Visitors Story:
When you wish to deepen a friendship, you share secrets. It's an act of trust.
Yet many of my secrets and dreams were laughed at by others. I couldn't tell who said what to whom.
I told three different things about where my mother was born and the circumstances (none of them true).
These childhood friends were told these planned stories on the same day.
The next day, I knew which friend had shared her story because five other teenagers came to mock me for the circumstance.
I told them what they said wasn't true. "But we heard from ..." and the voices cut off. I said, "I know, Kim told you.
Did she also tell you that this story was a lie, to determine who was gossiping about me?"
Needless to say, I never trusted Kim again.
Unfortunately, a second girl later shared what I had told her, and another person came to ask me the veracity.
The third person became upset that I'd lied to her, in an effort to find out the gossipers.
Thus I went from three confidants to none.