20 october 2024, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2531: lack of credibility

Tunde was a storyteller par excellence. He had stories to tell of far away lands; of people he knew who were powerful and rich of unimaginable proportions. In the beginning, no one thought otherwise and it was rather easy for him to win the admiration of all with his haughty stories.

‘In such case, I will simply call a friend of mine who happens to be a rich man. He can invest some money into the project of building a new school, Tunde stated one day at the Town meeting. The people who were looking forward to any assistance, believed him. Few weeks went by before it dawned on everyone that this money that he had promised was nowhere to be seen and anxiety began to develop.

Tunde was still making excuses as to why he had not seen money from his rich friend – he was held up, the banks were taking too long. But after some months, it was all too clear. No such friend existed; everything he said was a lie.

In the church he attended, he was a man to be respected but with the passage of time, they all changed their perception of Tunde; they came to know him as a man who lacked credibility.