Chapter 12

We live in a political age, and thus we live in an age of lies. So, since lying is now acceptable, I can't make any promises about the truthfulness of anything I may say from now on. Of course, Nietzsche called into question the importance of telling the truth before the turn of the century, since we don't know whose truth you are talking about, but I'm not entirely sure he meant the kinds of political lies we hear all the time. Or perhaps he did. After all, Plato talked about the noble lie politicians had to tell, so there is a philosophical tradition of the "necessity" of politicians lying. Machiavelli also recommended lying to the people. I would argue that many politicians are certainly Platonists and Machiavellians, but not really Nietzscheans. So I don't think they are doing what Nietzsche was talking about in regards to lies. On the other hand, successful politicians are great manipulators of language. But that may also be the same thing Nietzsche was talking about.

In any case, this is a novel full of lies. In fact, what is fiction but one long lie? None of this is true (unless I say it's true), and you wouldn't want to read this if it were true, or you’d have gone out to buy a biography or some other form of nonfiction. We tell our children not to tell "stories," but turn around and spend $20 (for hardback, $7 or so for a paperback) for a novel. We elect the liars whose lies we most want to believe and pay to read a four-hundred-page lie. We want to be lied to. We elect people to do it, and we pay people to do it. So what's wrong with lying again?

Since we now see fiction-writing is really professional lying, we must also realize that Michel and Sarah are both aspiring professional liars. The only difference is, Sarah treats her writing as a purge for any temptation she may have to lie, whereas for Michel, it's only the beginning. Michel's life is so full of lies, he doesn't know what the truth is anymore.

For their first real date, Sarah picked Michel up at his apartment. They were going to a movie - "Shakespeare in Love." It was the first time she had been to his apartment. Sarah was not surprised to see how messy his apartment was, with the couch pulled out to make Michel's bed, but she was surprised to see Jackie standing in the hall wearing only a pair of blue jean shorts and a nipple ring as Michel held the door open for her.

"I'm ready when you are," Michel said. "I'd show you around, but we don't want to be late."

"Fine. Let's go." Sarah was back out the door, darting for her car, a red Nissan. Michel told Jackie bye as he shut the door and turned to chase Sarah to the car.

"Slow down. We're not late."

Sarah opened her car door and slid in, putting her key in the ignition. Michel opened the passenger door and got in.

"What's your hurry?" Michel asked.

"Shut the door," Sarah said. He complied. She turned to him. "What the hell was she doing walking around your apartment topless?"

"It's her apartment too. She pays half the rent."

"What are you doing? You still fucking her?"

"Hell no! I broke up with her, remember? I'm going out with you now. Why would I want to fuck her?"

"I'm not stupid, Michel. I saw her. If I was a guy, I'd want to fuck her. You're telling me you don't want to fuck her?"

"I said I wasn't fucking her, okay? Why won't you believe me?"

"Why's she comfortable walking around topless, then?"

"Honey, we used to date, remember? When we did, we fucked. We lived together. She's used to walking around naked with me there."

"Naked?"

Michel dropped his head just short of the dash. "Shit."

"Can't you see how this looks? You’re still living with your ex-girlfriend."

"I told you why. It's cheaper. And we don't hate each other -- we just don't love each other anymore. But I'll talk to her about walking around half-naked if it makes you feel better."

"You do what you need to do, okay?"

Michel wasn't sure what that meant, but he decided to agree. "Can we go to the movies now?"

Sarah started the car, turned the wheels, and pulled away from the curb.