Page 639

They say there’s a reason behind everything that happens in one’s life. Or perhaps that’s what I have come to believe, after what happened with a good friend of mine, Sam, not very long ago. He had just moved into our locality and had made quite a few friends in no time!

Sam was a visionary and believed in simple living but high thinking. Not a day went by when someone in need was not helped in some way or another. After the day’s work, Sam would spare a couple hours each day and teach a group of students who could not afford to secure additional tuitions after school, in his backyard.

One evening, as he was getting ready to get back to his den to make supper, his eyes fell on a mysterious little black book by the fireplace inserted into the wall, taking the place of a brick. Curiosity knew no bounds as he leaned forward to extract the book from its nest, wondering why, of all places would one keep a book there! Not to mention no one had bothered to collect it after all this while.

Sam carefully unwrapped the plastic sheet protecting the book, to look for information about its owner, but in vain. He decided to bring it back with him to read at peace, after he had had his dinner. He carefully placed the book on the table in his study, and got back to the kitchen to prepare something to eat, but alas! He was so consumed by the sudden distraction that the mysterious book had caused, that he had forgotten all about buying groceries that evening!

He chuckled and scooted off on his bike to bring home some vegetables and milk from the grocery store nearby. Given that it was a weekend, and he had decided to spend his entire day reading the new book he had found, snuggling up in bed with a blanket and some ice cream, so he managed to bring along a few tubs of different flavoured ice cream.

Sam casually enquired about the whereabouts of the previous owner of the house with the locals while he was outside. Not many knew anything about it. Few others claimed that the house had been vacant for many years. For a few moments there, Sam felt as if his life was like a thriller movie in action. He chuckled again and scooted back home to prepare dinner.

After a tasty and filling meal, it was the much awaited time to snuggle up in bed with the black beauty (as he had begun calling it) and some ice cream.

The book was quite thick, about a thousand pages or so, and Sam saw that the previous owner had highlighted few words in most of the pages and dog-eared few of them. Before starting to read its contents, Sam quickly glanced through the pages of the book and noticed that the pages after page 639 had no writings or highlights of any kind. A curious sensation overwhelmed him.

He finally began reading the book. It started off with a brief introduction about the author (or so it appeared). As he continued reading, he felt as if he knew what the author was talking about, or that he had experienced it himself, for the most part of it. The author mentioned about his day to day experiences, his encounters with people from different walks of life; each encounter bringing about a new experience and something to learn from. Sam stopped to think this might have been the author’s diary, although it looked quite unusual and was in print. The author described his house, the garden, the backyard, shops in the vicinity and so on. Sam looked around and realised that it was a description of the very house he was living in! Except for a few minor changes in the neighbourhood, everything else was described accurately. There were a few new apartments that were built since the time the book was written. More trees were grown by every individual in the locality who believed in the ‘Each one plant one’ slogan.

Curious and surprised at the same time, Sam continued on reading. It appeared that the author had built the house himself. Every detail of the house was accurately described in the book except for the backyard. It was somewhat poetic and seemed to have hidden messages in it. Page 639 of the book started off with ‘To he who waits, comes eventual success’

Sam had begun enjoying the little life hacks and life lessons that the author had to offer through his book. The author described a huge door with beautiful carvings on it, which Sam thought might have been something that the author might have wanted to add to the decor at some stage, but never got around to completing it. Little did he know what mystery awaited him!

The next morning Sam decided to read the book in the backyard by the fireplace. Enjoying a hot cup of tea, our inquisitive reader decided to play a little detective. He began piecing together the words in the book and the numerous questions that kept cropping up in his mind, and suddenly stopped. He thought to himself, ‘Was the book entitled Key to Narnia for a reason? Or did the author just have a weird sense of humour?’

He went back to the spot where the book was cleverly placed and peeped into the hollow to find more clues, if any. He was not wrong! He found that the hollow was deep. Curious, he decided to tear down the wall. Carefully and meticulously, he managed to tear down the wall, keeping intact the fireplace. There now, was the carved door which the author had beautifully described in his book. Sam thought to himself, ‘Curiosity does not always kill the cat’ and chuckled again!

The door had a chain lock which was easy to open. Sam opened the door, went inside and stood stunned for a few minutes. In the secret room (which was no longer a secret), he found large sums of money, gold and other treasure. Sam looked around and found a sealed envelope addressed ‘To the finder’ and a letter inside that explained all the wealth and the large sums of money. The author was a wealthy man who had amassed all the gold and treasure and wanted to put it to good use.

Sam’s joy knew no bounds! There was so much good he could do with the money, he thought! Although he couldn’t quite understand why the author would hide it all, if he wanted to put the money to good use. The detective mind then realised that he had not finished reading the book. So, he quickly got back to it, to see if there was more to the story.

The author was a well known artist who had helped many people in need, in his time. After retirement, he decided to travel the world. He went on to explain that he hoped that someone found the treasure that he had amassed. And in doing so, he would continue to keep up the good deed by helping others and keep a portion of it for himself as a reward. Sam was happy that he had the opportunity to fulfil the author’s desire. He helped establish a huge library in the community which was always open to everyone. He established a school that charged no fees to its students, for he believed that education is everyone’s right and people must not be penalised for wanting it.

The hidden room was expanded and converted to a home for the elderly, where Sam would spend his evenings assisting the elderly, eating with them, reading books to them and playing and organising variety of games to keep them entertained. Sam employed a few others to help assist him with this of course! What he thought was a diary or a storybook, turned out to be a treasure map in disguise!