Painted Rocks and the Little Black Book

The town was covered with a fresh coat of snow. The streets were newly plowed and glistened which was in stark contrast with the high mounds of flat white in the yards that lined them. At one point in the not too distant past the town was teaming with both work and legend, it was hustle and bustle by day chatter and whisper by night. Where once knick-knack shops and boutique stores thrived, now were boarded up windows and empty storefronts with sidewalks that go unshoveled. Across the street, where the sidewalks were cleared by the town’s people, Phoenix walks hand-in-hand with his mother, Anne. They walk slowly, being sure to check for icy spots. Phoenix watching his feet avoid the ice, and cracks for good measure. His eyes strayed from his task to be taken with the views from across the street and then bounced up to find his mother’s gaze.

“Momma?”

A delicate smile strewn across her face as she answered,

“Yes, my dear?”

“Momma,” he repeated “Was the town always like this?”

He stopped and pointed at the boarded and blacked out windows. Anne took a moment, looking at the shops, then her son, trying to formulate the best age-appropriate answer she could. But, when she found nothing, she simply replied,

“It’s complicated.”

While he accepted that answer in the moment, both knew this was not the end of this particular conversation and they continued on their way to Grandma’s house.

Phoenix opened the gate to Grandma’s yard and ran toward the door but as he got there the door pulled inward and Grandma was there to greet him with a big hug.

“Did you have a fun walk over, Pumpkin’?”

“Uh-huh, we walked down Main Street. Momma, help me with my boots.”

“Ask Grandma”, she said.

Grandma knelt down and started undoing his laces, one hand on her shoulder the other he took off his own hat.

“Grandma, was the town always like this, all closed? I asked mama, but she doesn’t know.”

Grandma pulled off one boot already and had untied and was about to pull off the second boot. She looked up at her daughter.

“Oh, Mama didn’t know, you say?

“Ut-uh, she said its compacated”.

“Complicated?”

“Yea, that.”

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No, it means its a long story.”

“So, you know the long story, Momma?” Phoenix asked.

Now looking up at his mother, with his socks on and his snowsuit half off, Grandma pulling one leg at a time through the little blue puffy elastic holes.

“I do, but I think maybe it’s a story Grandma would want to tell you while you spend time at her house today.”

“You aren’t staying Mama?”

“No baby, Momma has to go to work, Daddy is going to come pick you up after he gets off of work and bring you home. Maybe, if Grandma has finished the story by then, you can tell Daddy and me the story over dinner tonight. How’s that sound?”

“I don’t know.” Phoenix said half sulking, swaying his right foot back and forth with his shoulder shrugged.

“I think Daddy will be very excited to hear a story that has a treasure hunt in it”. Grandma said, which instantly perked up Phoenix’s mood.

“A treasure hunt?”

Grandma nodded, “The town shops used to help too, so, whatda ya say?”

Phoenix shook his head up and down with vigor and ran and jumped on to the couch, clutched one of the pillows, shaped as a cloud, and shrieked.

“Tell me! Tell me!”

“Okay, Pumpkin, one min.”

She looked to her daughter with a soft smile.

“You gonna be okay, ma?” Asked Anne.

“I’ll be fine dear.”

“Okay ma, Layton will be here after work to pick him up”.

“I know, honey, this isn’t my first rodeo, I love you”.

“I love YOU, have a good day at work”.

They kissed on the cheek, and Anne said,

“Come give your Momma a kiss goodbye, be good for Grandma, Daddy will be here later to get you.”

Phoenix came running over, his little feet hitting the hardwood floor an a soft staccato pattern as he jumped into his mother’s arms.

“I know Mama, this isn’t my first radio.” Phoenix said.

“Rodeo, baby, your first Rodeo”, she repeated with a giggle in her voice. “Have a fun day with Grandma.”

She gave him a big kiss on the forehead and put him down.

“Okay Mama, Rodeo... I will.”

Anne left out the front door and Phoenix ran to the window to watch her leave and wave until he couldn’t see her any more. He turned to see his grandmother already seated on the couch with a grin.

“You ready?” she asked.

He ran straight into her arms and she scooped him up and sat him next to her on the couch.

“The Hunt for the Painted Rocks and the Little Black Book”, Grandma said.

“Wait, wait” said Phoenix, “I thought it was ‘bout a treasure hunt”.

“It is, I am getting to that. Not too long ago, back when the town had grand parades and fair over in the Church yard there were painted rocks hidden in gardens and the town’s shops. There was a scavenger hunt for them, one leading to the next and so on, and at the end, the very last rock led whomever had solved all the clues to a ‘Little Black Book’. “

Phoenix interrupted.

“That’s not a treasure.”

“It can be,” Grandma replied.

“Nooo.”

“Anything can be written in a book, but, in this particular book was a code written by the richest man in town, the Mayor.”

“But, what’s the code for?”

“The code was the last clue, if anyone found that, the Mayor promised to give a $20,000 prize to anyone who knew the code word.”

“Oooh!” Phoenix exclaimed with his eyes widening and his hand over his mouth which quickly washed away. “Grandma?”

“Yes Pumpkin’?”

“Is that a lot?”

“It can be, surely” she replied. “Now let me continue.”

Phoenix smiled and snuggle up to her shoulder, gazing out the window.

“The first rock was painted with beautiful vibrant colors of a clue which led to the next rock. It was found by a little boy down to street, not much older than you.”

“He was?”

She smiled an nodded. “On the rock was painted a picture of a blue circle and green triangles.”

“THE LAKE,” he said standing up on the couch pointing arbitrarily toward a wall.

“Yes dear, very good. So everyone searched the lakeshore for the second clue, a man found a rock with a big brown and green semicircle with a yellow full circle next to it.”

This made Phoenix sit back a second and put his hand to his chin,

“The mountain and a bright sun?”

“YES!”, cried grandma, “You’re very good at this!”

“Did anyone ever get the Little Black Book and the twenty thousand money?”

“Twenty Thousand dollars?” At this point, Phoenix was fidgeting around “Don’t you wanna hear the rest of the story?“

“I’m hungry, maybe we can finish it after.”

“Okay, lets go see what you’re going to have for lunch.”

Grandma looked through the refrigerator, pulled out Chicken soup, which he shook his head ‘No’ to. She then picked up cold cuts and bread which he also didn’t want. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a box of ‘Mac-n-Cheese’ and his eyes lit up and he nodded “Yummy!”

So, Grandma made his lunch. Phoenix ate the whole bowl, even going as far as to lick up some of the extra cheese sauce and lick the spoon clean.

“All Done!”, He said.

Grandma cleaned up and asked, “Do you wanna finish the story now?”

“Later, lets go make a snowman!”

Grandma nodded and walked to the front door, they put on his snowsuit, his hat and mittens, they put on his boots and tied the laces up nice and tight. Grandma grabbed her overcoat and bundled up and they went outside. They built an igloo, but a small one, for the animals. They built a small snowman that Phoenix named Harold, then loaned his hat to him. Grandma told Phoenix to fill a bucket up with decorations for the igloo’s garden so he walked around the yard picking up twigs, leaves and rocks. He walked over to the fence on the side that lined Main Street and halfway under the fence was a brightly painted rock. He pried it free and let out an excited yelp. “Grandma, Grandma!”

He dropped the bucket and ran over to her waving the rock.

“My heavens, where did you find that?”

“Over by the fence, it was stuck.”

He handed her the rock but neither could make out the smudged and scratched painting.

“Is it another clue?” He asked.

“It could be the FINAL clue. I never finished the story before, it’s never been found. But, its hard to tell.” Grandma put the rock in Phoenix’s pocket. “For safe keeping.” He nodded. “Let’s go inside, have some Cocoa and warm up”.

The sun was slowly disappearing behind the capped mountains when Layton opened the door.

“Hello” he greeted.

Phoenix came running and jumped into his arms

“Was he much trouble?”

“None at all.” She said with a big smile.

“Daddy, look!” Phoenix said, retrieving the rock from his coat pocket, “it could be the final clue!”

Layton looked at the rock with a big yellow rectangle on it, inside a small white rectangle, off centered, all scratched and weathered each barely shapes at all. “It could be.” he replied, with a smile that adults sometimes give to children and their fantastical ideas. “Now thank grandma, give her a kiss and get bundled up we have to be on our way home.” Phoenix did as he was told, Layton thanked Grandma again and he opened the door. “Come on, time to go.”

“My legs are tired,” Phoenix said in a pouty voice.

“Come on, hop up” and he picked him up, his son’s chin nestled into his shoulder.

“Oh, you’re going to spoil him”, Grandma said: Layton simply smiled. “And, that’s my job.”, She finished.

“Good night” And they were off into the dusk.

Phoenix had his head on his fathers should as he pulled the rock from his pocket, spinning it as to try to figure out which side was up, as they turned the corner onto Main Street, the sun, still poking out from behind the mountain, glazed all the windows with a fiery yellow, when something caught Phoenix’s eye.

“Dad! There!”

The sun in the window, from his view, was partially blocked by the hanging ‘Children’s Dentist’ sign.

“The sign?” his father asked. “That was owned by the mayor, but he closed it down since there weren’t that many kids in town anymore.”

“Yes it’s the rock’s picture.”

They walked over and Phoenix studied the sign, and from his vantage point, him being kid sized, he saw the sign was hollow from the bottom and there was something wedged inside. He pried it out and his father gasped. Both of their eyes affixed on this Little Black Book,

“Son, do you realized what this means?”

“What?”

“You’ve won the $20,000.”

“Right now?” He asked.

“Well, we’ll have to wait till tomorrow to claim it. Do you know what you’re going to do with it?”

Phoenix said “I don’t know.”

“Well you have tonight to think of it.” he replied.

They began to walk home and Phoenix looked around the town, his eyes soaking in all that encompassed this small town, then suddenly stopped walking.

“Dad?”

“Yea buddy?”

“I wanna give it to the town to open up the stores again.”

“You do? Are you sure?”

“Yea I am.”

“Well that’s very generous of you, and a great idea.”

Phoenix ran into his father’s arms again, and his dad carried him all the way home.