When did you have to lie as a child?

Question:
When did you have to lie as a child?

Answer:
A lot of the time. But I never liked it because I knew I would always get caught. I know one of the biggest lies I ever told was in third grade. I was living with my mother and stepfather in Bellevue, Washington for the year and they somehow saved enough money to buy me a bicycle. Times were tight then (I know that now, but didn't then) so it was a big deal for them. It was a big deal for me because I could ride around the trailer park. I wasn't allowed to take my bike on the little trail that went between it and the nearby shopping center. I'm not sure if it was because of the hills or because they didn't want me to take my bike out of the trailer park.

Anyway, I remember there was this little stream on the hillside that was close to the trail. I loved to go there and build dams, play in the dirt, and explore the nearby woods. Anyway, one day I went and left my bike at the fence as I went exploring. I'm sure I was told that I wasn't allowed to leave it there, but being the stubborn mule that I am, I left it to go play. When I came back, it was gone.

I'm sure my mother will tell it differently (and I'm sure her memory is better than mine), but I remember walking home thinking my bike was stolen. When I got home, I broke the news but refused to admit that I left it by the fence. I knew I'd get in trouble for that, but it didn't register that it would be less trouble than loosing my bike.

In the end, I still had a bike, but I don't think I got to ride it for awhile after that. You see, my stepfather saw the bike and took it back home to teach me a lesson. And I learned not to leave my bike there, but I didn't learn to stop lying. I mean, I still lied about the time I said I was going to that play, but really I went.....well.....let's leave that story for another day.

Photos:
None were readily available. You'll just have to use your imagination.

References:
- Numerous facts were gathered from the private Richard Family Estate collection. These facts span numerous sources of information and contain genealogical data, photos, and newspaper articles.