Chapter 10: Hide and seek.

I was back at the more empty part of town and I headed for the plaza to see if anybody was there, luckily there was, it was the orange squirrel that was there when I first arrived in Seascape. I she was just sitting on the edge of the plant box looking she was waiting for someone, so I decided to introduce myself while she was waiting. "Hello." I said as I was walking towards her, "My name's Robert."

She looked at me after I said hello and her eyes widened a bit and she said, "Oh my goodness, it's the mayor! Hi, I'm Sally, it's nice to meet you, I liked your speech, as short as it was."

"Thanks, I tried my best. So what are you doing? Waiting for someone?" I asked

"Yes, I'm just waiting for some of my friends to get here, we're going to play a game. You can stick around and play with us if you'd want." She then scooted over to the side of the plant box even though there was enough room for me to sit next to her to begin with.

"Sure, sounds like fun." I said as i sat down next to her. "So who are we waiting for?" I asked.

Sally then said, "We're waiting for Tangy and Grizzly, we're going to play hide and seek. I'm sure they'll surprised to see that you're going to be playing with us." Sally then looked around to see if her friends were there yet. She then looked back at me and said, "So how's life for you here so far?"

I thought about it for a moment or two, then I said, "It's been interesting, I can say that. I never thought I'd be a mayor of any town, I got the job before I even got a house, and I've spent most of my day meeting as many people as I can. I think I'm going to like it here."

Sally smile and said, "Glad to know that. You know, most people in town have lived here for awhile now, so if you need any advice for living in Seascape, feel free to ask, I'm sure we'll be able to help." Sally looked around one more time and then she said, "Oh, there they are. Tangy, Grizzly, over here!"

Tangy waved at us, then started to skip towards us, reaching us first, while Grizzly just walked over a normal pace. While Grizzly was just a plain looking bear, albeit with a grumpy expression and some blue in his ears, Tangy was a little strange. She wore a large leaf on her head and her fur had a strange pattern to it, making her look like an orange.

As Tangy was the first to arrive, she was also the first to speak, "Hey, Sally! Love your shirt! I see you brought the mayor with you." Tangy then looked at me and said, "Nice to meet you, I'm Tangy. So are you going to play with us? Hide and seek is always better with more people."

"Yeah, I'm going to play and it's nice to meet you too Tangy." Then Grizzly finally walked over and I said to him, "It's nice to meet you too, Grizzly. I'm Robert."

Grizzly then said, "I guess it's nice to meet you too, although I thought our mayor would be a little older than you." He said, in a rude tone.

Sally then spoke up, "Hey, Grizzly, be nice. Mayor Tortimer, picked him out himself, so show him at least a little respect." I did not know that the guy who never showed up, was picked out by the previous mayor, I could understand why Isabelle wanted me to be the mayor a little more.

Grizzly looked a little shocked by Sally and he said, "Alright, alright, jeez. Sorry Mr. Mayor, no offence, you know?" I was not angry with him to begin with, I was sure that most people do not usually see mayors, as twenty-somethings with no experience.

Sally then stood up and said, "Good, I'm glad you apologized." She said in a nice tone. "Alright, now that we're all here let's play some hide and seek!." She then pointed at me and said, "Okay, Robert, since you're the newest here, you can be the seeker, while the rest of us hide. Oh yeah, here are the rules: We won't hide indoors and we won't hide anywhere in Main Street."

I then stood up and said, "Okay, simple enough, I guess I'll close my eyes and start counting." I was about to do just that, but then Tangy suddenly spoke up saying,

"Oh, wait! One more thing." She then took a looked a small watch from her pocket and tossed it to me, I caught it as she said, "That's a timer, we like see how fast we can find each other, so set the timer for thirty minutes, then count to thirty, and when you're done counting start the timer and start looking."

I set the timer for thirty minutes and then said, "Okay, I'm set, Now I'll start counting, so you guys start hiding." I closed my eyes and began to count, "One, two, three…" I could hear their footsteps rush off the cobblestone in various directions while I counted. It was not long until I finished counting, "Twentynine. Thirty!" I immediately press a button on the timer to start its countdown. I look around and I see that there was a slope at the top of the cliff face that lead to the beach and thought that maybe someone hiding down there. I quickly ran down the slope and on the beach. I kept up a light running pace as I searched around the beach, there was no one there, but I found another slope near the south end of the beach that lead back up the cliff.

I checked the timer and saw that running across the beach ate up 7 minutes of my time, I start jogging instead of running, because I did not want to tire myself out too quickly. I start checking behind every tree I see, but nobody was hiding any of them, I passed by one of the trees and I heard its leaves rustle, but there wasn't any wind blowing. Feeling a little suspicious, I looked up into the tree and I saw an orange, fluffy tail, that quickly pulled away into the tree. Knowing who it was I immediately shouted, "I saw you, Sally!"

I then heard her say "Aww man, I thought you'd never find me here." while still in the tree. She then dropped from the branch and landed safely on her feet. "Well you found me, but good luck if you haven't found the other two." She laughed playfully.

"Oh, I'll find them." I said with a bit of confidence in my voice and then I took off running again, looking for Grizzly and Tangy. I ran for a little bit, before I stopped to catch my breath, I still looked behind every tree I passed by, I then came across someone's house facing the south cliff side, it had a nice view of the ocean. I noticed on the side of the house there was a large box. I looked in the box and was a little disappointed to find it empty, I thought for sure that someone would be hiding in it. I then looked around the front of the house and I found Grizzly, sitting on a bench and reading a book. "Oh, I found you, I guess…" I said, in an awkward tone, I was wondering if he even wanted to play.

"Yep, you found me." Grizzly said in a plain tone, he put his book down stood up and said, "Well, good luck finding the others, meet us back at the plaza, when you find all of us, or when time your time runs out. I'll see you there." he said and tried to smile, which came off a little scarier then when I try practice smiling in front of a mirror.

"Okay, I'll see you there too." I said, as I went to go look for Tangy. I checked the timer and saw that I had about fifteen minutes left, so I started walking around at a pretty fast pace, looking for Tangy. I looked for a while, with no sign of her, I looked at the timer and saw that I had five minutes left. I was just about out of places to look, I headed for the northern part of town and I saw pair of ears poking out from behind a message board by the train station. I looked behind the board and I found Tangy, although she was asleep, I guess I took too long looking for her. "Hey Tangy, wake up" I said a little loudly.

Tangy's eyes went wide open as she woke up and she jumped a little as well, I guess I startled her. "Oh, woah, hey, you found me. Good job." She said as she was waking up. "Did you find the others?" She asked sounding more awake.

I nodded as I said, "Yeah, let's head back to the plaza." Tangy and I head back to the plaza, it was a short walk and I saw Sally and Grizzly, waiting there. As I walked up to them, I said, "Hey guys, I found Tangy, looks like I win." I said with a small grin on my face. "Oh I almost forgot." I turned around and took the timer from my pocket and gave it back to Tangy, "Here, this is yours." I said, as she took it and put it back in her pocket.

Sally and Grizzly then stood up and and Sally said with a smile, "Yeah, you won, good job, Robert. Maybe next time you can hide. Here's a little prize for winning." Sally then took out fifty bells and handed them to me.

"Oh, I don't think I can accept money for just a small game of hide and seek. You can take it back, Sally." I said offering the bells back to her.

Sally then lowered my hand down and said, "No, no, keep it, everyone gets something when they win a game here. Just last week, I won a chair from Joey when I beat him at bug catching."

I put the bells in my pocket and said, "Well, okay, thank you." as I said that it suddenly struck me that I finally met everyone Seascape, it took a little longer than I thought though. I looked at my watch and saw that it was a little after five, I then said to the small group, "I had fun, I hope I can play with you guys again sometime, maybe we can play a board game or something." I said as a friendly offer.

Tangy then said, "That sounds fun, I'll be sure to take you up on that offer and I'll also be sure to bring Mr. Grumpy-Pants over here." she smiled cheekily and poked Grizzly in the stomach with her elbow, while looking at him.

Grizzly then took a step away from Tangy and he said, "Yeah, that'd be nice, I'll bring snacks or something." He had this nonchalant look to him, but I could tell something was bugging him, maybe it was Tangy, she did seem to be getting too close to him.

I then said, "Cool, maybe we can do that sometime after my house gets built. I should go now, it was nice meeting you guys." I said as I waved goodbye. The rest of my day I spent wandering around Seascape, taking in the sights and saying hi to anyone that walked by. It is a very lovely town, I was glad that I decided to move here, just for the location alone. By the time I was done sightseeing, it was dark and most of the stores were getting ready to close for the night. I went back to my tent and laid down on the floor, this time not using my suitcase a pillow, as I drifted off to sleep. As I slept, I had a strange dream that I was being moved.

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