Quite naturally, I started sulking. After being tagged, the idea of chasing people was an unwelcome thought. I was horrible at tag. Not quick nor ambitious, the motivation was sorely lacking.

As ta-ching and his friends wandered, I shuffled my feet, lamenting my demise. My yellow ribbon was torn from me. I eventually waved ta-ching and his friends away and I walked down the street with a pink ribbon tied to my left arm.

I spotted runners ahead of me. And it did give me a smile as I approached and they leapt away. Oh yes, power indeed! But the sudden spurt of energy was squashed when I didn’t move and I heard a male voice running away say, “Oh, she’s not really into it.”

Yes, it was true. It wasn’t that I wanted Chris to play with me. I wanted him to succeed, but I was moping all around the city. At some point, Chris called and I was excited. He made it to checkpoint two and was not tagged! Ok, I’ll meet him!

I started racing to checkpoint three, hoping to cross paths. But moments later, it turned out that he had spotted an ebb in the tide of chasers and made the run for it to checkpoint 4. He told me he lost his hat around Harrison and 2nd when he was brutally chased into a parking lot and he dodged not one but two cars crossing the street. I sprinted to the specified intersection, trespassed into the underground parking lot…nothing. But well, I spotted a few runners and thought why not. I cornered one girl and tagged her. She looked distraught—like me. She looked around frantically to another guy who was hiding behind a tree with the expression—what do I do now? Channeling the clown, I asked for her ribbon. The guy came out of hiding and said, “Tag me”. I took his ribbon and the two of them went off together.

But still now…with three ribbons total, I was still upset. I considered going home. I wasn’t exhausted. Could I help Chris out? What could I do? And so I stumbled my way to checkpoint 4.