The Master of Darkness

Posted on March 10, 2015

Parents interact with their children all the time. This interaction foists itself on us continually. It doesn’t matter where or when, or whether it’s convenient or not. It’s simply part of the game. It comes with the territory of parenting. With all the rigors and challenges that squared up against us, I found that sometimes it was just best to  play with my kids. This simple pleasure reminded me to keep things in perspective and to breathe. The older they got, the more fun playtime became.

Growing up in the suburbs of the San Francisco east bay had its advantages. One of them was a plethora of kids to play with on the block where I lived. During the summer months it wasn’t unusual to find several of us out playing hide-and-go-seek in the dark of night. The standard rules were in effect and the boundaries were simple. Anywhere within our entire block was fair game for hiding, just don’t round the street corners on either end.

Some of us took this game very seriously, meaning me. I loved it. I dressed all in black, and I learned how to hide in plain sight within the shadows Ninja style. (This was way before being a NInja was so popular.) I learned well how to play the street lights against my opponents. I could lie within a shadow in plain sight just a mere foot from where the bright glow of the street light ended. No one could see me because their eyes were accustomed to the light. I, on the other hand, could see them as plain as day. I won every time if I could run fast enough to the base. No one ever actually found me in my “spots”, they just saw me running down the street as I hauled it toward base and victory.

 

Fast forward a couple of decades and this was a well honed skill I used on my kids as they grew up. It came into play once when they were adults and we were hiding in the woods of the Lost Lake Campground. It was dark and the only lights visible were from campfires and lanterns. We were all dressed in dark clothing and were milling around our fire waiting for the stragglers to finish up. As we were about to leave our campsite and head out on the first round of the game, I noticed how the campfire light was dancing brightly on the edge of one of the tents. I immediately spied the other adjoining side that was in complete darkness.  Ah ha! I thought and I deftly knelt on the darkened side to see if the old shadow trick was still effective. It was. All of the kids walked right past me less than a foot from where I knelt in plain sight.

“Anybody see which way Dad went?” one of them asked.

“I didn’t see him at all,” answered another as they marched by.

I could have reached out and grab any one of them. Shrouded in the darkness I was completely hidden from their view. None of them had any idea I was right under their noses as they walked past me.

Once they cleared the tents I came up behind them and told them where I had hidden. I wanted them to know I could hide unseen and then scare them to death at will once the game began in earnest. I made Aaron very aware of this...skill.  It turned out to a wise choice.

After two or three rounds of the game it was my turn to hide. It was here that the real fun began.

As all the kids were hanging out around the campfire I made my way out beyond the tents some fifty feet and then turned left and down the hill. I was looking for a spot that had light thrown out in front of me, and where I could be concealed in the shrubbery and darkness. It wasn’t long before I found the perfect spot.

I found low-lying cover along the campground road as it ran parallel to our campsite. There was light from two neighboring campsites that provided the necessary illumination. Once I had backed into my spot I could either lean further back into the hill and watch from that vantage, or bend low and see the road as it stretched out in front of me. Either way, I could not be seen unless you tripped over me, or I moved suddenly.

As was per the rules, once I was settled in I had to flash my light briefly to let them know I was ready. Now I could hear the kids as they were coming to look for me.

“The light came from over here,” Tristan said and there was a shift in the direction they took. They were coming down the same path on the left I had taken, but unlike me, they continued straight down to the road. I watched with amusement as they filed right past my position and looped around the other side.

It wasn’t long before they came to realization that I couldn’t be found. They split up and chased down a few misguided hunches. Finally, Aaron and Tristan decided to come back to the road and go hand over hand in the underbrush along the roadside. They were slowing coming straight toward my on my left, and were loud.

This was what I was hoping for. All that prep work in telling Aaron about being able to hide in the dark was paying off.

“If he jumps out grabs me I’m gonna freak,” Aaron said to Tristan as they inched closer.

Twigs were snapping, branches were scratching against their clothes, and their talking was keeping me abreast of their exact location. I had already decided that when they were within one foot of me I was going to reach out and grab the nearest limb and give it a good shake accompanied by a loud holler.

They were only two feet from me now. It wouldn’t be long. It was hard to keep from laughing and giving myself away.

“If he’s right here I’m going to punch him,” Tristan said. I was literally shaking from holding my laughter in at this point.

Come on guys, just a bit further and it will all be over.

They were eighteen inches from me and clueless. I was still as stone, willing myself into complete silence.

“Ouch!” one of then said and then they stopped. “I can’t get through. It’s blocked off.”

Sure enough they had come as far as they could from that direction. To my great disappointment I was walled off from detection, and my reprisal. They both crawled out from under the bushes and stood up right in front of me. Neither of them knew a thing about how close they had come to finding me. Off they marched in search of the others, convinced that I wasn’t there.

Soon afterward they all gave up and asked me to shine my light and show myself. I did to their complete amazement. They had searched every square foot around me, but never found me.

To this day I wish that they could have come six inches closer. Oh the fun I would have had with them. They may be younger, more spry, quicker, and stronger, but none of that mattered.

Remember my beloved children: I can be anywhere because I am the Master of Darkness.

“See ya soon…or not.”