By Ann Winschel

Shadow tag at night
Touching you where you are not
Fireflies and moonlight

When I was a child, on the warm evenings of late summer we played Shadow Tag.  You “tag” someone by stepping on their shadow so you have to wait until it is full dark and then find a place with a light that throws distinct shadows.  Moonlight is best but a street light or porch light will do.  Too much light though and the shadows disappear, the game is ruined.

The game also relies on the integrity of the players.  We were running, the shadows shifting under our feet; it would be easy to cheat, to claim contact when there was none.  Maybe that’s why we played this game at the end of summer, not the beginning; we needed those months of full contact to build trust and to learn that not playing fair would ruin the game as surely as too much light.