The Lie
I rubbed my eyes, then continued scrolling on my laptop, perusing a blog post. I was reading The Monday Heritic, specifically a post about espousing opinions nicely. Outside, lighting cracked the gray sky and thunder rattled the windows. Rain drummed fingers on the river flowing beside my aunt and uncle's house.
"Unplug your laptop, Luke." I remembered Mom always saying that during thunderstorms. Of course, that was back home in Africa, with faulty wiring and real storms. The same problem couldn't be here.
BOOM!
My head jerked up, eyes widening, lips pulling into a silent "O. Quicker than an angry opinion, electricity leapt from the electric socket and jittered down my computer chord, winding and interlacing and spinning into my laptop . . . the screen flared . . . a POP, then everything went black!
Aunt Sharon shook me awake.
"Errrmmm. Kardashummum's ish shtupieed!"
"Ron, he's waking up! Luke, what did you say?"
"I don' ker aboud David Letterman'sh finalesh!"
"What say?"
"Ah!" My eyes popped open. Everything was blurry. But more than the returning vision, facts, ideas, and online convo threads churned through my mind. It all came back: a post about opinions, lightning, and now, I had superpowers! I was . . . Opinion Man, Champion of Truth, Battler of Bigots, Right about Everything! At least, it would've been nice, wouldn't it?
The Truth
Obviously, I'm not always right. Most times I eat my words as a side to my humble pie, after I take my foot out of my mouth. You really should read Amy Green's blog post, linked above. Wise words, much more meaningful than a lie about lightning. The truth was that there was a storm outside my aunt and uncle's house, but I actually did unplug my laptop, thanks to memories of mom. A shame. If not, I really might have superpowers!
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