One More Miracle

Warm and comforting pleasure spread throughout the coldness of my body the moment that James picked up the envelope on top of his pile of going away gifts.

“Alex,” he pulled out the crisp hundred dollar bills, “how did you …?” I waved him off.

“Don’t start with that. It’s not like I suddenly came into money. Even if I did I wouldn’t be handing over a stack to you, man.” My coffee cup managed to hide the wry smile that only grew wider as he started to count out the bills. Twenty thousand in all. Just the amount he needed.

“Well, whoever it was that decided I needed a money transfusion is clearly vying for your best friend spot,” he grinned before moving on to the less extravagant gifts from other friends. A few new books, a new game or two, and some clothes James eagerly modelled for me there and then. Every time though, he kept coming back to the stuffed envelope on the table and his own smile grew an inch every time his fingers brushed across the paper.

A month ago he’d gotten the call. His dream. Finally. After years of playing at the struggling actor career, he’d managed to break his way through into something a lot more concrete. A highly lucrative, sought after, and door-opening position that a guy with James’s talent needed. Dropping the ‘struggling’ from his title had been step one but when the full contract came through it was only then that he realised how much he had been struggling.

Part-time work was great, we both had a few hours at the mall in town each week, but it was nowhere near enough money to get him into this position. My jaw had hit the floor when I’d flipped through the contract. Costs for training, costs for moving, costs for wardrobe, costs for this, that, and the other. All just to get him out to LA for this one major part. James needed it and there was nothing on this earth that I wouldn’t do for my best friend. He’d needed a miracle and I’d pulled through. As long as he didn’t find out who did it or how I’d managed it. He might joke that it was me but the amount was a million miles out of my own budget. Twenty thousand dollars. Just enough to cover everything with mere pocket change to spare. A gift of anything more would’ve only raised even more suspicion if I was found out. At least this way he wouldn’t have to take out the loan he had been planning. Now he could move and follow his dreams cleanly. It was only as much as he deserved.

“There’s so much to do, Alex!” I joined him at the table where he’d picked up his contract again. No longer fearing the giant bill that hid within. Every word out of his mouth was one filled with excitement, nerves, and happiness. His big break was here and now there was nothing left to get in the way of it. All it had taken was one last miracle.

Since coming into my life, James had been privy to more than one mysterious miracle in his time of need ranging from emergency cash to someone changing their mind at a crucial moment. His job offers were all based on skill, not miracles, but getting him there had taken one or two changes of perspective or surprise prize winnings. I was just lucky that the man didn’t play the lottery. That was pushing it a bit too far. My hand drifted to double check the little, black notebook in my jeans back pocket just in case. Couldn’t go misplacing all of James’s miracles just before he left for LA. The miracles might slow down a bit then.

I couldn’t even remember, or fathom for that matter, when I’d first noticed the notebook on my desk. It had just been there, sitting on my desk, after I came in late from college one night. Plain as day, in the middle of the organised chaos that was my pile of textbook and notes, and open on the first page. An instructions page if you will. A full A5 page of neat, print handwriting telling me how to use my new ‘gift’ and that under no circumstances was I to ever use it in a way that would draw attention to it or myself. At the swipe of a pen or pencil, I could have whatever my heart desired, within reason but I’d never sought to test my limits too much, but since the day I’d gotten it, I’d only used it for one thing. James.

The first miracle came only a minute or two after I’d sat at my desk and read through the rules. James had gotten a callback … a call back all the way in the next state. They’d wanted an in-studio recording and he’d had no way of getting over there within the next few days. I’d sat back, as cool as you like, and guaranteed that he be able to make it there on time. I’d told him to head to bed, rest up, and everything would look better in the morning. A fixed-up car, some spending money, and a miraculous paid week of vacation from work later, James was happily on his way to his first call back. After that, the rest was history.

Miracle after miracle all in James’s name kept filling up my little, black notebook I was down to the last lines of the last page. Each page so far had been filled side to side with tiny, cramp scrawl that somehow translated into whatever James desperately needed at the time. This last one had been the biggest I’d ever attempted, my hands shaking as I wrote out the amount on the page, and had only manifested within the last day or so; the stacks of bills appearing in my desk drawer only hours before I finished setting up the ‘going away’ display for James. But now it was done and my best friend had a brand new smile on his face ready to blind everyone over in LA with. He’d do great over there and that was the main thing I’d held onto when writing down all of those little miracles for him. I’d miss him but he was going to follow his dreams all thanks to twenty thousand dollars and one little, black notebook in my back pocket.

It wasn’t until days later when James was packing for his first trip to scope out his new LA digs, and my sadness over him leaving was fully starting to set in, that I saw the note slipped inside the back pocket of an old pair of jeans in the same pocket I usually carried my notebook.

Hey, Mr. Miracle, maybe write one for yourself sometime.

One more miracle eh? I picked up my pen, hesitated over the last line of my notebook, and thought of what to write. Something just for me. At last. It didn’t take long for me to settle on the right words and close the book on all of James’s miracles.

“Hey, James, got cash for another plane ticket in that envelope?”