Highly Commended Story - Lying Lewis

“Lying Lewis” by Feranmi Ibitiayo, RA International School, Nigeria, is the Highly Commended story in the junior category of the first biannual Short Story Contest 2020.

Feranmi Ibitayo is a year 6 pupil of RA International School (RAIS) Bonny Island. He loves reading and researching, and is passionate about his academics. He is a boy of calm and quiet disposition, who would not speak unless he has taken time to think through all his processes. He likes to keep tab of happenings around the world by watching news channels. Feranmi is very humble, well-behaved and hardly quarrels with anyone. He is very intelligent and aspires to be a scientist.

Lying Lewis

Lewis was a young boy; he didn’t even know what lying was until his friend Dennis, otherwise known as dishonest Dennis told Lewis it was good way to do get out of trouble and other things. On one day of school Lewis forgot to do his homework. So he was sitting on his chair, in his class knowing that he would be in deep trouble for not doing his homework when his teacher asks for it. Then he remembered if he could lie about his homework he wouldn’t suffer the consequences. So when his teacher came for his homework he lied and said that his dog ate his homework, but his teacher replied saying “Lewis Kearny you don’t even have a dog.” He then answered that his family just got one. He was saved for that was what it seemed at that time. When he got home his brother Bill Kearny asked him why he lied about having a dog. Lewis was surprised that he knew about his lie, although it’s easy to expose.

Bill told him that lying is wrong and that he will have to tell the truth to everyone. The next day, when Lewis went to school people asked him why Bill said that he lied about having a dog. He replied saying that Bill lied about having no dog, because he wanted to keep it a secret. No one really showed whether they believed or not. When it was time for lunch, Lewis remembered that he had forgotten to take his lunch with him. When he saw that one of his friends had left his lunch to take care of other things, Lewis quickly stole the person’s lunch and he ate it. So when the student started asking people about his lunch Lewis didn’t even talk about it. The next day Lewis assured himself that he could do anything if he just lied, but things started going downhill. Some of his friends said they were coming over to see his dog and people were banned from bringing food in the school until the thief confesses. Lewis had been rushed to school because he was running late so he didn’t eat that day so he was very hungry. Dishonest Dennis was sent to detention for spreading lies around the school. As the day continued people started to get angry about the food ban, and they started fighting each other.

When Lewis got home he didn’t feel like going back to school, seeing that people will fight, but then he realized he hadn’t talked to the people who were coming over, so he had to deal with them too. When the doorbell eventually rang, his friends were at the door, they said to Lewis’ mother that there were there to see Lewis’ dog. She replied to them saying Lewis doesn’t have a dog and then she came to Lewis and asked why he said he has a dog. She also asked why he told his friends to come without her permission. Lewis told them the whole truth and when he went to school the next day, he told the truth to his teachers. He was definitely in trouble, but the food ban was lifted, so it was better than going to a school where people fight each other.