Eating sugar? na na na

I'd undertaken this exercise in story telling in response to a 'trigger' from the S & C group. Catch me if you can!!

I kid you not. This is a true story. True. Well almost. Somewhere within it, there is a teeny-weeny fib. Not big but its there. So all you who claim to know me, the challenge is to identify the only falsehood in my story.

Crying wolf

Each product and commodity comes with a best before date. It may keep for longer but past that date there is certain deterioration- tangible, physical change, in some cases or, more insidious and more damaging. You may be attracted to it, bite into it, consume it but doing so would nevertheless put you to some risk. We humans come in such packages too. So when did my descent begin? Could it be the first lie I had uttered all those years ago?

I was a thin, small, painfully shy kid and people had to bend really low to be able to hear what I was mumbling. I used to be on a continuous search to find new places to hide and lose myself in my thoughts. It was a long languid afternoon in muggy Madras, as it was then called. We were on the annual vacation at my grandparents and I had exhausted most of the cupboards and 'meat-safes' where I'd be usually smoked out of in moments. While I loved the just-right perfume of sandal and mothballs, I felt I needed a fresh hiding place. Explored and hid in the seemingly huge cavern behind a sofa. Suddenly my big sister realised my absence and started seeking me. It was a usual cat-mouse game in those hours between the post-prandial mangoes and the 'milk-coffee'. As she crept upon me ever so stealthily, something happened to me. In a flash, I was transformed from docile push-over little sister to a blood thirsty vampire! I tactically pulled up her frilly frock, chose a soft spot on her tummy and just let my canines sink in. I tasted the salty blood through the rubbery yet soft skin. What a to-do there was! The whole household, in fact I believe, the whole street, was roused from its siesta in the rudest manner possible. My sister freaked. She couldn't obviously have expected anything like this happening to her and from me. She beat me black and blue before any adult could separate us. We were rushed post-haste to a very reputed doctor, she for her wound and me by my bewildered parents for seeking some explanation for such weird behaviour. After she was suitably bandaged and had got shots for tetanus and what one gets from the bite of a younger sister. In her kindest manner, the doctor asked me why I bit my sister and in my sweetest martyr act, I lied and said that she had dared me to bite her and like an obedient kid, I did. Don't know if it was an effective lie but she gave me a delightful candy with the advice that I train my teeth on stick-jaws and not on salty 'tissues'. And you, dear reader, any time you start to wonder why my teeth are crooked, beware!

Outed: The only fib in this tale was that my sister was far too kind to beat me. In fact she grew even kinder to me after this! In fact no one has really been able to come between us- ever.