【小故事】快乐的课间小故事：课间十分钟的捉迷藏

旗杆以北，广播室以南

我们班的捉迷藏有规矩，是上学期用吵架吵出来的。第一条，活动范围不出旗杆、不上二楼；第二条，数数必须出声，数到二十才能回头；第三条，被找到的人要大声喊：某某某被找到了！喊不出名字的，这局不算。

那天课间，石头剪刀布，输的周小舟捂墙数数。我们散开的时候像一群被风扬起的麻雀。胖墩往厕所跑，被我们喊回来：厕所不算，有味道还不卫生。李小雨钻进花坛后面的灌木，立刻被警告：灌木里只有毛毛虫。分工找藏身地这件事，我们比谁都认真——楼梯口不能藏，会被值日生记名字；体育器材室不能进，门锁着但窗户开着，爬进去算犯规。

我拉开广播室的门，闪进去，把窗帘拉上。窗帘是深蓝色的，带一层纱，站在里面能看见外面，外面看不见里面。我把手举起来贴在胸前，手心全是汗。窗帘上有股淡淡的粉笔灰味，混着旧报纸的味道。我听见周小舟数到十五、十六、十七，声音又平又稳，像念课文。

数到二十，脚步声散开了。先是走廊那头，再是花坛边，胖墩的藏身处第一个暴露——周小舟隔着花坛喊：王胖墩被找到了！胖墩哀嚎一声，从灌木里站起来，拍拍屁股上的土，跟过来当帮手。两个人一起找，效率翻倍。李小雨在讲台底下撑了半分钟，被一句报告了名字。

脚步声进了广播室外的走廊。一步，两步，停住了。门被推开一条缝，周小舟的脑袋探进来，左右看了看，没看见人。我的心跳到嗓子眼，两只手把窗帘攥出了褶子。他走进来，绕着播音桌转了一圈，走到窗帘跟前——我屏住呼吸。他忽然伸手，一把拉开窗帘。

四目相对。我愣了半秒，然后深吸一口气，大声喊：刘小满被找到了！声音大得连走廊里的人都探进头来看。周小舟满意地点头，说这局你藏得最好，我差点就输了。

上课铃响了。我们三个从广播室出来，一路小跑回教室，路上还在复盘：下次广播室不能藏了，暴露了；下次要藏进图书角的书架后面，用书挡住脸。规矩还是那三条，谁也没提改。因为我们都明白，游戏之所以好玩，正是因为有那三条谁也赖不掉的规矩。

North of the Flagpole, South of the Broadcast Room

Our class hide-and-seek has rules, argued out last semester the hard way. Rule one: the play area stops at the flagpole, and no going up to the second floor. Rule two: the counter must count out loud, and may turn around only at twenty. Rule three: whoever is found must shout loudly, so-and-so has been found. If you cannot shout your own name, that round does not count.

That day at break, we played rock-paper-scissors, and Zhou Xiaozhou lost and pressed his face to the wall to count. When we scattered, we looked like a flock of sparrows blown up by the wind. Fatty ran toward the restroom and got shouted back by us: restrooms do not count, they smell and are not hygienic. Li Xiaoyu dove into the shrubs behind the flower bed and got an immediate warning: shrubs only harbor caterpillars. We took the job of choosing hiding places more seriously than anything. No hiding at the stairwell, the duty students would write your name down. No entering the equipment room, the door is locked and the window is open, but climbing in is a foul.

I pulled open the broadcast room door, slipped in, and closed the curtain. The curtain was deep blue with a sheer layer. From inside you could see out, but from outside nobody could see in. I pressed my hands to my chest, palms dripping sweat. The curtain smelled faintly of chalk dust mixed with old newspaper. I heard Zhou Xiaozhou count fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, his voice flat and steady, like reciting a textbook.

At twenty, footsteps scattered. First the far end of the corridor, then the flower bed. Fatty hiding place was exposed first. Across the flower bed Zhou Xiaozhou shouted: Wang Pangdong has been found. Fatty wailed, stood up from the shrubs, dusted the dirt off his bottom, and followed along as a helper. With two seekers the efficiency doubled. Li Xiaoyu held out under the teacher podium for half a minute before her name was reported.

The footsteps entered the corridor outside the broadcast room. One step, two steps, stopped. The door opened a crack, Zhou Xiaozhou head popped in, looked left, looked right, saw nobody. My heart jumped to my throat. Both hands gripped the curtain into wrinkles. He walked in, circled the broadcasting desk, came up to the curtain. I held my breath. Then suddenly he reached out and yanked the curtain open.

Our eyes met. I froze for half a second, then took a deep breath and shouted: Liu Xiaoman has been found. Loud enough that people in the corridor poked their heads in to look. Zhou Xiaozhou nodded, satisfied, and said that was your best hiding spot, I almost lost.

The class bell rang. The three of us came out of the broadcast room jogging all the way back to class, still reviewing on the way: no more broadcast room, it is burned. Next time hide behind the bookshelf in the reading corner, cover the face with books. The rules stayed the same three, and nobody suggested changing them. Because we all understood that the game is fun precisely because of those three rules nobody can wriggle out of.

找人的那十分钟

石头剪刀布，我输了。我面墙站好，从一数到二十，声音要让大家听见。数到七的时候，走廊里响起一阵拖鞋拍地的声音，像退潮；数到十五，声音停了，整座教学楼安静下来，安静得能听见一楼办公室的录音机在放英语磁带。

二十，我回头。操场空了，走廊空了，只有风把一片落叶从这头推到那头。游戏开始。

我先去最显眼的地方。花坛后面的灌木丛，叶子有一片在晃，不是风的方向。我隔着花坛喊：王胖墩，出来吧，叶子都招了。灌木里传来一声哀嚎，王胖墩顶着一头碎叶子站起来。按规矩，他大声喊：王胖墩被找到了！喊完自动变成帮手。

我们两个人分头搜。他守走廊，我上楼梯口看一眼——规矩是不上二楼，但楼梯口可以望。值日生站在二楼栏杆边往下看，冲我比了个手势，往图书角的方向指了指。我不能上二楼，但我看懂了：这是犯规的提示，也是好心的提示。我朝他摆摆手，没去图书角，转头去了广播室。

广播室的门关着，但没关严，留了一条指头宽的缝。窗帘的下摆有一个小小的鼓角，像被谁的手心顶过。我推门进去，绕着播音桌走了一圈，走到窗帘前，故意停了两秒。窗帘后面有呼吸声，很轻，很急。我一把拉开——刘小满的脸红扑扑的，眼睛瞪得溜圆。

她按规矩大喊：刘小满被找到了！声音亮得吓人。我们仨往回走的时候，她还在懊恼，说就差一点，我屏住气你就看不见了。王胖墩说，屏住气的时候，窗帘会贴出手的形状，这是规则之外的规则。

还剩最后一个没找到。我们找遍了水房、车棚、大树后，上课铃都快急出来了。我站在操场中间喊：还有一分钟，不出来这局算平！花坛另一侧的长椅底下，伸出一只鞋，又缩回去。然后是李小雨自己从长椅底下爬出来，拍拍膝盖上的土，笑着说：我听见铃了，我认输。她喊自己名字的时候，声音小小的，带着笑。

上课铃正好响。我们三个并排往教室跑，约好明天课间接着玩，这局谁也不许缺席。跑过旗杆的时候我想，找人的这十分钟，比藏起来的十分钟快乐多了——整座校园都是我的，而我的同学们，都藏在里面。

The Ten Minutes of Searching

Rock-paper-scissors, I lost. I faced the wall and counted from one to twenty out loud for everyone to hear. At seven, the corridor filled with the slap of slippers on tile, like an outgoing tide. At fifteen, the sound stopped, and the whole teaching building went quiet, quiet enough to hear the tape recorder in the first-floor office playing an English cassette.

Twenty. I turned around. The playground was empty, the corridors were empty, only the wind pushing a fallen leaf from one end to the other. The game began.

I went to the most obvious place first. In the shrubs behind the flower bed, one leaf was shaking, not in the direction of the wind. Across the flower bed I called out: Wang Pangdong, come out, the leaves have confessed. A wail came from the shrubs, and Wang Pangdong stood up with a head full of leaf fragments. By the rules he shouted loudly: Wang Pangdong has been found. Then he automatically became a helper.

The two of us split up. He held the corridors while I glanced at the stairwell. The rule says no second floor, but you may look from the stairwell. A duty student stood at the second-floor railing looking down and made me a sign toward the reading corner. I could not go up, but I understood: that was both a foul warning and a kind hint. I waved at him, did not go to the reading corner, and turned toward the broadcast room instead.

The broadcast room door was closed but not fully, leaving a finger-wide crack. The hem of the curtain had a small lifted corner, as if pressed from behind by a palm. I pushed in, walked around the broadcasting desk, and stopped in front of the curtain for a deliberate two seconds. Behind the curtain there was breathing, soft and fast. I pulled it open. The face of Liu Xiaoman was flushed, her eyes round as saucers.

She shouted per the rules: Liu Xiaoman has been found. Her voice was startlingly bright. Walking back, she was still annoyed, saying it was so close, if I had held my breath you would not have seen me. Wang Pangdong said that when you hold your breath, the curtain shows the shape of your hands. That is a rule beyond the rules.

One player was still missing. We searched the water room, the bike shed, behind the big tree. The class bell was about to ring on us. I stood in the middle of the playground and shouted: one minute left, if you do not come out this round is a draw. Under the bench on the far side of the flower bed, a shoe stuck out, then pulled back. Then Li Xiaoyu crawled out from under the bench herself, dusted her knees, and laughed: I heard the bell, I give up. When she shouted her own name, her voice was small and full of laughter.

The class bell rang right on cue. The three of us ran side by side to class, agreeing to continue tomorrow at break, nobody allowed to miss this round. Passing the flagpole I thought: these ten minutes of searching were far more fun than hiding. The whole campus belonged to me, and all my classmates were hidden inside it.