Barn Raiser

A young couple was walking down the sidewalk of a moderately sized town, hand in hand, enjoying the bright fall weather on a rare joint day off. Plans consisting of hurriedly doing as many chores as possible, then treating themselves to coffee and sweets at the local cafe. The couple entered the cozy, warmly lit cafe and placed their orders. They found a place in a little worn love seat by the fireplace and chatted happily as they set out their spread on the coffee table. Carlita made a confused face, shifting her weight uncomfortably as she had noticed something under herself.

"Hold on, I'm sitting on something, one sec." She said, trying to adjust herself in a way to loosen whatever she had sat on.

"Oh, it's a book..?" Carlita said, holding it up. It was unremarkable in appearance, smooth, black, with a green pen in the binding. Looking to all the world like the type of book college students would take notes in, or middle-aged soccer moms would write grocery lists in.

"Think someone lost it?" Rain asked. Carlita opened it up, looking for clues.

"It's blank... Maybe one of the shop's books? There's no price sticker. Oh, wait... there's a card or something taped in here." Carlita narrated her observations, showing Rain the small, blue envelope taped to the inside of the back cover. It was taped in a way that one could unfold the opening flap easily without removing the whole envelope.

"Open it?" Rain suggested, but Carlita already was, though hesitantly.

"Maybe we can find the owner?" Carlita suggested, investigating the envelope. Inside was a simple folded paper and a short note, reading:

Hello, I see you've found the book of necessity! Congratulations! You are now its new owner for as long as you'd like it. I have placed it where I figured someone with good intentions would find it. I rather like this shop, good people here, but I'm getting off-track. You have found this book under similar circumstances to how I, and I'm assuming others before me have found it. Use it responsibly and when you're finished, give it away in a similar manner.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but this is some kind of charmed or magical book. To use it, simply take the green pen out of the binding and write one of two sentences, the first being:

"Money for __name__." If you are making a broad statement. The second being:

"Money for __name__reason__." Then, close the book and reopen it. The ink will be gone and the money amount will be between the pages you wrote on. I know how it sounds. But I'm being honest. Also, the book seems to know if the money is necessary, as in, you can't just give yourself or others a million dollars unless they actually need it. And really, who needs that much excess? But, yeah, I've gone about as far as I'm comfortable going and thought it was time to pass it on. Good luck! And remember, be responsible; people ask questions when you throw around a lot of money.

Carlita and Rain read through this, heads leaned together as they examined the paper skeptically.

"This is bullshit." Carlita exclaimed, tossing the book in Rains lap and reaching for her snacks. Rain looked at the book with an amused grin.

"What is this? Some kinda prank? Are we on a live stream or something?" Rain asked, looking around. The general population of the cafe seemed to be minding their own business, no one appeared to be filming or even watching them. Rain sighed and opened the book, pulling the green pen out of the binding and examining it.

"Well, the pen is pretty anyways." They said, holding it up for Carlita to see. She shrugged, disinterested as she delved into her sweet coffee and carrot cake. Rain sat a moment and made a small sound.

"Hmm. Here, fine." They said, writing in the book as Carlita watched.

Money for Rain and Carlita's coffee date. Rain wrote, tucking the pen back in and closing the book. They opened it again and froze, making a startling sound.

"What?" Carlita asked, thinking Rain was joking.

"The ink is gone! The ink is gone but there's no money... but the ink is gone.." Rain said, startled.

"Hmm, it's probably just disappearing ink." Carlita said logically.

"Maybe? But...maybe it's because we already paid for the stuff?" Rain observed hesitantly.

"Oh, come on, it's not really magic." Carlita dismissed lightly. Rain thought it over, sipping at their chai;

"What about this? Here, I'm gonna go on like, Helping Hand. That's where you'd find people who actually need money." Rain suggested. Carlita resigned herself to watching Rain play with the book until they either found their magic or got bored trying.

"Okay, have fun." She sighed.

"Thank you, I will." Rain said cheerfully, loading up the fundraising site.

"Okay, here. This is a good one." Rain said, taking the book once more and writing: Money for Kelsie's vet bills. They wrote, closing the book and opening it again. Once more the page was blank and no money had taken its place. Rain looked mildly disappointed and looked back up at the page.

"Oh shit! Hey, look!" Rain said, almost dropping their phone as they turned it to show Carlita. The page's donation goal had been met. Carlita sat, staring in shock for a moment.

"What was it at before? Maybe... maybe it's a coincidence? Maybe someone else just filled it up? At the same time?" She suggested.

"It was a new one. I just went to the most recent. It was basically empty. I don't think someone just dumped three grand that fast." Rain said, looking uncertain.

"Okay, try another then." Carlita said, turning a little to watch as Rain searched for a newer, empty fundraiser.

"Okay, newest one, here. Money for Claire's medical bills." Rain said, muttering as they wrote it out. Closing the book, they both watched the fundraising page. Nothing happened.

"Open it up again." Carlita suggested.

"Oh yeah, sorry." Rain said, opening the book. Again, it was blank, the pair looked eagerly back at the phone. The page refreshed and the fundraiser had reached its cap. Rain sat back in their seat and looked thoroughly spooked. Carlita stayed frozen in place and for a while, they both stayed silent.

"Do it again." Carlita said quietly. Rain almost dropped their phone as they automatically searched for another fundraiser.

"Uh, here.. hold on.." Rain stammered, writing in another request. Again they closed the book. Opening it to see that the ink had vanished. Again the fundraiser met its goal. The pair stared at each other silently, eyes large with shock. Around them, life carried on in the cafe. All oblivious to the sudden heavy shock settling in the stomach of the couple seated on the love-seat in front of the fireplace.

"Let's um.. let's deal with this later..?" Carlita suggested, nervously picking at her cake. Rain nodded and snapped the book shut, tucking the pen back in its pocket, and setting it between them. They pretended to be interested in their treats, eating and drinking silently for a time.

"Um.. sooo... we have a magic book.." Rain said quietly.

"Where is it coming from?" Carlita asked. They both quickly pulled up their bank apps and made sure it wasn't draining their accounts, both relieved it wasn't.

"I don't know.." Rain answered, shaking their head slowly.

"Let's umm.. let's go home." Carlita suggested, Rain nodded.

"Yeah, okay... taking the book?" They asked.

"Of course... I don't know what this thing is. But... if we can help people with it, I think we should." Carlita said, still sounding scared, but game to try. Rain looked resolute and nodded.

"Okay, yeah, let's go be good people." They said, collecting the dishes and leaving them in the bin.

The couple went home to a crumbling rental they could barely afford. Upon opening the door they were met by a small dog, running over to meet them excitedly.

"Hey, Barn! Hey buddy! We got some work to do." The pair greeted the dog as it bounced around barking.

"Okay, buddy let's do this." Rain said, setting up their laptop and pulling Helping Hand back up. Carlita pulled the pen from the book and sat beside them, Barn in her lap comfortably. They spend about an hour filling people's fundraisers before Rain's account got locked for suspicious activity.

"Aw, I got locked. Shit!" Rain said, frustrated.

"Your account is blocked, mine isn't yet." Carlita said, pulling the site up on her tablet. They spent a good while filling more fundraisers until her account got blocked as well.

"Hmm... make fake accounts?" Rain suggested.

"Nah, let's just wait and see if we get unlocked. There are other pages. Try Fund Flood." Carlita suggested. The pair stayed up late into the evening moving from fundraising site to fundraising site, filling each one until their accounts would become locked. They finally went to bed feeling pretty good about themselves for helping so many people.

This became the trend for the coming weeks. Their accounts would be unlocked as people found their funds were able to be withdrawn, then they'd go until they got blocked again. The pair would come home from work, greet Barn, and head right to their devices to help others out.

"I have an idea.." Rain said one evening, gaining Carlita's attention.

"What's that?" She asked.

"Why don't we start up our own fundraising site?" Rain suggested, Carlita looked unconvinced.

"Why? There are already so many." She asked.

"Because we need to get out of here, and the book doesn't seem to think that it's a necessity." Rain explained, Carlita followed but frowned.

"Because we technically have affordable housing... But what do you mean?" Carlita said, looking around the rotting room.

"Look, I was messing with the book earlier and tried to see if I could loophole some money for us and it was no dice." Rain said, moving to sit closer to Carlita, who looked concerned.

"What are you thinking?" She asked.

"Well....now don't shoot me down. But I have an idea. We start a site, and people donate to things, we take some of those donations to help ourselves out and duplicate them with the book... I'm not meaning to be greedy or anything, just enough to get us out of this hell hole, maybe help with school?" Rain explained. Carlita looked horrified and it took quite a while for Rain to convince her to agree to the idea.

"This feels so dishonest." Carlita said, still uncertain.

"We can help people, I promise, it's gonna be the best site!" Rain insisted. Carlita hesitantly agreed after they had set an amount to stop at.

"Okay, twenty grand. That's where we stop, no more than that. Promise?" Carlita asked as they sat at their kitchen table adding up what they thought they would need for a better chance at life.

"Yeah, with us both working and the book, we have a shot at a better life here." Rain said, excited.

Within a couple of months Barn Raiser was born, using their dog as the site mascot helped it grow. Carlita and Rain stayed honest and only used donations for themselves when they deemed it necessary, vet bills for Barn, getting a slightly nicer home, finishing school, and finally affording a nice used vehicle. All the while using the book to replace any money they used personally. Eventually, they found a spot where they finally felt secure in life. They had pursued college, got jobs in their fields, had a successful donation site they hardly had to manage themselves anymore, and a nice little home in a nice little neighborhood. It was time once more for the book to find a new owner.