The Little Black Book

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Elisa! Happy Birthday to you!” with a deep breath Elisa blew out her red candles on a round chocolate cake and made a wish. “What did you wish Elisa?” asked her parents, but she refused to tell them or else it would not come true, so she believed.

Elisa’s parents were struck with poverty and could not afford Elisa a present every year which encouraged her to evacuate into her loft room and create imaginary scenarios if she were rich. Daily after school, she would reach into her collection of costumes in a chest of drawers and dress up in front of the mirror making demands to her fictitious friends all around her. However, there was one character who was very much real to her and very much alive “Grandad, please fetch my coat, we are going for a ride”. Elisa wore purple ribbon in her hair with a sparkling dress to match, skin coloured tights and pink dolly like shoes. Creeping on her tiptoes, she climbed through her window leaving it ajar and jumped onto the roof. She went about her journey outdoors with a brazen assurance that she was not alone or scared and into the night she disappeared.

Along her way she asked Grandad a series of questions in her heart, why she could not be like other children? Why was her family so poor? How could she get rich without going to school? What was his dying wish? And so, she would find solace in a bar of candy left in her coat pocket. Peppermint. The smell of peppermint lingered in the air as a reminder of his love for her and her love for him despite all the questions and uncertainty. What was certain, was her familiar surroundings as if she were in a portrait she followed the dark brown path beneath her feet covered in pollen from the trees above which cloaked her with their branches. Grandad was a lofty and handsome man who was always seen in a suite as he was an undertaker, he had an uncanny presence about him which he had passed down to Elisa however she had only met him once as he had passed away before her first birthday. Tonight she had a special appointment as she intuitively knew that on this particular birthday that he had something to tell her.

Further into the forest, a small cottage house was in plain sight. Cloudy smoke left the chimney and cobwebs in the window cascaded down onto the wooden door. Elisa gently pushed the door open. “I’ve been expecting you dear, you must be cold” said a decrepit old lady by the fire. “Grandma Jocelyne!” screamed Elisa as she ran into her lap and embraced her with a tight hug. On the table sat a bowl of soup however, it was accompanied by a black briefcase and a photo of grandad in black and white. “He would have wanted you to have it…but you must not open it until you have made your confessions” warned Grandma Jocelyn. She did not leave the rocking chair and told tales of Grandad to Elisa before the glass clock chimed as an indicator it was time to leave. On the way back home, Elisa could not stop thinking of the mysterious briefcase and felt closer to Grandad than she had ever felt before. She knew that her time with Grandma Jocelyne was getting less frequent due to her old age and the way she spoke of Grandad as if she was ready to meet him. It was this reason why Elisa had agreed to meet Grandma Jocelyne in a fortnight and to not question where she was going.

The briefcase lay under Elisa’s bed without her parents discovering it. Elisa could not help but hear a chanting beat as if it where beckoning her to open it; nevertheless, she would not disobey her Grandma Jocelyne and so Elisa made immediate plans after school to attend her local church instead of her extra - curricular violin activity. The building was a large and beautiful cathedral decorated with stained glass windows of Jesus Christ, the virgin mother Mary and angels. Gargoyles stared intently at Elisa as she approached the entrance to the pulpit. Inside was magnificent mahogany that echoed between each pew and before her stood a box with a figure sitting inside. “Forgive me Father. For I have sinned” said Elisa as she clasped her hands together and confessed a list of reoccurring negative thoughts she had about her parents. She began to sing and a melody flowed from her mouth into a harmonious tune. As Elisa started singing, her head was blessed with oil and she imagined the warm embrace of Grandad. She lit a candle and sat down in the pew meditating upon the briefcase in her room and what may be inside.

That night Elisa had a dream that she would escape from her balcony window on her birthday, however this time she would not be coming back. “Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Elisa, Happy Birthday to you!...what will you wish Elisa” asked her parents. She smiles and responds, “I wish to be rich”. In one hand was Grandads unopened brief case and in the other she held his photo and left silently into the night. Down in the forest Grandma Joycelyn awaited her in a horse and carriage, kissing her on the forehead “Did you make your confessions!” asked Grandma Jocelyne, “of course” replied Elisa. Seated opposite one another they stared into each others eyes with love and had an unspoken alliance, both knowing that what should behold them was no business of Elisa’s parents, therefore she had no regrets. She was absconding and although she loved her parents, her destiny seemed bigger as her inquisitive nature now needed to search out family secrets and fortune from strangers. “Are we there yet grandma Joycelyn?” asked Elisa as night turned into day. Grandma Jocelyne did not answer as she had fallen asleep and they soon arrived into a new town named Until The End Of Time. A firm hand appeared through the curtain and escorted Elisa out of the carriage however Grandma Jocelyne did not respond and Elisa felt her body getting cold. She started to sing as tears rolled down her pale cheeks “I love you Grandma Jocelyne”.

Until The End Of Time was a neighbouring village full of dwarfs. They were dressed in silk and linin with no shoes on their feet. Greeting one another with baskets of water and food on their heads, Elisa turned around to see the carriage that she had rode in was now aflame as the horse galloped away into sunlight. She held onto the hand of a woman with ordinary height and proportion who led her into a tent with a wash basin and gowns in there. Elisa washed herself and recognised the blue gown that her Grandma Jocelyn had been wearing and put it on with care. Elisa span around dancing and gliding in the air before sensing she was being watched and she came to a stop. Standing in the entrance was the same woman who had led her into the tent. She was covered in gold beads and henna patterns on her hands and feet. The lady held Elisa’s Grandads briefcase and photo. In a soft voice she said “They are together now”.

Elisa grew speechless and would draw everything she could see from the tent. She observed the dwarfs walking and the children playing on the horizon. The trees coward over barrels of hay sitting next to baskets of exotic fruit and vegetables. She was free to go where she pleased but would not leave as she believed this was her destination and where her grandparents had led her. Nights turned into days until Elisa finally decided to open the briefcase. She sat on the grass with her legs crossed and slowly opened the case to find a little black book of astrology secrets resembling a Bible and a telephone book. To her disbelief, she discovered $20,000 inside which read “What book was once owned by only the wealthy but now everyone can have it, you cant buy it in a bookstore or take it from the library.” Elisa slammed the case shut and arose to her feet. She cried in awe with her hands clasped around her face and on her shoulder she felt the firm hand of the Lady in gold.

A round natural quartz crystal ball hovered in the air between Elisa and the lady in gold. Elisa realised she had woken in the lady’s tent, a reader, instead of her own tent, which felt nostalgic and sacred. It was a cold night and she felt like a pretty bird in the clouds. The cracks, clouds and flaws helped the reader see different visions. She closed her eyes and held Elisa’s hands in hers and said “I see you making a decision. A very big decision. I see a telephone book. I see a monastery on fire”.

“NO!” Screeched Elisa. She ran out of the tent as far as her feet could take her until she stumbled in front of a gravestone. The reader had ran after Elisa with the briefcase and demanded Elisa open it. Elisa shouted “I’ve made my decision! I’ve solved the riddle –‘What book was once owned by only the wealthy but now everyone can have it, you can’t buy it in a bookstore or take it from the library’ it’s the telephone book in your vision!” Tears flowed down Elisa’s face and pages from the little black book flew up into the air as the reader walked away and said “Beware! if you follow through with your fortune and do not donate it to the monastery as your Grandad wished, your fate… a bitter ending. Your curse...will be those who become the deceased in your telephone book” and before Elisa could reply, her eyes met the top of the list in her telephone book, reading, Grandad.