the hide-and-go-seek massacre by jude theriot, grade 5

19th century wood block engraving

It was a rainy and lonely Saturday morning. My brother was away at camp Sha-kah-nah-kee. Julie, our babysitter, was scurrying about the kitchen trying to make something for lunch. I was throwing the ball up and down since I didn’t have anything to do. Julie asked, “What would you like on your hamburger?”

I shouted, “Ketchup.” The reason I shouted was because she was listening to a radio. I asked Julie if she would mind if someone came over this afternoon.

She responded, “Yes, I would mind!” We sat down to eat our lunch of hamburgers and French fries. Then there was a telephone call.

It was my friend Joe. He said, “Hello, Jude, can I go over to your house this afternoon?”

I said, “Yes, I’ll talk to my babysitter.” Then I hung up. I begged and begged Julie, but she still said no.

I said, “The poor child has no place to go. He is alone in a big dark house!”

Julie said, “You’ve made your point. I guess he can come.”

I shouted with glee. I also jumped up and down. Suddenly, a doorbell rang! I ran to the front door only to find that it was the Avon lady. In a disappointed mood I slammed the door in her face. As I was about to sit down the doorbell rang again. It was probably the Avon lady again. Julie answered it this time and said, “It’s Joe!” I dropped my lunch and ran to the door. We scrambled upstairs. We threw a tennis ball to each other for about fifteen minutes. It was s o dull I was getting sick.

Joe said, “We could play tag or maybe even hide-and-go-seek. Let’s play hide-and-go-seek. I’ll be it.”

I heard footsteps and a closet door open. He was probably in the bedroom closet. I acted like I didn’t know where he was. I tried to scare him because I knew a way into the back of the closet. It was a very narrow passage that you had to squeeze through. It was about ten feet long and two feet wide. I slowly moved along the passage. I was stuck! Nobody knew this passage except my parents! I would die!

I screamed but nobody heard! What would I do? Joe had been waiting a long time and felt something was wrong. He went tell Julie what happened. Fifteen minutes passed and they called my parents to come back right away. My parents were the only ones who knew this passage. When they finally found me, I was gasping for air. Then I was unconscious.

When I regained consciousness, I heard a siren and saw flashing lights. It was an ambulance. They were taking me to a hospital. I began to remember what happened. It was a long ride because the nearest hospital was miles away. They put me in a wheelchair and rolled me into the room. They quickly gave me oxygen.

By the next day, I was out of the hospital. My brother arrived the next day and we played hide-and-go-seek. The same thing that happened to me happened to him. We had to rush him to the hospital. We got him a box of chocolate candies. He liked the ones with nuts and jelly in them. The next day our parents were out of town. I called Tom to come play. We ran outside and played catch. We decided to go inside the house and play hide-and-go-seek. This time I was it.

I ran downstairs for a snack and Tom came downstairs too. We ate doughnuts and milk. I was glad this time that no one got hurt and had to go to that stinky hospital. We went outside to play football when my parents drove up. It was time for Tom to go home.

That night I watched TV until it was time for supper. For supper we had French fries and hamburgers. I remembered the day when all this happened and I thought of Joe and Julie and how they helped me out. I decided that I should do something for them. I could get them a ribbon or a trophy. I saved up some money by mowing lawns. As soon as I saved up enough money I went to the trophy shop. I couldn’t decide what kind to get. I finally got a trophy that said:

TO: JULIE AND JOE FOR THEIR BRAVERY

When I presented them with the trophy they said, “You should not have got us this trophy.” I said, “You saved my life.” We became the best of friends.