The Tao of Flynn

By Eric Witchey

Sometimes, a liar can be the most honest man in the room.

Magic surrounds us all the time, but Richard wouldn't have believed it until he met Flynn, a self-avowed lying salesman who makes his way in the world by giving people what they want.

A novelette: 12,000 words.

Originally published in the April, 2004 edition of Realms of Fantasy Magazine.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Imagination Fully Dilated Publishing
• Release date: Sep 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781452417103

Eric Witchey

Eric M. Witchey has made a living as a freelance writer for over 25 years. His stories have appeared in ten genres on six continents, and he has received recognition from New Century Writers, Writers of the Future, Writer's Digest, The Eric Hoffer Prose Award program, the Irish Aeon Awards, Short Story America, and other organizations. His How-To articles have appeared in The Writer Magazine, Writer's Digest Magazine, and other print and online magazines. When not teaching or writing, he spends his time fly fishing or restoring antique, model locomotives.

Book preview

The Tao of Flynn

by

Eric M. Witchey

Originally Published in the June, 2004 issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine

2011 edition published by IFD Publishing at Smashwords

Discover other titles from IFD at Smashwords.com.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

All persons in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance that may seem to exist to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental. This is a work of fiction.

Tao of Flynn copyright 2004-2011 Eric M. Witchey

Cover art copyright 2011 Alan M. Clark

ISBN: 978-1-4524-1710-3

IFD Publishing, P.O. Box 40776, Eugene, Oregon 97404 U.S.A. [phone] www.ifdpublishing.com

~~~

For everyone who recognizes that there is more to being honest than merely telling the truth.

~~~

The Tao of Flynn

by Eric M. Witchey

Flynn was an honest liar. He would look you dead in the eye, smile his commercial, outdoorsman smile, wink one pale blue eye, and say, I'm a professional liar. And that was the truth. He'd keep telling you the truth until your wallet was empty, then he'd smile again, say, I warned you, and walk away.

All you could do was smile and watch him go because you'd been warned, and damn if he didn't nail you anyway.

Keep an eye on Flynn, Cooper had said. He's good, but he's going to get us in trouble.

Cooper was the boss, and, back then, I was his man to beat. The whiteboard in the coffee room showed it. If Cooper had a hot lead, I was the man he sent.

Once I was in the door, my closing ratio was 5 to 1. If I made five sales calls, I came back with paper on one. Everybody needed more fire insurance.

Once, on a good streak, I did six calls and managed to come home with paper on eight. The last call had forgotten I was coming. I hit triple as the entertainment at their dinner party.

That was before Flynn. After Flynn, everything was different.

I was in the coffee room throwing darts the day Flynn came in. He wore a three-piece suit and patent leather, wingtip shoes. Italian, no less. Remember those commercials for cigarettes? The ones with the cowboys? He looked like that, right down to the dimple in his tanned chin. Dark brown hair, kinda wavy, and pale blue eyes with a thin dark ring around the irises.

Once, in a bar, I saw a waitress trip and lose a whole tray of margaritas on a table of bikers because she was just trying to get a look at Flynn.

He strode into the break room, smiled that liar's smile, and spoke.