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An expat who has returned to his home country for a summer visit has recounted to his family a compelling but wholly untrue story about having a large and reliable group of friends in Luxembourg.
The man, nicknamed Benji by his family for reasons no one can remember, has been making a yearly visit back home ever since he moved to Luxembourg five years ago, and each time his family questions him about his social life in the country.
With his mother leading the annual interrogation, this year Benji decided he no longer wanted to confess his loneliness and feelings of isolation, and instead he read off a list of names of fictitious friends.
“There’s Antonio who plays Padel with me on Tuesdays, Reinhardt who’s my drinking buddy, Quentin and Daniel with whom I go to concerts a couple of times a month, and Tina who loves the cinema. We try to catch a movie at least once a week.”
The lies left his mother impressed. “And to think that just last year, you said that it was hard to get to know people there.”
Buoyed by the ease of lying, he went on to tell fanciful tales about the retired man across the street with whom he regularly chats and sometimes goes fishing, the young couple upstairs who have him over for Korean barbecue almost every weekend during the summers, and an imaginary fun-loving team leader who organises weekly karaoke parties.
“My, that's a lot of friends,” his mother said.
“I’m just getting started,” Benji replied.
According to reports, the expat’s storytelling went on to include hundreds of more imaginary friends, both locals and fellow expats, who are supportive, loyal, and eager to help out at a moment's notice.
However, the fabulation was interrupted by a knock. A moment later, Benji’s mother called from the front door. “Dear,” she said, her face flushed and showing a hint of worry. “It's your friends from Luxembourg. It seems they wanted to surprise you with a visit.”
“Which ones?” Benji said, his heart beginning to race.
“All of them,” said his mother.
