The next five are from last weeks online thing. This first one was just plain fun. The intensity of the next three made me want some good old fashioned fiction. I like the conveluted mix of all these characters and metaphors. HA!


A GOOD LIE


My best friend Felicity lies all the time. I keep telling her that lies are like spider webs. Once you start spinning, there’s no end. – You catch a few flies and it messes up the web, then you gotta go clean em up, repair, reweave -- on and on forever.

But she just smiles like The Madonna and says, “Querida, a good lie is like a hot fudge sundae. It goes down smooth, tastes yummy, and fills you up.”

Then I say to her, “What if you’re allergic to ice cream?” She doesn’t have an answer to that. She’s been getting away with her lies since we were little kids, but this time I think she’s in deep ca-ca.

Felicity has been dating Reynaldo Juarez for almost a year and lying to her mama about it. She uses me for cover sometimes even though she knows I will not lie for her.

The problem is that Rey is the lieutenant of a Southside LA gang’s Jefe, and they are doing some serious drug dealing over there. Or maybe the problem is that Felicity’s mama, Marina, is the amor of the East side gang’s Jefe, yet also a strict Catholic. She will not abide drugs or criminals in her sight. I have yet to make sense of this. But Marina always gets what she demands, no matter how conflicting it seems.

Anyway, I believe that Marina is so in love with Jorge she will say anything to him and unfortunately she tells him about her daughter and the young man she is dating, Rey. And of course Jorge knows who this Rey really is. And, even though Marina professes to be this great Catholic, she once was a member of the LA street gangs in her youth. South or East, I’m not sure.

But I do know for sure that Marina does not approve of her daughter’s affiliation with Rey, and I think she has decided to do something about it. Word on the street is that there will be a battle tonight and odds are on the East side gang. Felicity isn’t worried about it, she is listening to her heart she says, but I believe the body part she is listening with is much lower.

She also assures me that her mama told her all would be well and there is no danger. I have been trying to convince Felicity all day to stay with me tonight. There is serious danger on the streets. But she will not listen to me, she believes her mama. I am very afraid, as I don’t believe anything Marina says, even in her Catholic mode.

After all, where do you think that Felicity learned to lie? Eh?