The Little Black Book

The day of work started pretty typically for Jacob. He arrived at the convenience shop for work at 8:05(a couple minutes late per usual), consumed a cup of coffee and a donut, and then found his post behind the cash register, to begin idly flipping through a book of sorts while awaiting customers. Though nothing out of the ordinary had stirred quite yet, Jacob had the feeling that something miraculous was to occur that day. A slight upbeat apprehension that stirred his insides. Yet he sat and waited, unfazed.

There had been maybe a hundred or so receipts for his 6 hour day before Jacob was free for its remainder, to do whatever he liked. The day had been fulfilling to him. Nonetheless, the feeling of anticipation within Jacob had not subsided. He foresaw that something incredible was going to occur that night still. He was called to go browse his favorite bookstore, not because he lacked any new reading material, but because he always had meaningful encounters there. When the glass of the shop was in view, a character of peculiar interest stepped out from its entrance. Little did Jacob know how much this person would affect the rest of his life. The sharp birdlike features of the man’s face caught the boys attention, until their eyes met and their interaction began.

“Cool necklace.”

said Jacob, pointing to the blue and gold beaded collar that hung around his neck.

“Where is it from?”

The man stopped and leaned on a wooden cane, carved to have twin snakes winding it base to a winged top. He wore a gold and white cotton tunic and pants, a knapsack nearly overflowing with rolled up parchments on his back. Jacob thought to ask more but his first question still waited, unanswered.

“From my homeland”

The interestingly dressed man responded. Jacob was about to produce another question, when one was fed to him instead.

“Are you one to write?”

The question came in complete surprise, leaving Jacob to stumble over his words.

“Ermm...I do...a lot of reading” he mumbled

The next thing that the man did captivated the young cashier boys attention to such a degree, that it influenced the rest of his night.

The ancient attired nobel turned and pointed into the shop with his free hand, speaking.

“As within,”

He rotated to point to the park that stood across the street from them.

“So without.”

Jacob’s eyes had followed the stray finger to see what was being indicated towards. The dirt path that ran along the road and into an opening in the park’s trees lay bare and nothing atypical was even in sight.

“What d’ya--”

Jacob had turned to return his gaze to the eccentric specimen, finding only that he had disappeared.

Not entirely sure what had just happened, Jacob decided against going within the store, running instead towards the park, without going inside to ask the owner who the man was.

Jacob had been through the trails within the trees many times, it was fairly close to his apartment. This day was particularly beautiful, Jacob became aware as he finally settled into simply walking through the park, and gained a calm within the storm that was created by a man’s sudden disappearing act. The sun beams seemed to dance between trees, and create sparkling fairies in the dust that spiraled upon a breeze, that carried a magically musical tone. Enraptured by the elegance and serenity of the scene, Jacob’s feet lost track of the trail, and he walked through a brush which concealed an extreme change in pitch the earth took. Jacob tripped and rolled down through shrub and scraggle, to find himself on a trail he had never seen before. Spitting dirt and specks of blood from his mouth, he carefully picked himself back up. Standing on his feet again, he dusted off his pants, and shook his body off, stunned at what had just happened. I’ve walked here so often. How could I be so careless?

Jacob just began wondering where exactly in the park he was, and so began walking. Not too far from where he started, Jacob found a round clearing in the trees. Just inside, a couple meters away, a box was sitting that read, Free Stuff. He walked over to investigate, no expectation to find anything of interest in it. A bunch of random junk was thrown inside. A flashlight. Lots of socks. A tennis trophy. Something really caught Jacob’s eye, however. A little black book, which seemed to radiate potential. Intrigue sparked again, and Jacob picked up the magical book without a second thought, fascinated as to what he would find within. Electricity surged into his arm from the little black book, filing Jacob with warming light, that slowly overtook his sight. The boy was now connected to the little black book, which magical powers allowed him to see into the past lives of its owners.

The first person whose eyes Jacob was allowed to see through was a single mother with a bit of a weight issue. Her son and peers constantly berated her with insults about her heftiness. On one day, the stress was too much, so she found the little book, and in a ritualistic manner, that Jacob took note of, she wrote a wish into it. After her first wish was made, the mother woke-up to find that she had become fitter and more attractive, just as she had asked. Everything seemed to be for the better, until her son came to find her and show how he had experienced the opposite effect, gaining a couple hundred pounds since the wish. The scene evaporated and her next wish experience began to transpire before Jacobs eyes. The single head of a household was thinking of her troubles paying the bills fully, and wanted to wish herself to fortune. After taking it from the same hiding spot as before, she wrote her second wish into the little black book and quickly went to bed, awaiting what was to come. Jacob’s sight in her life returned a week later, when she received a call from her mother, announcing to her that her father had passed, and that they would have to meet with a lawyer to discuss the contents of his will. Crying as the call ended, she ran quickly to the book again, to try and change the outcome of her wish. The mother repeated the steps necessary to activate the book's power, and when it was time she opened it to write inside,

I wish my dad was still alive

Now in a fit of madness, she ran to the nearby park, which Jacob easily recognized. The mother threw the book in a stream underneath a bridge as her last act, just before falling dead into the water, from a heart attack. Her father awakening to find himself in a bag somewhere in the basement of a hospital in that same moment.

The second book owner whose actions Jacob got to observe was a homeless man. The man must have found it soon after in the river, as Jacob got to watch as he made four wishes immediately, in the still soggy little black book.

I wish I had a home

I wish the skies were free from pollution

I wish the trees here produced more fruit

I wish I had a car

The bum wrote in a rapid fire after chanting “I wish” to empower the book. He threw it into his pack before walking down the nearby way, unaware of how the magic took just as much as it gave. The scene disappeared for Jacob. Next he knew, the wielder of the book woke up in a sleeping bag and started to get about his day. After gathering all his supplies, he walked through a fruit laden grove to find an unattended running sports car in an empty parking lot. The driver seat was unattended, so the hobo piled his stuff inside the back, took the wheel and drove for the highway. Finding a location pinned ‘Home’ in the car’s dashboard computer, he navigated there, and found the keys in the door. He let himself inside ecstatically to begin his extended stay. When vision of the man’s life returned,the house was filled with trash and unkempt. He answered the door to find a suit-wearing businessman angrily accusing him of stealing his home. Threatening to call the police and insight the law, the man left a notice on his own down before storming off in a fit. The house’s new keeper became worried, and returned to the couch he had been glued to and dug in its cushions to procure the little black book, and make another wish. He chanted the magical words three times, and wrote his wish. I wish I was untouchable by the law, and somehow the wish was granted. It was two days time before the original homeowner broke back inside and shot the recently homeless man down, which Jacob watched in excruciating detail.

After it was over, the energetic current that had taken hold of Jacob released him, his neck snapping back to a relaxed state and his mouth closing after being firmly agape. He shrunk to the ground below, and in his weakened state, released his stomach’s partially digested contents. In a fetal position, he sat, for just over an hour, going over again and again what he had just seen when touching the book. It sat silently next to him, inanimate yet alive. What should I do with the book? Should I make a wish? I can’t just leave it here. The thoughts cyclically addressed Jacob, and he had no answer until a memorable quote from a comic he loved came back to him. With great power comes great responsibility. Jacob made his decision. He was going to write a wish.

Jacob sat down and held the book between his hands in a praying like gesture, just like he had observed the past book users to do. Three times over he chanted to the book, “I wish”, and then he opened it to start scrawling words into the open page with the tip of his finger. Tracing behind where his pointer went, deep red flowed into the page. Jacob had thought out his wish very carefully over the short relapse he felt following the little black book’s introduction, and he was sure it served to do deal with the book, like he intended. Jacob lifted his finger to glimpse at his full wish. I wish the book was returned to its owner. Accompanying the SLAP from the book’s shutting, a blinding luminescence appeared in front of Jacob. Like a portal to a realm composed purely of light, out walked a humanoid figure, who slowly began to take on color and form as they walked closer toward Jacob. The brightness broke and standing in front of the young man was the same character that had disappeared just earlier and sent him on the wild tangent that led him to the little black book. Dumbstruck, Jacob sat in awe until the godlike being spoke.

“I am Trismegistus. This book abides by the laws of the universe. As such, I take this and you will receive something in return.”

Trismegistus grabbed the book, and immediately the portal of light opened again and ate him up, leaving Jacob empty handed in darkness. Everything that had happened confounded the boy. But he was fulfilled, understanding that he had properly used the little black book. He walked in the night through foreign trails until he found an exit to the park that was just near his home. He opened the door to his apartment with a huge smile on his face, finding a pile of money and books on the dining table, to his heart’s content.