Creeks and wooded walkways had all been explored.

Forts were built and dismantled; some were rebuilt and some were abandoned.

The days were hot, too hot for outdoor play, and so after supper we all went out into the dusk to reconnect our friendships with backyard (and front-yard) games.

• No Ghosts Are Out Tonight.
• Hide and Seek.
• Freeze Tag.
• Statues, although Statues was forbidden—(”You’re gonna pull someone’s arm right out of the socket” “You’re gonna fling someone right into a tree, if you’re not careful”)

The dusk would deepen into night and we could be seen coming out of our houses with blankets and pillows, preparing for one more ’sleep out’. We would lay under the stars laughing and giggling at the corny jokes we had heard and retold, deliciously shivering in mock-fear of local ghost stories and urban legends; the next one of us trying to outdo the last one. Finally, we would all climb into our bedrolls with sleepy eyes and try to pick out the constellations above as sleep picked us off one by one.

In the morning, we would wake up waterlogged with dew and trundle back into our houses where comfortable beds invited us to sleep in. Later there would be time to plan and play through the day. Later we would each find activities that would push back thoughts of the Labor Day Holiday that was both the advent of a new school year and the epitaph of summer.