First lines given – #6

Welcome to First Lines Given! If that sentence confuses you, here’s a link to where I explain what this is.

Today’s first line is by Danny Beattie! He said:

I like the tone of this one. Here’s the result:

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Of course Marko would say that. He always does. But that was the thing about Marko: he wasn’t quite the smartest one in the room.

I glared at him from across the table. I leaned back a bit, not quite sure where to start. I wasn’t one to get into arguments or debates, but how could he believe…lies? “So… You think that…what? Science isn’t real? All those photos? Videos? Years of study?”

He laughed, looking up from his homework. “Oh, come on. Do you actually believe that our government doesn’t keep secrets from us? Lies? They’ll cover anything up for money.”

He had a point there. Our government is more worried about their money and secrets rather than the people.

I tapped my pencil on my homework in a fast rhythm. We were supposed to be doing math homework, but we got sidetracked. I couldn’t even think straight much anymore. “So… You think they just made it all up?” I paused. “But for what? What would they gain out of faking a moon landing? They have all those scientists who dedicate their lives to studying the moon and the stars.”

“They’re all in on it.”

I shook my head. “Our class alone couldn’t even keep a secret about when Lanny fell down the stairs and ripped his pants. You think thousands of people from countries around the world could keep a secret about the moon landing being fake? That’s not something thousands of humans could do. We’re terrible liars.”

He paused, seeming to at least consider my point. Which he better. I wasn’t about to make myself look like a fool in the middle of the library. But I sucked at debates. I sucked at talking. Why else would I rather write boring essays over crispy Benjamin Franklin than do a speech? I wasn’t good at this.

Now I had that silly song stuck in my head. Crispy, crispy. Benjamin Franklin and the doctor went and had a talk with my boss. Something about insurance policies. They kept the door closed at all times. I couldn’t hear or see.*

“Maybe not everyone is in on it,” he admitted. His fingers went through his curls. “I forgot how many space scientists there are. I mean, there are a lot less scientists now in the space force—”

“Do you have an article or facts to back that up?”

“No but—”

“Then shush. Don’t say words that could be untrue to back your claims up.”

“Geesh.” He leaned back in his seat, almost matching my posture. He turned a bit, putting his feet in the chair beside him. “Someone wants to defend the government so bad.”

“I’m not defending the government. I never said they were good. But I don’t think the government would fake a moon landing. A moon landing that’s very real at that. There’s an overwhelming amount of evidence that points toward the fact that the moon landing happened. We have more data than ever before. More videos! More…”

“Lies?”

“No!” I paused, realizing some people around us had turned their heads toward me. I sighed and lowered my voice. “What else do you think is fake? Cancer research?”

“Millions of dollars but they still haven’t found a cure, huh?”

A picture of my mom with her colorful bandana covering her missing hair circled my mind.

“Ugh.” I snatched up my homework, closed my textbook, and pulled my backpack over my shoulder. “It’s not even the fact that we believe something different. It’s the fact that you just cannot believe what scientists have been working on for years. How could you be so dense?”

“Dense?” His face turned sour. “You do realize I’m one of the top ranked students in our class.”

“Which only makes it worse.”

I stormed off to the other side of the library. I looked back once to make sure that I didn’t leave anything behind. I didn’t want to look like a fool for going back there afterward to grab something I had forgotten. Or give him a reason to follow me.

I found a small table that would barely fit everything I needed to spread out. There were no other tables around, so it would do. I opened my textbook back up, shifting it to cover half off the table. I had my notes open in my journal on the right. My homework was half on the table.

I glanced down at the math problem I was working with. Ugh. Geometry sucked. When I glanced back up at my textbook, I couldn’t even recognize the equation.

Crap. I forgot what textbook page I was on.

The song still played in my head too. I had a dream. Crispy, crispy Benjamin Franklin came over and babysat all four of my kids.*

Copyright © Robin LeeAnn

*The lyrics are from Regina Spektor’s song called “Chemo Limo.”