The Hidden Car That Went Missing
Back in 2023, Chantel and I made the pilgrimage to Monterrey for a family reunion. Somewhere between the lumpia and the awkward “so what do you do ?” convos, we picked up a little green Hot Wheels car. This wasn’t just your run-of-the-mill knick knack you'd shove in a drawer and forget—oh no—this little speed demon had a destiny.
You see, this car wasn’t just a keepsake. It was a mission. A lifestyle. A tiny plastic commitment to absurd domestic espionage.
Here was the deal: one of us would hide the car somewhere in the house—behind a plant, under a pillow, precariously balanced on a shower shelf—and the other would stumble upon it eventually (or not). Upon discovery, they’d then become the Hider, and the game would continue. No words exchanged. No points awarded. No time limit. Just a continuous loop of hide-and-seek that operated silently in the background of our lives like a Trojan horse of joy.
There’s no scoreboard. No victory speech. No “gotcha!” texts. It’s all vibes.
The only unofficial-but-very-important rule? Once you hide it, you can’t touch it again. You’ve made your move. Now you wait. Like a cat stalking an invisible mouse. If you move it prematurely, you might make the other person feel like they’re hallucinating, which is frowned upon—even in games that don’t technically exist.
But here’s the kicker.
Somewhere along the way… the car vanished.
Yep. The green Hot Wheels meant to be hidden is now so well-hidden that neither of us knows where it is. We’ve both reached a stalemate of confusion and mild paranoia. Was it in the bookshelf? Did Henry eat it? Is it inside the walls? Have I already looked at it 300 times and my brain just refuses to register it?
The game has eaten itself. We are now playing hide-and-seek with an object that might be in the multi-verse.
And weirdly… we miss it.
Because the beauty of the Hot Wheels game wasn’t in the object—it was in the absurdity, the mystery, the unspoken joy of finding a tiny green car perched somewhere totally illogical and thinking, Nice one, you sneaky genius.
A tiny victory in the mundane.
So wherever you are, Little Green Car—under the couch, behind the fridge, or chillin’ in the upside-down—we have not forgotten about you.