A Wonderful Day

Steph didn't know what she was going to do. She looked down at the stack of envelopes on her kitchen table with one hand on her forehead and the other hand on her hip. An internationally known symbol for distress. She knew there was nothing but bills and bad news in those envelopes. With a sigh, she took the plunge and started opening them. Utilities. Credit Card. bill. Another credit card bill. Car note. Car insurance. Phone bill. Internet. It was enough to make tears come to her eyes when she thought about the fact that she was going to have to pick up even more hours at her crappy delivery job to clear it all. It's like she could never work hard enough to catch up.

"What's wrong?" Josef said in his usual gentle, yet cheery tone. He had just walked through the door leading to the basement when he saw his roommate and best friend looking shiny-eyed at the mail.

Just hearing his voice made Steph's spirits lift a little. At least she wasn't taking on all of this alone. "First week of the month. Bills are here." Immediately, Josef understood. He walked gingerly to his roommate and laid a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to channel reassurance directly into her body.

Over a year ago, when Steph had first answered Josef's ad for a roommate, money was no worry at all. During the interview, Steph explained that she had recently won a writing contest that paid more than enough for her to pay her year-long lease in full. Which she did. However, towards the end of that year, Steph was faced with the biggest writer's block she had ever had. Now, the money was running out.

The writer's block lasted months. Steph would sit down at her desk, open her laptop or a notebook and stare at a blank page. She would write down a few sentences. Sentence fragments. Anything. Either nothing came of her efforts, or what efforts she did make were completely unacceptable in her eyes. Every day for nearly nine months, Steph would stand up from her desk, leaving the page just as empty as she found it.

As she stared at the mail, only slightly comforted by her roommates touch she sighed, her alarm went off. "I gotta get to work. See you later."

Josef sighed as he heard the door shut, then nodded resolutely. It was finally time to give Steph the gift he'd been working on for her. He knew he was taking a gargantuan risk, but it had to be done. As he opened the basement door, he recalled Steph's words from her interview: "I'm a writer in the way that I'm human. I just am. I couldn't be anything else if I tried." He was blown away back then. Now he shuddered at the thought of Steph not being able to do the thing she felt made her who she was. But now, he'd be able to help her finally be the best she could be.

When she got into her room, ready to shed her clothes and pass out, she gasped at the gift that was laying on her desk. It was a brand new black notebook. At least, she thought it was new. Although all the pages were black, the leather binding was soft as if it had already been thoroughly loved before it found its way to Steph's desk. On top was a card:

"For your brilliant new ideas. - Josef. P.S. Use a nice pen with this kind of notebook!"

Steph smiled. Of course. Josef had proven himself to be one of the best friends she'd ever made. It was no surprise that he would try to cheer her up with a new notebook.

"Wish there was something brilliant to put in this thing. Something stupid will just have to do," Steph mumbled as she took her notebook and her best pen to her bed and opened it up.

"I got into my car on the morning of a wonderful day to find balloons in the front seat," Steph wrote into the notebook. "For no reason that I can remember, I stabbed my car keys into the balloon, only to nearly scream in hysterical shock when money fell out of it. Hundreds. My hands shook as I counted them. I looked up at the balloons and swallowed hard. Surely they couldn't all...I popped every one. Just like that, I had $20,000..."

Steph paused and bit her lip. This was the issue. She could start a story but couldn't carry one out. What would her character do with her money? Would they spend it all? Save it? Give some away? Steph couldn't land on an action. She growled in frustration and slammed the notebook closed. As she cried herself to sleep, she made a mental note to call her manager the next day for more hours.

The next day, Steph's phone blared her alarm right on time and she sighed as another day began.

"Thanks for my gift, friend," Steph said as she came out of her room, dressed for work, and saw Josef standing in front of the stovetop, an apron tied around his waist. Instantly, her mouth was watering at what she was going to get to taste before she left.

"You're very welcome," he said with a soft grin as he glanced over at her. Contrary to Steph's belief, he didn't make any further implorations, verbal or not. He knew his gift was going to work, and it was only a matter of time before they saw the results.

After several tastes, Steph confirmed that Josef's chili was perfect and gathered her things to walk out the door. She swung open the front door and her heart stopped for a second then started beating hard. There were balloons in her front seat.

She nearly ran to her car and immediately stabbed at one with her keys. Sure enough, hundred-dollar bills rained down into her passenger seat. Steph stared at the money, then looked closer to the rest of the balloons. She could see the shadowy outlines of the money in them. She couldn't decide if the feeling in her stomach was nausea or excitement.

She jumped out of the car and ran back into the house. "Josef! Josef!" she screamed as she went directly to her room to pick up the notebook. It still had the little blurb she had written on the first page. There was nothing different about it. She took it back to the kitchen and held it up, "Where did you get this?"

"Um...Why?" Josef said, his own stomach flipping our of nerves. It was time.

"I...okay, so last night I wrote about someone who finds balloons in their car. And all the balloons are filled with money. Twenty grand. I wrote that, specifically...go...go look at my car," her voice was shaky. She couldn't believe this was happening. Was this real? Was she even awake right now? She could just be having one of those dreams where you think you got ready but you're actually still in bed. Surely her alarm was going to go off again any minute.

Except it didn't. She didn't hear anything but Josef laughing softly at the front door.

"Wow, that was fast," he said. He shook his head then turned to walk to her. He picked up both of her sweaty, shaky hands and took a deep breath. "I'm about to tell you something. And since you literally just experienced it, you have to believe me. Okay?"

She nodded dumbly, too confused and anxious to do anything else.

"I made that notebook with magic. I'm...well for simplicity's sake, let's just say I'm magical. And I made that notebook to give you whatever you needed to get yourself back in the game."

Steph definitely felt nauseous now.

"Wait, so...whatever I want, I can just write in this book?" She said slowly and softly, too afraid that speaking any louder would shatter all of this and she really would just wake up.

"Not quite. It's designed to help you with your writer's block. So...whatever you needed for that to happen, it would kind of...make you write about it and then bring it to fruition. Look like you needed cash. I don't know why balloons but..."

Steph dropped his hands and ran her own hands through her hair. This was crazy. Ridiculous. Magical.

"So...that's real money out there?"

Josef nodded, "Should be."

"Should be?"

"Magic can be like science sometimes. You have to see it work before you can say it works."

Steph allowed herself to laugh. "Alright I'll be right back." She went back outside and jumped in her car. When she came to a screeching halt in front of the house and jumped back out, she barreled into the house screaming, "It worked! It worked! Josef! Oh my God!" She picked up the man in a tight hug and spun him around in a tight hug. She even kissed his cheek. "This is so wild!" She could hardly believe it, but the convenience store clerk and the vending machine both agreed that her money was real.

Her phone beeped for the second alarm telling her it was time to head to work. She beamed as she turned the alarm off and promptly called her manager to quit. It struck her as she hung up that Josef had pretty much saved her life.

"Jo...Why did you do this?"

Josef shrugged softly, "I couldn't watch you suffer anymore. You said writing was like living for you. And you weren't writing...or living."

Steph let out a breathless laugh. She was speechless. There were a few silent moments. In those moments, Steph's emotions built rapidly until she threw herself into Josef and wept into his sweater. Josef was sure there were 'Thank you's' hiding in the midst of all the sounds Steph was making into his chest.

"It's a pleasure to help you, friend. Honestly. You've done so much for me...it's the least I can do."

Before Steph moved in, Josef was as low as he'd ever been. Both of his parents victims of a drunk driver. Alone in a house filled with memories. Alone to handle the mountain of expenses his parents left behind, including a mortgage. He couldn't find many reasons for living back then. On a whim he put out an ad online for the old guest room, hoping that at the least, he could have some help with the bills and at best, a new companion. What he got was a woman named Stephanie who proved to be the light he needed in his life. She was caring, entertaining, interesting, and she had a habit of saying things that made Josef look at the world a little different. And, she had one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen. He would not be exaggerating if he said Steph was the best friend he'd ever had. If he had something to do with it, she'd never have another hard day in her life.

"Okay," Steph said after finally letting go of her roommate and wiping her nose on her sleeve. "Okay...so...I have 20 grand, no job, and nothing but time..."

"Sounds like the perfect recipe for a brilliant story," Josef said with a grin. "You get to work, I'll finish dinner."

As she went to her room to start writing, for the first time in months, Steph felt alive.