30 Days

Donna opened her door one Saturday morning to find a black duffel bag on her porch. Sitting on top of the bag was a simple, pocket-sized, black leather notebook. Bewildered, Donna looked around, but there was no one in sight. Bending over, she picked up the notebook and opened it to the first page.

"The money and any profit from it is yours to keep if you maintain possession of this notebook for 30 days." That was the sentence on the first page. All of the other pages were blank, and there was no indication who had left it.

Money? Donna looked back down at the bag and carefully opened the zipper. The bag was stuffed full of twenties. Startled, she glanced around again. Still no one. After some deliberation, she picked up the bag and took it inside. Her errands could wait for another day.

It took awhile to count the money. $20,000, almost half of her annual salary as a teacher. Enough to change her life, but where did it come from? She spent the rest of the afternoon searching the web for any news of recent thefts, but there was nothing that would account for the large sum in the duffel bag. There was no evidence that anyone was searching for the money, and the notebook said it was hers to keep.

The notebook. She had left it on the kitchen counter when she came in. She examined it again, but there was still no clue to its provenance. There wasn’t even a manufacturer’s mark.

The alarm on her phone went off to remind her that it was time to pick up her son, Jacob, from his overnight camping trip. Donna quickly hid the duffel bag in her bedroom closet before heading out the door.

Jacob was an energetic 10-year-old. He regaled her with stories of sleeping on the ground and telling ghost stories the entire ride home, stopping only long enough to beg her to drive through McDonald’s. Why not, she thought. After all, she had just come into a large sum of money. Why not splurge a little?

Jacob munched happily on French fries the rest of the way home. Once inside, he made quick work of his cheeseburger and tried to make a beeline for his game system, but Donna wasn’t having it. “You haven’t bathed since Thursday night. No games until you do.”

Jacob grumbled a little, shaking his head to toss his dirty blond hair out of his eyes. “But there’s a raid tonight, Mom!”

“Your friends and the game will still be there after a bath,” Donna replied firmly. Defeated, Jacob rushed to the bathroom, determined to power up the game system as soon as possible.

Day 3

Donna was pouring coffee into her travel mug before leaving for work when she saw that the little black notebook was open on the counter. Curious, she moved closer to take a look. Under the header of “Monday” on the left hand page, it read, “Donna found $20 today.”

Baffled, Donna examined the handwriting more closely. It wasn’t hers, and it didn’t look like Jacob’s. Still, she called out to Jacob on the couch, “Jacob, did you write in this notebook?”

Jacob barely looked up from his tablet and replied, “Nope.”

Donna closed the book and put the lid on her coffee. No time for riddles this morning; she had to get herself and Jacob to school.

The day was otherwise uneventful. Donna did her best to teach English to uninterested high school students and quietly counted down the minutes until she could go home. After the last bell, she walked over to the upper elementary to pick up Jacob. As she walked between buildings, a $20 bill blew up against her leg. She picked it up, thinking about the entry in the notebook this morning. That’s odd, she thought to herself, shoving the bill in her purse and continuing on her way.

When she and Jacob arrived home, the notebook was open again. Donna quickly walked to the counter. On the same page, another entry had appeared. “Donna didn’t know what to think of the day’s strange occurrence. Little did she know that she was about to find another $20 under the couch.”

This was starting to get eerie, but Donna walked to the couch and looked underneath. Sure enough, another $20. She picked it up and moved back to the book to find that yet another entry had appeared. “Donna realized that everything written in the book appeared to come true, even though it seemed impossible.”

Donna shook her head. No one had access to her house besides her, so how could someone be writing in the notebook, especially in the few minutes her back was turned? This was getting creepy.

After she made dinner for herself and Jacob, she couldn’t help herself. Channeling every police show she’d ever seen, she searched the house for any evidence of surveillance, but she didn’t find anything. She had no idea what was going on, but it didn’t seem to be anything dangerous, so she’d continue to keep the money and notebook.

Day 8

Every day that week, she’d awake to find a new entry in the notebook, all involving money, and every single entry came true. She had made $1000 in one week in found money. Today, she awakened to find another entry, “Donna was going to be alone for the entire day, so it seemed like a good opportunity to take the $1000 and the notebook to a casino to see what this thing could do.”

Donna considered this. Jacob was supposed to go to his father’s house for the weekend, so it was true that she would be alone.

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. She opened the door to see her ex, Erik. His dark hair fell into his brown eyes; Jacob got his unruly hair from his father. Donna shouted to the back of the house, “Jacob, your father’s here!” before inviting Erik in for coffee.

Used to his son’s constant lack of preparation, Erik accepted. They’d been divorced for 5 years, long enough to rekindle the friendship that fueled their relationship before years of financial and familial strain wore it thin.

Erik sat on a barstool at the counter and sipped his coffee. “How goes work?” he asked.

Donna drank her coffee and replied, “Well, I don’t want to kill any of the kids so far, so they’re a good group. Would be nice if I didn’t have to buy supplies out of my own pocket, but you know how that goes.”

Erik nodded his head. He’d been a teacher too, before he went back to school for a finance degree and became a CPA. “Definitely don’t miss it. Sure I can’t talk you into joining the exciting world of finance?”

Donna laughed. “You know that’s so not my thing.”

Just then, Jacob came flying from the back of the house, nearly knocking his father off the stool with the force of his hug. “Dad! I’m ready, let’s go!”

Erik hugged his son back, “Ok, kiddo, let’s get on our way.” He turned to thank Donna for the coffee before heading out. Jacob would be with him until Monday morning.

Donna had decided. What the hell, she may as well see what this little black book could do.

She arrived at the casino around lunchtime. Following the description in the book, she found a particular slot machine and bet the max bet. Immediately, she hit the bonus feature and netted an additional $500. Looking back at the notebook, she saw that another entry had appeared, instructing her to move to the roulette table. She did so and quickly turned her $1500 into over $50,000. Next was the blackjack table, and so on for the rest of the afternoon. By the end of the day, she walked out with $500,000. That was 10 years of salary, free and clear. The last entry of the day in the notebook summed it up perfectly, “Donna had no idea what to do with her windfall, but she knew it would let her do something important.”

Day 29

It was utterly unbelievable, but after nearly a month of following the notebook’s instructions, she had grown the initial $20,000 into 5 million. She had long since stopped questioning the book’s predictions. Today, the notebook reminded her, “Donna realized that after tomorrow, the money would be hers forever, and her life would be completely changed.” You got that right, she thought to herself.

However, the next entry threw her world into disarray, “Little did Donna know that the price for her good fortune would be paid in blood. Tomorrow, she would lose her ex-husband and son. There would be an accident on Cherry Street, and someone was going to die.”

Donna reeled in shock. How could she be so close to making things right for her family, only to have it yanked away? What kind of price was that to ask? She closed the door to her bedroom for several hours and thought. Finally, she made a decision and left the house, leaving Jacob to sit in the car with his tablet while she attended a meeting. When she finally came back to the car, Jacob was struck by the resolute look on his mom’s face.

Day 30

Donna invited Erik over for a family movie marathon. It was a common occurrence during their days as a family, but they hadn’t had one since the divorce. Jacob excitedly made microwave popcorn before they all settled onto the couch.

In the middle of Mulan, Jacob’s favorite animated movie, Donna made her move. “I didn’t get enough sodas,” she said, getting up from the couch. “I’ll make a quick run for more.”

Erik tried to stop her, “I’ll do it.”

Donna simply turned him down, insisting it was her responsibility as host. Erik like Mulan almost as much as Jacob, so it wasn’t hard to convince him. Donna turned back to see her boys before walking out to her car. The flickering TV cast both of their faces in shadow, but she memorized every detail nonetheless. She loved them both so much.

The drive to the store was uneventful, but as she turned onto Cherry Street on her way back home, she saw a silver flash from the corner of her eye. As she turned her head, she saw a car that had run the red light barreling directly toward her. She closed her eyes and thought of her boys.

Day 40

The lawyer’s office was uncomfortably cold. Jacob fidgeted in his chair while his father spoke with the lawyer about his mother’s will. Erik hadn’t even known that Donna had a will, but apparently she had drafted one just the day before her death. Donna didn’t have any other family, so he had been the one to receive her belongings after the accident. There wasn’t much there, just her purse and an empty black leather notebook stained in blood. He had thrown all of it away; it was just too hard to deal with right now.

He realized he had drifted off when the lawyer cleared his throat. Once he made eye contact, the lawyer continued reading, “In my closet, you’ll find 5 million dollars in a duffel bag. The money is to be placed in a trust for Jacob and used only for his needs. Erik will be the executor of the trust, entitled to all legally-mandated executor fees.”

What the hell? Erik thought. There was no way Donna had that kind of cash, not on her salary. Sure enough, though, when he looked in her closet, there it was, a bag stuffed with cash. Their son was going to have a great future ahead of him, thanks to Donna.