\u23f1 ~4 min reading<\/p>\n\n\n
On Monday, Nikita came home from school and his mother asked:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 How is your day, son?<\/p>\n\n
"Okay," Nikita replied.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 And the dictation grade?<\/p>\n\n
The dictation was bad. Mykyta got a three. But he didn't want to upset his mother - in the morning, his mother would say: "You're so good at Ukrainian, I'm proud of you.".<\/p>\n\n
"Four," said Nikita.<\/p>\n\n
It was a small lie. It seemed small to him.<\/p>\n\n
Mom smiled and patted his head:<\/p>\n\n
"Well done! You'll show your notebook to your dad in the evening.".<\/p>\n\n
Only then did Nikita understand - a notebook. There was a three in the notebook. The teacher's red pencil.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita went into the room. He sat down at the table. He thought. Should he tell the truth right away? His heart was already pounding a little \u2014 like before a physical education lesson when you have to jump from a height.<\/p>\n\n
\u00ab"I'll tell Dad - and he'll tell Mom. Or Mom will realize I lied.".<\/p>\n\n
Nikita took a red pencil. With his own hands, he drew a four on top of a three, exactly like the teacher. The pencil didn't quite match the teacher's shade, but from a distance it looked normal.<\/p>\n\n
This was the second invention.<\/p>\n\n
In the evening, Dad looked at the notebook. He nodded. He didn't notice. Nikita sighed with relief. For dinner, he ate dumplings with sour cream with pleasure.<\/p>\n\n
On Tuesday, the teacher returned the notebooks. All of them. Nikita checked his. Luckily, the teacher didn't look again, she gave a new mark for the next lesson.<\/p>\n\n
But on Wednesday there was a family meeting. The teacher said: \u00abTake the notebooks and check them.\u00bb Nikita looked - there were four or three of them. If his mother saw it - she would be surprised. Because in the morning there was a four, and now - suddenly two grades?<\/p>\n\n
Nikita came home. He told his mother:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I didn't get the notebook. The teacher took it away for another check.<\/p>\n\n
The third fiction.<\/p>\n\n
Mom was worried:<\/p>\n\n
"What? Is everything okay?"<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Yes. She does that sometimes.<\/p>\n\n
Fourth - because the teacher didn't do it that way.<\/p>\n\n
On Thursday, my mother's friend, Aunt Zoya, whose son is in the same class, called:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Have you seen the grades? Nazar has a C, and yours?<\/p>\n\n
Mom was confused:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Nikita said four. And he hadn't brought his notebook yet \u2014 the teacher took it away.<\/p>\n\n
Aunt Zoya was silent:<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 That's strange. We handed out the notebooks on Monday.<\/p>\n\n
Mom hung up the phone. She came to see Nikita.<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 Nikita. Look me in the eyes. What did they give you for the dictation?<\/p>\n\n
Nikita looked into his mother's eyes. She looked at him calmly, without anger. She was just waiting.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita has a lump in his throat. He has a four out of three. And a third invention. And a fourth. And now he'll say a fifth - and he'll have to invent a sixth, a seventh, and so on ad infinitum.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita cried. Not loudly\u2014just warm tears streaming down his cheeks.<\/p>\n\n
"A, Mom. I lied. And then I changed it in my notebook. And then I said the teacher took it away. And then..."<\/p>\n\n
Mom sat down next to him. She hugged him. Her sweater smelled of her cream and a little coffee\u2014Mom drank it in the morning. Nikita pressed his cheek against the soft sweater.<\/p>\n\n
"Son. See how it is? One lie and it's five. What if you told me right away?"<\/p>\n\n
"I thought you'd be upset.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 I would be upset. A little. And then we would sit down and talk - why the C, what didn't work out. I would help you with the dictation. And now - I'm sorry. Not for the C. For everything else.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita nodded. He understood that his mother was not upset about the grade. But about the fact that the ball of lies was rolling down the mountain like a snowball, and the further it went, the bigger it got.<\/p>\n\n
Nikita brought a notebook. He showed the real grade \u2014 his red transfer was there next to the teacher's \u2014 both were visible if you looked closely.<\/p>\n\n
"I'll get her across. I mean, I'll explain it to the teacher. I'll tell the truth.".<\/p>\n\n
\u2014 That will be good.<\/p>\n\n
The next day, Nikita went up to the teacher during recess. He told her everything. The teacher looked at him seriously\u2014and then smiled out of the corners of her eyes.<\/p>\n\n
"Well said, sir. We'll correct the notebook. And you can repeat the dictation on Friday. I know you can do it in twelve.".<\/p>\n\n
Nikita nodded. His chest felt light, like after you've thrown off a heavy backpack.<\/p>\n\n
Since then, Nikita knew: one fiction is one fiction. But if you leave it, it begins to multiply. And if you immediately tell the truth, it remains alone. And it melts quickly, like a snowflake in the palm of your hand.<\/p>\n\n\n
\ud83d\udca1 One lie leads to many more.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n
Nikita lied about a small thing - and gradually he had to come up with new and new lies. Until he realized: it's better to be honest - right away.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":3189,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","rank_math_description":"","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_focus_keyword":""},"class_list":["post-2193","istoriya","type-istoriya","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya\/2193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/istoriya"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/istoriya"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kazkaland.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}