Hide and Seek Champion

I'm the best there is at hide-and-seek.
Been waiting here at least a week.
"How clever, me," I say and grin,
"to be hiding in the garbage bin."
Now when is trash day again? 

Bump, bump, ow!
It's moving now,
with me still tucked inside.
Thump! Inside a truck I'm dumped,
I'm going for a ride.
Maybe trash cans really aren't
the smartest place to hide. 

I end up in a giant trash heap,
buried deeply in.
To survive, I munch on half-chewed bits
from other people's din.
Those hide-and-seekers will NEVER find me.
So...
I guess I win.

-B.C. Byron

I remember two times when I found the perfect hiding place while playing hide and seek. The first was when I was probably ten, playing with my brother and sister and some of my cousins. I quietly emptied the toy box at high speed (we only had until a count of 30), shoved the toys in corners and under tables, then folded myself in half to fit inside the box. The hardest part was getting the lid shut. I smiled as I heard the seekers opening doors and curtains right next to the toy box. It was hard to keep in a snicker at my own cleverness. The game went on for a long time, or so it seemed all cramped in my tiny, dark container. Eventually, things got quiet and I assumed everyone was now looking for me outside. I was sure they were determined to not let me win and would exhaust all optiins before finally admitting my hiding superiority. I waited patiently in physical discomfort for that shout of, “okay! We give up.” That shout never came. When I finally gave up and pried myself out, I found everyone in another room playing video games. They had completely forgotten about me and tge hide-and-seek game. There was no clapping for my victory.

You’d think I would learn a lesson about taking hide-and-seek too seriously from the first experience, but I repeated it as a teenager while playing Kick the Can. If you’re not familiar, Kick the Can is just hide-and-seek with a few extra bits. There’s a person guarding a can while another seeks the hiders. If you’re found and tagged, you lose. If you manage to sneak past the guard and kick the can, you win. I decided to hide just outside the campfire light’s range by laying face down in an empty field. No one thought to search in a completely open, non-hiding place. Their flashlight beams nearly touched me on several occasions, but I avoided detection by staying as still as possible. For my extreme patience, willingness to endure the hard ground, and being covered in dirt, I was rewarded with… people getting bored and moving on to a different game without me. Sometimes winning isn’t really the point of the game. Just having fun and not winning is okay, too.