Growing up I wasn’t what you called a normal boy. I was a little different than the rest of children and everyone knew it. Let me start over. I was born, or rather came to life, in a small fishing town. It happened one night in my dad’s puppet shop. I was sitting up on the shelf one night minding my own business when all of a sudden I felt a change. My hands and feet were no longer the dead, motionless wood they had been before. I could move. I could walk. One moment I was sitting there a lifeless   puppet and now, well, I was still a puppet, but I could move. It was amazing, and while I was still trying to cope with the situation I noticed there was a talking cricket who said he was my conscience. This was all so new and confusing. I later learned that all this happened because the shop keeper Gepeto had made a wish on a shooting star and somehow I came to life because of it. That’s just to get you up to speed on how I came to be a living puppet. I mean it’s not every day you come across a living puppet. That’s beside the point, though. My real problem was the little side effect that came along with the power of being able to be a walking, talking puppet. Whenever I told a lie my nose would begin to grow. It didn’t matter whether it was a small lie or a big lie, every time I told a lie, sure enough, it would go and grow on me.

                Imagine not being able to tell a single lie. It was horrible. I distinctly recall the first time I realized that my nose would grow if I lied. I was in the deli with Gepeto to pick up some fresh veal. I saw a turkey sandwich sitting up on the counter with next to a huge glass of milk. Now this just happened to be my favorite meal in the whole world. Gepeto was off talking to the butcher and this delicious meal was just sitting there, waiting to be consumed. I knew it wasn’t mine, but I couldn’t resist the temptation. I took another look around to see if anyone was watching and quickly made my move. I took one large bite and a quick swig of milk. I quickly looked around again to see if anyone had seen what I had done. No one had and I realized that I better stop while I was ahead. I walked over to Gepeto and tried to act nonchalant. He had just gotten the veal and we started to walk to the door. I had thought I gotten away scot-free when I heard Bill the butcher’s voice yell, “Who ate my sandwich?”  Oh no I had been caught. I was so scared that I decided to deny the whole thing. He quickly walked over to me “Did you do this Pinocchio?” I looked at the floor and replied, “No.” The instant I said this I felt a tingle on my face. My nose began to sprout out. “Are you sure you didn’t take a bite out of my sandwich?” Bill asked again with a look of doubt. “Honest I didn’t touch it,” and with this my nose began to shoot up again. I didn’t understand what was going on. Every time I lied my nose grew. What was going on? Was my lying connected to my nose growing? “I’m going to ask you one more time Pinocchio. Did you take a bite out of my sandwich?” I no longer was concerned about the sandwich or my fate with Bill. I had to see if these two things were connected so I lied once again. “No I didn’t take your sandwich.” Sure enough my nose began to grow again. I lifted my head up and both Bill and Gepeto just stared at my nose in shock. “What happened to your nose?” That’s when I broke down and told them that I had taken a bite out of the sandwich and every time I lied about it my nose had grown. The embarrassment that was caused by my nose growing and being caught lying was far worse than just telling the truth. That’s the day I had vowed never to lie again because I didn’t want to ever have my nose grow and be caught lying.