The Little Black Book

“Hey! Excuse me!” Julian called out. “I’ll give you five bucks for this!” he exclaimed as he held up a little black notebook.

“FIVE DOLLARS?” His sister Jasmine’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “No. He’s just kidding.” She said sweetly as she tried to force her brother’s hand down.

The young woman holding the garage sale laughed as the siblings playfully wrestled with one another.

“Five dollars is fair Jasmine.” Julian shot back.

“For five dollars it's sold!” laughed the young woman as she pointed at Julian as if he had just won an auction.

“NO!!!!”

All three of them heard a man’s voice shout out. But there was no one there but them. They looked at one another for a moment.

“Maybe someone is losing in Call of Duty?” Jasmine says shrugging her shoulders.

They all laugh.

“What do you want a notebook for anyway? She asked while squinting her eyes at him.

“It’s a gift for dad.” He said as he handed the money to the woman for the little black notebook.

“You know what,” the young woman said. “It was a gift to me from my dad, but I never used it. So hopefully yours will be happy to have it.”

“See.” said Julian.

The siblings wished the young woman well and left the woman’s yard.

“You should’ve offered her a dollar for that little black book. Dad needs to stop resisting technology and use the notebook on his phone. I’m just saying.” Jasmine said holding both of her hands up.

Julian laughed at his sister.

“This may just look like a regular little black book. But this is a Moleskine notebook. It’s almost $20 in the store. I googled it while we were looking around.” He said proudly.

“Whatever.” Jasmine replied.

“Aren’t you late for work?” Julian asked looking at the time on his phone.

“Yeah, but I’ve only been late one other time this week, so I’ll be okay.” She replied.

Julian stopped in his tracks and looked at his sister. She just kept walking as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

“You only work three days a week and yesterday was your Monday.” Julian reasoned.

“Thanks dad.” Jasmine said sarcastically. “I’ll go straight there, and I won’t dilly dally either.” She said flipping her brother off as she crossed the street to head to work.

“Hey, don’t make me come up there and embarrass you at the job!” Julian shot back doubling over in laughter.

“Later!” she waved.

“See you later.” He replied.

Julian waved to his sister and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a mysterious young man standing near him. The man was tall and wore shoulder-length locs under a gray driver cap. He had on a gray pinstriped three-piece suit and brown Oxford shoes. Across his body was a medium-sized brown satchel.

“Can I help y…” Julian began to ask the man but when he turned around the man was gone. He looked in every direction around him but saw no sign of the man.

Bewildered by the mysterious man, he stopped in a corner supermarket for something to drink. He was on his way home but still had another couple of miles to go. The sun had been beaming all day and it was not too humid out, so he decided he’d enjoy the walk instead of taking an Uber. As he was picking up a sports drink from the beverage section, he could feel someone walking up behind him. It was the mysterious man!

“Hey!” Julian shouted at the man. “Are you following me?”

The man did not answer. He just looked at Julian and said. “You just purchased a little black notebook.” He took out a pocket watch and checked the time. “I’d like to buy it from you.”

“Hey, how did you know that?” Julian asked nervously. “Go get your OWN notebook. They may even sell them here.” He replied before he turned towards the registers to pay for his drink.

“Yes, but I want to purchase the one that you have.” The man said with a sly grin on his face.

“Well, the answer is NO!” Julian replied sternly. “As a matter of fact, excuse me, but that guy doesn’t even have a mask on!” He yelled to the cashier.

“What guy?” the cashier asked.

“This guy right here…” Julian used his thumb to motion to the man behind him, but the cashier shrugged his shoulders.

Julian turned around.

No one was there.

“What is going on today?” Julian whispered to himself.

“Just this?” the cashier asked.

“Yeah.” Julian replied as he kept checking behind him for the mysterious man.

He collected his changed and left the store, carefully peering in all directions once he was outside. The man could not have just vanished into thin air.

Satisfied that he was not being followed, he continued on his way home. He got halfway down the block when a voice behind him said.

“Do we have a deal?”

Julian’s heart jumped out of his chest. He turned around and it was the man from inside the store, checking his pocket watch as he waited for Julian’s answer.

But he didn’t answer. Julian took off like an Olympic track star!

Horns were blaring as he ran into traffic to cross the street. This man WAS following him! Julian noticed him outside of the yard sale and again in the market. He was not taking any chances this time. No way would anyone stalk a kid to purchase his blank notebook.

Julian’s backpack bopped up and down on his back and he pulled his mask under his chin, panting as he raced to safety. He slid into an alleyway and threw his back on the wall. He would see the man pass if he were chasing after him. His chest was moving up and down fast as he tried to catch his breath. He waited a few moments before he peeked around the corner to check and see if the man was still pursuing him. He popped his head in and out before gaining enough confidence to take a proper look.

He didn’t see the man anywhere.

“What?” Julian gasped with worry lines creasing his brow.

A hand landed on his shoulder from the opposite direction and startled him.

“Don’t run this time.” The man said.

Julian’s eyes grew wide as saucers. He took off again but this time as he was running, he could see the man in different places and different poses as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Each glimpse he saw of the man made him panic much, much more. He began to doubt if he would ever lose the man. As he was racing and glancing around for the next sighting of the man, he ran full speed right into him and fell.

He hit the ground and began to scurry backwards to get back to his feet, but he could not seem to find them. His eyes were locked intently on the man who stood over him, cool, calm, and without a bead of sweat on his brow. The man extended his hand and Julian closed his eyes and curled into a ball. When he opened them, he looked up and saw the man extending his hand to help Julian to his feet.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” The man said with a smile on his face.

“How did you…How were you?” Julian stumbled over his words. He absolutely had to know how the man could just “appear” out of thin air.

The man helped Julian to his feet.

“I’ll tell you what. Sell me your notebook and I’ll tell you what you wish to know.”

“Why THIS notebook? You can find one anywhere they sell Moleskine notebooks. You can even order one.” Julian said with his hands on his knees, still trying to catch his breath from his great escape.

“Twenty thousand dollars.” The man said as he checked his watch for the ninety-ninth time.

“What? What does that mean?” Julian asked.

“That’s how much I’ll buy your notebook for.” The man said.

Julian threw his backpack off his shoulders and retrieved the little black book from inside. He flipped through its pages. Nothing was there.

“Why?” Julian exclaimed through frustration.

The man, as calm as he had been the entire time reaches into his satchel.

“Hey, man. You can just have it okay! Don’t kill me!” Julian says as he puts his hand up as if he could block off any incoming attack.

The man pauses and looks at Julian and laughs. He pulls out two stacks of bills wrapped in bands with the words “ten-thousand dollars” printed on them.

“Do we have a deal?”

Julian nervously extended his hand to exchange the book for the $20,000. Once he had it in his hands, he threw it into his backpack and clutched it for dear life.

“Why?” Julian asked the man again.

The man held up another little black Moleskine notebook. He disappeared and reappeared behind Julian.

“You can teleport?!?” Julian exclaimed in disbelief not fully comprehending what he just witnessed.

The man looked at his watch one more time before answering.

“Between the pages of these notebooks hold the key,” the man said as he looked at his new prize with distant admiration.

Confused as to how a blank notebook could be useful to anyone, confused as to how he just sold a Moleskine notebook he had just bought for five dollars for twenty thousand dollars. Julian replied wondrously. “The key to what?”

The man looked around before he leaned in and whispered “Superpowers.”

He placed a hand on Julian’s shoulder, smiled, and disappeared.

Julian checked his bag immediately to make sure his payment was still there. Indeed, it was. He quickly continued on his way to deposit his great reward because after, he would start looking for more Moleskine notebooks.