The Moon and Her Light

I have always found that a good book was the best way to start my morning. Most mornings I go to this little café down the street. The owner, Lisa, is this nice older Italian lady that always gives me a new book to read and broaden the horizon that I’m on.

Lisa has a personal library where she keeps all her books. She picks something different for me once a week. It has become our weekly tradition, most of the time she picks a poetry book for me. Now, normally I would not engage with poetry, but the books she has acquired make me fall in love with every aspect of it.

So, as I start my morning I head to the café for tea and a good book. I always wonder what she’ll bring, but no matter, I’m always delighted by which ever book she picks. I take a seat in my favorite spot. It’s outside where I can see the trees swaying in the wind, hear the birds singing their songs. I can breathe in the fresh air and let it fill my lungs. I enjoy this area. I welcome in the day sitting here.

Lisa walked out with my favorite tea, green tea with pomegranate and a slice of lemon. In her, other hand I noticed that she held a little black book. Our eyes meet and she smiled a smile that warmed my heart. Lisa sat down at the other end of the table, as she does most times when she’s not too busy. She cracked a smile and said, “You’ll love this book! It was one of my favorites.” I then asked her, “What is it about?” An as always she said, “Well, you will have to read it to find out my dear.”

Lisa has this special way with people. She welcomes anyone and everyone no matter what. She goes above and beyond for her customers. She has done it for me and so many others. We begin making small talk about the weather, what’s going on in the world, how our days have been. Eventually the bell to the front door rings, and she says, “Okay dear, I have to get back to work. Take good care of this book. It is worth more than you know.” I take the small little black book and slip it into my bag. I said my goodbyes and off I went to work.

I work at a bank as a teller. There isn’t much going on most days, maybe a transaction here and there. It gives me some free time to read. An hour into my shift, after I’ve set myself up and prepared for the day, I take a chair to bring to my station. I grabbed the little black book from my bag and I began to read. At first, the title threw me off it. It was printed on the inside of the book instead of the outside. It read, “The Moon and Her Light,” I thought that it was an interesting name for a book.

The book was filled with poems and short stories. One story in particular stood out to me. It was called, “The Hunt for the Moon.” It stood out to me because it talked about a place that I could have sworn I knew. I could not put my finger on it, but I knew that place. The story in itself went on about a young woman looking for her light. This young woman swore to everyone that the moon had stolen her light, and she had to get it back. She ventured to a lake during a full moon. She wanted to yell at the moon for stealing her light. The story goes on to say that the gods felt pity upon her. The gods knew the reason why the moon had taken her light. She begged and begged them to tell her. Eventually she found out that it was because the moon had become jealous of how she glowed. The gods tried to compensate for it by giving her riches and gold. The woman became furious and demanded that she get back her light.

The story goes on to say that, the young woman never got back her light. She refused to use the riches that the gods had given her. She said she would give the gold and all her riches to any person that could convince the moon to give back her light. The story was interesting, something I had never heard before.

I looked to see when the book was written and who the author was. I wanted to find out if I might be able to get in contact with the author. I wanted to know if he had heard that story or if he just made it up. Either way, it caught my attention. The only problem with that was the internet had never heard of such a book.

The following day I went to the café to talk to Lisa. I thought that maybe she knew who the author was. When I arrived this morning, she wasn’t there. The cashier said, “Lisa had to take care of some things but she will be back later.” I said, “Okay, I will wait then.” The cashier asked, “Can I get you anything?” “I’ll take my regular order please and thank you.” I replied. “Sure thing sugar!”

While I waited, questions started to form in my mind. I had more questions than answers, and then what felt like forever, I heard the doorbell ring. Lisa had finally made her way back to the café. “Is everything okay, dear?” She asked me. “Everything is fine, but I have some questions about the little black book you gave me.” I replied. She stood there for a second and said, “Oh yes! What about it darling?” I told her about the story I read and began prompting her with questions. She explained that all the stories are based off a somewhat true story. The book was put together a long time ago and the author has always been unknown. The book in question was given to her as a child.

We began talking about the story, the only story I had in mind, “The Hunt for the Moon.” I wondered how the story came about, and if the moon could really take a person’s glow. I wondered which parts of the story were true and which parts were not. As Lisa and I continued our conversation, she told me she believed the book to be based on the little town that we reside in, Positano, Italy.

I started to wonder if this was true. How could one even begin to take back their light from the moon? I had to leave the café to get to work. When I arrived at work, I began to research the story. Surprisingly, the story I read had come up, along with a couple other stories that are somewhat similar to it. It turns out that the story was indeed based out of Positano, Italy. There was more to the story than what was in the book. It went on to say that, the actual event did indeed take place down by the lake, and the money that the young woman hid was never recovered. They say that when the light of a full moon reflects off the water and onto the land, that special spot is where the riches are buried.

Most people believe this to be a myth. Why would a young woman bury riches and gold? Some people felt as though she should have just taken the money and went on with her life.

I started spending time looking into when this story took place, but no one knew for sure. I also started looking into when there might be a full moon to see if what was said was true. There was going to be one in a week, so I had to prepare. I thought to myself that this could be an amazing adventure, and if by chance I found the money, it would be even more amazing.

I began digging into the story trying to find out anything I could. Everything moved so fast and before I knew it, a week had passed. It was time to try to find out where the money might be buried, if there even was any. I went down to the water and waited for the sun to set. The colors across the sky were by far the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The sky had finally went from a beautiful cotton candy painted sky to a black canvas with nothing but stars and the moon. The way the moon glowed was so beautiful and I started to wonder, how could it ever be envious of another’s glow when it itself was so beautiful and bright? The moon’s light reflected off the water and the way it looked made me want to go for a swim. The air was warm and the water seemed so welcoming, but I had to stay on track if I was going to find this money.

The light from the moon reflected off the water, hit the sand. Next to where the light hit was a massive rock, I pushed the rock over the best I could. Considering how heavy it was it took a moment longer. After moving the right I looked for where the light would hit, once I found it I started to dig. If I found nothing, at least I had the opportunity to go on an adventure and test out to see if the myth was real. Eventually the digging came to a halt over an hour had passed in the process, I lost track of time for a while focused on what I was doing. Below the sand, I hit a little box, I pulled it out. I was so excited with what I had found but I knew if anything I should wait until the morning to open it, if anyone should be there with me to open it should be Lisa. I filled up the hole up the best I could and headed for home.

The next morning, I headed for the Café, where Lisa was waiting with tea and another book. “What has you in such a good mood this morning, my dear?” she asked. I replied with the biggest smile on my face, “I have a surprise for you!” She looked at me with wondering eyes as I pulled the little box out of my bag. She seemed a little confused until I brought up the little black book she had given the story, “The Hunt for the Moon” and me. Her eyes widen with wonder and excitement. “Do you want to open up this box with me?” I asked her. “I would be delighted to.” She replied with the sweetest smile. We stared at the box for a moment; I noticed it had a lock so we would have to break it open. It was just a small lock so it should be too hard I thought. Well, we ended up having to cut it off, so it took a moment longer than expected. Once we finally got the lock off, we started opening it slowly. What we found inside was magical! It was the gold from the story! It was handfuls and handfuls of golden coins! At first, I was not sure if they were real or not.

The café was not busy, so Lisa closed up and we made our way down to the bank. I wanted to find out if the coins were actual gold. I could barely hold my excitement in when we arrived at the bank. It took about an hour and a half to verify that the coins were in fact real. There was over fifty thousand dollars in that box! I looked at Lisa and I could not believe it! She was just as surprised. I said to her, “Lisa, I would have never found the money without you, so of course I will be sharing this find with you.” With tears of joy streaming down her face, she replied, “Oh, thank you sweetheart! Thank you so much!” She gave me a great big hug, and then we walked out with twenty-five thousand dollars each. It was all thanks to a little black book, a good story, and a curious mind.

There are many days I still think back to the story I had read. Every night I look up at the moon and my head fills with so many unanswered questions. I could never figure out how the moon could steal someone’s glow. I guess that some stories stay with us forever.