Early in the summer evenings on a small suburban street in 1960, we played freeze tag. One kid was selected to be 'It'. He or she would chase the other players who ran shrieking in the other direction. If 'It' caught up to another player and tapped them on the back or arm, he would call out with authority, 'Freeze!' The other player had to stop and hold in the position in which he was tagged. In other words, the victim stood in place like a statue, frozen with arms and legs askew.
'It' would then run after the other players. If he managed to tag them all, the yard was filled with kids in a kind of pause, a yard full of sweaty statues. 'It' won.
But there was a way to be rescued. As It was busy trying to catch everybody, the other players who were not yet frozen could run back and un-tag a frozen friend. As soon as he or she was touched, the frozen kid would come back to life, say, 'Thanks!' and they both would run again from 'It'.
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