Hot Peas and Butter

Do kids play outside anymore? We did, all the time. In fact we had many kids games that we'd play besides the standard baseball, and Whiffle ball games. Red light, green light, one two three, was one where you had to sneak up on the 'It' person between the green and the red lights. Red Rover, was a game we played where you would pick a person from the opposite side to come tearing across the lawn and try to smash through your team which was strung across the lawn with clasped hands. You would never call on the big fat kid, because he or she would just blast through. I was terrified enough at some kid running full tilt at me, without it being the neighborhood cow.

Mark and I were reminiscing about these childhood games, and I mentioned one that we would play at night in the house. It involved hiding some glow in the dark, toy light bulbs, and then turning out the lights. The first person to find them was the winner. It was a simple and fun game that we enjoyed. It was then that Mark told me about a game that he used to play with his brothers and sisters, back in the Bronx. It was called 'Hot peas and butter, come and get your supper'. Apparently kids in the inner city played much differently than us little vanilla wafers out in the suburbs. This is how Mark described the game. One person would be 'it', and all the other kids would be at the 'safe base' with their eyes closed. The it kid would then hide a leather belt somewhere in the playing area, and then yell "Hot peas and butter, come and get your supper!" The other kids would then start searching for the belt. As someone got close, the it kid would give them clues using the old 'your getting warm' routine. Now here is where the game gets good, the person who finds the belt, if he is smart, will not let on that he has found it, but will lure the others close by letting the it guy keep yelling "You're very warm, you're on fire!" When enough kids are close he will then whip out the belt and start beating on the other kids with it as they run screaming in terror for the 'safe base'.

I sat there awestruck as Mark told me this. "You mean you get to beat the shit out of your brothers and sisters, and it's all legal and within the rules of this game?", I asked. "That's what I said.", Mark replied. I thought about it for a while, and then I asked Mark, "Were there any other versions of this game, you know, like with guns?"