One day a little orphan named Sarah asked the head mistress if she could play outside.
"Okay, Sarah, but you have to finish your chores first.”
Sarah skipped away merrily and finished her chores in a jiffy. Running outside she saw several friends playing hide and go seek. "Can I play?” asked Sarah in a pleading voice.
"Sure, why not?” said the leader of the group, a big girl named Marla. Since she was the last to join the group she naturally had to be "It”.
"No peeking, Sarah!” shouted one girl.
"Count slowly!!” shouted another.
With a squeal of glee they were off, leaving Sarah with her little hands pressed firmly over her eyes. "!7…18…19…” Sarah counted slowly trying to give them as much time as possible to find great hiding places. She always loved a challenge. "Fifty! Ready or not, here I come!!” Muffled laughter escaped from a large bush. Sarah quickly ran over to it and instantly saw Kelly and Laura squatting together behind it.
"Ahh, man, you found us!”
"That's what you guys get for making noise,” Sarah admonished as she ran off to find the others. As she rounded the corner of the old building, she suddenly spotted the ends of several beautiful strands of ribbon dancing in the breeze. "Ah ha! Another one!” Sarah thought happily as she hurried towards the ribbon. What seemed like decoration for a ponytail turned out to be quite the opposite. The ribbon hung from the biggest, most beautiful collage she had ever seen. It stretched across the back of the building in a rich array of words, photographs, drawings, and, of course, ribbon.
Looking closely, she saw that a child younger than her must have created this because, well, it wasn't exactly Van Gogh-like. She read, "It lookz licke a good day. Maibe Mommy willl com back for me todey.” Next to that were several pictures of a smiling auburn haired woman at different ages. Glancing below them, Sarah saw an outdoor scene painted on a piece of construction paper replete with a house, tree, garden, a tall female stick figure with wild red hair, and a little girl stick figure with the biggest grin you ever did see holding the hand of the larger stick figure. Oh and don't forget a bright yellow sun shining merrily down on the happy little scene. Next to the picture in huge black letters painted red were the words, "Pleeze take me hom, Mommy. Ill bee good, I pramiss.”
The rest of the collage was more of the same except for one thing that danced at the edge of the artwork. That's right—the ribbon. Taped onto the wall, the long tendrils gleamed brightly in the sun displaying all the colors of the rainbow. Sarah peered at the words next to them: "Mommy, this is the onlee prezennt Ive efer gottin. I want you to hafe it. Maibe now yull want me aginn.” Sarah stumbled backwards, blinking away fresh tears.
"Psst…hey, Sarah, why didn't you look for us?” The girls stared at her with obvious annoyance. Sarah pondered this for a moment, then said, "I hate hide and go seek.”
She stomped off, a trail of ribbon floating in the wind behind her.
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