Day Fifteen

(For more information on my 'April Challenge' see HERE)

(As promised, today I have thrown out ten snaps instead of the normal five... all just for the fun of doing it.)

(71)BARNABY’S LIES

Barnaby could walk on water. And float off the ground. And see into the future, like looking over a fence. All just a matter of believing you can. That’s what he said. But what about love, I said. That was a trickier question – there were different lies Barnaby said then.

(72)A LIAR’S PLEA

Sure I lied. Everyone does. Sometimes they do. Small things that they forgive themselves for and call them white as if lies can be pure and good. I lied. I told her I’d love her forever. I thought it was true when I said it. Doesn’t that count for something?

(73)THE LIES FANTASTIC

I once climbed to the top of the Eiffel tower and not using the steps. And the empire state building not using the stairs. And swam under the channel without taking a breath. And touched the moon standing on tip toes, and kissed Emily Brent in the dark behind Tesco’s.

(74)ALL LIES

Don’t believe everything you read. Not in books, not anymore. Not written in clouds in the sky or blood on the walls. Don’t believe newspaper headlines, or letters written with love and smelling of violets, or notes passed under the desk. They can and will be lies one day soon.

(75)NOT SERENDIPITY OR FATE

It was by chance that we met. That’s what I thought. Like fate had stepped in to lend a hand and we bumped into each other, our heads spinning and our hands reaching to break the other’s fall. No accident but an orchestrated collision, our love founded on a lie.

(76)INFIDELITY

The earth is flat. That was true once. And the moon made of cheese and stars can fall out of the sky. All just lies now. I saw you coming from his bed, creeping like a thief creeps, and you said, when I asked, that you were visiting your mother.

(77)THE LIAR’S BOOK

A whole book of lies. And I wonder if you’re in there with your talk of dogs telling you to sing, and birds teaching you how to fly, fish how to swim. And how you can hear the beat of a moth’s wing and the missed beat of a lover’s heart.

(78)THE ANGLER’S LIE

'It was this big,' he said, his arms stretched to their widest limit, and he was talking about the fish that he’d almost caught. 'Big as the boat near as damnit. And it would have sunk me if the line hadn’t snapped.' All fisherman’s tales are the same lie.

(79)THE POWER OF THE LIE

A splinter from the holy cross. See the blood on the wood. Or rust from a nail. And the whole story is there, behind glass, pilgrims journeying from miles around to see it, to kneel before it, to pray. A lie when it is believed has more strength than truth.

(80)THE LIAR’S MARKET

I am a seller of lies. Look. See. The lies are so pretty, like jewels, all glint and sparkle. And you want those lies, want them strung on threads of silver to hang about your neck, the whole world marvelling at what you are, and all of it a lie.