Sardines

When I was a kid we used to play this game called Sardines.  We would play it in a totally darkened house.  My parents didn't like the game so we would wait until they went out and talk the babysitter into it.  

The person who was "it" went and hid while everybody else stayed in the bathroom and counted to something like 100.  "It" found a really good place to hide, like in the utility room behind some boxes, or in an obscure closet, or in the shower behind the shower curtain.  The object of the game was to find the player who was it and slip quietly in with them, pressing yourself as tight as possibly against them (hence the name Sardines), waiting for the next person to do the same.  The loser (and the next "it") was the last person to find the whole group.

One of the fun things about the game, or shall I say the scary things about the game, was that it was all done in the dark.  As you were walking around trying to find the person who had hidden, you began to notice that other people were starting to disappear.  Periodically roll calls were taken, to see who was left.  Terror came upon you when you took the roll and found out that nobody answered.  Then you had to search the dark house alone, trying to stumble upon the group of Sardines. 

I guess there were a few reasons my parents didn't like this game.  Maybe stumbling around in the dark had something to do with it.  Maybe they didn't want us to break the furniture or ourselves.  But like I said, we could always count on the good ol' babysitter to play it with us.  I remember the day when I was it.  My parents pulled into the driveway and entered the house.  "What are you doing, get out of there," my mother said.  I was standing up in the bay window with her beautiful glass objects, my body pressed against them.  

Another time when we were playing the game we heard an intruder.  The babysitter pulled us all into a bedroom.  "This is what we are going to do" she said as she gave us all our assignments,  "when he comes in, Krissy, you are going to hit him with your Beautiful Krissy The Doll With The Growing Hair.  Dearie, you are going to bite his leg.  Valerie, you are going to whack him with this hairbrush..."  There was six of us and we all had our assignments.  This was no young babysitter either.  I remember her being 16 or 17 at least.  And she was going to have us "beat up" this intruder!  Slowly the door opened.  There was total darkness (because we had just been playing Sardines).  My parents entered the bedroom and said, "What are you all doing?"  We were relieved to know that they were the intruders.  I don't remember for how long after that she remained our babysitter...