Kiss And Chase

His name is Charles. He is a six year old hairy boy with dark black hair and hairy arms. The game we are playing is called Kiss and Chase. Charles is ‘it’ and he is blindfolded. He is running around blindly in the large enclosed playground of the school. Everyone screams and squeals and runs from him. If Charles can latch on to someone he can take off his blindfold and kiss them. That’s the game we play in this schoolyard in Oxford during break. Charles is in love with me. I know this, everyone knows this and I dislike Charles with a passion. He is a cheat and he is very hairy. I know he peeks from under the blindfold. Peeks to see where I am. Then he runs straight for me. I am not a very good runner and will never be all my life. I scream and run. I turn left to throw him off track. Blindfolded, he knows I’ve turned, I know he is peeking, he is cheating. He turns left and keeps coming after me. Everyone laughs. Everyone knows Charles won’t go after them. Everyone knows he is cheating and I will become ‘it’ next. I hate this game. I hate the kissing and the running, the chase and being chased. Inevitably Charles latches on to my arm. Triumphantly he pulls off his blindfold and…