Taking this secret to the grave
WHETHER it’s something we did or said that we are not proud of, or classified information that was entrusted upon us by a friend in strict confidence — we have all borne the weight of a secret at some point in our lives. Depending on the consequences that can arise if the secret was to be ‘outed’, some secrets can become great burdens, not just to the implicated party, but sometimes to those who help to bear the burden just by knowing.
But some secrets must be protected at all costs, and we sometimes have to go to extremes to keep them under wraps. These readers share the lengths they have gone to protect confidential information.
Lisanne, 27, sales supervisor:
The furthest I have gone to protect a secret was to lie that it was about me when it got out. My friend and I went to a party and a guy was dancing with her and he got too excited and violated her. She was very shaken up by it. It came out, and I took the fall because she wasn’t supposed to be at the party in the first place.
Kerene, 29, entrepreneur:
I dropped my phone in water to prevent my father from going through my messages. It was when Razr phones were just coming out, and I had a silver one that I really loved, but I had joined one of those dirty SMS chat rooms that would be sending texts all day, and my daddy said he wanted to know who was messaging me so frequently. I was washing the dishes so when he tried taking it from my pocket I grabbed it and flung it in the sink. He laughed and said I already punished myself for whatever I was hiding by being so stupid.
Mikey, 31, truck driver:
Back before fellatio became so widely accepted, this girl gave me a ‘buss’. I didn’t tell a soul, but another guy in the community soon started saying she did it to him. I took it upon myself to try to defend her honour by saying I had asked her and she flat out said she doesn’t do those things. To my surprise she denied it, saying she was never involved with me at all to begin with, much less for me to be asking her that. I had egg on my face, but I felt better turning the laughter to me instead of her.
Sean, 25, student:
I found out that my father was cheating on my mom when I was about 17, with a practice teacher at my school (my dad teaches there). It soon became a rumour among the students at school, and the practice teacher even started calling me ‘sonny boy’ when she saw me. My dad never brought it up, but I knew it would cut my mother to pieces if I let her know, so I never brought it home. They divorced two years ago, and I still haven’t told her about it.
Kemar, 27, doctor:
My bredrin and his girlfriend were going through a nasty break-up. He cheated on her, and she was really hurt. The worst part was that she had a raunchy video on her phone of him that she was threatening to release. My friend came to me warning me that he was going to harm her, and that night I went the furthest I will ever go in people’s business. I talked my friend down for hours to stop him from doing anything foolish, then went over to the girl’s house and talked to her for hours, and even gave her my last 20 grand, begging her not to post the video.
Samantha, 32, executive assistant:
I was sleeping with this guy who had a long-term girlfriend, so I was really on the side. We were going strong for over a year, so by this time I knew a lot about his personal business. One day I called him and he missed the call, and a few minutes later he called me back, but it was his girlfriend on the line asking who it was and why I was calling her man. I knew at the time that he was looking for some car parts to buy, so I pretended to be a salesperson at a dealership. She fell for it and even apologised to me for being so rude.
