I don't mean Santa, the Tooth Fairy, that sort of thing. I mean the really fun ones that only make sense to, like, your immediate family and a handful of lunatics who're in on it to help sell the lie well past its expected shelf life. I mean the kind of incredibly simple and compelling lie I was told as a child almost every weekend when I'd go and visit my grandparents' place.
See, my grandfather's a huge Elvis Presley fan. So much so that there are more photos of Elvis in my grandparents' house than there are photos of his brothers. He's that kind of fan. Most of them are in his room or workspace, but there's one black and white photo in a nice frame - the kind of frame you'd put a loved one in, you know - that hangs in the hall and has done for more than forty years. When I was a kid, for as long as I could remember, you know what my grandfather would say to me when I'd pass that photo?
"That's your Uncle Elvis."
I was thirteen before that eventually came unraveled. I told people at school that Elvis Presley was my uncle.
When, actually, I'm not that distantly related to JFK...