Nature's Children: Whistle Me Home

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When I was a child, on summer nights the kids in my neighborhood all gathered in the Draney's front yard. It wasn't big, but it had everything we needed, a sidewalk, a big sturdy tree, a few scraggly bushes and ....no grass! Everyone else lived in a house with grass, lovingly planted, carefully watered and meticulously mowed. Not the Draney's. They thought kids were more important than grass, so they let us play in their yard.

I remember sitting at the dinner table and hearing the first squeal of delight coming from outside. I started to squirm in my chair, anxious to join the fun. "Mama," I said. "Can I go now? Eveyone's out." She nodded, and I took off like a shot. I can still hear the sound of the screen door slamming behind me as I vaulted down the back steps. I ran across my father's carefully tended grass and hopped the fence. The way through the Draney's backyard seemed a mile long, but at last I reached the front where the games had already begun. There was a predictable order to our games. First, the sidewalk games like Red Rover, Mother May I and Fox in the River. (We only played Red Rover when there were no little kids around. We deemed it too rough for the little ones.) Even though the boys didn't like Mother May I, they played along until it was time for Fox in the River. Then the sidewalk became a river and all us kids had to get across without being caught, none too gently, by the fox. True to the unwritten kid code, we didn't object when one of the big boys always got to be the fox. After Fox in the River it was time for the main event....Ain't No Bears Out Tonight. There was much discussion about getting the timing right. You see, this game had to be played just as the sun was setting, too light and the game lost its effectiveness, too dark and we risked getting hurt when we ran into each other. Here's how the game went: The person chosen to be the bear hid while the rest of us closed our eyes. When the bear was ready, we spread out and began chanting, "Aint no bears out tonight. Aint no bears out tonight ..." Stomping our feet to the cadence of the chant, we walked bravely across the darkening yard to safety on the other side. Just when we thought we were home free, the bear would jump out growling and snarling, pawing the air and looking ten feet tall! We'd all scream and run helter-skelter to get away before he grabbed us. Even though we knew it was just another kid trying to scare us, it sure felt like a real bear. What a deliciously terrifying game!

As night fell and kids started drifting home, in the sudden silence I'd hear it, the sound of Mama whistling me home, three tones, then two more that said, "Oh Bet-sy, Come Home!" Still thinking of bears, I'd run as fast as I could through the Draney's dark backyard. I'd hop the fence and cross the grass. I'd run up the porch steps and into the house where my family waited. No bears after all! I was safe in my house with people who loved me best of all.

Once when I asked my second graders to tell me about their summertime games, they told me about Little League, soccer and swim team. They spoke of chess club and cooking camp. "What about sidewalk games?" I asked. They'd never heard of sidewalk games. When I told them about the games we used play, just kids with no adults around, they were intrigued, especially by the "no adults around" part. I couldn't help but feel sorry for those children. They could play lots of different sports and they knew all the rules. They even got to use real equipment and wear colorful uniforms. But they were missing out on good old fashioned play, the kind where they made up the rules and bumped up against each other, where they stayed out after dark and scared the bejeepers out of themselves. It made me sad that they didn't get to play in a kid-friendly front yard as the sun set behind the trees. But what made me even sadder was that they'd never get to hear the sweet sound of their mama whistling them home.

Betsy Saunders

July 1, 2026