Little Black Book

On the way to the bus, I stopped to smell the roses. There were many roses lined up and down the streets of Salem, Oregon. The euphoria from the wonderful smells lit up my nose and made my head dizzy. The smile I had on my face and the happy feelings I was having were leading to a crazy and manic state.

This made me force myself to focus on what I was trying to accomplish, see today is my brother Peter’s birthday, and I am on the way to see him and his family. To get to their home in Portland, I must take the bus, and I need to be on my way. My car is in the shop and is getting old, so I decided it would be best to jump on that bus. With my backpack over my shoulder, my hair in a ponytail, and my tennis shoes on, I quickly made my way to that station. I hopped on right in time and gave my ticket to the driver. Smelling the roses has never stopped me from being on time.

While I was on the bus, there was this friendly man, I ended up sitting next to. His name was Adam, and he was writing in this little black book, dressed in a suit and tie.

I wanted to ask him what he was writing about, but he quickly put it away once I came and sat down. Adam introduced himself to me, and I realized that the little black book must be a journal, planner, or notebook with a to-do list, something personal to him. Obviously, I should not ask. “What brings you to Portland?” I said as that was where we were headed. Adam said, “I am getting on another bus to Seattle.

I have much business to do, as an Insurance Agent and Financial Professional. I have many clients in the Seattle area that need my assistance with their insurances.”

This explained the fancy attire. Not many people dress up that nice these days and he was quite polished. I felt underdressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, but I was on a casual trip during a cold time of year. “Good for you, I am a businesswoman myself,” I reply, “I am a Writer and Public Speaker.” More small talk followed, and before I knew if we were in Portland.

After getting off the bus, I realized I had left my scarf, and doubled back. Adam was long gone, along with the other passengers. The bus driver was eating a sandwich, he said I lucked out, that this was his quick lunch before his next stop. When I went to grab my scarf, I saw it, that little black book. I went into a panic and put it in my backpack. I left, thanking the driver, and went in search for Adam to return his black journal. All busses on the way to Seattle had left. I sighed, hoping that the little black planner did not hold too much important business information, as Adam had lost it forever.

My sister-in-law, Cassie, appeared before me, as she was there to pick me up. She is a nurse and had just finished her shift. Three babies were born safely under her care that day, as she works in labor and delivery at the hospital. “How have you been, Christina? We have missed you,” said Cassie. “I have missed you too, sister,” I proclaim with much excitement. “Where is Emma, is she with Peter? I ask, and she happily replied, “They are waiting at home, and look forward to seeing you.” I have now forgotten about the black journal and jumped into her Toyota 4Runner. Off to their home, we went.

My brother lives in a huge house and I was happy to see Emma. We talked and talked, played Yahtzee, ate dinner, and enjoyed some cake. We put Emma to sleep for the night, she was so tired from all the fun. Her little booty was high in the air, she was so exhausted and happy to have such a good day. At this time, I was considering turning in for the evening, as I will be staying the night in the guest room. “We put fresh sheets on the bed, and fresh towels in the guest bathroom,” said Cassie, when she saw how tired I was. Then, suddenly, I remembered that black book. What was in that black book I had been wondering? This woke me up, and I went to get my backpack. Cassie said good night and told me Peter was still up in the kitchen.

As my backpack was also in the kitchen, off I went. Peter was in there eating another piece of his ice cream cake. He saw me looking in my backpack and asked me what was up. I told him about the man from the bus, Adam, and the little black book. I pulled the notebook out and opened it. What did he write in here?

The book was full of stock information. There were pages of ticker symbols, notes about each company, along with clients listed that purchase shares. He was a business professional; part of his work must have been as a Stockbroker.

Now that I was reading the journal, I realized it might have been quite important to him. The more I read it the more I realized that he was tracking the increases and decreases of each stock weekly. He had made his purchases too and even used different colored ink green for the increases and red for the decreases. Mostly black ink. My brother’s interest had now peaked as my eyes were wide with interest. I gave him the book to read, and he was quite impressed by how smart that man was. After looking through the book, my brother stopped and looked at me, as if he had some sort of break-through. He said, “Christina, what if we invested into some of these stocks. I am looking at all the purchases, tracked progress, and business information. Let’s buy some stocks from a brokering website and see if we can make it big.”

This book had much information about how profitable penny stocks were. Never had Peter and I realized the high reward that can be earned with putting $1,000 on a penny stock. At 1 cent a share with $1000, we could purchase 100,000 shares. Then once the stock reached $1, we had $100,000. What an idea. According to Adam’s statistics, we could make $100,000 in just a few months.

The next day, when I woke up, Peter and I got to work. We read the book, we signed up for an app that allows us to purchase stocks with a zero-dollar commission, and bought ourselves our first stocks. We went back and forth about which ones we wanted to purchase, how much we wanted to put down, and then watched a video to make sure we purchased correctly through the website. Two hours later, we were confident, and ecstatic with our stock selections. I only had $2000, and Peter had $4000, so that was all we could purchase. Now we just had to wait.

It was time for me to go back home, so Peter drove me to the bus station. We giggled and chatted up a storm about our stock picks on the way there. I told him I loved him and then jumped on the bus back to Salem. It was time for me to return to my writing and get prepared for my next motivational speech. I had an appearance in a month and a book I needed to finish. This black book has made me feel so delighted with the possibility of getting rich quick. I used these feelings of inspiration to write and write.

Suddenly, it was midnight. I had written up a storm and was quite pleased with my success. The power of our mindset is real, and my mindset was energized and radiating positivity. My soul was on fire and that money was on my mind. Being exhausted from my trip, and the time being so late, I went straight to bed. The realization that sleep was needed came over me quickly and I fell asleep right when my head hit the pillow.

A week later, I woke up naturally at 7 am with an alert on my phone. My stock was now 2 cents, my money had officially doubled. What an amazing feeling and I was confident it would go up from there. My brother texted me excited about his alerts, and it was just exhilarating. Everything seemed so perfect it could not be true. I reminded myself that I am one of those people constantly waiting for the worst to happen. Just accept your fate, for now, Christina, be proud of yourself you didn’t fail.

The weeks went by and the money grew. It had its ups and downs, but Peter and I knew that we were blessed, and started to cash in on some of these stocks, just sell some shares. The feeling of financial security was amazing, and we were thrilled. We now had some wealth and a diversified portfolio. I had bought a condo and was selling many of my writings. I got married to the love of my life. Everything had fallen into place after all those years of work.

The next week I was scrolling through my local news on my phone. And there he was, Adam. He had jumped off one of the tallest buildings in Seattle, right from his secondary office. After interviewing the family, they stated that he had lost a lot in a poor business investment right before his wife passed. They now take care of his ten-year-old son, as Adam died by suicide. His sister said he was in too deep and had started taking too many pain killers. She was unable to save him.

This article was a tribute to what a wonderful man Adam was. Adam was a proud and loving member of the community and had done a lot for his local churches and schools. He would be missed greatly by his two children. Hopefully, all I prayed for the 100 times after reading this article, was that losing that little black book, had nothing to do with any of this. That his death was not a result of that loss. I will never know, and I can only be grateful for that little black book. My life had changed drastically as one of my penny stocks hit $10 and I made my first million. Then my portfolio career continued to develop. I had multiple businesses. Peter and I ended up richer than we had ever imagined from all the different work we had done. We bought ourselves a nice retail store, and our children worked there making and selling clothes for their careers. Emma, Maya, and Adalyn lived happily, ever after, being the descendants of millionaires who had fallen into this little black book.