Little Black Book

“Let go!!” Danny clamped down on the corner of his wallet, doing his best to avoid the fists flying into his face. He had stopped to pull out some coins after a homeless gentleman had kindly requested some change. “That's mine!” He gripped as tightly as he could, but after several hits to the face, he fell and the homeless man won. He scowled and watched the man sprint off, gingerly touching his face. Are you kidding me? Every time I try to do something nice! His mind grumbled on and on as he dissected what just happened, and turned toward his financial struggles. Danny was a very kind-hearted, generous, naïve young man who offered help to everyone he met, yet had a real knack for getting himself into unfortunate situations. He picked himself up and hobbled down the street.

His bills had been piling up lately, and he was already a bit behind on rent. His Dad was constantly asking to “borrow" money, and though he never saw the funds come back, Danny always obliged. He felt so stuck, and now that his wallet was gone, he had no idea what to do. He needed money – fast. It wouldn't even take a massive sum to put everything back into balance, only a little above $10,000. He touched his face again. His frown deepened.

“Hey, Danny-boy!”

“Hey Mr. Schuke. How you doin’ today?”

“Oh, a lot better'n you, looks like.” Mr. Schuke, an old friend of his uncle, was standing on his deck looking out at Danny. “What happened anyway?”

“Oh, you know,” Danny said, “got robbed by a homeless guy. Could be worse I guess.”

“Aw jeez, that's terrible! Too many damn hooligans out here these days!” The hooligan in this case would've been around 60 years old. “Well take care, Danny-O".

“You too.” Danny waved and turned the corner, heading to the tunnel that led toward his place. He was able to put on a happier face for Mr. Schuke. But alone again, he griped quietly. He shuffled through the tunnel, his head full of frustrations.

The familiar, warm glow started pouring in around him as he reached the end of the tunnel. His gaze had wandered in the direction of the late sun, and he stared at the sky for a moment – until he felt something strike the end of his shoe. His head swung forward. There was a strap of money laying on the road in front of him. He blinked. It was still there. How could this be? There's no way, he thought. Ahh, it's probably just monopoly money that some jackass made into a bundle. As he stepped forward he realized there was another one under his foot. His mouth gaped open. He recognized the pale green outline of Ben Franklin. His eyes got wide. He snatched them up, and shot a glance behind him. He surveyed the park around him like a hawk, yet he found no one. His eyes landed on the bills once again. He was dumbfounded. How? Danny looked up at the path, and hurried home as quickly as he could.

#

“I know that, but where the hell is it!?” Joe was furious. He glared at his annoying little sidekick. “You said it fell out on the bridge, so where the hell is it!” Johnny looked at the ground, scanning the area around his feet.

“I swear it landed right here, I saw it!” He was a pudgy nineteen year-old who had very little direction in life. Very little focus, too. Johnny had a way with words that really got under Joe's skin. He often used words like ‘eh' and ‘buddy’ – way too often for Joe's tolerance. He started towards the grass and began carefully picking through the bushes.

“Hey!” Joe snapped his fingers. “Get up. You already looked there. It's gotta be further over this way.” Joe started walking in the opposite direction, frantically searching the ground.

“Wait, look!” Johnny was pointing toward the second tunnel. At the far end of it, a face was peering out from the side. Joe looked up; he saw the face too. All three of the men froze momentarily, and then the face slipped out of sight.

“Get in the van!” Joe turned and ran towards their painter's van. Johnny scrambled after him, huffing and puffing as he ran.

By the time Johnny got in, Joe had the engine roaring. He tore off and the door slammed shut before Johnny had a chance to close it. Joe had made a deal with a gang-affiliated friend of his to make pickups for them. They paid him a handsome courier's fee, so long as he didn't tamper with or lose anything. He had mistakenly involved Johnny, thinking that having the kid with him would be helpful. Boy, was he wrong.

Joe was aware that today's pickup, which was contained in a black leather bag, was twenty thousand. He was also aware that there had been a major incident the day before, and that there were only two surviving members. He was told there was a little black notebook in the bag as well – and that this was the most important pickup of his life. The book contained the location of the boss’ amassed fortune. His mind had been fighting itself ever since he heard about the book, wrestling with the idea of finding the cash, and disappearing to some place he could never be found.

But he also knew how ruthless these people could be. There were horror stories drifting through the town. And besides, he had no idea whether or not there were eyes on him now. All he knew was that, as long as he had that book, everything would be okay. And he had to find that twenty thousand!

Johnny was yammering on about something, but Joe couldn't hear him. He turned to Johnny and growled. “You've still got that book, right?”.

“Yeah, I told you Joe, it's right here!” Johnny held the notebook up. Right next to the open window.

“FOR THE LOVE OF – put that back!”

Johnny tossed it into the bag on his lap. “Ok man, you don't have to keep yelling! Like, geez eh!”.

The van suddenly hit a large bump and the two bounced in their seats. The little black book had jumped out of the bag, and fell out the window. Neither Johnny nor Joe noticed.

“Hey, this kinda reminds me of a movie I was watching last night! I was watching Netflix last night and there was – ”

“Shut that fat mouth before I shut it for you!!” Joe was seething.

Johnny looked up and pointed. “There!”

The man they had seen in the tunnel was right in front of them, limping into an alley. “We'll cut him off!” Joe handed Johnny a gun. “I'll drop you off at the end of the block, and then I'll circle back and chase him towards you. Don't mess this up!”

He dropped Johnny off at the corner of the block, and sped back the opposite way. Johnny gulped as he looked at the alleyway. He could hear footsteps nearing.

“Well, here goes nothin’!” He pulled a bright orange balaclava out of his back pocket and wriggled it over his face, with the gun in his hand. He had put it on sideways, and he only had one eye peeking through when he saw the man galloping out of the alley. “Freeze, buddy!” He yelled. Danny froze. Before he could get the gun up, Johnny sneezed hard. It wasn't until he recovered from the sneeze that he realized just how uncomfortable it was to sneeze inside a ski mask. He started writhing in disgusted agony, yelping and moaning. Danny sprinted off, his limp barely noticeable now. He ran into the next alley and took a left.

#

The work van screeched to a stop. Joe saw Johnny rubbing his face with the bottom of his shirt, with the gun still in his hand. With eyes full of fury, he said, “what the hell is wrong with you? Put that away!” Johnny looked up and began to protest. “Never mind! Just get in!”

“He came out and I saw him, and I tried to stop him – ”

“You failed!” Joe was gritting his teeth. “You obviously don't appreciate how dangerous our associates are, and you obviously don't appreciate being alive if you think we can fail them!”

“Whatever, bud. I'm trying here!”

They drove off again, trying to find the man for a second time. After passing a couple blocks, they saw him out in the open at the end of the street

“Gimme that,” Joe said. He grabbed the gun from Johnny’s chubby fingers, and got out of the van.

#

Danny looked back to see the white van behind him again. A man had gotten out and was pointing what looked like a gun in his direction. He heard several pops, and bullets started ricocheting off the sidewalk and buildings around him. He raced down the street and took another left. His shirt was damp with sweat, and his skin felt electric. What the hell is even going on?

He was still holding the money, but he was trying to stuff it into his pockets as he ran – which was proving to be much more difficult than he had anticipated. The paper straps were ripped and he had lost a couple of bills.

Danny's legs were losing strength fast. He didn't know how much longer he could run; and he had no idea where to run, either. He heard the van gaining on him. He turned another corner and the van lunged towards him. But he had ducked between a light post and the corner of a building, and the van slammed straight into the pole. He flew away from the vehicle and landed on his back.

The driver fell out of the van as he tried to get out. He stumbled around, looking very disoriented. Danny reached for his pockets and realized that all of the money had fallen out of his grasp as dodged the van. The fat boy got out of the van, holding the gun steady.

“Well, well, well. Look who just got lucky, eh?” Johnny reached down and collected the cash from the ground. He started towards Danny with the gun. Danny's eyes were huge.

“Hold it right there!” Danny looked up to see a handful of police officers with their pistols trained on Johnny. “Put the weapon down!” Johnny slowly set the gun on the ground and did exactly what the cops told him to do. Danny collapsed backwards onto the pavement.

#

After the police officers had finished getting Danny's side of the story and checking on his physical condition, they told him he was free to go and offered him a ride home. Despite his bruises and sore muscles, he declined. He just wanted a nice, peaceful walk home; like he wanted to have in the first place. He began limping back in the direction of the tunnels, making his way home once again. He saw Joe and Johnny sitting in the back of a cruiser, screaming at each other. He looked back towards the familiar path home.

He felt even more defeated than he had after being robbed by the bum. He had twenty thousand dollars in his hands! All of his struggles would have been solved. He muttered quietly again, chastising himself.

His mind seemed to be going in a thousand different directions. He was shocked, bewildered and angry all at once. He was talking to himself as he limped down the sidewalk, when he felt something bump his shoe. He looked down to discover a little black notebook. He stared at it for a moment, and then looked around him. He paused for what seemed like an eternity. Danny sighed. He shrugged, and reached down for the book.

The End