Night Game

by Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz

It is the middle of the night.

I hear my daughter

up, scampering to find me.

It is a hot night—

another hot New Mexico summer—and

I am lying,

not in my bed,

but on the kitchen floor,

cool Mexican tile beneath me.

Mom, she calls out.

And then, again: Mom.

She concedes this game of hide and go seek

we have not agreed to play.

But I hold onto a few moments,

then softly say: Ollie, Ollie oxen free.

I’m here, my voice guides through the darkness.

I’m here.

* * * * *

"Night Game" was first published in The Ink.

Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz is a writer and photographer.