Hide and Seek

We had a game, my humans and me, when we had a big garden.  Humans might call it hide and seek but we had our own rules.  We were all hiders and all seekers.  And it was best played in the dark.

GO!  

Everyone runs out into the garden and dives commando style into or under bushes, behind compost bins, the shed, or empty beehives, trees, bits of hedge or the rose trellises.  

Light shines from the open patio doors at the back of the house, the warm glow of the indoors.

Outdoors smells of grass and herbs.  Insects tickle my whiskers, there is rustling in the undergrowth - a human or a mouse?  

Of course I know the difference.  Humans are clumsy, but there are two of them and sometimes they get sneaky.  While I am focused on sneaking up on one, the other one creeps around and leaps out at me from behind.  Sometimes I leap at their hiding places to discover they have managed to move on without me realizing.  More often I sneak up behind to see them looking out for me coming in the other direction - and then I can leap at them, arms outstretched, fat fluffy tail; a big 'GOT YOU' leap of joy and excitement.

I get a back-scratch when I win.  The humans laugh and lie on the ground.

The last rule of the game is the race for the house.  Someone starts running and the race is on.  I always gave them a head start, but I would race right through into the lounge and try to continue the game round the sofas and the coffee table - or race up the stairs at F peering round the bottom of newel post at the top.

That always made her laugh.

The apartment has less scope for hide n seek, but we are all older and slower.  Their diving under bushes days might be behind my humans anyway.  However with the balcony doors open there are a few circuits we can play with.  Last night I got F a really good one.  I raced from back to front of the apartment and she actually got out of bed to try and sneak up on me.  I watched her do a full circuit, look for me on my Condo, under the settee, then stick her face round the bottom corner of a doorway and scan the floor level.  I was so excited that I was going to be able to leap at her from behind that I knocked the rubbish bin over in my race to surprise her.  Fat tail.  Big grin.  Lying on the floor laughing.  

Back-scratch.