Everything I Tell You is a Lie (a novella) by Fingers Murphy

Author:Fingers Murphy [Murphy, Fingers]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Published: 2011-12-19T04:30:00+00:00

Then, out of nowhere, my mother called me a few days before Christmas and said that she and my dad were in town and that they wanted to give me a Christmas present. She added as an afterthought that they were thinking about getting back together. Whatever, I thought, and I let it go. I had stopped trying to pretend I understood these things. Nothing they did made any sense to me.

I went by myself to meet them for dinner at a diner out by the interstate. It was one of those places that’s like a Denny’s but isn’t. There was nobody in there but us and the waitress and a couple of cooks in the back. The employees all seemed to be itching to leave.

It was strange to see them there, together, talking like nothing was wrong. Smiling at each other and at me, holding hands, my mom laughing about something and leaning her head over on my old man’s shoulder—him putting his arm around her and pulling her close. We ordered and made some small talk. I didn’t ask any questions and they offered no explanation.

After we’d eaten, my dad handed me a box I could tell he wrapped himself. I felt kind of silly opening a present in a place like that but I figured I had to. I tore off the paper and opened it up and inside was a new tool belt and two pairs of Levi’s.

“I figured you could use those,” my old man said as I pulled the things from the box. He was right. I tried to think about what they had given me last year, but couldn’t think of anything. It seemed like another lifetime. Someone else’s life entirely. Then it came over me like a wave of nausea. I wasn’t a kid anymore. My childhood was over.

I tried to think of something to say, but the waitress came and cleared our plates and the cooks were making noise in the back and I couldn’t concentrate. When my old man went to the bathroom, I leaned back into the corner of the booth and brought one leg up on the cushion, my foot dangling out into the aisle. The only thing I could finally think of was: “So you guys’re getting back together?”

My mother nodded and sipped a cup of coffee. Then she lit another cigarette and inhaled like she’d never had one before.

“What happened to Wayne?” I asked. “What’s the story?”

She rolled her eyes a little and smiled. “Wayne, that was never . . . I don’t know what that was all about.” She giggled slightly and tossed her hand back over her shoulder, as if to dismiss it all as some crazy thing that happened and never really mattered. The gesture struck me as absurd. Almost stunning.

Then she set her coffee down and leaned in like she was going to whisper something, but when she spoke it came out normal. “Sometimes your dad can be selfish, but the two of us just belong together.

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