#Playing in the Woods #50'sChildhood play #Hide and Seek

There was nothing more thrilling than to leave the confines of the house and run into the woods outside of our home. To  us it was a veritable forest, but in truth it was probably a few acres of trees, brooks, and untrod-en paths. It meant for the Gabriel siblings adventure with a capital A. Most of the time I went barefoot, sometimes alone and sometimes for the sake of games, usually cowboys and Indians, with my brothers and sisters.
Alone I was an amazing Indian woman who could walk without making sounds. I could feel the gnarled roots of the giant trees underneath my feet. I could curl my toes to prevent from slipping on the green moss that grew abundantly by the brook. The brook was strewn with large rocks which I could step upon and reach the more remote areas of the woods. Oh yes, adventure everywhere I turned and my mind conjuring up who I was, and how nature was at my beck and call. I sometimes would find a grassy plain with occasional lumps of grass grown tall. I sat on them and imagined I was a queen on a throne. There was a copse of trees that bordered a river. One of the tree branches extended out over the river. I became a Columbus climbing up the tree and perusing the distant lands. Sometimes I would lay on the ground and watch the parade of clouds go by. There were trains, there were animals, there were ships and there were menacing dragons sticking out their tongues. I could handle it all because I was all powerful.
When all of us entered the woods we played hide and seek. I was clearly the most clever, in my mind of course. One person would close their eyes against a tree and the rest of us would scatter, finding the best hiding place we could. I remember once climbing a tree and after every one had been found they all conjured beneath the very tree I was hiding in. I was thrilled with my ingenious hiding place when suddenly a beast of prey hiding in the tree made a loud noise. I screamed and jumped down. "We won", they all shouted, "because you didn't stay put."
I looked at them and would not let it go. You all definitely did not win. That big bird in the tree did!