SHORT STORY

Two Truths and a Lie

We all know this famous game; am I a liar or a truthsayer?

Thank you to Ruby Noir for this fantastic prompt. You can find it here.

This is a twist on the game ‘Two Truths and a Lie’. The following are five stories from my life. You get to pick out which ones are the truths, and which are the lies. But keep in mind, they could all be true or they could all be lies. I chose a music theme.

1. In my twenties, I joined a Cabaret group. I started off as their stage manager. I was essentially in charge of wrangling coke-fueled performers into their tiny dresses and pushing them on stage. I was one of the only ones there who didn’t do drugs, so I guess that’s why they put me in charge.

Eventually I became a performer. My signature song was Tits and Ass from “A Chorus Line.” My first night on stage I froze. I sang the lyrics, but my body refused to move. The second night, I forgot the lyrics to When You’re Good to Mama and had to sing the same verse three times in a row. The third night, one of the producers got so drunk that he didn’t realize the feather in his hat was on fire.

Our sound producer was a Liza Minelli impersonator, our producer Everett was a fire breather, my best friend Laura was the star performer and my boyfriend ran the spotlight. It was a twisted little family but I loved every second of it.

2. When I was sixteen I met Tre, the drummer from Greenday. We were staying in Madison, Wisconsin for the Summer. My mother is a math professor, and she taught at various universities during the Summers to make extra money.

I’d seen Greenday many times before in Rhode Island, where we lived. But they were coming to town to play at a huge venue. I got to borrow the car and I drove down super early to get good parking.

When I pulled in, I was the only one there. I ended up hanging out with the parking lot attendant for a good two hours as the cars filled in. He was really cute, and we had matching plaid shirts on. We smoked cigarettes and talked about all the shows we’d seen. I was developing quite a crush. Right around the time the opening act was due to go on, a tour bus opened and out came the members of Greenday.

Billie, the lead singer, yelled over to the parking attendant. “Hey Tre, are you coming or what?”

I totally froze and turned bright red. I could feel it. He said his goodbyes and ran in after them. I couldn’t believe I didn’t recognize him without his makeup on. I thought about it for a while, but in the end I was too embarrassed to go up and ask for an autograph after the show.

3. When I was sixteen I went to the annual Reggae Festival in Eskahee, RI, on the Narragansett Indian Reservation. A whole group of us went, including my three best friends.

There were drum circles and bonfires. And we slept in my friends Volkswagen van, all slumped on top of each other. In the middle of the night someone tipped over one of the porta potties while some guy was still in it. It was horrible.

The second day we bought some weed and decided that it was a good idea to get tattoos from this guy in a Winnebago. I got my first tattoo that day, a sun on my right ankle.

However, it turns out that the weed was laced with angel dust, and I ended up hallucinating. My friend Chris drove me home early.

4. During Lollapalooza ’93 I fell asleep on a blanket with my friends. When I came to, the crowd had filled in and I was surrounded. My friends were nowhere to be seen.

Arrested Development were on stage singing Give A Man A Fish, and a giant man with dreadlocks pulled me up and out of the crowd. The music was amazing. I spent the rest of the day basically by myself, just talking to random strangers.

Rage Against The Machine were the closing act. I wasn’t into their music as much, but the light show was incredible. On the way out we got stuck in this massive traffic jam. My friend Al brought his pet rabbit and he ended up getting out. We never saw him again.

5. In my early twenties, I was working delivery at this pizza parlor. And my boss asked me out one day. I figured he was pretty cute, so I said yes. I met up with him at our favorite restaurant and then we headed off together.

The show was at Foxwoods in MA. Motley Crue were headlining. I was not, and am still not, a metal fan. But I’m a music fan, and there is no denying their stage presence. During Girls Girls Girls they had crazy pyrotechnics. It was incredible.

But somewhere in the middle of the show, my boss ran into one of his friends who had floor seats. And he disappeared. I ended up hanging out with an awesome couple smoking weed for the rest of the show. And, obviously, I never went out with him again.

There it is. Now you choose. Where are the truths and where are the lies?

Thank you for reading my story. I’d love to hear your opinions.

You can check out some more of my writing and follow me here. (She, Her) I am a writer and a freelance editor. I edit all genres, and I specialize in Romance. I write a little bit of everything, whatever is on my mind at the moment. Get an email when I publish a new story.