The Telepathic Notebook

It was rare to see anyone else in this part of the forest because I go off the designated trail when galumphing amongst the trees for solitude. Was it a ghost? No, there was a strange woman dressed in an off-white lace dress with long black tresses. She was standing in front of my favorite tree, the “power tree”, as I had nicknamed it, whispering phrases whilst making movements in the air with her fingers. She was hypnotizing and I grabbed my phone from my back pocket to capture this bizarre occurrence. I snapped a photo and an invading, “click” sound came from my phone, dang it! I had forgotten to silence my phone. The sound startled her, and my presence was immediately noticed.

The woman’s piercing gaze met mine and then she scurried off deeper into the woods. I heard her howling and laughing. I felt an adrenaline rush and quickly headed to the power tree. On the ground, I noticed a little, black, Moleskine notebook. I knew the brand anywhere as it was my favorite for writing and drawing while traveling. I picked up the notebook, but it felt like fire, so I dropped it immediately.

“Open the notebook with your mind,” I telepathically heard.

Through thought I asked it to open to the first page.

“Magic therein lies in this little, black notebook but use caution, don’t look into the eyes of others else the notebook shall be lost to the one whose gaze you meet.”

Magic? Wait. The woman met my gaze. Does this mean the notebook was now mine?

“Yes! Keep reading.”

“Perform the rituals written here. You may have an abundance of love, wealth or health, but you can only choose one.”

I thought about what I most needed at this point in my life. I had love and health a plenty so I decided that wealth could help elevate my life. The notebook read my mind.

“Wealth it is! Gather three clear crystals infused with love and place them around the trunk of the power tree before nightfall. Then, make the sign of the infinity symbol in the air with your finger as you exhale out and place your hand on your heart. Once inside the portal, visualize scenes of wealth and see before you the amount of money you need in order to succeed but be weary and let not the heart be infiltrated by greed.”

I looked out over the horizon; the sun was getting lower; it was almost evening. I found the trail, got back in my car and drove home. I flung open my car door, left it open, ran into my apartment and scrounged my room for three pure crystals. I found three quartz points and held them close to my heart as I focused on love. I put them in my pocket and rushed back out to my car and started back to the forest. I arrived, sprang out of the car and dashed to the trail.

“Squelch!”

My foot landed in a deep bog of mud and it was stuck! I checked behind me and the sun was quickly approaching sunset.

“No, no, come on! I need this to work out! Someone please help, I’m stuck!”

I saw a flash in my periphery, a whoosh of powerful energy knocked me over and my foot came loose. My heart was pounding as I scrambled to my feet, sprinted to the tree and placed my hand on the tree while catching my breath. I dispersed the crystals around the tree, closed my eyes and opened my mind’s eye by breathing deeply and imagining a portal of golden light opening while making the infinity sign in the air with my hand. The portal grew larger and I began to see the amount of money that I desired sitting on a table decorated with purple velvet and white roses. There on the table were crisp bills stacking up to the amount of $20,000 dollars. Perfect! That amount would be enough to buy new art supplies, pay off my home and take my Mother and I to Ireland like I had always promised her. Happiness coursed through my body as my hands grew closer to the stacks of money. This is really happening!

“Meow! Meooow!”

What in the world? A cat? I opened my eyes and there at my feet, was Duncan.

“Duncan! What are you doing out here?” I asked him as our eyes met.

All the sudden the light faded, the money on the table went through a black hole and the portal closed.

“What? No! Why?! What happened? Duncan, what did you do?”

The portal closed. I broke the rule of not meeting anyone’s gaze while performing the ritual, who knew that included the gaze of animals as well.

I did the ritual again, but the portal would not open and I could not hear the telepathic notebook anymore. The black notebook was laying on the ground. I left it there and defeatedly turned back toward the trail. Duncan followed behind me with the notebook in his mouth.

“Leave that here Duncan, we don’t need it anymore. Maybe we can have some papaya to forget about all this?”

He got on his hind legs and raised his paws up in the air, letting me know he liked this idea.

I cut up some papaya for Duncan and me once we got home. I sulkily drifted off to sleep on the couch. I had a dream that I was back in the forest, laughing and howling with the strange woman while we were counting money. I awoke to the sound of water and Duncan kneading his paws on top of me. When I opened my eyes, money was laying all over me and Duncan hopped off me and went to have a drink from a beautiful, flowing fountain. I thought I was still dreaming and looked around for the strange woman.

“She’s not here,” I heard telepathically.

“What? Who’s that?”

“It’s me, of course, who else would it be?”

My eyes darted over to Duncan.

“Duncan?”

“Yes, it’s me, Duncan.”

“How are we speaking telepathically right now?”

“The notebook dearest,” Duncan said regally.

“I can’t believe this!”

“Believe it, little sweet potato.”

“Sweet potato?”

“It’s my nickname for you because you dressed up as one for Halloween one year.”

“Aww, that’s so cute! How are we talking like this?”

“The notebook! I met your gaze, and the power of the notebook became mine and it started speaking to me as it did to you.”

“What? Really? So, did you follow me out of the apartment and get into the car when I came home looking for crystals?”

“Yes. You took my favorite crystal that I use for meditation.”

“You meditate?”

“Of course, I do! Anyway, back to the notebook. The notebook offered me three choices: One, grant all my wishes and reincarnate as a cat again. Two, grant all your wishes and then my work as a cat on this Earth would be done and I could leave Earth. Or, three, grant both our wishes and continue to live out this life with you. Can you guess which option I chose?”

“Option three! Duncan, what was your wish?”

“It’s here in the living room.”

“The fountain?”

“Yes, the water never stops flowing and it’s always fresh and pure. Listen though, you must help the woman by letting my gaze meet hers so that she can have the notebook again. We can find her by the power tree.”

I was hesitant.

“She is harmless. Currently she is trapped here but she no longer has a physical body. She has been helping living souls to come into blessings by using the black notebook. Now, she wants to use the notebook to move on. The sooner we help her, the sooner she will be at peace and then you can start planning your trip to Ireland.”

I gathered up all the money and placed it in my room for safekeeping. Then, I drove us back to the forest and went to the power tree. I began howling and laughing and envisioning the strange woman. A swirling of light began to form in front of the power tree, and it grew into bigger particles until finally the strange woman was standing before us. Her eyes met Duncan’s gaze and the notebook that he was carrying in his mouth plopped onto the ground and she gracefully picked it up.

“Thank you, dear ones, now I can be at peace. Tell your Mom that she can have my old recipes, they are in the family cabin, under the floorboard in the kitchen in a tin box wrapped in purple velvet.”

“Purple velvet? -Wait, how do you know my Mom?”

“You will find out soon!”

The woman performed a ritual and opened a portal. I peeked into the portal and saw beautiful green pastures and smelled air filled with rain. Her light body began to dissolve until we could no longer see her.

“Duncan, let’s go home!”

He meowed and said, “Let’s go, little sweet potato.”

When we arrived home, I went to my room and began to count the money, it equaled exactly $20,000 dollars. I ecstatically bought two first class-tickets to Ireland for Mom and me. I spoke to Duncan and he decided to stay behind and enjoy his new fountain. He insisted he would be okay if I filled up his automatic feeder and remembered to leave the toilet seat up for him.

The day of the trip arrived, and I excitedly went to my Mom’s.

“Mom! It’s happening! We’re going to Ireland today! Everything packed and ready?”

My Mom appeared with an urn in her hands.

“What’s that?”

“These are the ashes of your great, great grandmother, Eimear. She handed me an old, tattered photo. There was a woman dressed in white, in front of a vase of white roses and she had long, black beautiful hair. It was the strange woman!

“I know this woman!”

“You do? You have never seen her. How do you know her?”

“It’s a complicated story but she is one reason we’re going to Ireland. Her spirit came to me and you know what, she told me to tell you that her recipes are under a floorboard in the kitchen in the family cabin.”

“What? I have been searching for those recipes for so many years. She’s going with us on the plane actually.”

“She is? Why?”

“She was from Ireland and she moved to America as a young girl, but she always talked about Ireland and how she wanted to return. As she was passing, she asked to be cremated and for her ashes to be scattered on her homeland in a green pasture nearby where she grew up as a child.”

I was struck with awe and reverence for the strange woman, who I now knew was my great, great-grandmother.

When we finally got to Ireland there was a light drizzle, and the smell of the rain was the same that I smelled through the portal. We trekked to Grandma’s Eimear’s childhood home and lands and spread her ashes across the pasture.

She laughed and howled and whispered to me, “Thank you. Shine on in your abilities, never lose faith that life will work out and pass on the notebook to someone in need.”

The notebook? I had completely forgotten all about it. There at my feet under a tuff of grass I saw the black notebook. (How did you get here?)

I picked it up and safely put it in my coat pocket. I set out to meet the gaze of someone whose heart was calling out for a change and a chance to elevate their lives just as the chance had been afforded to me. Little black, notebook, who knew you held so much power and wonder! Let us find you a new owner and a new adventure for you too!