The Bucket List

She was walking down the streets of downtown Chicago as always did. After all, Marissa loved the city and encapsulating its beauty by walking everywhere she possibly could. She needed to pick up a few things on her grocery list and noticed the forecast was calling for rain. As she came out of the corner store on Wabash & Ontario it started to downpour. Alongside of her was a gentleman, about the same age as her, hovering under the awning.

“We almost made it,“ he said to her with a smile on his face.

“We sure did! I thought I had plenty of time to grab a few things and beat the rain. I think I’m going to wait a few minutes and see if it lets up,” she replied, with hope to not walk home soaking wet.

“I have a meeting to catch, so I’ll have to take my chances,” he said as he scurried off into the downpour of the cold wet rain.

Just as he darted into the thickness of the rain, she heard a something hit the ground. She quickly bent down to pick it up. Trying to wipe off the water with her jacket, she observes the object. “It’s a little black book,” she thought to herself. She was confused, because in this day and age most people just used their phones for such matters. She uses the notes app on her phone for everything in fear of losing something such as this. The book couldn’t have been any larger than a standard notecard. She had seen these books inside Target and Barnes & Noble before. They had a smooth outside surface and she liked how soft they felt. She looked up, once more, to see if she could see where he went to return the book. She was too late though, he was gone in lightning speed. It was pouring after all. The rain was so thick she couldn’t even see which direction he darted into.

She studied the book some more. “What would someone, my age, be doing with a little black book? I feel weird looking inside... but I didn’t even catch the guys name.” She was confused, like seriously confused. What if it was a list of booty calls? What if they were private diary notes? What if he needed it for his meeting? She opened the book to see what was inside. She was a curious person by nature and the rain wasnot letting up anytime soon. To her surprise the very first page had large black writing that read, “The Bucket List”. Now her interest had really peaked. She flipped to the next page that read, “If this book falls into another person hands, please read the next page very carefully.”

She quickly closed the book. “Nope, not doing it, no way.“ She was scared. No way was she going to keep reading. The rain finally let up so she slipped the book into her maroon backpack and headed home.

Wednesday morning came too quickly. The constant pitterpatter all night was soothing to Marissa. “There’s nothing quite like a good rainfall to slip into a deep sleep,” she said to her plants, while offering some water to soak their dry soil. ”I suppose I let you guys go a little too long without a drink.” As she made her way into the office she remembered the little black book was still in her backpack.

She saw Tyler leave the kitchen and head to their cubicle. “Hey, Ty!“ Tyler was her best friend, or Ty for short. She always thought it was super cool that her best friend had a “boys” name. Tyler was a woman but she rocked her manly name.

“Hey Mar,” Tyler responded. They had nicknames for one another.

Marissa couldn’t wait to tell Ty about her grocery run in from the day before. She had no idea what to do with the little black book and the warning kind of scared her.

“Mar you’re being kind of weird, what’s going on?”

She was being weird. Marissa was pacing around and acting like she was about to say something and then cutting herself short. “So here’s the deal, I was at a grocery store last night and I saw this guy and he was talking to me and it was raining and...”

“Mar! SLOW DOWN. I can’t even make sense of what you’re trying to tell me.”

”Ok, ok. I went to the store last night but when I left it was pouring down rain. This guy was leaving at the same time as me but he dropped something and I picked it up.”

Ty was really interested at this point. Mar had a tendency to ramble when she toled stories And Ty usually spaces out halfway through them.

Marissa continued, “I picked it up and it was a little black book. You know? Like, I thought it was a booty call book.”

”I don’t think people use those anymore,” Tyler scoffed.

”You’re probably right...anyway look at it, it freaked me out!”

Marissa handed Tyler the book where they both saw the words “Little Black Book” followed by the second page, “If this book falls into another person hands, please read the next page very carefully.” Marissa looked to Tyler with wide eyes and panic on her face.

Tyler just started laughing, “You’ve GOT to be joking right? Why didn’t you just start flipping through the book? It’s not like it’s magical or anything!”

But it was, it was full of magic. As they both flipped to the next page, the words read, “You have been granted $20,000 to complete this bucket list.”The lights suddenly flickered, the ground shook, and a suitcase appeared with $20,000 in it along with specific instructions to follow.