365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

199. Hiding Places

199. Hiding Spaces: Write about places you like to hide things at. What was a favorite hiding spot for you as a child playing hide-and-seek?

Anthony Taylor. I know I've mentioned him before in this book. He was a boy with a beautiful soul, and a large part of that beauty was his humor.

I've never met anyone as funny as Anthony Taylor, even to this day. In a few minutes he could make me laugh until I cried. Everyone loved him. Anthony was charming in the best way. I've always wondered what kind of man such a child turned into

He had a little brother, named Andrew. Of course, we never called him that. We called him Booboo. I'm still not sure why, but that's what everyone referred to him as. Both of the brothers were obsessed with skateboards. I remember they used to try and teach me how to skate. It never did work out as well as they wanted.

We hung out with both of them, so we had our own little group: Me, Booboo, Anthony, and my older brother, Zachary. The memories I have of us I hope will endure forever. I know one will, at least --

We were playing hide-and-seek. I was a master at this game, being small and competitive enough to hide in the tiniest of places to escape being found. Sometimes this went badly though. One time I hid so well in the bathroom that my grandma, who was acting as the seeker that time, didn't even realize my presence as she used the toilet. I loved her, but that was not an experience my little girl self was prepared to see.

Booboo had ended up being chosen as the seeker this particular time around, and as we all scattered before him, Zachary and Anthony dived into the closet under the stairs. (It was very Harry Potter-esque. One time we wanted to move into it, but my mom wouldn't let us. Probably worried some muggles would call CPS on her for sticking her child in such a place.)

I hesitated as they opened the door and waved at me to join them. It was such an obvious spot. But I did, and ended up sitting on the long box holding our Christmas tree next to Anthony. We heard Booboo finish counting and call out in a voice that hadn't yet lost its babyishness, "Ready or not, where are you?"

We heard him search the house as we stared at each other and smiled. There was something very bonding about hiding together. We tried not to giggle as he passed the closet door, but he didn't open it. "Where are you?" Booboo called out repeatedly, growing more and more confused as he couldn't find us.

I'm not really sure where my parents were when we played hide-and-seek. They seemed to disappear during these memories.

As Booboo continued to look everywhere but the extremely common place where we were, we had to try harder and harder not to laugh.

"Where are you?" Booboo called.

Suddenly Anthony sang out loudly, "DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!"

Me and Zachary? We. Lost. It.

We were hunched over, wheezing and making spurting noises as we tried to keep from bursting out in hysterical laughter. My sides ached from holding in my giggles.

"Where are you?" Booboo asked, sounding like he was in the kitchen.

Anthony shook his hair back and called out again, "DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!"

Where the heck did he come up with this stuff? That's a line from an old song, and it was also written across the ceiling of our local Whataburger (funnily enough, I ate at that exact same Whataburger for dinner), but at that moment, how did he come up with it?

Booboo was hurrying toward the sound of Anthony's voice. "I can hear you!" he said. "Where are you?"

Anthony said it once more, "DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS!"

God, I loved that boy. I always will.

The closet door was flung open. "I found you!"

*

^^Link to the song.

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