The Ugliness of Life (Interrogations)

There are times in ones life when concepts can become confusing. Take for example honesty. As children we are taught to never tell a lie. We all know there are times when we do lie... We "stretch the truth," "tell a white lie," "twist the details," "omit a fact," or just "do what it takes." When I was 15 I filled out a job application to waitress at a restaurant in Prescott Valley, AZ. I really wanted this job... I wanted to earn my own money. When I found out I'd have to be 16 to get the job I was disappointed and asked Mom what to do. She told me to change my birth date to 1963... that would make me 16. Well duh, why didn't I think of that? Oh wait, would that mean my mom had told me to be dishonest? Was I being told to lie? Hmmm.

Fast forward a few months. I got the job and all is going well. I'm liked and actually do pretty good with tips. There were several "regulars" that came in every day. For the most part they were really nice guys who kept an eye on the waitresses... kept us out of trouble if someone was disrespectful toward us. There was one guy who was in his early 20's I'd guess. I can't even remember his name now. He truly was a good guy. He never swore around me, never told an off colored joke, never said crude things in front of the women. He did, however, have an interest in me. I knew that.... and it was flattering. I wasn't allowed to date yet... I wasn't 16 (or was I.. my application said I was). Other than at the restaurant, we never went anywhere together. He never even touched me. Nothing.

When I got off work one evening, Mom and Herb were there to pick me up. It was very quiet on the ride home. I could feel the tension and knew something was about to happen. While they had been waiting for me, they saw me talking to this guy..... well flirting with him. I suppose I was flirting with him. Isn't that what waitresses do? Remember, I thought it was neat that someone actually thought I was attractive. When we got in the house the crap hit the fan. Herb brought a kitchen chair into the living room, put it in the middle of the room, and made me sit down. Then the interrogation began.

Who was this guy? How old was he? How long had I been flirting with him? How many times had we had sex? Where did he live? Where did we go to have sex? Who did I think I was? Why was I doing this to my mom? It went on and on. There came a point when I wasn't answering the questions the way Herb wanted them answered. I was telling the truth. I hadn't gone anywhere with the guy. I hadn't done anything inappropriate with him. I was still a virgin. They didn't believe anything I was saying and Herb become more and more enraged.
The next thing I know, Herb has a knife in his hand and is coming toward me. It looked just like this. At this point Mom actually took action (she had been sitting on the couch doing nothing until now). She yelled at Herb to stop, got up and took the knife from him. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Herb was even more mad now. He cocked back his arm and I could see it coming. I pulled my arms up across my face and tried to double over but he caught me before I could duck out of the way. He gave me an upper cut to the nose. Everything was dark for a bit... then all I could see were stars exploding. I was dizzy and sick to my stomach all at the same time. I don't even remember it hurting as much as being so nauseous. That was the end. I was finally allowed to take my bleeding self to bed. Mom never said anything.

The next morning I had a huge shiner over my left eye. Yep, you're right, I had ran into a door the night before. I wonder how many people believe that lie. Probably not many. It was what it was and no one really seemed to care.

For me the moral of this story was something like this. It's ok to lie when it suits the purpose. Telling the truth will sometimes result in getting the crap beat out of you. And when all is said and done, it's up to you to lie to cover up what really happened.

How messed up is that!!