# 975. I Didn't Break My Promise & I Lived To Regret It !!!

Death comes calling on all of us at some stage of our life, whether we are "ready or not" - unlike the game of "hide & seek", where you are supposed to count to 100 and then yell out, coming "ready or not", you can not cheat on life !!! How many times did you cheat by counting in 5's and peeping through your fingers, which covered your eyes, while your friends hid away for you to find ? How good were you at finding a hiding place - not very good ? Were you nearly always the first to be found ? In our game of "hide & seek", we always teased the first one to be found, that death was going to call early, on him or her, if he got caught first, four times in a row.

There was one kid, no matter where he hid or how hard he tried to hide, he nearly always seemed to be the first to be found. He used to get pissed off at us and accuse us of "cheating !!! This particular day, this kid was the first to be found 3 times in a row, so when it came to my turn I was the 4th "counter", so I promised him that I would not cheat and peek through my fingers to see what direction he headed.

When I stopped counting and yell out coming "ready or not", I found all the kids who were playing, except for this one kid. We all searched - hunting high & low, but were unable to find him. Kids been kids, we thought that he must of got pissed off at us and gone home. His family at home, when he didn't turn up, that night must of thought that he was slepping over at a friends and it wasn't until the next day that the adults realised that he was missing, when no one knew where he was. Each kid was questioned in turn - what were doing the day before; where did we go; who did we see; who did we talk to. The questions seemed to go on & on. Everyone that could walk & yell spread out around the area in groups, yelling out the name of this kid. I been one of the smallest kids, was made to crawl under the house and not come out until I had searched every corner, in case this kid had crawled under the house and fell asleep. He wasn't under there, so I crawled back out and started to clean all the dirt off me, under the outside tap. As I washed off the dirt, I glanced over at an old fridge, lying on the ground. It had been thrown out a few days before, because it wasn't working. It was to be taken to the dump with the next trailer load of rubbish. I looked at the fridge and "screamed & screamed", which brought everyone within hearing distance running !!! It wasn't until someone slapped my face, that I stopped screaming and managed to raise my arm and point at the fridge. The adults ran over to the fridge and yanked open the door, letting it fall to the ground.
There, curled up, inside the fridge "dead" was this kid !!! It was one of those old fridges with the click shut, pull-down handle to open. He must of seen the fridge lying on the ground and thought that it would be a good hiding place - opened the door, climbed in and shut the door, not knowing anything about the dangers, unbeknown & unseen by any of us kids who were playing "hide & seek" !!!
They lifted him out and carried his "body" into the house, followed by all us kids and laid him on the couch. We all crowded around him, with tears in our eyes. As each kid walked forwarded and rubbed noses & kissed him on the cheek, more tears started to flow !!! With a heavy heart, I was the last kid to walk over to him and I craddled his head in my arms, knowing that if I had broken my promise, he would still be alive, because the fridge was only about 20 feet, from where I had been counting the day before, when we played "hide & seek". If I had cheated & peeped through my fingers, I would of seen him, climb into the fridge and so he would of been the first kid to be found and not the last, as it turned out.
The owner of the property where we played went into his garage for an axe, which he used to smash up the fridge. That night, when all was quiet, I grabbed a torch and went back to have a look at what was left of the fridge. I went down on bended knees and with tears in my eyes, I said a prayer for the kid who had died, who would "hide" no more. I shined the torch over parts of the fridge and as I ran my fingers over what was part of the inside of the fridge door, I could not help but notice "scratch" marks, where as he was taking his last breaths, must of tried desperately to claw his way out of what had become his "tomb" !!!

There is a moral & a warning to this story for anyone, anywhere who throws out an old fridge - "take the door off", so it doesn't end up becoming a "tomb" for some kid, because kids been kids, whether they are playing hide & seek or not, don't know the dangers of hiding in a fridge. The strange thing about this all, was that this kids nickname was "Ice", because even if the day was really hot and you touched his skin, he would be cold, like "Ice" !!! For him to die in a fridge......???

Shine the light on me, my Lord - shine the light on me !!!