Save the Date(64)

It was one of the many things that had become completely irreplaceable simply because we’d been using it for capture the flag my whole life. I had hidden both flags in the games closet during the tag sale purge, terrified that while I was up at Linnie and Rodney’s, my parents would have found them and sold them to people who wouldn’t understand their importance. Because the Anderson General Life Insurance towel technically wasn’t worth anything—except for the fact that it was priceless. And where would we play CTF in the future?

“Did you want to change, Brooke?” Linnie asked, looking at her white dress. “I can let you borrow something.”

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” Brooke said, starting to back away.

“Oh, come on,” Danny said. “It’ll be fun, babe.”

“But . . .” Brooke shifted her weight from foot to foot.

“I thought you wanted to be here,” Danny said, a sigh somewhere in his voice.

“Okay,” Brooke said after a pause. “Sure.”

“Great,” Danny said, shooting her a quick smile. “So, here’s the rundown. Linnie’s going to throw the flags in the air to pick for teams, and you have to run to the one you want to be on—either Grant or Anderson General Life Insurance. And then the teams take the flags to their separate corners, and when we’re in place, we begin.”

“But if you’re in the no-man’s-zone when the game starts, then whoever tags you, you have to become part of their team,” I pointed out.

“Unless you get tagged back,” Rodney said, shaking his head, “before you get into jail. Then you can pick which team you want to be on, but you can’t change after that.”

“Basically, it’s easier just to make sure you’re on a side when the game begins,” Linnie said.

“But . . .” Brooke looked around at us like she was hoping for a more detailed explanation. “But I don’t . . .”

“It’s really more of a learn-as-you-go type game,” I said. I was tempted to suggest that she just sit out the first round and watch, but held it back.

J.J. nodded, patting her on the back in what I’m sure he thought was a comforting manner. “You’ll pick it up.”

“Ready?” Linnie asked, looking around at all of us, then grinned. “Go!” She threw the flags up in the air.

I raced toward Anderson General Life Insurance, mostly because J.J. had a weakness for the Grant flag. Sure enough, I was right—J.J. and Linnie ran for the Grant flag, while Danny and Rodney headed toward Anderson’s, and Brooke stayed in the same spot, looking around, increasingly unhappily.

“Yes!” Danny said, holding up his hand for high fives, which Rodney and I returned. “We got this, guys. We’re going to crush it.”

“I . . .” Brooke edged toward the house. “I think I’ll just . . .”

“Babe, you can’t bail now,” Danny said, starting to sound annoyed. “The teams’ll be uneven! You can be on Linnie’s team.”

“Yeah, come be on our team,” Linnie said, grinning at her. “It’s the best team. And this way, we have a medic if someone gets hurt!”

“Don’t worry,” Danny said with a wink as we started to head over to our side of the yard, “I’ll take it easy on you!”

“Also, everyone watch out for the tent posts,” Rodney reminded us.

Danny found a stick and we planted the flag, after some quick deliberation, just a few feet away from the greenhouse entrance that would be serving as our jail. “Think J.J.’s going to put their flag in a tree again? Remember when he did that for like a whole year?”

“Start in one minute,” Linnie called across the yard in a loud whisper that nonetheless carried.

I gave her a thumbs-up, and then Team Anderson General Life Insurance turned to face each other. “I call jailer,” Rodney said immediately, raising his hand. “Groom’s prerogative.”

“Okay,” Danny said, and he was smiling widely. “We ready to do this?”

“Here we go,” Linnie whisper-yelled across the yard, and I turned to see that they’d had the opposite idea we had—their flag was almost as far away from the jail (the trampoline) as possible. “Three . . . two . . . one . . . capture the flag!”

We all set off running as fast as possible. I headed straight into enemy territory, then dashed to the left to avoid J.J., who was coming right at me—it was always his strategy to try to get as many people in jail as possible to make flag stealing easier. Danny ran in the opposite direction from me, and it looked like Linnie was playing defense, not offense—she wasn’t moving toward our territory; she was going to guard her own. Brooke was standing still, just looking around at the rest of us in motion, like she was still waiting for a more detailed instruction list.

“Got it!” Danny yelled as he grabbed the Grant flag out of the ground and started to turn and run back to our base with it, only to have J.J. pivot from trying to get me to run full speed at him.

“Danny,” I yelled, breaking left to avoid Linnie, who was advancing toward me. “On your ten!” He turned but just a second too late, and J.J. tagged him.

“Get outta here,” he said, pointing to the trampoline.

“Is the game over?” Brooke asked hopefully.