The Franklin Files

CHAPTER XI
COMPULSIVE LYING



     I remember one day I brought my wallet to school. I don't remember who gave it to me, a relative I think. I really liked it, because of the design. It had the image of a Native American Indian on it, and I was part Native American Indian, although only an eighth or sixteenth or something like that, I wasn't sure. Supposedly my great grandmother on my natural father's side was full blooded Apache Indian, so whatever dilution that makes me I don't know, at least sixteenth I know for sure.

     I also had all the money in that wallet that I had saved up from my weekly allowances, birthday money, Christmas money, etc... I remember that I had thirty five dollars cash in the wallet, and I don't know, I guess maybe I brought it to school to show to Scott how much money I had, because I was a good saver.

     After school, Scott and I went over to his house as usual, and I remember we were sitting at what you might call the dining room table or kitchen table, it's hard to say exactly, it really wasn't in the kitchen, and there really was no "dining room" to speak of, just kind of a table set up kind of in between the kitchen and living room near the front door of the house.

     I remember Scott and I sitting there at the table, I was at the South end of the table, and Scott was sitting opposite me at the North end of the table, and I was showing him my wallet.

     Scott wanted to hold the wallet in his hand and I was reluctant at first to let him but finally I did. I wanted him to recognize the Native design on the wallet, because my ancestry was something I was kind of proud of.

     Scott looked inside the wallet and saw all of the money, and said, "Wow!! That's a lot of money!"

     To make a long story short, Scott wanted me to pull all the money out of my wallet and put it on the table, kind of spread it all around to see how much it was even though I already told him it was thirty five dollars.

     Afterwords, I put all of the money back into my wallet and put the wallet back inside my pants pocket.

     It was at this point that Scott started this rather bazaar and unusual conversation, that as a child I suspected was a compulsive lie, but wasn't certain, but as an adult I can say with certainly it was a total lie.

     I don't know if Scott really thought I was smart, or if he was just stroking my ego and really thought I was a dope, and gullible or if Scott was just a compulsive liar. I don't really know.

     But this is the tale that I clearly remember he told me.

     Scott said, "You know you actually owe me twenty dollars."

     "No I don't. What are you talking about?" I asked.

     "Don't you remember, in the second grade? You borrowed twenty dollars from me?" Scott asked.

     "I didn't even know you in the second grade," I said.

     "Yea you did, you don't remember?"

     "Scott, I didn't even go to this same school in the second grade, I went to Daniel Freeman, are you saying you went to Daniel Freeman in the second grade?"

     "Yes, and you knew me then-- you don't remember?"

     "No." I stated flatly.

     "And you borrowed twenty dollars from me." Scott stated as a matter of fact.

     Now, I know I just turned ten, and I was a bit gullible, but this was just ridiculous. Not too many kids have twenty dollars when their seven years old to lend to you, and it was also ridiculous that I would even ask a kid to loan me twenty dollars when I was seven years old and in the second grade. I wasn't believing this story and I didn't know why Scott just kept going on with it.

     But, one thing seemed clear, Scott was actually trying to convince me that I owed him twenty dollars, and that since I had the money I should give it to him now. I may have been born recently but I hadn't been born yesterday. I wasn't falling for it, and I was a little bit insulted that Scott thought maybe I would.

     I didn't give him the money, and there was a part of me now that a little bit didn't trust Scott, that maybe his obsessive need to call me smart and cool all the time was just a ruse; like I said, he was stroking my ego, but I really didn't want to think about that. Scott tried to con me out of twenty bucks, and the ruse didn't work.

     Maybe I was smarter than he thought, but then again, HE was the one who was always telling me how smart I was.

     I did, however, find something intriguing about his claim that he went to Daniel Freeman at the same time I did. I found it intriguing that maybe we had seen each other there, maybe had even talked, but I wouldn't have known him then, but I found it intriguing.

     As a matter of fact, when I first met Scott, it was like he walked into this dimension from another one. I hadn't remembered ever seeing the kid before, I had thought at first that maybe he just moved into the neighborhood, but that apparently wasn't the case.

     I had been going to LaTijera since the third grade, and don't ever remember Scott, but then again, often times its hard to know if you had met someone before you became friends.

     I found it even more interesting that this kid might have been going to the same school's I attended since the second grade, and as far as I knew, the time I met him In July of '74, just before the fifth grade was the first time I ever saw the kid.

     Needless to say I took my money and my wallet home, but was bothered by this. This had really bothered me, because I didn't think Scott was kidding about this. I think he really was trying to convince me that we had been friends before and that he had lent me twenty dollars.

     But, I really liked Scott, and maybe he was testing me, to see if maybe I wasn't so smart after all, and I hoped that I passed his test.