Book of Travels

Mellie reached up and brushed a lock of hair off her forehead and squinted at the page she was reading. Glancing up, she blinked and realized that she was having difficulty seeing the words because the sun was beginning its timely descent into a dusky evening sky. "Gosh," she thought, "It's getting pretty late and I'm never going to finish this tonight!" Glancing down, she smiled at her new puppy gently snoring in her pink fuzzy bed. "Well," Mellie thought, "Someone has decided to take a break!" Reaching down she tickled the pup's furry ear. It twitched but the snoring continued being clearly worn out by the day's efforts. Mellie was just happy that she had been quiet and not underfoot as she usually was when work was being done.

She was supposed to have been cleaning and organizing her grandfather's study but the treasure-trove of books always seemed to stop her best efforts of being dedicated to the promised task. Never one to give up the opportunity to find a new literary gift in her Papa's overstuffed bookshelves, she now faced the prospect of telling her mom that she needed another day or two to finish the job. She was supposed to have been done three days ago and by the looks of things, she knew she would need more than one day to complete this task.

Mellie's grandmother had decided that the house was too big for her to keep now that her grandfather was gone. Mellie and her mother had been staying at the big old house for the last six months since Papa died, but they had their own house a few miles down the road and Mellie's mom felt it was time for them to go back home. Mellie was starting her senior year in high school come September and her mom wanted to make sure she was settled before school started.

Her grandfather had built the house for his family over 50 years ago. Standing high on a gentle grass-covered hill, it overlooked the 10 acres that made up the entire property. Besides the main house, the estate included stables and barn, a large pool with a slide that he put in for her nine years ago, and a bathhouse big enough for showers and a late afternoon nap. Three dog houses and a dog run ran alongside the barn where Mellie used to keep her collection of stray dogs that she found all over town. She learned to help and train them and she had loved them all. They were all gone now except for her newest pup, a little mixed ball of white fur named Boo, the last gift from her grandfather. Mellie couldn't have asked for a better childhood and it was her Papa that had made it so special.

The task she had promised to do for her mother was not an easy one. Papa was an engineer for an oil company and he traveled all over the world. Every time he came home from one of his trips, he brought with him boxes of new books and he always had a special one for Mellie. She spent her whole childhood here, surrounded by published exotic adventures from all around the world. Four immense mahogany bookshelves stood majesticaly at the back wall of the library, floor to ceiling, with two more flanking each side. Papa's enormous and intricately carved desk that he brought back from India was placed in the middle of the room, leaving enough space to lean two tall ladders against the front of the bookcases. Mellie remembered the first time Papa allowed her to climb those rungs in search of the books on Eyptian tombs. He promised he would teach her what the heiroglyphics said on Tutankhamen's sarcophoagus. It had been a wonderful day spent pouring over the bright and brilliant pictures of pharoahs and gold antiquities and she felt the delight of learning of curses and gods. Mellie thought that there was nothing more beautiful than the wonders of Ancient Egypt, but in the years to come Mellie would learn about many more wonders of the world from her grandfather.

Tears welled in her eyes and she swiped them swiftly away, not wanting anyone to see her sadness. She had promised Papa she would be a help to her mom and grandmother and she didn't want to break that promise. She missed her Papa so much and it hurt to be in this room sometimes, but being here also helped her feel closer to him. She stood up and steadied herself to face her storybook past and set to work.

"All right, Papa," she whispered, "Help me get through this. I need to finish or it will never get done."

Grabbing some moving boxes from the floor, she started where she left off, the non-fiction section of the library, and began to sort the first shelf. Her grandfather had a weird sense of organization. He didn't always put the books by title or author but by their content. So stories about the sea were placed together and weapons were grouped on a shelf, but then they were sectioned off by their location in the world. Mellie knew where they all were but she also knew that anyone else would just dump them in a box and give them away so she wanted to be the one to decide their fate. At least she thought that's what she would do. But every time she would pick a book for the giveaway pile and move on to the next one, she would change her mind and add it to the keep pile. She couldn't bear to part with any of them. "Papa, I can't do this. I can't give your books away. I want to keep them all."

She turned around and made a mental inventory of the entire library. It was just too much. She didn't want to tell her mother that the shelves were still full of books but she couldn't bring herself to part with a single volume. Sitting down in Papa's big leather chair, she swiveled back and forth trying to gather her thoughts and a new plan of action. Turning the chair to face the shelves, she scanned contents and tried to see at least one book she could give away. "Maybe if I can find just one that I don't want, then I can find another too. Papa used to say that if I keep working at something, it becomes a habit and easier to finish."

Running her eyes down the shelf in front of her, she saw his fishing books. "Okay, Papa, fishing is one thing I definitely don't like. I'll start there and see if I can make a dent in this mess today." Standing up and grabbing the first three books off the shelf, she glanced at the first two titles, "Lures to Fish By" and "Tackle Your Bait." Giggling softly, she said outloud, "Oh Papa, you still make me laugh. And these three are going into the box." She felt triumphant. "Okay, three down, ten thousand to go."

Reaching up to remove another title from the shelf, she noticed a small black book peeking out from between the volumes. It wasn't a printed book but a journal from the looks of it. She pushed the stack back and reached out, taking the little black book from its place and running her hand over the cover. It was beautiful smooth black leather with a red ribbon string hanging from the bottom. The journal looked brand new. Mellie was surprised because she had seen Papa write in journals before, but his journals were very big and well-worn in dark brown leather. He used them for different thing like keeping track of the house expenses but mostly he used them to record all of his trips from the very first to the very last. Each entry would reflect where and when the trip was taken, for what purpose and how long he was there. He also catalogued his souvenirs and mementos collected on his journeys.

"Papa," Mellie said out loud, "what's this for? Why is it just stuck here? This is not like you."

Putting the fishing books aside and taking the little black book with her to the library's overstuffed sofa, Mellie settled cross-legged on the couch holding the little black book in her hands. For some reason she was a bit afraid but also a little excited to open it. Papa was always full of surprises. She wasn't really sure what she felt exactly, but she was curious about what was in this little black book.

"Okay, well, I can't just sit here and not open it. Either I open it or I put in in the box without seeing what's inside. Not knowing is worse than maybe knowing, I guess, so I vote for knowing." Taking a deep breath, she gently opened the journal's cover and saw the words "To My Mellie, Love Always, Papa."

Mellie swallowed hard and turned the page. She saw her grandfather's clear bold handwriting and her eyes were filled with tears making it hard to read his words.

"My dearest Mellie, I believe you know how much joy you brought me and how much I love you. Since the day you were born, I knew you were a special little girl and I also know that you will grow to be a very special woman. I was blessed and thankful to have you as my granddaughter. I wanted to leave you something that will help you become the woman I know you will be. You, your mother and your grandmother will be well-taken care of for the rest of your lives. I've seen to that. But I wanted to give you something special that reflected the connection we have with each other. I realized that it will be a great burden for you to lose the things that you knew so well but I want you to be able to not just read about the places in these books but to experience them as well. If you go through this journal, you will find people and connections that I've met from all over the world. After you graduate high school and before you're off to college, I want you to pick a place that you've always wanted to visit and go there. I believe I know you well enough that you will find that place in this journal. You will not have to ask your mother or grandmother for the money. I have written an account number on the last page of the book and that account contains enough money for your trip in the amount of $20,000. I am hoping that this is the first of many more adventures so that you can continue our legacy of the gift of travel, the gift of knowledge and the gift of love. Buy yourself a memento from that journey, and each one after that, so that you can share it with your children and give them your memories like I gave you. My only regret is that we weren't able to travel to these places together. It was my plan to do so after you graduated high school, but I realized last year that this was not to be the case.

In addition, I would like you to have the library globe where we spent so many hours learning about all of the wondeful places around the world, any of the books that you truly love, and all of my travel journals so that I know they will be kept safe in your hands.

I will keep watch over you always and be with you wherever you go.

Love, Papa

P.S. You have my permission to give away all of my fishing books..."