Love is all you need

Taylor wound through the crowded diner balancing full plates of the daily special on her arms. The aroma of meatloaf was reminiscent of Sunday dinners at her grandparents’ house, a place of family and love. Making her way to the young couple in the corner, she noticed an empty window table where a grey-haired gentleman had been enjoying his meal. “Bathroom break?” she thought, while simultaneously praying that he hadn’t run out on his bill.

“Hey, Charlie, did you see the old guy with the vest go into the restroom?”

“No,” Charlie replied, “but I’ll go check.”

As soon as she could, Taylor flew to the now-vacant table to see if the man had left any payment. No such luck. Only a little black notebook had been left behind. She glanced toward the restroom door where Charlie confirmed with a shake of his head that he hadn’t had any luck either. Taylor sighed a little and opened the notebook, looking for identification. “Today, you will find your love” was all that was written on the first page. She briefly wondered if the man was writing a wish list for himself. Shoving the notebook under the counter, she grabbed the coffee pot and hurried to fill cups at her other tables.

The Whorley’s Diner crowd thinned toward the end of her shift, but a group of rather boisterous twenty-somethings came through the door and seated themselves at one of her tables. Taylor headed their way, concentrating on the tips she would be counting later, when she suddenly lost her balance on the black and white tile floor and went down hard.

“Are you O.K.?” she heard a voice ask. “That looked rough!”

She could feel the heat creeping up her neck and wondered if one actually could die of embarrassment, or if that was just an exaggeration. Looking into the baby blue eyes of her would-be rescuer, she was simultaneously mortified and electrified. From her perspective, not only did he have dazzling eyes, but his shoes were perfect, too. It was hard to find a man with good taste in shoes.

“Seriously, are you hurt?”,he asked.

“Only my pride,” Taylor said, trying to smile.

“In that case, can I call you sometime? I might be able to help with your balance issues,” he joked. “By the way, my name’s Jared.”

The joke led to a date, then another and another. After a few months, Taylor’s parents invited them over for dinner. Jared drove them down the two-lane toward Taylor’s small hometown, and taking a moment to gaze at Taylor, he teased her with, “I’m so lucky you’re such a klutz! If it weren’t for your walking difficulties, I may never have had the courage to ask for your number.”

Taylor wistfully replied, ”I know, it’s like a dream. That day got off to such a bad start when the old guy ran out on his check, and then I met you. I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”

Months turned into a year and their love only deepened. With their wedding day approaching, Taylor returned for her last shift at Whorley’s Diner. She had been working a lot of evenings and weekends to save for the honeymoon, but was now ready to transition into married life with only a day job.

“We’re going to miss you, girl!” Charlie said while squeezing his friend in a bear-like hug. Pulling the little black notebook from under the counter he said, “I have a parting gift for your last shift.”

“Wow, thanks, Charlie. I can’t believe no one threw it away!” she said. “Maybe I’ll start a journal, or maybe a memoir about my adventures waiting tables! See you at the wedding!”

She jumped in her car and put her prize on the seat beside her, finally realizing its strange words had been meant for her. She would never have believed it, but the little black notebook had foretold her meeting her true love.

A small but lively wedding celebrated that love, and Jared and Taylor soon moved into their first home. The red brick farmhouse set into undulating waves of wheat on a valley floor was well within the money pit category, yet it felt like the house of their dreams. They didn’t have much to unpack. Jared began with a box marked “Attic” and pulled out the first thing he saw, a small black notebook. It puzzled him, so he flipped the cover back and felt even more puzzled when he read the words on the first page: “Today you will receive a large sum of money.”

“Honey, is this your notebook?” he yelled to Taylor who was cleaning the kitchen cupboards. She came to look and said, “Not really, some guy left it at the diner. In fact it was on the day I met you. There were just a few words written in it.”

“Did it say you were going to receive a large sum of money?”

“Um, no, not at all, why?” she asked.

Jared handed her the notebook and said, “Maybe it’s not the same one."

"Running her finger over the small crack on the top corner, she said, “ Yeah, it’s the one from the diner. I recognize this little tear on the cover. But, that’s not what it said. The words were, ‘Today you will find your love.’ That’s kind of freaky, but I’m guessing that someone at Whorley’s messed with it. It sat there for almost two years under the counter. They must have ripped out the other page.” Although she didn’t see any evidence of a torn page, that was the only explanation that seemed plausible.

Jared said, “I’m sure that’s what happened. I think we need a pizza break.”

“You’re absolutely right. Let’s go.”

They pulled into Stubbies, a gas station about a half-mile from their new favorite pizza and sub joint. The station was a throwback place with a little garage, old-style pumps and not a card reader in sight. Jared walked inside and the little bell dinged above his head, signaling the mechanic to come to the register. As he waited, Jared glanced at the glass case holding lottery tickets. The Home Sweet Home ticket caught his eye. It’s only a two-dollar ticket, he thought, why not?

He smiled when he handed Taylor the ticket and said, “It’s all yours, babe, good luck. Our home sweet home could definitely use a cash infusion.”

“Waste of money, my love,” she said as she began scratching it with a penny from the center console. But in just seconds, she shouted, “Jared, Jared! Look!” The door symbol on the left side of the ticket had revealed a $20,000.00 instant winner.

Grabbing the ticket, Jared re-checked it, then started shouting, too. “No freaking way! Renovations, here we come!” The pizza all but forgotten, they drove home deep in a discussion about what projects they would tackle first. They didn’t notice the older gentleman in the vest, watching them from Stubbies parking lot as they drove away.

Later at the farmhouse, Taylor asked, “Jared, would you have gotten the ticket if you hadn’t read the notebook?”

“I guess we’ll never know, because I did read it,” he said. “Did you talk to me that day in the diner because the notebook told you to?”

“Of course not,” she replied. “First of all, I tripped. Second, YOU talked to ME. And last, why would I pay attention to a notebook some old guy left behind?”

Jared sank heavily into one of their only two chairs and said, “I just don’t understand, Taylor. Who writes in it? Is the message meant for whoever opens it? Is it magic? Don’t get me wrong, I’m forever grateful that I met you, and I sure don’t mind winning the money, but this is messing with my head. I think we need to put it in the attic for awhile.”

“I agree, I guess,” Taylor said with a sigh. “Although it’s brought us nothing but good luck so far, maybe we should make our own luck from here on out.” Jared kissed her softly on her forehead and said, “I just don’t want to jinx anything. Let’s put it away for awhile.”

Darkness fell softly on their valley. It also enveloped the man in the vest as he stood, eerily still, in the gas station parking lot. Was he even a man? Evil disguises itself in many forms, and the old man was no exception. He fancied himself an artist of evil. The notebook was a tool he used to ensnare greedy humans. Perhaps he had made an error in judgment in this case. Rage brewed in his head at the thought of a mistake. It had been a millennium since the last one. He would be patient; he could afford to be.

The years rolled on as years tend to do. Taylor and Jared became parents and subsequently members of the PTO and all those other organizations that are required for parents to remain in good standing. Their home flourished with love and was an inviting place where friends and family often gathered.

One evening while Jared and Taylor cooked dinner, their son Henry ran into the kitchen with a small black notebook in hand.

“Hey, Mom and Dad, look what I found in the attic! I can use it for my creative writing class at school. You should see what it says on the first page, though. It’s kinda spooky.” Taylor shot Jared an apprehensive glance as she took the notebook from her son. She read the words on the first page: “Today your life will be ruined.”

With a note of hysteria creeping into her voice, Taylor said, “No, I will not allow this! Jared, we have to fix this.” Jared’s concern showed on his face as he read the ominous words.

Henry’s eyes narrowed. His parents were acting like this was the end of the world. “What’s going on? It’s just a notebook,” he demanded.

Jared said, “No, son. It’s more than that.” He went on to tell Henry the history of the little black book that now stood poised to ruin all they had built together. Henry sat silently for a few minutes after hearing the story. He looked at his parents and said, “You have always told me that love is above all. If you really believe that, let’s write our own story. Right now. Here in this notebook.”

“Yes!” Taylor said. “We will cover evil words with love.”

Each of them took turns writing what they loved about one another and what happiness they hoped to see in the world. As they poured their own stories onto the pages, the notebook seemed to glow with approval, while somewhere, a demon with an old man’s face raged in his defeat. The love found around a kitchen table had transformed the notebook and easily conquered all.