Kevin is a regular boy in the fifth grade at Hillside Elementary School.
Like most boys his age, he doesn't really like doing his homework.
One day his teacher, Ms. Rose, said, "Kevin, can you come up and write question five from the math homework on the board?"
"Um, well, I, um, well, no," Kevin stammered.
"Why not?" said Ms. Rose. "Where is your homework?"
"Well, you see," replied Kevin, "last night, after I finished my math homework, there was a problem."
"Really? What kind of problem, Kevin?" said Ms. Rose with surprise.
Kevin thought quickly and said, "A terrible problem.
You see, after my family went to sleep, a fire started in my house and my homework was burned."
"A fire! Oh my, was anyone hurt?" asked Ms. Rose.
"Well, actually, my sister was burned a little.
She went to the hospital, but she is okay now," Kevin replied in a brave voice.
A girl named Suzy asked, "Kevin, did your whole house burn down?"
Excitedly, Kevin replied, "Yes, it was a very large fire and the whole house was on fire.
There was smoke everywhere, and the flames were reaching into the sky."
"You must have been very scared, Kevin," said Ms. Rose.
"I sure was," he answered.
"For a moment I thought that I was going to die."
From the back of the room, Ted asked, "How did you get out of your house, Kevin?"
"I got out of my house by . . . by . . . " Kevin thought for a moment.
"A fire fighter came to the window of my room.
He pulled me out onto his ladder and carried me to safety."
Ms. Rose started to become suspicious.
"You are very lucky," she said. "You could have been killed.
By the way Kevin, what time did the fire start?"
"I'm not exactly sure, but I think about 10:30 at night," Kevin replied.
Then Ted shouted, "Hey Kevin, how many fire trucks came to your house to put out the fire?"
"I'd say about five," Kevin replied quickly.
"There were two really big ladder trucks and one truck for the water.
There were also two smaller trucks."
"It must have been very loud," said Ms. Rose.
"Did many people come and watch?"
"Yes, everyone from the neighborhood was there," said Kevin.
"It was very loud."
"How did the fire start?" asked Ms. Rose.
"It started in the kitchen.
There was a cloth that was too close to the oven, and it caught on fire," said Kevin.
Ms. Rose was about to catch Kevin.
"Who was cooking at 10:30 p.m.?" she inquired.
"My mother was cooking," answered Kevin.
"But Kevin, you said that everyone was sleeping when the fire started," questioned Ms. Rose.
"Well, yes, no. I forgot," stammered Kevin.
"And Kevin," said Ms. Rose, "you said it was a loud fire and everyone saw it, but it was not on the news this morning."
"Well, maybe it was too late for the news people," he replied.
"Okay, Kevin," Ms. Rose said, knowing that Kevin was trapped.
"I am going to call your mother to ask her if she needs any help from our class.
Wait just a moment, and I'll be right back."
"No!" pleaded Kevin.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Well, you see, my mother is . . ."
"The truth!" demanded Ms. Rose.
"There wasn't really a fire," Kevin admitted.
"But you told us that your sister was hurt," said Suzy.
"And you told us that you were rescued by a fire fighter," said Ted.
"And you told us that five fire trucks came to your house," replied another boy.
"Kevin is a liar!" shouted all the children.
Ms. Rose looked at Kevin and explained, "Sometimes a small lie can grow into a big lie.
You started with one lie.
Then, because of your first lie, you needed to tell another lie.
Those two lies led to another lie and then another lie.
And this big lie means seven days detention for you, young man.
So what did you learn today?" asked Ms. Rose.
"I should tell the truth," said Kevin in a soft voice.
"That's right. The more you lie, the more you need to lie."