Tammy Hides

• Kathleen Bosveld, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2021

Hide and Seek
Tammy quickly ran to her favourite hiding spot. They were playing Hide-and-Seek. ‘There’s no way that anyone will find me here,’ she thought. ‘Though God can see me.’ A tall tree came into view. Quickly, she climbed the tree to the top. Once there, she stepped onto a tidy platform. Her dad had helped her build it. He had also made her a little waterproof box to put things in. Tammy’s mum had given her some blue cups and had allowed her to take books and her Bible up to read. Tammy walked over to the far left of the platform and picked up the Bible.
Tammy looked through a small hole in the platform. Below her she could see the yard in which the others were playing Hide-and-Seek. She saw her three friends coming around the corner of the house. She promptly ducked down so they could not see her. Then, she crawled over to a clump of leaves and disappeared into them. This was Tammy’s favourite place to hide. It was a branch with leaves surrounding it so that if you leaned back on the branch, the leaves would keep you from falling off. She heard her friends talking. “Maybe she climbed the tree,” said Jack. “You know she likes climbing trees.”
When Tammy heard this, she felt like laughing. Then she felt scared, “What if they climb the tree and find me?” She remembered the Bible she had brought with her. Maybe there was something about hiding in it? She rapidly opened the Bible. It fell open to Jonah 1. She read how Jonah had tried to run away from God. Jonah thought he could hide but God saw him the entire time. Then Tammy turned to Psalm 139. It said that even in the night time, God could still see her; even if she went to the depths of the sea, God was there.
Tammy turned the page and something woke her up from reading. She could hear a person on the platform outside the secret room. ‘Could they possibly find me?’ She wondered. Suddenly, she needed to sneeze. Could she stop it? “Ar-ar-ARTISHOO!”
There was a great stir of people talking. “Who sneezed?” Asked Kate.
There was a chorus of “Not I!” going around the area.
“Hey, maybe it was Tammy.” Said Tom.
“Maybe she’s at the bottom of the tree? I will go check.”
“We will all go. Then, Jack might have a better chance of catching her,” said Kate.
Tammy sighed. When they had gone, she quietly crawled out. As she did, there was Jack, plain as day. Quick as a flash, he reached out and touched her arm. She had been caught. Tammy almost fell out of the tree laughing.
Tammy soon found out that despite being caught, she had still won, because all the others had already been discovered.
“That was a fun game,” she said.