Hide and Seek

Jodi tucked her head down and ran faster. Her chestnut braid bounced against the plastic turtle shell on her back marking a counterpoint to her footsteps. She barreled around the corner and skidded to a halt barely avoiding running headlong into Jake who was coming from the other direction.

"Did you see him?" Jake gasped, sucking in air like a pair of bellows.

Jodi bent over resting her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. "No! Didn't he pass you?"

Jake shook his head. "No! Where did he go?" He looked around for his bondmate. Carlos had to be somewhere in the vicinity. He might be a sneaky cat but he couldn't just disappear.

Jodi eyed Jake suspiciously, she knew that Carlos wouldn't cheat but Jake tended to have a reptile's disregard for the rules. Carlos, on the other hand, had a healthy fear of his momma who would have him on his knees doing Hail Marys till the cows came home if she caught him cheating, so that was alright. She looked around the yard. If it had been her turn she would probably have shifted out and hid in the pond. Turtles can hold their breath a really long time but cougars... not so much. She giggled to herself at the thought of the look of oh so feline disgust her playmate would have on his face at that thought. She shook her head. Nope, the pond was right out. He could be hidden under the front porch with the, she shuddered, spiders. Granted they were just Granddaddy Long Legs, but still they were icky and there was no way she was going under that porch, not to catch Carlos, not even for the warm chocolate chip cookies Miss Maria had cooling on the counter for after lunch. That left the blackberry patch with all its long thorns. She licked her lips thinking about the sun-kissed sweetness of blackberries. If she shifted before venturing in, the thorns would be no threat at all. "Jake, you check under the front porch and I'll check the berry patch." she suggested innocently.

Jake, who had no fear of spiders it would seem, nodded and loped off as ordered.

Jodi headed for the large patch of vines that ran along the fence. She moved back behind the bushes and took off her clothes laying them safely on the grass and then put her plastic shell over them to keep them from blowing away while she was shifted. A few moments later she poked her snout under the berry vines and crawled into the patch. She paused for a minute and closed her eyes in pleasure as the rich scent of ripening blackberries and freshly mowed grass caressed her nose. What was missing, however, was the scent of cougar. Carlos was not in the patch, she could tell that immediately. She debated backing out and continuing the hunt elsewhere but her tummy rumbled and the intoxicating smell of berries tempted her to stay and hunt out a few before continuing the game. Jodi crawled deeper into the patch in search of low hanging fruit. The thorny vines slid across her shell with a slight rasp that blended with the low thrum thrum thrum of the cicadas and the rustle of the cool breeze in the bushes. Overhead a chickadee called and was answered by its mate as it fussed at her intrusion. She had no intention of going after its babies so she ignored the small bird and homed in on the fat berries hanging down low enough for her to reach. All thoughts of the game faded at the tart sweetness that burst across her taste buds as she bit into the juicy fruit.
Finishing one berry she moved on to the next and was about to take a bite when Jake pounded up.

"Jodi!" Jake bent down and peered under the vines trying to spot his playmate. "He's not under the porch. Is he in there?... Jodi?" He drew back as one baleful eye filled his vision and a purple smeared snout hissed and snapped at him. Jake yelped and fell backward on his bottom. "Hey! Be nice Jodi or I'm telling your momma! And you're supposed to be looking for Cougs, not eatin' blackberries, " he groused.

Jodi cocked her head for a moment and considered Jake's threat. Then she nodded slowly and crawled back to her clothes. Shifting she dressed again, came around and waited for Jake to join her. "Not under the porch or in the patch. Where else could he be?" It was puzzling how Carlos had disappeared so quickly. She led the way to the shade of the apple tree by the front of the house and flopped down on the soft grass to think, laid back and looked up into the canopy. She only had a second to register his presence as she stared into a pair of golden eyes peeking slyly from behind the cover of the leaves before Carlos erupted from the branch he had been perched on. He pounced on Jake with a happy squall, knocking him ass over tea kettle to the ground. The two boys rolled around and wrestled, first one then the other getting the upper hand. Jodi giggled uncontrollably at Carlos's smug smirk as they came to a stop with him sitting firmly on Jake's chest, pinning him to the lawn. She jumped up and tackled him, knocking him off his bondmate and proceeded to tickle him until Jake joined in. The wrestling match continued until all three of them were breathless with laughter.

Carlos's mom put an end to their play when she called them into lunch and then her mother came to pick her up and it was time for Jodi to go home. Jake gave her a small bucket of blackberries with a grin and Carlos who had retreated back up the apple tree waved as she left. She settled down in the back seat of the car with a happy smile and drifted off to sleep.