Hide and Seek

“Goodbye Heather and Kurt,” called Mother from the staircase. “We’ll be back in about an hour.”

“Okay Mom,” said Heather. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

The door closed with a bang.

“Oh good,” said Kurt, Heather’s older brother. “They’re gone! Now we can play!”

“What are we going to play?” asked Heather.

“Let’s play hide and seek,” said Kurt.

“Okay, but I get to hide first,” said Heather.

“You’re such a baby,” said Kurt.

“I am not!” screamed Heather.

“All right,” said Kurt, reluctantly. “You can hide first.”

Kurt went into the corner of Heather’s bedroom and started counting, rather quickly, to ten. Heather raced to the basement as fast as she could. She crawled into a new hiding spot that she had found the other day.

“Nine, ten,” counted Kurt. “Ready or not, here I come!”

While sitting in her new hiding spot, Heather noticed a big cardboard box on the floor beside her. She spotted an old photo album and took it out to look at it. In it, she found old photographs of what must have been her mother and father.

“Wow,” said Heather. “Mom sure was young in that picture. I bet that was when she and Daddy met.”

Heather came across several photographs of a young man in a navy suit.

“My,” said Heather. “Does Daddy ever look young, too!”

Heather was so engrossed in the photo album that she had forgotten all about the game that her and her brother Kurt were playing. Meanwhile, Kurt searched the house for his sister. He could not find her at all.

“Come on, Heather!” screamed Kurt at the top of his lungs. “This is not funny anymore. Where are you? If you don’t come out this minute, I’m going to tell Mom and Dad when they get home!”

“You’re going to tell us what?” asked Mother, opening the front door.

Kurt was ashen.

“I can’t find Heather,” said Kurt.

“What do you mean you can’t find Heather?” asked Dad, with a load of groceries in his arms.

“We were playing a game of hide and seek,” said Kurt, very distraught. “I even let her hide first.”

“Well, let’s get the search party out,” said Dad. “Come on, Kurt, you and I will check outside, Mom will check inside.”

“It’s no use,” said Kurt. “I’ve searched the whole house from top to bottom. She’s not here!”

Mom, Dad and Kurt searched all over for Heather, to no avail.

“I haven’t checked the basement yet,” said Mom. “Let’s all look down there.”

“Heather, Heather dear,” called Mom. “Come out now.”

Dad pushed a couple of big boxes out of the way.

“Look, everyone,” called Dad, with obvious relief in his voice. “I’ve found her.”

“Where?” cried Mother.

“I think you’d better come and see for yourself,” said Dad.

Mom took a peak where Dad was pointing. There, all curled up in a ball, with the photo album on the floor beside her, was Heather. She was sound asleep.

“Honey!” exclaimed Mom, relieved. “What are you doing down here?”

Heather woke up to see everyone staring at her.

“Oh,” said Heather. “I must have fallen asleep.”

“You had us scared to death,” said Dad. “Your brother, Kurt here, has been worried sick!”

“Why?” asked Heather, sleepily.

“Don’t you remember that we were playing hide-and-seek?” asked Kurt.

“Oh yes,” said Heather, a couple of seconds later. “We were, weren’t we? Good hiding spot, eh, Kurt.”

“I’m never going to let you hide first ever again,” said Kurt.