What
they lacked in similar physical features was the complete opposite in their
disposition, for example their practical joking (aka trickery), storytelling
and connivery. Most of their antics were
childish buffoonery but of late they were taking on a different form; as if they
were improving their “craft” to the degree that they were able to easily
manipulate their peers and almost as many adults. What started out as being
kind of “cute” and “tolerable” when they were younger was now developing into a
behavioral and moral problem.
Tania
not Tanya nugget: I know you’re probably
thinking that connivery is not a word, but I will remind you, I’m a writer and
from time to time I will make words up, this is one of those times, but for
good reason. In this instance, connivery
is a combination of conniving (given
to or involved in conspiring to do something immoral, illegal, or harmful) buffoonery
(behavior that is ridiculous but amusing). Ok, where was I? Oh yes.
The twins had very creative
imaginations, Avie more so than Evina because he was so quiet; always watching
people and things. The world seemed to
fascinate him. Over the past six months
or so, their parents started to notice a shift in their trickery/storytelling. In essence they were (on their own)
cultivating the ability to lie. I don’t
mean little white lies, I mean really believable ones that were actually quite
colorful. Some of the “stories” they
came up with were so believable that it was scary. Avie, the quiet clever thinker, could take Evina’s
ideas to a whole other level, which would be executed with excellence by them
both. Did I tell you they were also
detailed perfectionists, almost to a fault?
Well if I didn’t before, consider yourself told. In
other words, they were transitioning into learned liars who had done more
“trickin” than anybody their parents knew at that age.
One
day while looking through old family photos, Avery, Sr. stumbled on one that caused
an immediate flash back so vivid that he felt as if he was having an out of
body experience. The more he thought
about it the more his emotions seemed to rise.
The primary memory was the feeling of helplessness when he realized Evina
had been suffering for hours with a broken arm while he was busy working. He chuckled to himself and shook his head simultaneously
while uttering the sound: “umph, umph,
umph” as he allowed his memory to wander
down memory lane to the day of the incident when he interrogated, I mean asked Avie
how his sister ended up with a broken arm.
Avery, Sr. had learned something about his son that Avie wasn’t aware
of. Whenever he was up to “no good”,
about to lie or some type of connivery, he always talked in a slightly higher
pitch. Why is this significant? Remember, I told you earlier that he has a
deep raspy voice. If Avie knew that was
a character flaw he would have worked on correcting that give away and would
have mastered the control necessary to keep it normal. Avery, Sr. felt the anxiety welling up as he
recalled asking his son the million-dollar question, “Avie! What in the world happened to your sister?” The trip was that he could feel his son’s heart
as he began to formulate the lie. He tried
desperately to fight the overwhelming disappointment as his son stood before
him and began to lie, I mean tell his “story.” To keep from knocking his teeth
down his throat, he immediately pressed mute in his mind and watched as his son
came up with the most conniving buffoonery he had ever heard him tell. As much as he wanted to sock him in his
throat, he resisted the temptation because the emergency room staff would
probably have an issue with it and accuse him of child abuse. The irony was that Avery, Sr. would have believed
Avie, but the sound of the first five words out of his mouth sent a chill down
his spine. They were: “Dad, what had
happened was …” in a pitch so high he sounded like Mini Mouse’s baby
sister.
Now
that you have the background, let’s talk about the words: what
had happened was …” Have you ever
had anyone utter those words to you … and you know off top they were lying,
standing flat footed, straight faced and everything. You wanted to believe them, but your
internal warning signals were so loud you could hardly hear yourself convince
yourself that “surely, they are not lying to my face”? They start telling you a story (lie) about
how what happened was everybody’s fault except their own. They are the victim, the world is against
them, the white man, blue man, red man, whatever man won’t give them a chance,
somebody else did it, anybody but them? You see themselves digging a hole so
you offer a life line but they push it aside, grab their proverbial shovel and
continue to dig in the bottomless pit of lies, I mean stories. you know you shouldn’t, but you try to figure
out why in the world they chose to lie versus simply telling you the truth;
because let’s keep it one ‘hunid’ and one, we all make mistakes and on rare occasions
we make purposes. What do I mean? Girl bye, you know what I mean. You thought about that thang, figured out how
to get this, that and the third to make it work and it was a wrap after
that. In other words, you intended to do
that wrong but there was never an intention to get caught or get away with it
only to discover it came with a life time guarantee of guilt. Quit playing.
Tania
Not Tanya: First, let’s moonwalk back to
my statement above, “we all make mistakes”.
This includes your boss, parents, accountant, attorney, professor,
church mother, deacon, preacher. How can
I be so judgmental? I’m not; I’m simply
citing my Favorite book which says: “All have sinned and fall short of God’s
glory, BUT all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom
that was paid by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24 CEB. Second, I’m a great story teller but I suck at
lying. Hopefully you know my writing
well enough by now to know that the majority of my stories are fictional and
that I generally tie it into some type of truth about practical living,
ultimately leading back to living a triumphant life with power over
self-sabotage and every other thing that seeks to deny you your greatness. There is a huge difference in my storytelling
and the story I made up about Evina and Avie.
You do realize that was fiction (made up stuff), right? Umph, umph, umph, shaking my proverbial head
at some of yawl. LOL!!
What’s
the difference you ask? Great
question. The answer is simple: lying which
is defined as one who makes false statement(s) with the deliberate intent to
deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
Habitual liars have one primary commonality; they get it from their
daddy. Ok, ok, ok, I hear you. Some of you are like: “What? You don’t know my daddy like that.” Or, “blame it on my daddy, for real. I don’t even know dude, so how are you gonna
tell me that my character is like his.”.
Well, calm down and let me explain.
First of all, I’m not talking about your biological father; because
you’re right, in all likelihood, I don’t know him. But that’s not the father I’m talking
about. I’m talking about Adam. Ok, ok, before you stop disconnect mentally,
physically, and/or literally, let me explain, but in order to do so, we have to
travel back in time, I’m talking about the beginning of creation. There’s a lot of details to this explanation
but I don’t have time to give them all so I’m gonna need you to focus, put your
listening ears on and pay attention.
Sin
entered into the world through our forefather, Adam, the first man created by
God. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them. Genesis 1:27
(KJV):
According to the law of creation (which
I believe in unequivocally) we are descendants of Adam, not monkeys that
evolved into human beings – Boy, BYE!!!. When I made the statement earlier
ABOVE about you being like your father, Adam, that was my reference because we
are his direct descendants, making him our forefather. Just as
through one human being sin came into the world, and death came through sin, so
death has come to everyone, since everyone has sinned. Romans 5:12 (CEB) That
being the case we inherited his Adamic nature – to sin and blame as well as
death.
What
is sin? 1 John 3:4 defines it as: every
person who practices sin commits an act of rebellion, and sin is rebellion. Common English Bible. Rebellion is defined as opposition to one in
authority or dominance.
Where
did sin come from? Genesis 2:9; And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree
that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the
midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And, Genesis
2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of
it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Sin
is real and God takes it very seriously regardless to how unpopular we may see
in the 21st Century. Denying
something (in this case, sin) does not mean it doesn’t exist. Look around at all of the evil in the world
and while you’re at it, stop blaming God for the crazy, stupid, selfish, etc.
choices you and others have made like: making things that are wrong LEGAL and “Right”
and ridiculing, judging, downplaying that which is RIGHT as wrong. It boils down to humanity wanting to do
whatever it feels like with no penalty.
Sorry Boo, it ain’t happ’nin’. Because
[Carmen] will eventually catch up to you.
I’m being sarcastic right now, you know I’m talking about Karma which
some people believe in. Listen Linda;
you listening? I don’t believe in Carmen
or Karma, I believe the passages from my Favorite Book, one of which says: Don’t
be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest.
The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring
God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds!
But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth
work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life. Galatians 6:7-8 MSG
Tania
Not Tanya
Servant
Author Teacher
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