Friday, May 28, 2004

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...    

9 comments:

  1. hahahahaha!! I was playing Sardines the other night! Steve and Virginia wore over. Steve and I wore looking for Virginia in total darkness. Him and I walked upstairs. We both said Virginia where are you? She responded by saying, "I aM oVeR hErE!" It sounded like it was comeing from the other room. Sundenly, she grabbed Steves leg and he ran away!..lol... But when i went into that room, she was basically sitting down. But I kneed her, lol, she was okay though, and no mark. But it was hilarious! We all laugh at when we talk about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG, this was too funny!  Thank goodness my kids didn't play this game at our home.  (or to MY knowledge)  I have several stained glass lamps that my mom made and IF one had been damaged ... oh it would've been a high price for them to pay!  Sounds like a FUN game though and I'd play ... just NOT around my lamps though! Gawd, I sound like an old fudy!

    Monica

    ReplyDelete
  3. lol oh those were the days.....lol
    and now kids wouldnt think of playin such a fun game!
    Thanks for your support and encouragement, it is greatly appreciated!
    http://journals.aol.com/bernmilo/WAYNEATOPICTURES

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sardines is a game that the youth group at our church plays just about every sunday evening.  From the youngest member of the group to the oldest they all love it.  They can play it for hours and hours.  

    You'll cherish that memory.

    angie

    ReplyDelete
  5. This was very entertaining.  Thanks for the memories.  Love, Arielle Marie

    ReplyDelete
  6. That actually sounds like fun! Thanks for sharing your memories. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. LOL it sounds like you had some good fun when you were a kid.Those were the days of fun fun and more fun and not a care or worry in the world.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I loved playing Sardines when I was a kid; much better than the better known Hide and Go Seek.  Never played it in the dark though,that definitely would add a whole new dimension to the game.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I grew up playing kick the can, freeze tag and hide n seek in the dark of course. We also toliet papered houses for fun with my mom. It was a triangle of houses toilet papering each other. We would do my aunts house on the corner and then my aunt and her kids would do my aunts bestfriends house on the next street over and then it would come back to us. Once coming home from school I noticed that my aunt and her bestfriend had used the house key given to my aunt and toilet papered my moms bedroom. We in return completly wrapped their cars in toliet paper. We almost got caught that night, I had to crawl under the car so that we could wrap the toliet paper all the way around the car. Oh what fun we had. This little game went back and forth for over a year. It was fun and we all laugh now at all the toilet paper we wasted. Oh well.

    ReplyDelete

I would love to hear from you. Now is your chance! So what do you want to say?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...