Winning Objective

"Hey Luke," I said as I passed him in the hallway.

"Maria." He nodded, focused on his cell, expertly unlocking his apartment door without looking.

I called the elevator to our seventh floor, waiting with my short to-do list. While I dare not complain about my quiet little corner of the universe, my life was mundane, at best. Café, groceries, and a quick kitty fix - watching them play at the pet store - constituted the majority of my life outside this building.

Luke peeked his head from the door. "Congrats on the win. Suki told me. Big plans?"

"Thanks," I said, smiling. "Nothing exciting." I shrugged. "Finish off the student loan and maybe a nice dinner."

"Thought you'd never ask," he answered, smirking, "I'll make a reservation for Friday at 8:00. Italian or French?"

"Sure," I replied with stunned optimism. "French."

I gave him a weak hand wave as I entered the elevator.

"Did that just happen?" I asked myself.

I was excited to learn that my story won first prize in a writing contest with a sizable purse of $20,000. In addition to bragging rights, I'd finally own my master's degree in Creative Writing and not have to share it with the Bank of Mom.

En route to the grocery store, I updated my blog, which was nicely sporting just under 5000 subscribers. I aspired to be Maria Popova. Sadly, the only thing we had in common was our name.

When I returned, I tried to copy Luke and open my door without looking. Predictably, I dropped my keys. That's when I found the little black book. It was a Moleskine® and had stylistic gold lettering centred near the bottom on the cover that read, 'Your Story'.

I guessed it was Luke who left the leather notebook. I'd have to be sure to thank him on Friday.

I robotically unpacked my groceries all the while thinking about our date; or maybe it wasn't a date. Nevertheless, I gave it a lot of head space.

With the last dregs of my latte, I picked up the notebook and thumbed through it back to front. Empty pages secretly gave me a thrill. Surprisingly, the first page was already occupied. It had the words WINNING OBJECTIVE in all-caps spread across the top.

In spidery hand-written script the page was indexed as follows:

10% to charity

25% downpayment toward a house

25% on debt

20% invest

10% savings

5% splurge

5% give away cash to random people.

Wanna play?

Sounds like Mom. She was frugal and linear, but she was overseas, and this was definitely not her handwriting. I phoned, but she didn't pick up. Nevertheless, I appreciated her gamification idea.

Under the percentages, the script continued to the truncated Rules: demonstrate proof within 48 hours and write about your experience on your blog. You will be surprised by the results; and then you can claim your prize.

I took a shower. I always thoughts best in the warm waterfall. "Where's the downside?" I reasoned to myself.

All in. I determined it would take me two minutes to attack the first item. It made my blood boil when I thought of human trafiicking. Polaris received a nice donation while I towel-dried my hair. Check.

I made an appointment with my bank advisor for tomorrow. I could check off items two through four easily and in short order.

The hardest part was deciding how to splurge. It's not like a blogger needed a wardrobe.

My appointment was scheduled for 10:15 Thursday morning. Amar met me at the reception desk. He pointed with his pen to his office.

While he logged into his computer, I briefly told him about the contest and the little black book with the game rules.

"Nice." He stretched the word to three syllables.

At the end of our time together, I had print-outs of my transactions and a cool $1000 in my hot little hands. With ten bills of $100 each, I decided to let Fate decide who would be favored.

I took a deep breath and walked down the street. It was a warm Autumn day - my favorite kind - with an azure blue sky punctuated by gold, red and purple of the turning leaves.

There was a busker playing the saxophone. I dropped $100 in his case. He asked me if I had any requests. I listened with rapt attention as he played Coltrane's Impressions.

With my ears delighted, I sought out a latte. The barista greeted me with a flushed face as she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. "What can I get for you?" she asked with a forced smile.

I answered readily, "Caramel macchiato, please." I handed her a bill. "Keep the change."

She was shocked. "Thank-you." Her entire demeanour changed into a relaxed warmth.

I can hardly describe the euphoria I felt. I was excited to play more. I went to the grocery store.

As hoped, a nice fellow let me in before him since I only had the one item, while his cart was moderately full. He was trying to keep his young boys from overturning the cereal display. I said to the cashier as I handed her a bill, "We're together. Must run, sweethearts." I blew them a quick kiss.

As I was leaving, a teenager dropped his phone, trying to open the door for his girlfriend, which caused a wide, ugly crack on the glass. He swore. "My mom's gonna rip me a new one."

I gave him a bill. "I just got mine replaced down the street." I pointed with my chin.

His girlfriend ribbed him.

"Thank-you!" he returned sincerely.

I headed for the bus stop. I saw a mom with four very young children. I doubted she was yet thirty. I asked, "Did you drop this?" I handed her two bills.

Amazingly, she answered, "No."

"Pretty sure you did," I said as I walked away.

On the bus, there was a chatty group of preteens with one competent teacher and a few parent chaperones. I surmised the teacher was the one with the clipboard. She was counting heads. "Where d'ya go?" I asked.

"The museum."

"Sounds like they loved it."

"They really did. I was so proud of them."

"Thanks for all you do," I complimented her. I sidled in beside her and snuck a bill under her roster. We chatted casually.

The final bill was earmarked, leaving me with two bills to give away.

I got off with the class, deciding to walk the rest of the way. Outside the school, there was a trio of boys selling raffle tickets for their next football game. I gave them a bill in exchange for one.

My building didn't allow pets of any kind. Wanting another kitty fix, I stopped at the pet store. There was a can on the counter for the SPCA. I slid a bill inside.

The elevator stopped at the fourth floor. I slipped a bill under Suki's door.

Walking up the stairs, I decided I would splurge on experiences rather than things. The students on the bus talked non-stop about their field trip. I always wanted an annual membership to the museum as well as a few pottery classes at the art gallery. These were easy enough to purchase from home.

I received a personal thank-you note from the founder of Polaris via email.

This put a smile on my face. I sat back in my comfy chair with contentment, knowing that I helped create a little positive change in my city and beyond.

Then I got down to business on my blog. I was in my element. My fingers raced across the keyboard. I wrote about the contest, the notebook and its effects until my wrists hurt and my fingers throbbed.

Famished, I threw a pizza in the oven and opened a bottle of wine. Then I phoned Mom again to tell her about my amazing day. No answer again. I went to bed perfectly satisfied.

I woke Friday morning to no less than 177 unanswered messages. I checked my blog and gasped at the number of new subscribers. I spent most of the day replying to people who followed suit who also gave away one, five and ten dollar bills to random people. My small impact was rippling.

Later, I dressed. Since our small city had only two French restaurants, I had a good idea what to wear.

Luke looked dashing in the crewneck and sport coat he was wearing. His soft waves fell over his eyebrows.

We were seated at a small round table. It had a white tablecloth and burgundy linen napkins. There was a skinny lamp in the middle.

I was ginning from ear to ear. "Can I tell you about the neatest experience?" I blurted.

"Of course."

I took the little black book out of my clutch. "I guessed you placed this at my door." I told him all about the charity and my marvelous adventure yesterday. "And look," I said showing him my blog, "I have nearly 8000 new subscribers since I wrote about it last night!"

He wore a wry smile. Then admitted, "It was me. I did put the book at your door." He reached his hand across the table and gently caressed my fingers.

"What gives?"

"The book came to me in the mail from your mom by accident. She had the wrong apartment number."

I pulled my hand back. "You read my mail." I erected an instant wall.

"I simply opened it without knowing." He paused, "Hear me out."

"Okay." I leaned back, guarded.

"I was an early subscriber. Your ideas intrigue me; and the attached note was two sentences." He showed me.

"I'm flattered, thanks. So, you saw the rules then."

"I made the rules."

"Pardon?"

The waiter brought us some warm rolls. "Wine this evening?"

Luke suggested, "House Bordeaux, please."

I nodded.

"I couldn't resist the temptation to be playful."

"Why?"

"To see the glowing look on your face and hear your animated voice telling me about the thrill of giving money away."

I let out a long sigh. "It was exhilarating."

"There's nothing quite like it."

Butterflies danced in my belly.

The waiter poured our wine. "Ready to order?"

"We haven't even looked at our menus," I managed.

"Very good, then." He made a silent departure.

Just then my phone rang. It was Mom. "I need to take this."

"Please."

"Hi Mom. Got the notebook with some interesting additions."

Luke waited with patience as I gave her the abridged version before wrapping up the conversation. Mom asked to speak to Luke. I handed him my cell.

They spoke like old friends with interjections of laughter throughout. He finally hung up.

Staring into his devilish, brown eyes I demanded, "Well?"

He returned my cell. "She said she's coming for Thanksgiving. We'll have dinner at my place."

"Really?" I queried with hardly any sarcasm.

"And she told me numerous times how proud she is of you," then added, "you're very talented and beautiful."

We ordered. Dinner ended up being delightful in every possible way.

We had dessert boxed. "Your prize," Luke said helping me with my coat. "Let's finsih it tomorrow." He kissed me skillfully.

I hoped this was my last first date.