Necessary Lies

A Novel

By: Richard Edgar

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Every family has secrets. Every family tells lies to protect their secrets. Bringing up ethical children with necessary lies is a problem. They told Sarah she could never have children of her own. I told her I wanted to have her babies, and she found a way to make that happen. They told Sarah she could never marry the love of her life. But then they legalized same-sex marriage across the river. So we got married, cherry blossoms and two kids in all the wedding pictures. Growing up different is hard, I understand that. My Miranda is such a headstrong teenager. We looked like a normal family, almost. Except houses are expensive across the river where we're legal. Except things haven't really changed that much since I was a kid, getting beat up because I was gay. Except being not quite legal makes a difference at the hospital. With the school system. At the state university system. Necessary lies almost worked, until they just didn't any more. Were we really all that different? And what do we do now, to pick up the pieces?