Let's Go Play at the Adams'

and took the cloth out of the bag, and I sort of just .held it up in the air near her nose. And

I had to hold my own breath, I mean." They had reached the kitchen steps now and

stopped to hear Bobby finish. "And she sort of reached up and pushed my hand away."

"Really?" Paul's eyes spread wide with imagined

participation.

·

"Yeah, and when she touched me, I jammed it down over her mouth-" Bobby paused,

amazed in retrospect at his own courage.

"What'd she do then?" John said.

"Well, I guess she made a noise and really grabbed my hand, and I sort of jumped on her.

She kept pushing the rag away, and I kept getting it back, and then she just sort of gave

up and quit shoving at me."

"You were on top of her?" John said.

"Sort of like halfway, like wrestling," Bobby said.

"Boy, she's strong for a girl, even when she's asleep."

"So what then?"

"Well, anyhow, I held it over her face a little bit longer, and then put it back in the bag

again. I was

16

scared she might wake up, and I was scared I might give her too much. Then after that,

I got the rope from my room and tied her hands and feet, and then the rest was easy."

"Weren't you scared?" Paul was still deeply excited.

"Yeah, man. If she'd sneezed when I was creeping up on her, I'd have run right across

the river."

"But you haven't seen her yet," Cindy said.

"Come on!" She ran up the steps and opened the kitchen door. "Come on!"

Bobby, host in his own house, captor of the baby-sitter, hero of Freedom Five for the

moment, followed proudly. There was a barely perceptible hesitation in the other three.

It was as if they dare not see what they were going to see, but then John gruffly nod ded

his head and led the way behind Bobby.

When they emerged from the woods, John, Paul and Dianne had been carrying bathing

suits rolled up in towels. Now, in the coolness of the Adams kitchen, they dropped these

on the counter and muddled their way into the living room, their feet impelling them

forward, their caution holding them back. Cindy, however, was already down the hall-

had, in fact, been in and out of Barbara's room in her impatience.

"Well, come on," she said. "Are you scared or something? Bobby and me aren't."

She, of course, led the way. Bobby followed, succeeded by John, Paul, and Dianne. In

that order, they entered the bedroom and came to the foot of the bed. Silence followed.

Given that Bobby and Cindy had three to four hours' advantage, the fact was that until

today none of them had ever seen an adult human made helpless chained, pinioned,

bound, gagged, brought down beneath adult level. The sight itself was a fundamental

experience that, while it affected each differently, carried some common meaning for

them all.

Each person expects to grow up. Ascension to power is a given part of existence.

Usually, however, it 17

lies distantly ahead-we shall have power when we have the years, the means and

experience, for powerand meanwhile, we shall coast along being simply what we are and

no more. Now, of course, all of this was capsized. They had done the unbelievable thing,

they had captured a grown-up.

The baby-sitter was theirs, the Adams property was theirs, the next seven days-give them

luck!-were theirs, life for these hours they held it was theirs. It was like a dream, a wish, an

indolent fantasy, come all too suddenly true, for beyond the boldness, beyond the im-

petuosity, the success, lay inevitable tomorrow. Now they had done it, now it was fun, now

the adventure had begun, now they were really in for it. What now?

After some moments the trance was broken; the not-believable sight was believed. They

moved a foot, an arm-Paul scratched his nose---and they stirred from their frozen positions.

They looked; they moved around the bed; they breathed again.

"Y'see?" Bobby said.

"Her hands are all blue and purple," Paul said. "That's the ropes. Maybe they're too tight,"

Cindy

said.

Bobby sighed. "Aw~w-w, if they were looser, she

could get away."

"She has pretty feet," Paul said.

"You always say that." Cindy giggled.

"Cindy, get away from her," Bobby said. "If she grabs you, you'll know it."

John Randall, who alone had not moved from the foot of the bed, said, "I guess we better

have a meeting about this."

"A meeting, a meeting!" Cindy sang.

"No. You stay and watch her," Bobby said. "I don't want to. She isn't doing anything." "OK,

I'll watch, and you go to the meeting."

Now, Cindy was surprised. Under fang-and-claw rule, Bobby was in command here and

entitled to step on her, and he hadn't. She didn't even remember hav- · ing been nice to

him: she only knew that this was nice. 18

"Whatever you want," she said. Bobby looked at her, and they made an uncertain pact.

John Randall looked from one to the other. "It's OK," he said. "We can all come to the

meeting. We'll have it in the house, and then we can hear if she starts getting away."

Victorious through diplomacy (a rare act), Cindy smiled and skipped out first. Paul and the

rest followed.