The Black Treasure

The Little Black Book

My eyes are still burning after the tears ran out, my shoes covered in scuff marks as I kick rocks walking along the cemetery trail. It’s never easy to watch someone lower your father into his grave, at seven years old I have already experienced such great loss. All I want to do now is get away, I let my mind wander as I walk into the woods.

There’s an old rotted tree I love to climb, I feel safe and alone when I’m up here. No one comes to bother me, nobody notices me when I’m here.

I hear footsteps of someone approaching, it’s a woman. I quietly observe her as she kneels at the base of my tree and starts digging a hole. I keep quiet and hide my presence, she doesn’t seem to notice me. It looks like she’s burying something, but I can’t tell what it is from up here. After a few minutes, the woman leaves. Once I am sure she is gone I climb down the tree. My curiosity led me to uncover what she had buried, what I found was a small black notebook.

It seemed odd to want to bury something so insignificant out here, I read through the book and I didn’t understand any of it. It was full of names and numbers I don’t recognize. I wanted to keep reading but the sounds of the woods scared me, so I took the notebook and went home.

In the morning, I awake to the sound of my mom and her friends talking in the other room. They’re here to comfort us after our loss. I don’t want to see anybody right now, but I know I will get in trouble if I hide, so I head towards the front room.

Before I can turn the corner, I hear it, “little black book.” I freeze in the middle of the hallway; how could they know what I found? Was I going to get into trouble?

“They’re looking all over town, apparently he’s desperate to find it” I overheard my mother’s friend said.

“But what could be so important that he would offer so much money for it?” said my mom.

“I have no idea, but I could definitely use that kind of money” the friend replied.

“So could I, after my husband died, I have no source of income,” said my mom.

What I found last night was apparently worth a lot of money to someone! I had to find out more.

I tried to casually walk into the room like I was only a little interested in what they had to say. “What was this about a notebook?” I asked wiping the sleep from my eyes.

“Sr. Mendoza is offering $100,000 to anyone who finds his missing notebook! Apparently, it was stolen from him and he desperately wants it back!” my mom’s friend blurted out with excitement.

My mother slapped her friend’s arm and made a shushing noise. “She doesn’t need to worry about these kinds of things.” She turned to me and told me not to get involved in adult conversations. I was fine, I heard everything that I needed to hear.

I grabbed my bike and headed to town. I needed to find out more, so I went around town to see if people were talking about the notebook. There, I found flyers offering compensation to whoever found it. I saw all my friends looking for it with so much excitement.

I knew nobody would find it, because I had it with me in my backpack. But what could be so special about this notebook? I want to read it, but if I pull it out right now, people will notice. I need to go to Sr. Mendoza’s house…

I’ve never been to his house in person before, but everybody knew where he lived. His huge villa overlooked the entire town on a hill, it was obvious he considered himself above everyone.

I headed there, but I was not allowed to go in. They knew about my father passing away, they gave me some bread and told me to go home. Everyone seemed stressed, and after they humiliated me, I decided not to give the notebook back. I went back to the woods and took a nap. When I woke up, I noticed someone had stolen my backpack with the notebook in it.

Oh no! I had to find it again. My heart was racing and my palms were sweaty. I wanted to cry because my father bought me that special backpack. I looked for my backpack all over the woods and all over town, but could not find it, so I went back home.

When I got home, I found the blind family of the town at my house. They had accidentally taken my backpack and realized it was mine because I had a teddy bear inside that said my name when touched.

It was too late, my mother had already noticed the black notebook...I had to give it back to Sr. Mendoza. We headed back to his villa, when we got there, they were not as nice or excited as I thought. Sr. Mendoza did not give us the reward he promised. He only gave us 20,000 dollars and sent us home.

I am still wondering what was in the black notebook. What could be so important that started a hunt all over town?

I did not find out until three days later when I was playing with the maid’s daughter. The notebook had bank account numbers and passwords that could lead Sr. Mendoza to poverty. Imagine if I never gave it back and instead stole all that money?

My father would be really disappointed in me if I did that, so I am happy things happened the way they did.

Would you think what happened the day I found the notebook was pure luck or it was my father’s spirit giving me resources to keep living without him?

Those 20,000 dollars really helped my mother. I hope in the future I am able to find another little black notebook as valuable as Sr. Mendoza’s book.