The Little Black Book

The phone rang. I knew it would not be good. My Dad was on the line. As I answered the phone, my heart sank as he said... "Son, your grandfather has passed away. I am so sorry, your Pap was a good man. I know how much you loved him. Visitation will be Wednesday, then Thursday night with just family and the funeral will be on Friday. I will see you then. I love you son". "I'll be there Dad", was all I could get out as my heart broke. I hung up the phone.

It all seemed to pass too quick... his life... our relationship... a close deep loving relationship. I missed him so much already... he was my hero. Some kids had Superman or Batman, I had my Pap. I found out he left me one thing, a very curious Moleskin Little Black Book.

In the Little Black Book, were notes from his days in the Navy. He wrote that there were some nights, as he stood guard in the dark, that he would nearly fall asleep. There were also stories of shipmates falling off narrow passageways at night, while walking around to get to the Gun Decks of the ship. The stories of shooting the big guns that could clear a football field of forest with one shot...the poker games... taking leave in foreign lands... It was all very exciting to relive the accounts he had written in that Little Black Book!

One particular passage had me stumped. It was written after he had enlisted, but before he left for the war. I do know that when he returned home, he married my grandmother... he purchased a gas station... a home... and my grandmother birthed him a son and a daughter. . He went on to describe how he kept his life savings. He never trusted banks... never bought insurance... and paid for everything in cash. I was always impressed by his financial genius. So, where did he keep all that cash? He always told me that he may have been young during the great depression, however, you never forget those lessons in life.

He grew up in a small town where everybody knew everyone else. To me... his small town was a city... to him, it was home. He loved the town and everyone in it. You could walk downtown to purchase anything you needed. He knew all the shopkeepers by their name. The days my Pappy and I walked downtown to get a haircut, were so special to me. The barber would always say when he finished, "short enough, Cloyce?" That is when my Pappy would say "a little more off the top"! The barber would then add the finishing touch, Rooster Pee... a very unforgettable aroma! That Little Black Book was bringing such warm, wonderful memories of those days.

The Little Black Book had an entry that explained his distrust in banks. As I read it, it brought me to tears to hear how his father had lost everything to the bank in the Depression. That is what led him to find a secret place to keep his savings where no one would, nor could ever find his stash of cash. Like I said, he lived a full and happy life. He never needed anything, or anyone's financial assistance. The Little Black Book told me that he still used that secret hiding place for the safe keeping of his cash. Could there be treasure still hidden? Did my Pappy leave me his wealth hidden somewhere in secret? I sure could use a boost in my finances, but could it really be true? I just didn't know, and the answer was going to take some detective work... some real in depth thinking. I would have to think like my Pappy thought.

The Little Black Book said that he still used his hiding place. It had to be available to him if he was in need of large sums of money. I mean his wallet was always full.... but not thousands of dollars full. We had collected coins together in my younger years. Steel pennies, wheat pennies, Indian pennies, silver dimes, mercury dimes, silver quarters, Kennedy half dollars, silver dollars... we would go through hundreds of coins from his gas station and the vending machines. We spent many hours looking for the good ones. Maybe, he hid a really good coin somewhere. This mystery was not going to be easy to solve. He was so smart! Am I missing a clue? Am I imaging all this? I had to keep going!

One of the entries in the Little Black Book said that when Pap bought his first new car, he had to go and get the cash. Well, a 1962 Chrysler Newport was $5,889. Quite a chunk of change back then! Not everyone was fortunate enough to be able to afford a brand new car in cash. He also wrote how he had to visit his special place to get cash. My Grandmothers store needed new clothes to sell in her shop downtown. Pappy explained that they would have go to New York City... drive to the fashion district to buy the clothing from a vender. They had to buy the clothes with cash, and then deliver the clothes to her store in Pap's van. In those days, the venders only accepted cash when buying clothing for resale.

He also said that his special place was nearby... close... accessible. Was it in his roller top desk? No not there! In his bedroom? Nope! I looked everywhere for loose boards and anywhere you could hide cash. I had to find it fast because the house was up for sale. If it is in the house I would never find out if I didn't figure it out soon. Where could it be? I walked the property like a pirate looking for his booty. I felt lost and a little weird. I know the neighbors thought I was crazy looking into trees and feeling around the corners of the house, under sidewalks, bricks, stumps, driveway, flower vases, rocks, corner stones, everywhere! The house was kept immaculate so there were no cracks to use as clues. I am lost and dazed! Maybe he just didn't leave me anything but the Little Black Book.

Ok, now I am getting serious! This beautiful Little Black Book is going to tell me everything! I am going to read it from its strikingly smooth black leather front cover to its slightly worn rear cover. As I looked closely at the cover, I could see that it was worn from years of use. That the black color was not so shiny black where his finger tips had opened it oh so many times. Each page had dog ears from years of use. Even the inner pages had oily finger prints upon them. You could see as his already aged fingers grew tired flipping through the pages. Looking at the Little Black Book, it was obvious he took great care to keep the Little Black Book clean and neat. Through the years they both began to show their age. Yes, my Pappy had taken great care to see that this Little Black Book got into my hands. There are entries of his greatest accomplishments, to his most bitter defeats.

In his Little Black Book, Pappy wrote about a rival of his was driving down Main Street one day. Pap was parked along the Main Street, when he saw his rival coming in his side view mirror. Pap then timed it perfectly... he opened his door right in front his rival. The man ripped the door right off the car as Pap sat in the drivers seat in amazement. Yes, these are the stories he never mentioned. Pap explained in great detail of his heart ache about how much he missed my Grandmother while at sea. He yearned for her while he was on duty protecting merchant ships as they crossed the Atlantic carrying their goods to war. He went on in his Little Black Book about when he would have one too many drinks and drift off to sleep. As he lay in his bunk, the waves crashed upon the bulkhead, and rocked him to sleep.

The Little Black Book went on to tell me that he had to work day and night as an electrician to make enough cash to buy the neighborhood Gulf gas station. It went on to brag about my grandmother. The sacrifices she made to rear his children he so loved and how he longed for grandchildren. My mother did no let him down, she had four children, all loved above and beyond our knowing. He was a great man... loving... defending... caring... teaching... careful to watch his manners around us grandkids. This Little Black Book is worth a lot more than $20,000 to me in just getting that much closer to my hero, Pap.

As I read on, I began to forget about the hidden monetary treasure. My mind was running through so many warm memories. Pap wrote about how I tore my sisters roller skates apart to build myself my first skate board. He wanted to stop me, but just couldn't knowing how invested I was in the project. My home made skate board worked too... for about ten seconds! I fell and the skate board blew apart. It was not engineered well enough to be able to hold all of 100 pounds of boy. Oh, how he loved us. Letting us learn on our own, knowing that life is best learned through experience. Not being told how to live, just living through our mistakes and having him there to catch us when we fail. Pap wrote how much he enjoyed the gas station and his customers. But what he enjoyed most was when our family came to visit. It was time to grab the 35mm movie camera, and get some great shots of the grandkids, he wrote. He was a loving man.

The Little Black Book was full of great memories. Pap's worldly sayings we still hold so close to our hearts to this day. I can still feel him holding me on his lap while we watched old war movies in his favorite recliner. He would say "look at that old girl," pointing at the battleships on the screen. "We lost her in 41. We were all lucky not to be sunk", "war is hell" he would say. Pap never went into any detail. He wrote of his adventures playing poker on the ship saying that he would win big... taking guys gold watches... rings... and cash, so much cash! He also wrote some about his boxing skills he learned in the Navy. They would have boxing matches for those who wanted to participate. He wrote about a match in which his friend broke his nose. It bled for days, but they hugged afterward. He said they were all like brothers and would die for each other if the need ever arose. Yeah, I could feel the comradery; they were close on that ship. As I read on, Pap wrote of coming home. Pap knew that he was the lucky one, to have my grandmother waiting there when he got back to the states. So many of his buddies were not so lucky. Some did not ever get to come home... some came home to have no home... and some came home to empty homes. He would write "war is hell".

As I laid down Pap's Little Black Book, I realized that it was priceless. I inherited the greatest gift of all, the many gifts of an insight into a life well lived. Seeing it through his eyes.