Fixing the Truth

 How many of us blur the line between a lie, and not revealing the facts?

When I was a lad growing up on a farm in Kansas, finding trouble was easy. Both my parents constantly drilled me on being honest, and that telling the truth was always best. “Lies will only make things worse and will always catch up with you.” Now there is the truth for sure.

What about trying to spare ourselves embarrassment when the truth doesn’t really effect anyone else? I think that strategy makes it easier to lie about other things. I’d rather be embarrassed.

There is one form of lieing that human nature tries to excuse. We often hide information from people to protect their feelings, avoid worry or anger, or maybe to influence their decisions in the way we think is best for them.

Sometimes we try to stall long enough to fix the situation before the bad news is revealed. This is the situation Donnie Williams finds himself in my novel, TRAILS END. The palomino colt assigned to him to train, is expected to be a gentle horse for Robert Jarrett, Donnie’s 78 year old boss. The colt bucks Donnie off, and he makes no mention of it to anyone. When asked how Trails End is progressing, Donnie claims the horse is coming along perfectly.

Can Donnie “Fix the Truth”? I hope you will want to read the story and find out.

Joe Nichols