Lies
Summary:
Josephine is a 10 year old girl, who is living with her father Joe and her mother Ettie. Her best friend Joanna lives next door with her single mother Maxine. One Sunday at lunch, her father’s brother Roger visits and moves into their house, as he is tired of being in the navy, and would like an office job like his brother. Josephine’s father arrange that his wife should help Roger gaining better manners and a better English, and when she doesn’t hear it, he winks and recommend Roger to ask out their neighbour Maxine, whom he personally assures is a real lady.
The mother and Roger are sitting together on the porch every day as she teaches him manners, and he manages to make her laugh, even though she usually just smiles. One day Josephine comes home from school and finds her mother alone, while hearing Roger laughing at Maxine’s porch. The mother asks weather Roger has ever taken liberties with her, and to please her mother Josephine says yes, and also states that she would like him to leave.
To help her parents get rid of Roger, she tells him that her mother is pregnant, and he leaves shortly after. After a while the mother gives birth to a baby boy which they name Terence, and Josephine tells her father that the child belongs to Roger.
At school, she writes an essay about her family and how things changed after Terence was born, and she is called to the teacher who wants her to admit that she story is a lie, and she tells him she made it all up.

Character sketches
Josephine: 10 years old, very observant. Tells others what she thinks they would like to hear, and does not fully understand the consequences her lies might have. Her lies might be more truthful than she knows herself, because she is picking up a lot subconsciously.
The mother: The mother is a quiet and proper lady, who almost never laughs but only smiles. She does not like her neighbour Maxine and the way she flirts with both Josephine’s father and Roger, but she never complains, she simply find an excuse to leave to the kitchen when she dislikes something. She likes Roger, and becomes jealous when he takes an interest in Maxine. Her husband does not seem to value her much or care for her feelings.
The father: head of the family, steady office job, most respected job of the family. Possibly has or have had an affair with the neighbour Maxine, but does not seem to feel bad about it.
Maxine: opposite of Josephine’s mother. Has a relaxed and casual attitude. Dresses casually. Flirtatious towards both Roger and Josephine’s father. Possibly had an affair with the father.
Roger: Used to be in the navy, but hates boats and sailing. Wants a steady job. Is very casual and down to earth, and tells a lot of stories. Friendly and playful towards Josephine and she likes him.

Point of view
The story is written solely from Josephine’s point of view, and the reader is told all that she observes. As the story is written from a child’s point of view, a lot of things are left unexplained, but as a grow-up reader, you learn of a lot of issues and problems within the family that Josephine might observe, but does not fully understand.

Theme
Fitting in and seeking recognition and approval: I would say that an important theme of this story is to fit in. Whenever Josephine lies throughout the story, she does so with the intention of pleasing others and say what she think they would like to hear.
When her mother wants to know about Roger: “Now I want you to tell me the truth”, she said. “Has uncle Robert ever taken liberties with you?” I looked closely at her face to find what answer she was looking for. “What do you mean:”
And later, when she yells to her father that her brother Terence belongs to Roger: He turned back to me. “What do you mean” and he stooped down so that his head was next to mine. I looked into his eyes and searched for what I meant.
Another theme could be generation gaps and how children and adults experience the world differently. It is clear that even though Josephine and her parents experience and observe the same events, they do not understand them in the same way. Josephine notices a lot of the tensions and problems between the adults, but does not fully understand them, nor is she capable of drawing conclusions as to the reason for these tensions.