I got a phone message from an old friend of mine last night. I haven’t spoken to him for several years and I have to admit I am kind of embarrassed to reconnect. He is the guy who taught me how to lie effectively (keep it simple, keep it close to the truth) and I feel like I need to fabricate a prettier story about what I’ve been doing the past ten years.
We were a crackerjack sales team in New York together, and my guess is he’s still living in New Haven, but in an upgraded home with an expanse of green lawn and big, white pillars to hold up the brick façade. I don’t begrudge him the normalcy of his life. I just hate to tell him about the unorthodox aspects of mine. It’s not like I aspired to become an alcoholic. It wasn’t a next step on my career path… How do I explain that?
I left him a voice message. Maybe he won’t call back. If he does, I think I’ll just keep it simple and close to the truth…
