Summer Evenings, Playing Outside til Dark

Summer evenings were just as great as the days. For one thing, they were cooler-perhaps not by much-but not as scorching as the late afternoon hours. We could play on the streets even when the sun went down. I can recall playing hide and seek or riding shirtless and free under the pale green glow of a neighborhood street light. Parents sat out on porches and neighbors actually talked to each other. Sometimes they came over and shared a porch.

Neighborhood games would get organized once the sun began to dip. "Tag" was always a favorite, but "Hide and Seek" was always the most heralded game. Life was safer then; kids could wander on their own, often several blocks from the house, and were perfectly safe. "Hide and Seek" was an indelibly popular night time game because hiding places in the dark were so much easier to find. Many times you could move to different hiding spots if you sneak around quietly enough. The most fun was lunging out and scaring someone to death. If you could cause a coronary, you had a good game of hide and seek going.

It was also fun to add a bit of excitement to the game with a few monster stories. These made the dark hiding places less appealing. Of course us guys were tough and weren't afraid of monsters, so it was fun to scare the girls. The most challenging aspect of the game was finding a place to hide that your friends, parents, or even the National Guard could not find you. I liked hiding in places like trees, the roof of the house, or under the car. Besides being a game, Hide and Seek was pure adventure, and it was never more fun than it was on a hot summer evening.

I can still hear a small army of kids yelling from the street corner, or black and white television shows blaring from sets indoors. I can recall a great summer night watching Ozzie and Harriet through a neighbor's screen door while sitting on their porch with their kids. Ice cream, watermelon and ice cold bottles of pop were popular treats. Yes, summer evenings were just as wonderful as the days, and to me now, they are so missed.