The Little Black Notebook

Dear Samantha and Matthew,

Because I have no children of my own, I have left to the two of you, the closest children I have, my little black notebook and my treasure box.

“Closest children he had? We hardly knew him”, Samantha had paused to say while she read the letter.

“Well we were his neighbors. I guess he means closest children in proximity” responded her brother Matthew.

Samantha continued reading- “my notebook and treasure box have been passed down through my family for generations. Inside the treasure box is a small fortune of $20,000 which I have left for you both. Now, the treasure box has no lock or key anymore. In its place is a key code lock, and the numbers of the key code are known only by my notebook- a cute little chap who loves hearing good stories. If you tell him a story that he likes, he’ll give you the key code. Best of luck.

Your neighbor,

Mr. Leo

“Well. I had no idea how much of a weirdo Mr. Leo was. Come on let’s find someone who can open this thing.”

“Wait, look!” said Samantha as she opened the notebook. “It’s writing something!”

On the first page of the notebook, began to appear the words

Don’t even think about opening that treasure box without the key code. It’s a magic box.

They both gasped. The words vanished.

“Sam, I think our neighbor was Lord Voldemort”.

“Don’t be ridiculous. There’s got to be an explanation for this” she said while flipping through the blank pages.

“Well, there’s only one way to find out...”

“I have no idea how to tell a good story.”

“Me neither. We don’t have to. Let’s just tell him one we already know.”

“This is crazy. Here, you do it”, and she threw him the notebook.

He grabbed a pen and started writing;

“Once upon a time there was a girl named Little red riding Hood…”

But he wasn’t able to finish because words began to quickly appear on the notebook-

I’ve already heard this.

He started writing again.

“Once upon a time there was a mother duck who had one duckling that didn’t quite fit in…”

That one too.

“There once were three little pigs?”

Please stop.

“Really Matt? The three little pigs?”

“I guess I could just tell it one of my conspiracy theories...”

“No. Nobody wants to hear those. Here, give me the pen. I’ll try. No more kids stories…how about something scary then?”

She began writing;

“There was a mad scientist…”

Matt stopped her- “Frankenstein? What if he’s heard that too?”

“We’ll just change his name and a few details.”

“Change it to Dr. Doofenshmirtz.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “The bad guy from Phineas and Ferb?”

“Common it’s funny.”

“It’s supposed to be scary.”

“Just do it! He won’t know!”

“Fine.” Samantha began writing. When she finished the story, words appeared yet again in black ink.

This was literally a bad summary of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein but you changed the name to something ridiculous. I want to hear a story I haven’t heard before. One that I really like. No key code. Try again.

“What the heck Sam! You didn’t change it?”

“Oh. I forgot.”

Matt grabbed the pen.

“What are you going to write?”

“I bet he hasn’t heard this version of Beauty and the Beast.”

When he finished, the notebook gave his answer.

Beauty turns into a beast? Now you’re just ruining stories.

“Wow we really do suck at this.”

Matt started writing again:

“To be or not to be, that is the question.”

“What are you doing?”

“This is all I can remember from my English class. We had to memorize it.”

Shakespeare? Really?

“Why don’t we just actually try to make something up?” Matt said finally.

“I just tried to make something up. I couldn’t make up another plot element to Frankenstein.”

“In your defense, that is literally a flawless horror story masterpiece.”

“The last time you and I were creative like this, we were playing roller coaster tycoon.

Matt laughed, “Yeah. And that’s how we both got into finance.”

“Let’s just tell it something from history, like the Titanic sinking or something.”

“Ok, yeah!” said Matt. He started writing again;

“Once there was a ship called Titanic…”

Please stop. I lived through Titanic. I already know history.

“That’s it. Are you sure you’re not Tom Riddle?” Matt scribbled aggressively into the notebook.

“Don’t say that!” Samantha said panicked, “What if he gets mad?”

The notebook had already responded-

No. Why does everybody ask me this?

“Sam! That’s it! He doesn’t know about Harry Potter. Let’s tell him Harry Potter!”

“Yes! Great idea! Let’s tell him about The Chamber of Secrets, how Ginny finds the little black book, Tom Riddle’s diary, it’ll be awesome. I bet he’ll get a kick out of it.”

“....then he stabbed the diary with the basilisk tooth. Harry potter saved the day yet again. The end.”

There was no response at first. And then-

1. That was the most offensive thing I’ve ever heard

2. How dare you

Matt responded, “You know in hindsight, I feel like we should’ve seen that coming.”

The words vanished, and new words began to appear;

Ok, now it’s my turn to tell a story. Once upon a time there were two millennials who were given a little black notebook that just wanted to hear a heartwarming story. Of course, this was much too difficult for them and they repeatedly told this poor notebook the worst stories it had ever save those pirates who only told it ‘stories’ from from pillaging villages. So then, the notebook decided to go to sleep for 100 years just like it almost did with those pirates, and they never got the $20,000. The end.

“Well. That explains the treasure chest”, Samantha said.

“Now I just really want to hear the story those pirates told him that got him to not go to sleep for 100 years.”

The notebook added suddenly to the bottom of the page-

You have one more chance. One.

“I give up. Also, I’m a little scared of this thing now”, said Samantha stepping back cautiously.

“Look. Mr. Leo said that it was ‘a cute little chap who just wanted to hear a nice story.’ He’s probably sad from losing his last owner and all, why don’t we just tell him something heartwarming and happy like he asked?”

“OK like what?”

Matt wrote out something in the book. “Here, you do the rest” he said, throwing it at Samantha.

She read out loud, “Once upon a time there was a boy band called the Backstreet Boys? Are you kidding?”

“What? I panicked. Besides everyone loves the Backstreet Boys.”

Samantha put her head down in defeat. “We failed. Fine, go ahead, just tell him one of your conspiracy stories. What else do we have to lose.”

“Hey look it’s writing something!”

The little black notebook had written out the words

Go on…

He liked it!

Ok well you have to finish it.

Me? I don’t know anything about the Backstreet Boys!

Well don’t look at me!

“Common Sam! You were obsessed with them! You have to come up with something!”

She stared down at the page. “Oh, what the hell.”

She picked up the pen, sat back down, and began to write.

“…AJ, Brian, Kevin, Nick, and Howie…Brian met the love of his life on the set of their hit song, As Long as You Love Me...got married in Peachtree Georgia...all the Backstreet Boys were there...it was so romantic…they’re rival band NSYNC…”

No, say arch nemesis. It sounds more cooler” Matt interrupted.

Ok you’re right”. Samantha continued the story. She wrote all evening.

“But eventually they became the best boy band of all time…toured the world....All you people can’t you see, can’t you see, how your love is affecting our reality. Every time we’re down you can make it right...the crowds went wild. And they all lived happily ever after. The end.”

She put the pen down. The little black notebook was blank.

“We tried. Oh well. Who needs $20,000 anyways?”

“Sam look! It’s saying something!”

Four numbers appeared on the page. "Oh my gosh it’s the key code! It liked the story!" Sam shrieked.

Matt put the key code into the treasure chest lock. The lock opened and there sat $20,000 in cash.

"We did it I can’t believe we actually did it!" Samantha said overjoyed.

The notebook wrote again.

Love became their reality...it’s so beautiful.

"Matt, what are you doing?"

Matt had pulled out his iPhone. "I’m buying us concert tickets. Front row seats. You me and this cute little chap are going to the Backstreet Boys.”

The end.