Little Black Book

Little Black Book

Vivian had no idea where to go or how to get there. She just knew she had to get there by tomorrow. As she looked at her phone to start the GPS, she realized she didn’t even know the address. The dilemma…She called Lockhart, her best friend from the military. She and Lockhart (Danielle, first name not an option in the military) were still best of friends and still relied on each other, especially panic-mode situations. As she dialed Lockhart, she flashbacked to all their panic-mode situations from men to finances to whatever the panic-mode situation was at that time.

“Lockhart.”

“I don’t know where I’m going.” I say panicked.

“Billups why, when you were a soldier in the United States Army and should be efficient with a compass, and you can’t use a GPS?”

“Not the GPS, I have no address.”

“Then how are you going if you don’t have the address?” Vivian shrugged and sighed heavily and said “I’ll call you back.” Lockhart shakes her head and says “Yup.”

Vivian looked through the papers her mother left for her and found no address. She tried to figure out if she had looked through all the papers that had been left and wondered if she had missed anything. She backtracked and went back to the house where she and her mother had lived all her life until her mother’s recent death. Vivian had been with her mother until her last breath. Her mother gave her strict instructions to go through the brown banker’s box in the basement for all the papers that would lead her to the safe security box. While looking through the brown banker’s box her mother instructed her that there were papers and a little black book with instructions that would lead her to the safe security box at the bank, but she had to get there one week after her mother’s death. The only missing puzzle was the little black book. Her mother instructed her through bated breath that the little black book would lead her to where she needed to go to get the $20,000 her mother promised to her church upon her death. No one knew of this money. Vivian didn’t even know until her mother told her. She questioned where it was repeatedly, and her mother’s reply was always the same. When her mother died, and some days after grieving, Vivian decided to get started on her mother’s request, but didn’t realize that the little black book would not materialize so easily, and the fact that the papers listed no address as to where the safe security box was.

She pondered again as she pulled up in the driveway, parked the car and let herself in. As Vivian headed down to the basement, she heard a noise. Startled, she stopped and waited. She heard it again and called out “Is anyone there?” No answer. She hesitated before going forward. As she entered the basement, she saw no one and no activity. She quickly went to the brown banker’s box and looked through it again. Ah hah!!! The black book. But how strange, it wasn’t there before and she went through the box or was it? She sat on the floor, read the papers again, and looked through the black book for any details. Hours later, she finished reading through the book and found no address as to where she was supposed to go to retrieve the $20,000 from her mother’s safe security box. Frustrated she went through the papers and book again, still nothing. Her head was pounding. She put everything back in the box and went to get water. Again, she heard a noise in the basement. This time she rushed down expecting to see someone, and saw no one. She thought, I’m driving myself crazy and hearing things. She grabbed the box, brought it upstairs, and exhausted, fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning when she woke up, she showered and got dressed. Coffee, she needed coffee! She looked over the papers again, and as she surveyed the book, she noticed a slight gap on the back page of the book. She slid her finger inside and pulled out a piece of paper. She laughed/cried because she had been so sure she wouldn’t be able to fulfill her mother’s wish. Come to find out, she didn’t need her GPS since the safe deposit box was at the local bank. Excited, she called Lockhart.

“Lockhart.”

“I found it, I found it!”

“Kiddo, I knew you would.”