Little Black Notebook

A diligent young man of 11 years old, with soft, curly red hair and freckles was walking home from school when he noticed a little black notebook peeking out from the corner of a bush in cranky old Ms. McGregor's yard with a strange shimmery symbol on the cover.

Intrigued, he looked around to make sure there were no witnesses before he snatched the book and ran like the Devil himself was after him until he arrived at 7733 Whimsical Lane.

Once home, he snuck in the back door and sprinted up the stairs to his room and hid the book under his pillow before he heard a weak voice call out, "Gideon, is that you my sweet boy?"

"Yes, mom! I'm home!" Gideon yelled back and ran in to give his mom a kiss. She had received the terrible news a day after the car accident that took his father's life 4 months ago that she had terminal cancer with only 6 months to live (give or take). So, there had been a nurse in and out of the house, taking care of her as she slowly deteriorated ever since it started getting worse about a month ago.

He sat on the edge of his mom's bed like he did every day and they discussed school and friends and dreams. His mom asks him, "What is your dream, Gideon?" He looks down at his lap and says, "To have you well again so we can laugh and play like we used to." With a tear in his eye, he asks his mother, "What is your dream, mom?" To which she replied, "To be able to take you on that trip to Disney World that we always talked about and make great memories that you can carry with you long after I'm gone." He gave his mom a smile, kissed her on the cheek once more and walked back to his room.

Once on his bed, he remembered the mysterious black book that he had found and decided to take a closer look. He opened the cover to reveal an inscription inside that said, "This is a magic journal that will grant the one who finds it ONE wish at the stroke of midnight on the night of the full blood moon."

"That's weird," Gideon said as he flipped through the journal to find only blank pages after that. He didn't think much of it and wrote it off to possibly being the crazy ramblings of a silly old lady. Since he found the little black book in old Ms. McGregor's yard, it was probably some of the weird stuff he overheard her say sometimes that she had just written down. "Whatever." He mumbled to himself as he turned on his Xbox to play some video games online with his friends before dinner.

"Time sure does fly when you're playing video games!" Gideon (AKA Blaster-Master online) said to his buddies as mom's home nurse called down to him that dinner was ready. "I gotta go, guys! I'll see you at school tomorrow!" He said to them through his headset and turned everything off.

After he grabbed two TV trays, he set them up in his mom's room then, grabbed the carry-out food that the nurse (and family friend), Angel, had brought over for them. "You got my favorite, Chinese! Thank you, Angel!" He graciously took the bags into his mom's room and set it all up so they could watch their nightly game of Wheel of Fortune! They loved watching the show together for as long as he could remember, and they would always race to see who could guess the puzzle first! His arm was halfway to the TV power button when his mom said, "Not tonight, kiddo. I'm not feeling too well and am gonna hit the hay when I'm finished with dinner. I'm sorry, sweetheart."

But, he just smiled and said, "that's alright mom, you need your rest." They ate in eerie silence that night and he could see that the light in his mother's eyes was starting to fade. With a heavy heart and plenty of worry, he gathered up the containers and dishes when they were done, bid his mother good night and made his way back to his room.

Finding pajamas is a chore when all your laundry is dirty and strewn all over the floor! He searched through piles before he finally settled on a pair of shorts and an old ratty t-shirt that he had worn when he'd stayed the night at his buddy, Aaron's, house last weekend. After giving them the "sniff test", he determined they weren't in too bad of shape, and went ahead and put them on, turned out his main light and just kept the small bedside lamp on.

Running across his floor, he did a perfect Superman-style flying leap and landed on his pillow. After landing on something hard he remembered that the black notebook was still hidden there. He pulled it out, grabbed a pen from his night stand and decided to use it as a journal; since it did say "journal" after-all, in the inscription.

Thoughts started racing through his mind of all the things he and his mom had talked about that day and then visions of how frail she was getting got his hand moving and before he knew it, he was scribbling away in the notebook about how bad he felt for his mom and how if he had just one wish, it would be to have enough money to be able to take his mom on that Disney trip they talked about and have her well enough to enjoy it. She was always a great mom to him and had always been there for him, and definitely deserved to have at least that before she left to join his father in Heaven.

Just thinking about his father now brought on a new onslaught of tears and sorrow at how much he missed his dad and would soon be without his dear mother as well. With that, he couldn't write anymore, laid the notebook on his night stand, turned out his bedside lamp, then ended up crying himself to sleep.

It seemed like no time at all had gone by when he was rudely awakened by his horrible sounding alarm telling him is was time to get ready for school! Still sleepy and groggy, Gideon wiped his eyes to get the sleepiness out and got up and stretched. "Wait! What's this?!" He exclaimed. There was a pile of cash setting on his nightstand (right where he KNEW he had set the little black notebook just the night before!) There was also a note left on top. Gideon picked it up and it read, "Your wish has been granted!" "What?!" He exclaimed again. "This can't be happening!"

He counted out the perfect stacks of hundreds and determined that this $20,000 that was left in place of the mysterious notebook along with this note must've been his wish come true! But, wait! Wasn't there another part in order for the wish to work? He thought really hard to try and remember what the inscription said. "What was it?!" He yelled, getting frustrated. "Think, Gideon! Think!" He said to himself. Then, like a light switch turning on, he remembered! "It said, This is a magic journal that will grant the one who finds it ONE wish at the stroke of midnight on the night of the full blood moon!"

"But, wait! It said it had to be a full blood moon!" Just then, his mom called to him, "Gideon! Come in here real quick and see what's on the news!" He raced in to see what his mother wanted to show him and his mouth dropped as soon as he saw the TV screen! It was a giant, full, blood red moon and the reporter was talking about how she was hoping that nobody missed getting to see the full blood red moon that happened last night because you only get to see them approximately once every year or so.

"No way!" He yelled and scared his poor mother that wasn't expecting that type of reaction. She just knew I always loved Astronomy and thought I might like to see what they were saying about it. "Sorry for scaring you, but I have something to show you!" Gideon was beaming! Then he looked at his mom...like, REALLY looked at her for the first time since he arrived in her room and noticed that she was beaming too!

"Are you feeling OK, mom?" He asked. "Actually, that's the other reason I called you in here! I feel fantastic for the first time since my dreadful diagnosis!" "I have energy! I can move, I don't feel nauseous, I don't hurt anywhere, and I'm actually pretty hungry!" She giggled a little at the revelation of feeling so good after feeling so terrible for so long. "Wait here!" Gideon exclaimed and ran out the door headed for his room and the magical stacks of money that awaited him. Grabbing his book bag off the floor, he dumped the contents out and refilled it with the cash and note.

He brought the book bag to his mom's room, sat on the corner of her bed and then recounted the miracle that had just been given to them. They were both hugging and in tears by the time he got to the end and told his mother they were going to pack their bags and get tickets to Orlando, leaving that afternoon!

Landing in Orlando, they were both a bundle of nerves. But, the beauty outside and the amazing weather made it impossible to be anything but happy and giddy inside too!

They had made reservations for a week at the Disney Animal Kingdom Resort since they were both animal lovers as well. The two were like two kids in a candy shop going here and there, not knowing what to do first! Petting exotic animals, dining at 5-star restaurants, riding the spinning teacups, visiting the beautiful princess castle, talking with all of their favorite Disney characters! (Ariel has always been my mom's favorite and Olaf is mine!) No expenses were spared! We went all out and made so many great memories and laughed so hard our cheeks and bellies hurt.

But, far too soon we were on the plane headed back home to Indiana. The whole flight back I just kept reliving the great time we had on repeat in my head, trying to burn the images in there the best I could! Once the Uber dropped us off at home, it was pretty late and we were both very exhausted and decided to turn in. I dropped my suitcase, kissed my mother on the cheek. Told her how much I loved her and how those were the best memories of my entire life and I was so thankful that we were given that special time together. She kissed me back, said she agreed and loved me too.

The next morning was a Saturday, so I slept in. Finally getting up, I went to the kitchen to get coffee started for my mom, and hot chocolate for me. I grabbed the steaming cups and headed down the hallway towards my mom's room, greeting "Good morning, sleepy head," as I opened her door.

I look up and kneeling next to the bed is our family friend and nurse, Angel, holding my mom's hand and sobbing into the sheet. As soon as she heard me and our eyes met, I knew! Not even thinking, I dropped the full mugs on the floor and lunged for the bed before they even shattered behind me. "Nooooooo, mom No! Please don't leave me!" But, as soon as my hand touched her face, I knew she was already gone.

Cherish your memories! Thank you, little black notebook.