It wasn't until he was upgraded to beta version of the AI implant that Jimmy could muster enough courage to talk about it. He sent a message to his friend, straight from his brain to the popular chat app.

“Hey Hugo, see you at the local tonight?”

A few minutes later, a faint buzz in his cranium told him Hugo had replied. 7 pm.

***

“What's up, Jimbo?” Hugo asked after they'd settled with a Schooner each, AC/DC making them yell.

“Not sure how to say this, mate.” Jimmy hesitated, “I have to share it with someone and I thought I could trust you.”

“Of course,” Hugo leaned in, “girl trouble again?”

Jimmy laughed. “Nah, not really!”

“Spill it, then!”

“Earlier this month, I signed up for a cutting-edge treatment–”

“For your introversion?”

“Yeah, but I wasn't sure how to tell anyone because–”

“You're an introvert.” Hugo finished his sentence, then asked. “So, how’s the implant going?”

Jimmy stared at Hugo. “How do you know?”

Hugo didn’t answer. Instead he pointed at the empty tumblers and asked. “Another beer?”

“Sure.”

Jimmy was intrigued. He knew Hugo’s obsession with technology and the barrage of links he sent on a regular basis. Jimmy never acknowledged but read them all. When Hugo came back with the drinks, he persisted.

“Hueg, your articles inspired me to get the implant and I do feel like a new man. I thought I would surprise you–”

“I am… surprised and happy.”

“But how did you already know about it?”

Hugo took a slow, deliberate sip of the beer and said. “I’m the designer of the implant. You’re my first test subject.”

“What?”

“Sorry, the test had to be blind. I was worried if you knew it was me, you wouldn't accept it. But I’m glad you’re alright!”

To deceive the deceiver is double the pleasure, I beguiled myself snidely with a snicker so sure was I of myself on my side when I said in deference:

"What they don't know, won't hurt..."

...myself, hastening to make it ...to work:

"One cut corner, doesn't make for..."

...a triangle, or big break, and I pocketed my gain of a quarter of an hour...

here or there, pinching this and that... and grimly remembered, when placing a call, collect, from the jail.

04.01.2025

Deceit challenge @dctezcan

Trick me,pull a rabbit out of my hat.

Yes the one I'm wearing!!

Do you see the deceit?

Pick a card,no not that card!

The one in your other sleeve!

Pull the wool over my eyes til the sheep come home.

Are you a shepherd with the magic baton?

Or are you marching to your beat,spinning yarns and Spitting spells into the wind?

It's all coming back to me now.

You're the one conducting the symphony in the dark,pulling the strings of marionettes, marinated in your taste for disdain.