The little black book that fell from above

The little black book that fell from above

It was a warm summer day, during the year 1910 at an orphanage in a small city in Jalisco, Mexico. Alejandro had been sitting outside on the swings thinking about what it would be like to have real brothers and sisters. He had friends who he considered to be his siblings since they had grown up together, but none of them were related to him. He heard the bell ring which meant it was suppertime; but he hesitated to go inside. He knew if he didn’t return soon that he would be forced to do chores and he would surely miss out on dinner. Food was scarce, especially living at a shelter where the food wasn’t enough for the number of kids they had. As he jumped off the swing and made his way to the big wooden doors, he said a prayer in silence. He prayed that a kind and loving family would one day adopt him, he knew they had to be out there somewhere in the world.

Alejandro woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and alert, he was the first of the orphans to wash up and do their morning chores. In return one of the caretakers gave him an extra bread roll, so he went out to the playground and sat on the swings to enjoy it. There was a long road that led to the orphanage and on either side of the road was an empty field. He watched the birds fly from the large trees to search for food. Alejandro knew what it was like to be hungry all the time, so he walked over to the where birds were and threw what bread he had left to them. He then noticed a red truck driving down the road towards the orphanage; He thought to himself, this could be the moment! He put on a smile and waited for the truck to get closer so that he could be the first one to greet them. As the car passed by, he waved and said hello, they waved back to him and parked. A man and his wife stepped out of the truck.

Mr. and Mrs. Montoya had been living together happily for quite some time, but after having a son together they longed to have more children. After years of having no luck with another child they began to consider adoption. One beautiful summer day the couple decided to go look at an orphanage not too far away from where they lived. As they drove down the long driveway, they noticed a boy playing outside, he had the most charming smile and greeted them both very politely. After talking with the boy for a few minutes the mother looked to her husband and they both knew their search was over. The boy was kindhearted and well mannered, plus he seemed familiar as if they had already met. They told the boy they would return and when they did, they had all of his belongings and said, “Alejandro how would you like to go meet your new brother?” That was the happiest day of his life.

Ten years had passed…Alejandro was now eighteen and the Spanish Influenza was wreaking havoc across Mexico, it was now on its second and deadliest wave. Although life seemed uninviting at times Alejandro had been keeping a positive mindset because he knew that god would keep him and his family safe. Luckily, no one in his family had caught the virus, and to keep his family safe he told them it would be best if he left home to dedicate himself to the church by becoming the priest’s apprentice. His family was Catholic and agreed that it was necessary for his rite of passage to learn from a priest everything about the religion. Alejandro looked up to Father Fernando and always listened to what he had to say, he knew that being kind and loving to any creature was always the right thing to do. One day when he was a young boy, he was walking home and noticed there was a stray dog following him, he sensed the dog was weary and didn’t see it as a threat. “Here boy” he called the dog over and took his water jug from his bag. “Are you thirsty boy?” he could see in the dogs eyes the desperation to live and knew it had been suffering from dehydration. He didn’t have a bowl with him, so he let the dog drink right from his jug, he was just happy to have made a new friend. He began walking home and the dog started following him, ever since that day they were best friends.

Alejandro and Father Fernando were out at the market one day picking up a couple things they needed so Alejandro made his way over to the banana stand. However, it was not the banana’s he was interested in, it was the merchant’s daughter that he couldn’t take his eyes off of. She had long beautiful black hair and light brown eyes, he had never seen a woman so beautiful. Every day that they visited the market he would go by the stand and try to get up the courage to ask her what her name was, and every day he left without knowing it. This day was different, he woke up feeling sure of himself that he could do it, but knew he had to act on it before his confidence faded. He noticed that she was alone today and knew it was the perfect opportunity, so he marched over to the stand. “Afternoon” She said, “I’ve seen you here at the market before, but I never got your name.” “My names Alejandro, it’s a pleasure to meet you” he replied. “What’s your name?” “Talia”, she replied. He was about to respond when he saw a strange looking man out in the field staring right at him. The man looked haggard and it sent a shiver up Alejandro’s spine, so he looked away.

The girl looked at him strangely laughed and said, “are you okay?” he hesitated and then responded “yes.” He looked back at the field and the man was gone. She turned around to see what he was staring at and saw nothing. “Are you sure you’re okay?” she said, “you look like you just saw a ghost or something.” Alejandro was not sure what he had witnessed and replied, “Yeah I’m ok just a little parched is all, do you have any water?” he did not want her to think he was crazy. “I have a little left” she replied, “but you can have it.” After drinking the water, he Suddenly thought about Father Fernando and told the girl he must go find his priest. He felt bad leaving so suddenly but sensed there was something wrong with Fernando. Crowds of people were blocking the entrance to the market and Alejandro could not see what was causing the commotion. As he got closer, he saw a man lying on the ground and immediately realized it was the priest.

People were keeping their distance but seemed as if they wanted to help, he pushed through the crowd and ran up to him “Father, Father!” He checked to make sure he was still breathing; he was. Alejandro looked around quickly for help and felt mortified that he was not there when this happened. A woman emerged from the crowd and said, “I saw the whole thing happen it looked like he had a heart attack, I called the paramedics and they’re on the way.” He stayed at the hospital that evening with Father Fernando reading some of the bible verses that he had showed him, the nurse woke him up and told him he should return home and that they would call him once the priest regained consciousness. She asked one of the nurses getting off work to give him a ride back home, he had been staying next to the church in a small casita but felt he should stay in the church that night. That night he struggled to fall asleep, it felt strange but yet safe sleeping in the church. As he slept, he dreamt he was in the church one night and his dog started barking at something outside. In his dream he came outside to see his dog Dulce barking at something in the trees but saw nothing. “Stop” he said, Dulce stopped and then suddenly she took off into the trees. Alejandro ran after her but had forgotten how fast she was. He was deep in the trees when the dog stopped, he suddenly stopped and saw a beautiful girl in the distance sitting on a tree branch.

“Hello Alejandro” she said, he stared back in shock, she seemed identical to Talia but had a glowing aurora around her wearing a beautiful white dress. “What are you doing out here?” he said. “That’s not important; do you wish to help your priest and make him better again?” she replied. “Yes of course! But how did you know that he’s sick?” “I am his guardian angel, in your church there lies a little black book and in this book you will find a map with the means to save his life. You must hurry for he doesn’t have much time left.” Alejandro woke up the next morning sweating and knew that it wasn’t just a dream, he felt as if it was a message from God. He knew that his dream was too profound to be just a dream, and that incident he had with the mysterious man was still puzzling him. Could the two be connected? He thought hard about where he had seen the man and then remembered seeing him in the church the following week. He remembered the man had looked very ill that day, he was going to approach him after the service just to make sure he was okay, but the man had already left. Alejandro recalled the man holding a little black book that day and thought maybe he had left it behind on accident. He walked over to the pew where the man had been sitting and low and behold there was the small black notebook he carried.

It had to be the same one the angel had mentioned so he picked it up and quickly started looking through it. But all the pages were blank, his heart sank into his chest, could he of made the whole thing up? His gut told him to look in the back, but he did not see anything at first, he then noticed one of the corners slightly peeled back. He peeled it back and there was a map with the X marked down a few yards from a lighthouse. A lighthouse that Alejandro thought looked identical to the one just a few miles up the coast. He had a feeling it had to be money that someone had buried, so decided he would set out that night to find it. The moonlight lit his path that night and the map was very easy to understand, he got down the hill where the map showed the lighthouse found the spot on the map and started digging…After digging for hours he found a chest buried and inside the chest was 20,000 Dollars. He knew this was more than enough money to save the priest, with this money he could start a new life somewhere away from the pandemic with the girl he wanted to marry and his best friend Dulce. Alejandro felt so grateful and knew he would give some of the money to his family for giving him such a great life. He knew it was the right thing to do, he looked up at the sky and said, “The lord has shown me kindness so now I will go and spread joy among the world where it’s needed!”