Curated Lies

I taught her to lie before she could spell her name. Told her people were soft,

stupid, and always looking for a story that made them feel good about parting with

money. Back then, our narrative was the plain truth: an amputee raising

his kid on his own. Before long, we noticed how different people responded to different aspects

of our lives. Our narrative then developed into a collection of short stories we kept

at the ready. I curated those tales, and she delivered them with big eyes

and borrowed grief. We weren’t thieves; not in our minds...