Oli Oli in Free

When I was child one of my favorite times was at sunset when all the kids from the neighborhood would gather in front of our house for the time tradition of hide and seek.

I grew up in the inner part of a medium sized city in Indiana and our house had a red fire box in front of it and this was the base for our game.

Hiding was easy as we had so many places to disappear to and getting to base could sometimes be achieved easily when whoever was it had to search us out.

Details

A normal summer evening, it was near dark and my dad {who drank a lot} stepped outside the kitchen door and urinated off the side of the porch.

One of our neighbors was hiding beside the porch, laying in the shadows and as every kid in the neighborhood was scared of my dad, didn’t move until he went back inside. When he came to base soaking wet all the kids had a hey day.

As kids we thought it was cool to follow fire trucks around to see what was burning. I doubt if any of us gave it much thought but at least twice a summer and sometimes more someone from the game would get home free without anyone spotting them and pull the trigger on the alarm and haul ass. This is when the real game of hide and seek came in to play.

And damn hide we did until the sirens brought everyone out of their house as the fire trucks pulled up out front.

Kids would all be in sight but no one would go near the base and you could hear parents all through the “hood” yelling for their kids to git home now! And you can bet every kid playing would claim innocence or “I don’t know, I was hiding”.

Of course the firemen didn’t laugh about it and always threatened a big fine to whoever got caught but no one ever got caught that I can remember. And the parents would bitch and moan but could never pin it on any one of us so it would just go round and round.

Conclusion

The 1960’s were a fantastic time to be a child in America, parents were strict but forgiving and life’s journey could be what you would make it. From knowing to have chores done after school to getting home when the street lights came on, tavern’s had family rooms where any child was welcome with their parents and gas stations actually took care of you instead of hiding behind a glass and pushing a button. Can you relate to this post? Leave your story or comment here, thanx

ref* photo- flickr.com

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