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Telling the Truth Grandpa enjoyed telling stories about his many adventures. His favorite audience were his grandchildren, Jason and Perry. When they were little, Jason and Perry loved hearing Grandpa’s stories, which they believed to be true because Grandpa swore on a stack of Bibles that they were. But when the boys got older . . . “Let me tell you about the time I helped Doc Savage catch the Mayan Moonstone Monster,” Grandpa teased the boys one cloudy summer afternoon. “Grandpa!” both Jason and Perry exclaimed, looks of pained exasperation on their preteen faces. “What?” Jason was the diplomat. “Now, we didn’t say anything when you told us about being Errol Flynn’s stunt double during the filming of The Adventures of Robin Hood.” “Which I was.” “Nor,” Perry picked up less kindly, “when you told us that big yarn about how you saved General Eisenhower from a Nazi assassin’s bullet.” “Which I did.” “Or even,” Jason continued, nudging Perry to be nice, “the time you claimed to have rescued Marilyn Monroe from being kidnapped by the North Koreans during her USO tour, and Joe DiMaggio gave you his famous hitting streak bat as a reward.” “Which absolutely happened.” Jason went on calmly, gently, “but, Grandpa, Doc Savage isn’t even real. He’s a fictional character.” Grandpa eased back into his chair, chuckling quietly, a knowing smile on his face. “And just what do you think you two are?” Jason and Perry looked at each other in surprise, then slowly turned around to face you, reading this story, realizing Grandpa was finally telling the truth.