Pinocchio

There once was a man who could tell no lies. Well, he could tell lies, just like the rest of us, and he was quite good at it, just like the rest of us, but every lie changed him.

You see, he was born this way. His mother was a stock clerk and his father a gambler and a drunk, and with parents like that you’re not bound for much in this world. He was raised poor, his father not around and his mother working her hardest just to put food on the table and keep up on the rent. He often spent nights alone as his mother was working, just watching the small tv they had in the living room, envisioning what it might be like to live a different life, like the characters on the screen.

His first lie was to his mother, just a small one, something about cleaning his room or washing the dishes. But as he grew, so did his lies. At first, he thought nothing of it, everyone lies sometimes. He would often justify why he lied, just so he wouldn’t feel bad about it. But one day he was caught in a lie by his mother. He had taken a twenty from her purse to buy something, he had forgotten what, but he did not soon forget the look of betrayal and disappointment from his mother. She told him that a lie is like a callous on your heart, until eventually you feel nothing at all. He remembered those words. In shame, he vowed not to tell a lie for the rest of his life. But he was a young boy at the time, and this was an unattainable promise. And tomorrow brought its own new challenges. His vow was soon forgotten.

As time went on, he matured into a young man, and new responsibilities came with it. His mother expected more from him, and soon he was working his own job. A small, portly man that lived across the hall from their apartment kindly offered him a job as a cashier at his gas station, and he quickly agreed. He worked hard as a cashier, working long hours in the night, just to bring home some extra money. But no matter how hard he worked, he found it wasn’t enough. He and his mother were always a little short on the rent, and more often than not, they had to eat fast food instead of a good dinner. So one night, when he was working the late shift, he decided to take a little off the top from the register. He knew it was wrong, but he told himself he had to, and as he did it more and more, it began to hurt less. Eventually, after several weeks of his deceit, he was confronted by his boss, the kind, portly man across the hall. He was fired. They were left off worse than before. His mother didn’t speak to him for quite a while. In anger, the man made a new vow. He vowed that no matter what it took, he would never get caught again. This vow he would keep.

After another year or so, he graduated high school and left his mother for college. He had applied for scholarships and student aid, and got in for basically free, much to the surprise and happiness of his mother. He was a smart, competitive man, hardened from years of poverty, and driven to make a name for himself. The man studied law, a degree he knew would bring him wealth and a degree he believed he could do well, an entire career where he could bend the truth, a skill he had learned so well. His mother missed him while he was away, but understood why he needed to go. But as time went on, they talked less and less, and his visits became more and more infrequent. He worked hard in college, and after four long years, he graduated at the top of his class. He then went to law school for another three years. After these long seven years, he became a top up-and-comer, a true underdog story, but he had only spoken to his mother a handful of times. Soon, she became forgotten too.

Eventually, the man was offered his first case. He was a prosecuting attorney, appointed by the government, and in his first case, he had to condemn a good man. The man was innocent, it was clear to him, but he was not hired to defend the man. So after many hours in the courtroom, he did his job. He twisted facts and convinced the jury. The innocent man earned ten years. And as the innocent man left the courtroom in handcuffs, sobbing, saying his goodbyes to his distraught family, he found it easy to turn away, as if nothing had happened at all.

The man did this for many years, earning a reputation for himself, feared by many. Everyone knew that he was an unconquerable beast in the courtroom, he let monsters walk free and he condemned good men. But the man didn’t care. As he sat in his spacious office, he knew he had everything he needed. It was like this for so long, that eventually there came a day when his secretary walked timidly into his office and told him that his mother had died, and her funeral would be the following Thursday. The man did not speak for a moment, but finally told his secretary to put the day on his calendar, and to try and squeeze the trip into his schedule. But with his busy life, even his mother’s funeral was forgotten.

He did this work for fifty years, until he finally retired and entrusted his firm with a man just like him. The man grew old without a wife, without children, without friends, without a family. At least his mother had had him, even if he did not have her. But the man believed he had everything he needed, as he sat alone in his mansion, he was even quite content with his life. As he sat in his chair, drinking a glass of aged scotch, he remembered what his mother had told him as a boy, that lies are like callouses on the heart, until you feel nothing at all. The man couldn’t help but agree. He had spent most his life telling lies, much more often than he told the truth. But look at the amazing things lies can do! he thought as he looked at the marvelous, expensive things he had acquired over his lifetime. I have everything I need. And as the man sat in the chair that night, he fell asleep, and while he slept, his hardened heart stopped. Unlike Pinocchio, who, once wooden, became a boy, he, who once was a man, became stone.