The Winner's Game(34)
“I know,” I tell my sisters while we’re trying to figure out what to do, “how about we play Twenty Questions?”
“How about not,” replies Bree. “You don’t know the difference between a vegetable and a mineral.”
“What about the games Dad brought?”
“No thanks.”
“There are cards. We could play Hearts.”
Ann looks up. “I don’t think so, Cade.”
“Why not?”
“Really? You want me to play a game where the loser is the one who collects the most hearts?”
OK, so she has a point. “Uno, then?”
“No.”
“Charades?”
“No.”
“Mancala?”
“Double no.”
I’m running out of ideas fast. “Hide and Seek?”
My sisters glance at each other. “Yes!” says Ann. “Great idea. I’ll be it first.”
“Cool,” I tell her. “Count to a hundred.”
“I’ll count to three hundred, just to make sure you have time to get really well hidden.” Ann closes her eyes and begins slowly counting.
Bree picks up her art pad and tiptoes to the top of the stairs. I follow her up. When she gets to her bedroom, she whispers, “I’ll hide in here. You have to hide somewhere else.”
I nod. Why would I hide with her when I already have the perfect spot in mind? I tiptoe a few steps farther and twist the handle to the attic door.
It is darker than I thought it would be, even with the light coming in from the hallway. There are six steps leading up to a loft area beneath the roof. For a second or two after pulling the door closed behind me, I am in complete darkness, but then my eyes begin to adjust. There is a light switch on the wall, but I know if I turn it on, Ann will find me in a snap.
Like a wraith, I move up the stairs without making a sound. The higher I go, the more I can see in the dark. The attic platform is right below the sloping roof, so while it is nearly head-high in the middle, toward the sides there is only a couple feet of clearance. Using all my senses, I creep farther into the black, climbing over and around a lifetime of boxes and clutter, most of which I have a hard time identifying with the tiny sliver of light coming in through an air vent. Halfway to the back of the platform I find what feels like a string of Christmas lights; my next step confirms it when I step on a bulb—I freeze, praying that Ann didn’t hear it. As I make my way closer to the rear wall, I also come across what I guess to be a set of golf clubs, a Christmas tree stand, an open box of hats, a bag of sweaters, and either a broken globe or a very smooth basketball.
Finally I drop down behind a large box at the very back. Then I wait.
And wait.
After like ten minutes, Ann yells, “Three hundred! Ready or not, here I come!”
Then I wait.
And wait.
And keep on waiting.
What the heck? Is she really this bad at Hide and Seek?
After another fifteen minutes, I realize that I’m probably the only one playing the game. No one is coming. I snuck into the attic to hide, and they are perfectly happy letting me stay here by myself forever. In frustration, I stand up to full height and kick at the box in front of me, but the spot where I stand is too short for a nearly sixth-grader like myself. I cry out in pain when my scalp digs into a series of roof staples.
Twenty seconds later, the attic door swings open and the overhead light flickers to life. “Found you!” says Ann.
“You weren’t even looking,” I mutter, squinting while my eyes adjust to the light. I’m still rubbing my head, feeling for blood.
“You were just really well hidden.”
“Liar.”
“Seriously. But I knew you’d give yourself away sooner or later.”
“I poked my head on nails or something.”
“Ouch. You OK?”
“I’ll be fine. I just need to—” My eyes latch on to something a few feet away. “Oh my gosh! I found it! I totally forgot!”
“Found what?”
“Great-grandpa’s metal detector! Aunt Bev told me it was here. She said there was treasure buried out back.” I step over a weathered brown box and pick it up. “I can’t believe we’ve been here a week and I just remembered this now.”
“Does it work?”
The handle-end has a silver switch on the side, which I assume is the power. I flip it on, and then hold the scanner-end upside down against the roof staples. It instantly starts going nuts. BZZZZZZZZ!
“Sweet!”
Finally, no matter what else happens this summer, I have found something to do. I am going to find a buried treasure!
I practically run downstairs to go find my fortune in the rain, only to be stopped by my parents just as I’m opening the back door.