Sardines in the sanctuary

I don't mean actual sardines, like the small oily fish you buy in a can at the grocery store.

I mean the game Sardines. Have you ever played? You know how in Hide and Go Seek everyone hides except the person who's "It"? And the person who's "It" has to run around and find people hiding? Well with Sardines, the person who's "It" gets to hide while everyone else closes their eyes and counts. Then the seekers have to go find the "It" and when they do, they stand, sit, or lay down with that person and have to be silent. You keep playing until the last person finds the group who are huddled together like sardines in a can.

One more thing before I share the story. There is a guy who comes to the college group named Daniel. He is a self-proclaimed redneck. He and his family own a farm of sorts out in the boonies where they raise goats, chickens, and pheasants (I don't ask questions). Daniel loves being manly. He's always talking about when he had a squirrel as a pet, the times he's shot wild turkey on his property, and how his switchblade has come in handy on multiple occasions when he's in the fields. If he has a conversation that starts to sound a bit girly, he says, "Oh man, I've gotta get home, eat some chili, and shoot something. Y'all are getting too feminine for me." But picture Daniel as a tall, thin 19 year old. Not exactly the manliest of men. But he's still hilarious. And he loves being kind of outdoors-y and redneck-y.

During the summers, he works as a counselor at our church's day camp. His camp name is "Macho Nacho". He was hoping people would just shorten it and call him "Macho". But to tease him, everyone purposefully just calls him "Nacho". He is constantly having to remind people of his FULL camp name. I should also mention he has no filter. He just says what he thinks all the time.

Ok, with those intros out of the way, here's the story. Last night we kicked off the college group for the summer. After having a couple weeks with no Wednesday night meeting, it was so great to see people again. After the evening's festivities, a group of students wanted to go play Sardines in the church sanctuary. We went in and it was pitch black. Perfect. There were 9 of us. 1 person volunteered to be "It" and find a hiding spot while the rest of us counted.

For the first 10 minutes, people were quiet as they searched all around the church. Then we spent about 10 minutes whispering to each other, even though it's against the rules. "Psst...did you look over there yet?" After searching for 20 minutes, we were so ready to find our "It" person. So we started talking out loud. "PARKER!! I ALREADY LOOKED THERE!"

Someone shouted Daniel's name to see where he was because we noticed we hadn't heard from him in awhile, which is rare, since he loves to talk.

Silence.

"Oh my gosh, you guys, " I said, "Daniel found the hiding spot! That's why he's not responding!"

The other seekers decided to have some fun with this realization. "Hey, let's say stuff to annoy him! He'll speak out because he can't handle staying silent."

One guy started saying in a sing-song voice, "Heyyyyyy Nacho!!! Where are youuuuu, Nacho!?"

"Yeah, Nacho!!" I repeated, also purposefully not saying his full camp name. "Where are you?"

"We WILL find you," the guy said. "Hey guess what, everyone? Daniel told me yesterday that two of his cousins MARRIED EACH OTHER!!!"

"What?!" one of the girls shouted. "Cousins marrying each other?! That's gross!"

"Yeah, but remember they ARE kind of redneck-y so maybe that's normal," the guy continued.

"Were they distant cousins? Or maybe third cousins?" the girl asked.

"I'm pretty sure he said they were first cousins. NACHO, WERE THEY FIRST COUSINS!?!?" the guy screamed into the empty, dark church auditorium.

Silence.

Wow, I was impressed at Daniel's self control.

We kept searching. I went to a side of the church I hadn't been to. I noticed huge curtains blocked off on one side. I opened one side and saw body shapes in the darkness. YES! I found them! Without saying a word, I slipped behind the curtains and stood next to someone, shoulder to shoulder. I was trying so hard not to make a sound.

Suddenly, the person next to me hissed an intense, indignant whisper my way.

"To start with, my name is MACHO Nacho. And they were SECOND cousins!!"

I laughed so hard and everyone else found us.