Task of Giving

It is the eve of the summer's first day. As the light of the sun fades, it leaves a medley of gold, pink and violet hues dancing across broken clouds as they drift away after an earlier storm. The air still smells fresh as the summer heat dries the last raindrops and puddles. It is a new day. A day of wealth. A day of curiosity. A day of creation. Today there will be more.

Cecil stands on the balcony leaning over the parapet, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his guests. He looks at his attire to not only ensure every thread is in its place, but to admire his choice of dress. A white tuxedo with gold braided trim from hip to hem of the trousers and gold epaulettes reflecting the last rays of sunlight onto his rosy cheeks. White shoes have been shined almost to the point of reflection. Perfect.

As the sky darkens, Cecil closes his eyes and raises his face towards the sky to enjoy the calm breeze. His moment of tranquility is interrupted as the sound of excited conversation draws near. His guests are now starting to arrive.

With a quick pat of the upper left pocket of his tuxedo jacket, Cecil lets out a small sigh of relief. It's still there. Before he leaves the parapet and make his way to the veranda to greet his guests, Cecil pulls out his most precious possession. Wrapped in what used to be a white handkerchief that now has the stain of many years, he unwraps a small, black book.

A seemingly insignificant little thing. Tattered and torn over years of use. The page marking ribbon almost completely unraveled. The binding hanging on by a thread, trying to stay together. The leather peeling from the front and back covers.

To the untrained and ungifted eye, turning through its pages would yield nothing but annoyance as there is nothing written in its pages. But for Cecil, the precious gifts of the little black book are revealed. For a moment, Cecil thinks back to when he first received it, and his father explained.

At age 21, Cecil's parents invited him to the family's estate for a meeting. Cecil was a bit nervous, as the call to the meeting seemed very important and urgent. His parents greet and embrace him as he arrives to his father's research library.

As they all sit on the couches facing each other, Cecil's mother looks at him with the softest and most loving expression and smiles. Cecil's nerves instantly fade as he brings his attention to his father.

"Son, it's time to pass on our family's secret of wealth to you. You are at the age now that I was when my father gave it to me." Father says.

"What do you mean father? It's not from your job?!" Cecil asked

"No son. It's much simpler than that. But I had to wait until you were old enough to accept it." Father explained.

"Well, what is it Father?" Cecil asked.

Mother stands and goes to his father's desk to retrieve a small wooden box and gives it to Cecil.

"Open it son. And your father will explain." Mother said.

As Cecil opens the box and looks at its contents, Father begins,

"This small book has been passed down for four generations so far. You will be the fifth. This book and the box that it is in had been responsible for our family's wealth. Now it is your turn to use it."

"I don't understand. How could this possibly be the way you became wealthy?" Cecil asks

Father looks at Mother and she continues,

"Each day, a new message appears in its pages. You choose from two tasks that must be completed within a certain time frame. Usually 12 to 24 hours. Once the chosen task is completed, you receive a monetary "gift" that appears in the box. The higher the difficulty, the greater the reward."

"And only those who have been entrusted with both the book and box can read its contents to know what task they must perform." Father added.

Father and Mother both smile as they completed their explanation and looked to Cecil for a response.

He looked at his parents with a puzzled expression and said, "You're joking, right?"

Mother giggled a little and looked at father and said, "How about we show him?"

Father nodded and said, "Son, open the book and tell me what you see."

Cecil sighs, rolls his eyes and takes the handkerchief wrapped book out of the box. He unwraps the book, gently opens it and looks inside.

"Father, I don't see anything." Cecil says looking up at his parents.

"Look again son!" Says father with excitement in his voice.

When Cecil looks down again, letters start to form into words and they start to form into sentences! Cecil’s eyes widen and he almost drops both book and box because of what he was seeing.

Mother laughs and says, "Well, what's your first task choice?"

Once Cecil can finally blink, he reads the choices:

1. Feed the barn animals for Old Man Farley

2. Fetch water from the well for Old Lady Winny

"H-how do I choose?" Cecil asks

"Just touch the one you want to do, and a timer will replace the task you didn’t choose and begin to count down." Father explains.

So he touches the task of fetching water for old lady Winny. The other task it then replaced by a 12 hour counter going backwards.

"Hop to it son!" Father says as he slaps his knee.

Cecil puts the book back in the box and leaves to complete his task. Father and Mother watched from their window as Old Lady Winny is just down the hill. A few hours later, Cecil returns sweaty, tired and breathless.

"I didn't realize how much water Lady Winny needed!" Cecil exclaims, out of breath.

He plops on the couch in the library to rest for a bit.

"So, you're not gonna check the box son?" Mother asks with a smirk.

Cecil jumps up realizing he hadn’t checked and opens the box. He moves the little black book, and to his amazement, money begins to appear.

"Open the book." Father says.

The task, now completed, has disappeared from the book.

“How did we even get this book?” asked Cecil.

“Well,” Father begins, “Your great-great-grandfather protected a village of travelers that were being threatened by greedy voyagers. And he never asked for anything from them. In return, the travelers gifted him the ability to gain wealth with the little black book and wooden box you now possess. He only needed to choose a task and complete it to gain the reward.”

"It is now your turn to carry on its use and to protect it. This is our family's secret tradition passed on to you." Mother says as she hugs Cecil.

***********************************

Cecil is brought back to the present as one of his guests calls out to him, "Aren't you gonna come down for the festivities?"

"I'll be down shortly." Cecil said as he waved down to the guests.

He looks in the book again, the task he chose for today was:

Feed the hungry villagers

He wraps up the book and puts it back into his pocket and taps the top of the wooden box before leaving his chambers to head downstairs.

There are cheers over the music as Cecil makes his way into the main dining hall. The chatter of hundreds of conversations fills the hall with happy energy. Children dancing with parents, husbands with wives, young men and women socializing.

As the festivities continue, Cecil makes an announcement.

"Everyone, as you leave this evening, please be sure to take some food with you. I want to make sure that you will not be hungry tonight as you go home."

A roar of cheers echoes through the hall as guests make their way to the long dining table to accept more food.

Soon after, the gathering dies down and guests begin to leave. As the last guests exit, Cecil begins to help with the clean-up. The maids and butlers wouldn't have any of that. They shooed him away to his chambers.

"You've done more than enough for today sir. Thank you." said a maid

"Yes, my family will eat very well for a while now. We will take care of this." added a butler.

Cecil agreed and ascended the stairs. He went in and sat on his bed, retrieved the little black book from his pocket and got ready to put it in the wooden box. As he reached to open it, money pushed it open and was tumbling out.

"I guess I did a good job!" Cecil exclaimed with a laugh.

He gathered up his “gift” and put it back in the box. Then he took both the wooden box and the little black book, placed it in his safe and locked it. As he lay down in his bed he thought,

"I wonder what new tasks tomorrow will bring?"

His eyes got heavy as he brought the blanket over his shoulder and he finally drifted to sleep.