From the play: Seedlings by Ian Hutton Liar I didn't start out to be a liar it never occurred to me. It was just as I got older and was still looking, instead of doing that others became more demanding. They wanted to know what I had done specifically so they could define meunder a one-word heading. Even then, I didn't lie, specifically. It's just that my truths were left to their imaginations which they didn't trust. Voice: Please give an example Well, I didn't hyperbolize I didn't talk about Chinese opium traders or long vaulting legs, so fine to know or the deaths I have defied. I talked about a village-house in Franceolder than the smoke from the pipe of ages and a belltower on a hillside which chimes each hour twice. But they weren't listeningthey were searching for a one-word heading. When I stopped talking. When they heard silence they would ask me another question or droll some specific behavior which they knew by history. Voice You felt excluded. No, I felt free. I realized that if I did not disturb themif I gave them a one-word heading a hole would be filled; a gap plugged. They would feel resolution leaving me, to be as I please. Voice Are you a liar now. Honestly, yes. People prefer to hear what they prefer to hearso I say it. I cannot separate my self from my dreams I'm, as much, what I've not yet been as I am, the things I've done. Perhaps the language of thinking has been fully described but the language of living remains misunderstood. The scent of a flower is not a dollar per stem. Voice: May I quote you? Yes. The end. c1989. Table of Contents | 1993 Issues | Subscribe Truth Seeker | Feedback | Freethought.com Webmaster Credit card Orders call: 800-321-9054 or fax: (619)676-0433 Or send check or money order to: Truth Seeker / 16935 W. Bernardo Drive, Suite 103 / San Diego, CA 92127 $20.00 annual U.S. subscription ($35.00 international). Individual issues—$10.00 + $2.50 postage and handling Or be a committed freethinker and send $35.00 for a two year subscription. Truth Seeker is published by Truth Seeker Co., Inc. (ISSN 0041-3712) © 1996