Unlicensed Babysitter

Tip Toe

My laces are tight and I've adorned my favorite jacket. Emma and her friends are putting on warm clothes and shoes while I move the cameras in the backyard to give me a blind spot that I can sneak the girls out through. It's too easy and I promise myself to tell Richard about it when I come back. By the time I'm ready to go, so are the girls. I shut off the lights then usher them all into the darkness of the backyard. All we have to do is make it to the privacy trees and we'll be free.

Adrenaline makes me giddy. I haven't snuck out of a place in forever, and I have to admit that doing it now is a little exciting. Nodding, I push the girls into a straight line and motion for them to follow me. We give the pool a wide birth so the pools lights donate catch us, and we hurry to the other end of the yard, nearer to the trees. All of the guards posted here are near the hedges and nowhere else, so it's relatively easy to run about without getting seen. Another thing to tell Richard when I get back.

I take a knee on the grass and motion for the girls to do the same. No one listens, and I realize that its too dark for them to see. I grasp onto the person behind me and pull them down, and they do the same to the person behind them. When all the girls are down I scan the trees for the guards, my ability to see through darkness coming in handy. The guards are using the slight light of the moon and their flashlights to keep an eye on the shrubs and trees. I can make it to my destination when flashlight beams turn. Jiggling on my feet, I wait for the right opportunity, then turn quickly and hiss for the girls to move. I wave them ahead of me and move to the back of the line to make sure no one gets left behind.

The girls make too much noise when they jump over the privacy hedges and I curse to myself when a flashlight aims in our direction. I pick up the last girl in line and leap over the hedges, just shy of being caught. Hand over the girl's mouth, I whisper for everyone to be quiet.

The chatter of guards checking in and a sweeping light fills the night. The guard that heard us steps close to the hedge and shines his light over the trees, his soft voice checking in with Steve. I hold tighter to the girl in my arms, pressing myself into the ground, and realize that it's Emma. She grasps my hands over her mouth and gulps hard.

Eventually, the guard moves on, his light moving to scan somewhere else. I let out a slow, steady breath and release Emma. She sucks in air and pushes off me with a rough hand to my hip. The other girls come out of their hiding spaces behind the trees and I'm a little proud that they had the sense to make themselves scarce.

I pop up from the ground and move again, rounding up the girls so we can get going. They re-form their line behind me and we move slowly through the trees so no one trips over a root or rock and breaks an ankle. I slow when we get close to the drop-off, not wanting anyone to fall to their death. Mariam would really kill me for that.

"Stop," I whisper, when we're close to the edge. The girls teeter to a stop just behind me. My escape plan really only got me to this point. I figured that a guard would have caught us by now and I didn't know what else to do. The decline is hard to get down if you're a normal human. Best choice would be to have the girls slide down the hill on their butts and hope they don't break their legs when they come to a stop against the neighbors perimeter wall at the bottom.

I turn to the girls and hold up my hands. "So this is how it is," I tell them. "I didn't actually think we'd get this far and... I kind of don't have a plan to make it down to the street."

They groan too loud and I have to shush them.

"Let's go back," I suggest. "This was fun enough, right?"

Ricki steps close to the drop-off and looks down. She squints in the moonlight. "Can't we roll down or something?"

"Do you want to end up in hospital?"