is selected it, and he has to go hide while the others go around in a circle around a tree or bush and sing, "One o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock rock . . ." and so on until twelve o'clock. The times that I played it we were at my house since there are some good short and small pine type trees in my yard. When the song is over, all the people who were going around the tree try to find the person who is it before he is able to reach the tree. This game was only played after dark, so finding who was it was a more difficult task than it would seem.


Honda Trail 70
As I got older, I began to ride the Honda Trail 70 mini-bike that my brother had given me for my twelfth birthday-it was made sometime in the late seventies and he had bought it from a friend for fifty bucks a few years earlier. Derek and Adam Johnson, who live across the street, had a four-wheeler and I would go over and ride with them in their large back yard. They had built up some little hills that we would jump over, and basically had a lot of fun. When I was fourteen or fifteen, I was riding down our lane and the mini-bike just died. My dad and I have never been able to find the problem and it remains more than halfway disassembled in the barn.

This time of my life was pretty good. I rarely see any of my neighbors anymore, and mostly I visit with people I know from school. I sort of liked it better then. I didn't have a job. I rarely had homework. I could just go and have fun. Life was just so much simpler when I was younger.


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