Would you believe me if I said there was no Jeff Kay?

Today, on a whim, I decided to log onto my friend Jeff’s site and leave a note for his readers, admitting to the fact that Jeff is really no more than a character that I’d dreamed up while traveling through Scranton on business a few years ago, a character that I kept alive through my fictional postings. I doubt that many will believe me, but someone might. At the very least, I suppose it will make people consider what they really know about one of their favorite on-line diarists. It’s kind of creepy in a way that in these modern times we often feel as though we really get to know people who we might never have met… If you’ve never met me, how do you know that I’m real? It’s interesting. I might really be a character dreamed up by Jeff Kay.

Here’s a clip from the conversation that’s taking place at www.thewvsr.com:

Rocky, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure what people will think. Of course, I’m concerned about it. If I were in their shoes, I’d feel as though I’d been lied to. They would be justified in leaving this site and never coming back. I hope they don’t, but I would understand it if they did. I really have no excuse. “Jeff Kay” is just a joke that got way out of hand. These things happen. I wish they didn’t, but they do. My hope is that people give me credit for coming forward when I did. I could have kept this going for ever.

A guy I know put out a magazine a few years ago called Kool Man. It was a lengthy document detailing the true identity of a person who had sold himself within the world of the underground press as a hip, thoughtful, artistic young man. In actuality, there was no such man. He was, in reality, an older fellow, who I believe was married. He would trade letters with girls, then, when they said they wanted to meet, he would say that he couldn’t make it, but that his cool older friend, who happened to be “very good at oral sex,” could. (The “KOOL” in KOOL Man stood for “King Of Oral Love.") That’s where the real guy would emerge. It’s been years since I’ve read the magazine, but I think that’s pretty close to the story. It was frightening. It was like reading a detective novel, the way they found this man out and trapped him in his lies. At any rate, I suspect that there will be more and more of this in the future, as it becomes easier and easier for us all to take on identities.

So, what’s my point? I don’t know. I guess it’s that you can never be too sure these days.

It’s like we’re living on the surface of a TV set.