“Gracious me! What’s all the fuss about? You-all woke me from my nap,” said a sweet voice Rudy knew was Mary-Bell’s. He looked up into the Sycamore tree, seeing Mary-Belle’s little feet first, then her little nose as she looked down at him.

“Cousin Rudy, what a perfectly delightful surprise to see you!” Mary-Belle said walking down a large limb of the tree.

“Hi Mary-Belle,” Rudy said watching her as she dropped gently from the tree limb next to him. “Can you play?”

“Why cousin, I sure can. I’d love to play with little ol’ you!”

“Mary-Belle were you really sleeping up there?” Rudy asked looking up at the limb she had been laying on. “Sure Rudy I always nap in this Sycamore tree. It is so nice and safe up there. No one can ever see me, the tree bark and I match!” She giggled, shaking her grayish brown fur. Rudy noticed that the tree bark and his cousin’s furry coat did match in color.

“Let’s run!” Rudy said, “Come on Mary-Belle let’s play chase tag!” “Why sure, Rudy dear, in a little while,” Mary-Belle said with a little yawn. “It’s much too warm to be running right now, let’s go lay on a nice cool lawn.”

Rudy followed her to a shady pasture. “We’ll play tonight?” he asked as they lay down in the cool grass. “That’s right. It’s so much fun to play in the moonlight.” Mary-belle said with a delighted smile.

As night time came, Rudy and Mary-Belle walked down a narrow pathway until they came to the woods. “There’s a lot of places to hide in these woods,” Rudy said looking from one side of the trail that weaved in and out; and around and about through the many trees in the woods.

“There sure are, Rudy!” Mary-Belle said. “I bet you couldn’t find me,” she challenged. “Yes, I could,” Rudy agreed playfully. Mary-Belle shook her little head from side to side to let Rudy know she didn’t think he could find her if she hid in the woods.

“Go hide and we’ll see,” Rudy said wanting to prove to his cousin what a good seeker he was, that he could easily find her. Mary-Belle laughed with glee. “Okay. Cover your little ol’ face. Now don’t you-all go and peek, Rudy.” She said, getting ready to dash to her favorite hiding place. Rudy laid down on the ground covering his eyes with both his paws. He began to bark out the numbers: One…two…three…”

Mary-Belle raced so quickly her little paws scarcely touched the ground. She had a favorite place to hide and reached it before Rudy had counted to six. With one graceful leap she was upon the low limb of the huge Sycamore tree. She walked very slowly to keep from making any noise. Looking down she saw Rudy right below her; he had reached number fifteen and would soon reach twenty. And then he would start to search for her. “Ready or not, here I come,” he barked loudly.

Rudy trotted to the meadow where all the spring flowers were in bloom. He thought this would be a good spot for Mary-Belle to hide, because the grass and flowers were so tall they could hide her easily she was so tiny and small. But there was no Mary-Belle in the meadow. Where was Mary-Belle?

Rudy turned and raced back through the woods, looking behind every tree. He stopped under the big Sycamore tree and looked up to see if Mary-Belle was hiding any where among the branches and leaves. He looked closely and saw the white tip of her tail. “Mary-Belle, I see you!” He barked excited. “Come down!”

“Okay Rudy, just stop your bouncing all around.” She said. Rudy laughed. “I couldn’t find you anywhere! This was a good place to hide.” He said as she leaped to the ground.

“Why Rudy, you should always seek me up here,” she said. And the two happy foxes trotted back to Mary-Belle’s home.