A Day at the Beach

Wait a minute. Youre saying Im going to pretend Im taking Ellen out on a date?I was 12 and the idea of knocking on the Goldfarbs door looking Ellens grandfather in the eye and tricking him troubled me. Besides taking Ellen out on a date was something I wouldnt have the courage to do on my own behalf so where was I going to find the courage to do it for my pal Whitey? I dont like this I said. Ive known Mr. Goldfarb all my life. I cant lie to him like that...Lying in general was fine. You had to lie in order to have fun. Lying to my parents was one thing. I had an account with them. There was stuff Id done on the positive side to cancel the stuff on the negative side. And besides they were my parents so they were obliged to forgive me. Plus the possibility of getting caught in this lie was greater than usual. Usually I lied about a single event like going to Brigantine or swimming in a forbidden spot. Those lies were controllable. We would take a trip tell a lie and it was over. But this might require many lies -- perhaps a lie a night for many nights. Very risky. And who was the beneficiary of these lies? Who was going to have all the fun? Not me.A DAY AT THE BEACH. The second novel from Richard Adelman author of TEACHER TALES.