How I Teach the Kids to Hide

The kids wanted to live

In a big house

We found one

Right on the outskirts

Of where Pittsburgh

Used to be

And I thought it was far enough
Away from everything

That we would be safe

But we still figured out

The hiding spots

And, you know, it’s a good thing

Because they came at two am

Just like they always do

Not sure why two am

But that’s usually

When it happens

My daughter heard them first

Because she’s a light sleeper

And she woke up her brother

As she…

As she had been

Taught to do

They went into the crawlspace

Behind where we put

The hollowed out chest of drawers

So it was easy to move

Even for them

And I pushed the chest back against the wall

Then I went into the couch

We had…

We had dug out the insides

And put the cushions over it

So, you know, if you didn’t know any better

You’d think it was just a regular couch

It worked too

Because the guy

The guy and his girlfriend

They actually sat down on it

At one point

And I almost laughed

It was kind of funny

But then…

Then the girl said

She remembered

There being a crawlspace

Where the chest of drawers was

And I realized

They’d been to the house before

And I wondered if I could take at least

One of them down

And give the kids a chance

But the guy said the girl was just high

And she was

She was high

And they went upstairs

And I could hear them, uh…

So I grabbed the kids

And we left

Quiet as we could

And kept walking

Now we don’t stay anywhere

Very long

Even though the kids

Would like us to

But they’ve stopped asking

Because they know how I get

When they bring it up

We do have to spend the night

In different places

And the first thing we do

When we walk in somewhere

After I’ve checked all the rooms

Is pick where the hiding spots are

Some houses have really good ones

And you almost wonder if they put them in place

After all this started

But with others

You sort of have to get creative

Like the house we found a few weeks ago

Where I had to pull up some floorboards

And kick away some cobwebs

And pipes and things

Then have them get down in it to test it

And they were crying

Because they were hungry

And tired

And I was hungry

And tired

But I told them

I kept telling them

How important it was

Because it’ll never be safe

It’ll just…

It’ll never be safe

So they got down

And I put the boards back over them

And we do this thing

Where I count to a hundred

And they have to stay in place

And not make a sound

And that night…

I don’t know why

But that night

I counted past a hundred

I counted to two hundred

Then three hundred

And they never made a sound

The whole time

They just stayed there

Hiding

Waiting for me

To tell them

It was okay

To come out