Lie begat lie

On a bright Tuesday morning, I woke up to prepare for work awkwardly because I was told the night before that I should take an off duty permission because I had to follow my kid brother Dave to school(he had just gained admission to the Premier University of Nigeria where I graduated from)

Being the last born (baby of the house as we call him), my dad felt he is too young to travel down to Ibadan alone, since we stayed in Lagos. Well, since I graduated from the same institution and have been postponing my visit to my alma-mata for my Statement of Result(SOR), I saw this as a great opportunity to kill two birds with a stone.

The problem lies in the fact that I've taken all my absential leave from work and knew my boss will have a hard time granting me permission.

N.B: I work in a secondary school as a Further Mathematics teacher, pending the time I'll go for my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Well I summoned up courage and dressed up for work, I left home thinking about how to tell my boss I'll be off duty for two days(Tuesday and Wednesday), even amidst the school's Mid-term test which is ongoing, meanwhile there would be Mid-term break on Thursday and Friday. But because of the urgency of my brothers resumption, we had to leave on Tuesday.

I went into the staff room and made arrangements for my paper which they would have that Tuesday morning. I dropped the questions on my table in the staff room and went into my boss's office to seek permission.

A strong force pulled me into the office, I opened my mouth to seek for permission and then BANG!!! the lie came in the form:

"Hello, good morning sir, I just wanted to tell you that I need to leave school this morning for at most an hour, my junior brother is ill and I need to take him to a doctor."

Since I've never done such before and as a diligent teacher, he said no problem, that I may leave.

I left his office, delighted that I had deceived him so easily and can now go back home in order to embark on the journey with my brother.

It wasn't until I left the school compound that I realised my lie is so expensive and could lead to the loss of my job. I waved off the thought of what would happen if I didn't return back to work after one hour.

Needed to state here is the fact that I thought I had dropped all my questions for the on-going Mid-term test, not knowing that I didn't drop that of one of the classes.

I got home and off we went to Ibadan. After one hour I expected my boss's call but he didn't call, so, I felt i had escaped the first day of my uninformed absence. I started anticipating how to tackle his call the next day if he didn't see me at work.

We arrived Ibadan safely, I checked my brother in into his hostel then went to stay over in my friend's place.

The next morning I went to school for my SOR, I was in one of the offices for my clearance when i got a call from one of my colleagues at work.

My lie immediately came haunting at me, I didn't know what he was calling for but definitely knew the call is centred on my absence from work. He kept calling and I ignored the calls putting my phone on silence.

My boss himself started calling afterwards, I ignored his call because of the lie I had told him the previous day. I later switched off my phone.

What I never knew then, but was to know later was that they weren't calling based on my absence but because they couldn't find the question I omitted.

When I got back to Lagos, my immediate junior brother told me that he got a call from my office, they asked after me and if I dropped any question at home. That was when it dawned on me that I was in a big mess for good and I needed to come out straight to get myself out of the mess.

Now, the first lie I made begat another lie as I pick up my brother's phone and called back the line that called him which turned out to be my boss's.

"Hello sir, I'm very sorry I didn't come back to work on Tuesday and also was absent on Wednesday. It's a long story, I lost my phone while I was taking my junior brother to the hospital"

My boss replied:

"Oh, no wonder! I've been worried as I was unable to reach you. Your line was going through at first, but you weren't picking, I felt you were ignoring my calls intentionally until it was later switched off. It is well, we will see on Monday."

I ended the call and started jumping all over the room, I had fooled the boss again.

Now, I'm back to work, everyone had bought my lie but I'm bored.

Who am I deceiving?

I couldn't take my phone to work again, because I had to cover up my lie that my phone is lost.

I only get to use my phones at night, when I'm back from work.

Advice me, should I say the truth? Or keep up with my lies.

Moral Lesson

A lie gives birth to thousands of other lies. When you make the first lie, it might seem sweet at first but it's fruits(shame) hurts a lot.