Truth and Lies
16 Mar 2022Today’s prompt: “Write a scene in which two people leave believing opposite things are true.”
You and your traveling companion enter a courtyard. At the end of the courtyard are two doors, guarded by two soldiers.
“One of us always tells the truth and the other one always lies,” says the soldier on the left.
“I’m the one who always tells the truth,” the one on the right says.
“Which of your doors leads to the Treasure of Scrizzle-de-Dizzle?” you ask.
“Mine does. His leads to deadly peril!” the one on the right says.
“No, mine does. His door leads to certain death!” the soldier on the left says.
“We need some way to tell them apart,” your companion says.
“Good idea,” you say. “Do you two keep up on current events?”
“Yes,” the one on the left says. “Isn’t it horrifying, the way Putin is attacking Ukrainian civilians?”
“Nonsense!” the one on the right says. “We should be grateful that Putin is destroying the Nazis in the Ukrainian government.”
“The president of Ukraine is Jewish!” the one on the left says.
“Oookay,” your traveling companion says. “Do you have thoughts on Covid?”
“It was engineered in a Chinese lab!” the guard on the right says.
“The first time someone came by and asked about that, you said it was a hoax, even though it had killed hundreds of thousands of people,” the guard on the left says.
“No I didn’t!” the one on the right says.
“The next time, you said taking Hydroxychloroquine would cure it,” the guard on the left says.
“No I didn’t!” the guard on the right says.
“Okay, okay,” you say. “How about what happened on 1/6?”
“The insurrection?” the soldier on the left says.
“Those folks were all just tourists,” the soldier on the right says.
“You can’t be serious,” the one on the left says.
“Okay, I think we know everything we need to know,” you say, striding toward the door on the right.
“Buddy,” your traveling companion says, “you’re going the wrong way.”
“Not according to Fox News and all my new friends on Twitter,” you say.
“I’m going the other way,” your companion says, walking to the door on the left.
“Suit yourself,” you say.
You open the door and are immediately torn to pieces by were-bats.