Lying On Sickness

“Don’t you hear your phone ringing?” Geena demanded after Lisa’s phone rang more than ten times as they sat in the lunchroom at their job enjoying their lunch.

Without glancing at the caller ID, she informed as her cell phone stopped ringing and she scooped up a fork full of rice and peas. Chewing, then swallowing, “It’s Khloe. She wants me to watch her kids while she goes on vacation to Hawaii with her new boyfriend for a week.”

“And you don’t want to?” Geena asked with furled brows while stirring her Caesar salad after pouring Hidden Valley Ranch dressing on it. Her phone started ringing again.

“Hell no!” She said taking a big gulp of her orange juice.

“Then tell her,” Geena suggested.

“I will, as soon as I can find the right lie.”

“With the truth, you don’t have to search,” Geena elaborates, staring into her eyes.

Lisa blinked cutting eye contact, then answered the phone she said, “Sorry, but my Mom isn’t feeling well and I will have to help her. I can’t watch your kids.” After putting her phone on speaker.

“Damn, sorry to hear that. I hope she feels better. You were my last resort,” Khloe said.

“Sorry, but the doctor says my mom’s situation is serious so I just want to be near her,” Lisa added more paint to her lies.

“I will be praying for a miracle and a quick recovery. Anything I can do to help?” Khloe asked.

“Prayers are good,” Lisa said without a conscience, as Geena stared at her in shock.

After Khloe hangs up, Geena demands, still embraced by shock, “Didn’t anyone tell you not to lie about sickness?”

“Oh, please,” she pushed Geena’s words aside. “You really believe in that crap.”

“I was raised not to lie about being sick, because sometimes our lies create the right environment for disaster,” Geena explained.

“I didn’t tell her I was sick,” Lisa defends her lie.

“I know, you lied about your mother being sick. We don’t lie about anyone being sick in my culture. Or ourselves,” Geena educates.

“Your culture is weird,” she criticized

“You don’t think what you are doing to your mom is wrong?” Geena insists.

“My mom will be fine,” she pushed Geena’s question away.

Three days later Geena’s phone rang. After answering, Lisa’s hysterical voice cried out, “I need to get to Mount St. Hilda’s. A drunken driver just hit my mom’s car and she is in the hospital!”

“What!” shot from Geena’s heart and she quickly turns off the faucet, wiping her hands in her apron. “Meet me downstairs!” she ordered, removing her apron at the speed of light.

Minutes later Geena picked her up, and as they drove to Mount St. Hilda’s Hospital, Lisa cried, “I asked her to pick up my dry cleaning at Tony’s.”

“Isn’t Tony’s a block away from where Khloe lives?” Geena asked breaking a red light.

In tears, she answered, “Yes.”

“Are you aware if you had babysat her kids, you would be able to walk to the Dry Cleaning instead of asking your mom,” Geena continues to nail guilt into her psyche.

“Oh God! What have I done!” Lisa bellowed.

In my culture, we are warned not to lie about any health issues, because sometimes, our lies will create unforeseen and unexpected opportunities for disaster.

If your heart could speak, what would it say?

Lying on sickness can create the best opportunities for disaster.

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoy it.