Little Black Book

The wind hit her face like hundreds of needles, her skin rose red and icy to the touch. “Warm thoughts, think warm thoughts,” she spoke softly to herself repeating this line as if by saying it enough would make it really happen. She laid curled in a fetal position bundled in a sleeping bag, her head on her backpack as a pillow and under two additional knitted blankets. The thick sleeping bag felt like a paper sheet under her as the cold concrete seeped through. The brick wall along the doorway of the library entrance had collected some heat during the daylight hours and created somewhat of a shield from the cold winds and traffic along the main road. It was a very cold winter this year but tonight was exceptionally cold compared to winter nights so far. It was February 1 and winter had practically just begun and at this point the cold concrete had been her bed for the last 4 months and 16 days already. It’s not that she hadn’t tried to find an alternative place to rest but circumstances did not seem in her favor this year. Another day passed and another night was taking over as she shivered into a deep, exhausted sleep.

She woke to the sun brightly shining. Reluctantly, she got up and quickly gathered her blankets and bag and brought them over to a closed in delivery doorway in the back of the building. This spot was usually empty with very little passerbys so she would hide her blankets here and carry only her backpack with her for the day. Her stomach started to growl but being a Friday, there was no soup kitchen open today, she would have to think of another option if she was going to eat anything today. She remembered there was a store about a mile and a half up the road that offered free food samples as a way to see what products were going to be big sellers. “The walk is going to be long and with the snow and temperatures, is it worth it? Maybe I just skip today” as if on cue her stomach growled again but this time brought a sting of pain with it, “no I need something to eat, and the walk will be tough but the meal will be worth it” she said to herself. With that she ventured on her walk for an all you can eat sample meal. The walk seemed to go on for hours and with each step she trudged with heavy feet and a numbed face. Just when she thought she was going to collapse she saw the store about a block away, the sight of it brought a thought of hot food samples and gave her a burst of energy to move quicker towards the building. The entrance hit her with a warm blast of heat and good smells. After about an hour walking around in the warmth and filling her belly she started to get tired and felt it time to head back towards the library. As she left the building the cold hit her like a light splash as opposed to the bitterness it was. The warmth of the heated building and warm food filled in her belly engulfed her whole body in an overall residual warm feeling that the bitter cold hadn’t penetrated fully yet. She walked along the side of the main road about half of a mile and started to think out loud. “There is a side road I can take to get back, I have to go through the cemetery but that could make this walk half the distance. I think I’ll take that way back”, she spoke this to herself as a way to jog her memory of the exact route. The shorter route seemed so much shorter, in no time she was so close she could see the library in the distance. At this point she could also see the sun setting although it was still fairly early in the evening, so she decided she may go into the library to relax with a book before they closed for the evening. She was only a few feet from the entrance before she tripped and fell into a pile of snow shoveled off of the icy walkway. She lifted herself up, sitting on her knees as she brushed snow off of her face. After dusting the snow off of her upper body she placed her hand on a firm spot in the snow to push herself back to her feet, as she stood she realized her hand had brushed snow off something in the pile. She reached down to pick up the item in the snow and realized it was a little black book, after looking around the area to see if someone may have been there that it might belong to unsuccessfully, she decided she would take ownership of this book for the time being. “Well now I have something to read inside and outside of the library.” She dusted the remaining snow off of herself and continued on the last bit of her walk. The warmth from the store was starting to wear off so when the warmth of the library entrance fell over her like a waterfall of heat it gave her another burst of energy. She found a quiet corner with a couple lounge chairs and sat down, really enjoying the stretch of her legs and soft cushion of the chair surrounding her body as she did. She was awoken by the sound of the intercom announcing the closing after what only seemed to be a couple minutes but was actually a few hours she had fallen asleep for. “I haven't even opened my book yet, at least I can bring it with me” she thought out loud. She left the library with most of the other late night browsers and snuck over to her back entrance space that she had hid her blankets earlier that morning until the last librarian left the building. Just as the nights before, she made her bed against the brick wall on the concrete. She placed her new book into her backpack and bundled up to sleep. The next morning she woke up with the sun shining bright, warm against her bare cheeks. Realizing it was Saturday and the library wouldn’t open to the public until later in the afternoon she found a bench to sit embracing the warmth of the sun today. “Maybe I will read some of this book I found” she thought as she pulled the little black book from her back pack. “I wonder who could have lost this, it has been well taken care of” she says to herself as she runs her fingers across the cover of the book, a soft leather bound cover. She opens the cover of the book and feels along the thick parchment page edges. The title looks handwritten as if it was done with an inkwell and calligraphy pen, Calypso. She turned the next page gently excited to read further into a story that even by the title sounded warmer than her current situation. Prologue: “The boy is missing, he must have wandered off at the last stop”, the crew man said to the Captain who frantically looked on board for his now missing son. “He’d not just wander off, now you better be telling me where my son is and quick” The Captain looked angrily towards the crew shouting, “ I want answers or ye all be walkin the plank!” His first mate quickly got back to work not saying another word as he knew that just hours before he gagged and threw the boy off the plank as a plan to take over the ship. Over on an island some distance away the boy laid unconscious in the warm sand as the salty waves crashed his face. She smiled imagining the warmth of the sand and sun as she read through the prologue of the story. She turned the page over to the dedication page. Dedication: This book is dedicated to you, the reader. This is my first book ever written and as you might notice it is handwritten and delicately hand bound. I hope you cherish and enjoy this book as I will. I don’t know if I will publish this book yet but if I do just know this is the original first copy and will be kept locked away until I take it out as inspiration at times. As the only reader of this book aside from myself I have a special offer for you. Enjoy the adventure and when you're ready go to page 13. All the best, Whittaker Callabara, June 11, 1936. She paused as she read this page over and over again trying to grasp what she was holding and the fact that it was nearly 100 years old and in such a preserved condition. Closing the book she considered reading the story or looking at the mentioned page first. She was eager to get lost in the sands on the adventure she was about to read but decided to look up that page first. She slowly flipped open to page 13 and realized it was a letter within the story. She read: So you decided you’re ready. If you are reading this it means that I have lived my life and passed on. I knew my time was coming so I have created for you, the reader, a little treasure hunt. Are you ready for a real adventure? In the town you found this book, right down town not far to look, a weeping willow stands strong and tall, just overlooking a waterfall, hidden beside this waterfall you will see rocks, some big some small, look under the biggest of them all. Hesitant about going on a treasure hunt she decided it’s beautiful out and she doesn’t have anything else to do until lunch is served. “I have about 2 hours still before the soup kitchen serves lunch so why not have a little fun” she said to herself as she reread the poem following it’s instructions. She found the spot and climbed up to the largest rock and sat down. “Well that was fun” she sat back on the rock placing her hands behind her for support and as she did she felt something along her finger tip. She looked over to where her hand was and saw a black sealed bag, picking up the bag she looked around before deciding to open it. Inside the bag was an old cigar box with an envelope taped to it. After the first poem she thought maybe this is another part of the treasure hunt and opened the envelope to find a letter in it. I am not going to be alive much longer, my wife passed before me and I have no other family. If you are reading this then I have gone to join my wife. What I am leaving you is my life’s treasures, the book and my inheritance. Open the cigar box and everything inside of it is yours to keep. Signed, Whittaker Callabara, December 31, 2020. She gasped for a moment and held the box tight, curious, nervous and excited feelings taking over. She slowly opened the box, showing neatly stacked $100 dollar bills and a calligraphy pen. A small piece of paper sat on top of the money and pen saying, this is $20,000, write your adventure and live it. She stared at the note, tears welling up in her eyes, she closed the box and buried it deep into her backpack then just sat on the rock still in shock tears still streaming down her cheeks.