The Invention of Lying

It all started out innocently enough, I had been eating a home cooked meal that my girlfriend, Kelly, had tried to cook and it wasn't very good. The meat was dry and overdone, the vegetables were wet and almost tasteless, however I had managed to say, "Thanks honey, that dinner was great"

It took a second for me to comprehend what I had just said, I didn't quite know what I had done. I certainly didn't enjoy the meal and wanted to tell Kelly that she could do with some cooking lessons. I had just said something that wasn't, I knew that it wasn't, yet I was able to say it anyway.

Kelly just looked at Jasper confused, she wasn't even trying any more, she tried to avoid telling him outright but she was getting ready to leave Jasper and she had purposely cooked dinner badly.

"No, no, honey that was lovely, I'm so lucky to have someone like you", the more it came out of my mouth, the more confident I felt at saying these things that weren't. I decided to try something a little more bolder, "After you clean up, bring me a beer into my office like you usually do."

Kelly was again confused, she certainly doesn't remember usually bringing Jasper a beer after dinner, she must have been overwhelmed with getting ready to leave him and fell into a mindless routine with realising it.

Without a doubt Kelly would normally never bring me a beer, especially recently, she had been a little cold when we were together but I didn't want to ask for fear of losing her. To my surprise though, a few minutes after I'd settled in at the computer, Kelly strode though the door with a freshly opened bottle of beer for him. "Thanks, honey, I appreciate it." A grin was starting to form on my face, these things that weren't were powerful, people accepted them without thinking. I wondered what other things that aren't he could say to Kelly.