Hide and Seek

I saw them clearly for a moment, and then they dropped away, lower

into the dense grass, and disappeared. I kept watching. Seconds later

I saw a line of movement through the grass and followed it for about

ten feet or so before that disappeared too. It was moving in the

direction of the trees. Roughly, toward the car.

Whatever it was, I knew it wasn't human. The eyes had been too small

and spaced too closely together.

So what was it, then? Raccoon? Possum?

Dog?

Please, no dogs, I thought.

A pussycat would be nice.

It was gone, though. And I had this damn fool game to play. I decided

tentatively on raccoon. Then I realized I'd forgotten something.

"Coming!" I yelled. "Here I come."

I omitted the traditional "ready or not." You could only go so far.

I reviewed what little I'd heard. One or maybe two of them were

upstairs. One had gone into the kitchen. Off the kitchen there was a

back door and the door to the cellar, so whoever had gone that way

could have used either one of them. I did not relish exploring either

the cellar or the woodshed without benefit of flashlight, so I hoped

whoever had gone that way would feel the same. If it was Casey, I was

probably in trouble. But I decided to leave that possibility for

last.

I had to go slowly. Halfway up it got very dark, then brighter as I

approached the landing. There was a window in the door leading out to

the widow's walk, and a beam of moonlight shining through. It was the

only illumination.

Where to hide?

I knew where I'd go.

I'd take the widow's walk.

Not because it was a particularly good place to hide it wasn't but

because it was nice out there. The most accommodating place the house

had to offer. So, if I wasn't too heavily into the game in the first

place, at least I'd have a good easy spot to sit it out.