Bassey and Smartness

Bassey was a liar; I am not calling him names, because Mummy warned me not to call anyone names. That is what everyone called him; though Bassey prefers to call it smartness, he lies and when caught he says with pride, “I tricked you!”

I knew when the lies started; He had broken a glass cup at home and hid the evidence, when his mummy asked. He denied it. Since then Bassey called himself a smart boy.

Well, my name is Akin and I am 9, the same age as Bassey. We grew up together and did everything together until he started his smartness.

It started from the cup, and now it has grown, to be something he does all the time. He lies to everyone and when he’s caught, he says he is joking. Mummy said liars are thieves also. I don’t want to be a thief, so that is why I stopped being his friend.

One day, Bassey did not come to school. We later heard he had lied to his parents that he was told to buy a book at school. His daddy gave him the money to buy it from the shop in the neighbourhood. On his way, he was hit by a speeding motorcycle running from some policemen.

When Mr Ben, our class teacher visited his house and was told the story, he told Bassey’s Daddy the book was a lie. I was not surprised he did that, is that not stealing though?

One lie had led to another lie; Bassey’s lie had led to an accident that almost killed him. He stayed in the hospital for three months and missed a term in school. He had to repeat the class.

Bassey returned to school the next session, but he was a changed boy and everyone who praised him for his smartness had moved on and laughed at him when they saw him back in the same class.

Do you lie or hide the truth because you don’t want to be punished or to get things from people?

Then you are Bassey, it’s not smartness. You are a liar. Lying is wrong.