The Mysterious Book
I woke up to a loud tribal beat playing only to realize it was my alarm going off and I had to get up for work. Of course I was in my normal depressed mood, I didn’t feel like brushing my hair nor my teeth...I just wanted the day to be over with already so I could climb back into my bed. It was nice and sunny day out so I figured I would go for a walk at the park on my lunch break and try to clear my mind. Every other hour my phone was ringing with bill collectors telling me about a new debt that had arise, I would tell them the same thing all the time which is to call me back on pay day so I can set up a payment plan, but of course I would never answer when they call on that date. I was slightly behind on my bills and in debt from a previous relationship. I don’t know what made me put my name in a car for my ex boyfriend but he completely screwed me over with tickets and I’m the one stuck with that bill because it was in my name. As I’m enjoying my walk at the park a small black book caught my eye on a bench under a tree nobody was sitting at. I thought to myself I should pick it up but I was already looking crazy and I didn’t want the people outside to see me picking something up off the bench and calling me a thief so I kept walking because I definitely didn’t need that embarrassment. While I was sitting in my office at my desk that little black book had my mind pondering , it just looked so mysterious and I was so interested to find out what was in it. I was wondering if it was somebody diary or maybe it had pictures in it, there’s no excitement in my life so reading about somebody else life was fun to me. When I got off of work it was late and already dark outside so I figured I’ll drive over that way to see if the book was still there, it wouldn’t be nobody there to see me pick it up anyways. As I’m driving back by the park I see a cleaning crew there sweeping up trash that the kids left and emptying out the trash bins, I got out of my car and ran to a man wearing a Navy blue jacket that said Keep The Park Clean & I politely asked him if he seen a black book that was on the bench next to the tree, in his deep country voice he said “it’s right there in the brown box, the kids normally leave their books around and we return them to the school lost and found up the block” I said thank you and ran over to the brown box and picked it up. I was so aniouxs to get home and see what’s so great about this black book that been on my mind since my lunch break. I quickly showered and hopped on the couch with my favorite green tea and put some R&B music on. Inside of the book it was charts with numbers and various dates, I was so confused like what is this ? I went all the way back by the park for a book of numbers ? I laughed to myself like you have to be kidding me. I went to the back of the book to see if it belonged to anybody and it said this book is the key to winning the lottery and once you win leave the book for somebody else or you will be cursed. My heart started racing because now it’s like was the book left there for me purposely but who else knows my struggle besides god ? So I started to look at all the numbers and it got confusing so I didn’t know what to play. I only had a dollar to my name until Friday so I had to make the best choice. It came to my mind to make the numbers all about myself so I picked my birthday 12-03 but that was only three number so I added my age 28 and I broke down the year I was born in, I was born in 1992 so I split it into to sets 19 and 29 so I had my five numbers all together 3,12,19,28,29. I went to sleep with a big grin on my face, this was the first night in months I felt like I was onto something. I felt like I found a way to pay off all my debt without making payment plans, my debt was the only thing hindering me and I had to get it off my back. I woke up in a great mood...I cleaned up and made breakfast, I even went jogging before I went to the store. I walked into the corner store and the line to play the lottery was packed with a bunch of old people putting in thousands of numbers and I started to lose faith. I hate waiting on line and it was my first time playing so I wasn’t sure if they even had a game for a dollar, I started thinking what if the numbers I picked out don’t win ? What if the book is a way to get people hopes up ? After 15 minutes of waiting on line it was finally my turn, I asked the clerk nervously what games could I play with a dollar and the clerk said Cash5. He gave me a quick description of how the game went along with the payout which was 20,000. I gave him my lucky numbers and he said I can check back at 8pm to view the winning numbers on their TV or check on my phone. I was so impatient I didn’t even want to check on my phone, I wanted to be at the store for the live drawing on their TV because I didn’t have one at home. I was so impatient that I had to find things to do to keep my self occupied, I looked at the black book some more but I started seeing different numbers that looked better to play. I went back to the store at 7:55pm just to wait around another 5 mins to watch the live drawing. A lady and her daughter came into the store asking for credit until her pay day, she was crying and saying she just needed something for her daughter to eat for dinner and she been struggling with bills. I felt so bad because I knew her pain and I couldn’t help her being that I was broke myself. The guy told her to come back at 9pm when the store is closing and he will help her out. I got so caught up been nosey that I didn’t even notice the winning numbers came out, I checked my ticket and none of the numbers matched mine. I left the store in my depressed mood and went straight to sleep soon as I got home. Boom boom pop pop boom boom boom there goes my damn alarm going off, it’s Friday morning and pay day but of course I have to pay my rent. I ended up a few dollars left over and decided to play the numbers one more time. When I got home I started scrolling on social media to make time go by faster. My alarm went off to check the winning numbers at 8pm online, I’m looking at the numbers on my phone and they started looking real familiar, I forgot what numbers I played so I got up to get the ticket out my purse. I looked back & forth between my phone and the ticket I purchased 10 times, my jaw dropped open and I couldn’t believe it...the numbers I came up with from the black book the other night came out in the exact order !!! I dropped down to my knees and thanked god because I was down to my last dollar when I found this book and now I’m able to pay off my debt and also have money left over to go shopping. I went to the store the next day and gave the clerk my winning ticket and he said to come back Monday for a check. I asked him if that lady and her daughter from the other night been back, he told me she’s coming back tonight around 9 to get some more food. I ran home and got the black book for her and put twenty dollars in it since I knew she didn’t have any money at the time. The note on the back of the book also stated once I win to leave the book for somebody else, so I told the clerk once the lady and her daughter come back to pick up their food to please put this book in her bag and he said no problem you got it. A month later when I was reading the newspaper it was a picture on the front page of that lady from the store along with her daughter stating she won a million dollars off of a lottery ticket and at that moment I knew she figured out how to read that little black book.
