Little Black Book

It was a Sunday; the last day of the garage sale season and Rowen wasn’t going to let it go to waste. She rolls out of bed and rushes through her morning routine, eager to get a jump start on the day. She grabs her notepad to check her to-do list.

“Shoot, I used the last sheet” She mutters as she opens the notebook to find it empty, “maybe I can find a new one while I’m out.”

Rowen gathers the last of what she needs before leaving and heads out the door. The sun is shining; the perfect day to go out treasure hunting. She jumps in her car and starts down the road in search of the bright orange, green, and pink signs that signal a sale. After driving around for a few minutes, she stumbles upon a sign peeking out of some unkempt bushes on the corner. She follows the sign until she comes across a small sale. She gets out of the car and sees a little old lady manning a table inside her garage. She doesn’t have much for sale. Rowen begins browsing the wares. Among the old dishes, stuffed animals, and brick-a-brack lies a little black notebook half-buried under old folders and used pencils.

“This is perfect”, Rowen exclaims, “just the right size.”

Rowen picks up the little notebook and carries it up to the lady straightening up her station.

“How much for this notebook?” she asks, holding it up.

The little old lady looks up and smiles. She says, “You can have it if you answer a question for me”.

“Ok, “what’s your question?” Rowen asks with amusement.

“If you came into some extra money, what would you do with it?”

Rowen is surprised by the question, but ponders it carefully. She thinks about all the things she could do if she came into some extra cash.

“I guess I would try to spread it around. I wouldn’t do anything extravagant, but it would be nice to donate some money to the animal shelter I volunteer for or to pay for someone’s groceries or tank of gas, or even to leave a big tip once in a while. Doing small things to brighten people’s day would bring me the most joy out of finding extra money”.

Rowen’s cheeks start to redden as she realizes how corny she must sound to this stranger. The old lady looks at her with warm, kind eyes telling her that is a marvelous way to spend some extra money and tells Rowen to keep the notebook. Rowen thanks the woman before turning to leave. The woman calls out “happy spending”. Rowen stops and looks at her with confusion before calling out to thank her again. She gets in her car and sits there for a few minutes pondering the old woman’s words and fingering her new purchase. It’s very small; black, with a soft, sturdy binding. It looks worn, but in a well-loved sort of way. She flips it open to find crisp, clean, white pages inside that are itching to be written on. Rowen digs a pen out of her purse so she can write out her list for the day before heading off to find some more sales. Get gas, head to the shelter to walk the pups, and a lunch date with grandma. She closes the notebook and heads back out onto the street, waving a quick goodbye to the nice old lady.

Rowen stops at a few more sales before heading to her regular gas station for a fill up. Once she arrives at her destination, she waves at the cashier to cut on the pump so she can fill up her tank. The gas station is owned by a nice couple who have worked there for as long as Rowen has been alive. While she waits for her gas to pump, she enjoys the warm rays shining down on her; the oldies playing over the pump’s loudspeaker. She squeezes the last few drops into her tank and heads inside to pay. The cashier greets Rowen frantically, clearly preoccupied. The cashier, Patty and the brains behind the operation, starts ringing up her gas while Rowen asks her how she’s doing.

“Not good today, Rowen. My air conditioner went out and it’s going to be expensive and I just don’t know if we’ll be able to afford it”, she states with dismay.

“Oh, I know a guy who does heating and cooling. I’ll give him a call and see if he can come out and take a look”, Rowen says as she pulls out her new notebook and scribbles “call about air conditioner” on her to-do list.

“Rowen that would be great. At least we would know what the damage really is”.

“No problem. I’ll give him a call a little later, after I’m done at the shelter.”

Rowen thanks Patty and heads back to her car. She pulls out her list and crosses off her first item, getting ready to head to her next stop; the animal shelter.

Rowen loves volunteering at the animal shelter. She loves seeing all the cutie faces of the animals she visits and she loves walking, pampering, and playing with them while they wait for their forever homes. Today, she is on dog walking duty. She starts making the rounds, gathering dogs and greeting fellow volunteers as she makes her way to the walking trail. Rowen typically spends a half hour walking the dogs before taking them back for treats and belly rubs and heading out with another pack.

Upon returning from her second trip, she notices there is a lot of excitement happening inside the little building. She can’t quite tell what is happening, but sees tears in some of her friends’ eyes. She goes up to the closest person and asks what’s going on. Through smiling tears, her fellow volunteer informs her that someone just made a large anonymous donation to the shelter that will help cover some expensive costs that have come up recently. Rowen joins her fellow animal lovers in celebrating the good news.

Rowen spends a little time loving on and saying goodbye to the dogs she walked and heads out to her car. She pulls out her to-do list and crosses off her stop at the shelter before heading to her final stop. She reflects on her interaction with the little old lady at the sale, thinking about the surprising question she was asked and the final words of the woman, “happy spending”. Rowen thinks about what the woman’s words could possibly mean as she pulls out of the parking lot.

Rowen arrives at the little café in the center of her hometown. She sees her grandma’s car as she turns into the drive. She parks next to her grandma and, before heading inside, calls her heating and cooling guy and asks if he has time to stop by the gas station to talk to Patty. He agrees to head over shortly and Rowen starts toward the café’s doors. Walking in, she is greeted with the sounds of happy lunchers and the smell of hot coffee and fresh bread. She sees her grandma sitting in a sunny spot in the corner and walks over.

“Hi Sweetie”, her grandma chimes as she stands up for a hug.

“Hi Grandma, I hope you’re not starving. I know I’m a little late; there was some excitement at the shelter before I left.”

“Oh, really? What Happened?”

“Well, after I got back from walking my second pack of pups, one of the other volunteers said the shelter had just received a large anonymous donation, which is great because we could really use the money.”

“Honey that is wonderful news! How exciting and while you were there too; what luck!”

The two spend some time chatting and munching, talking about their days including the interaction with the little old lady from the garage sale.

“What an odd question to ask a stranger”, Rowen’s grandma states, “what did you say?”

“I told her I’d probably just do little things. You know, like donating to the shelter or helping out a friend in an emergency, or”, waving in the direction of their waitress, “leave her a generous tip. I wouldn’t do anything crazy.”

Rowen’s phone loudly interrupts their conversation, chirping brightly. She apologizes to her grandma, and takes the call outside.

“Hello?” Rowen asks.

“Rowen, it’s Patty from the gas station. We just met with your air conditioner guy”, she gasps.

“Oh, how’d it go”, Rowen asks, “you sound out of breath.”

“Fantastic! Not only will he fix it, but he is doing it for free! I was discussing our situation with him and he told us not to worry, he’s got it covered. Thank you so much for sending him to us, Rowen, we are so grateful!”

“Patty that is great news! I’m so glad it all worked out”, Rowen responds.

“It is great and I just wanted to call and say thank you. I’d better get back to the register before Hank catches me on the phone. Talk soon.”

Rowen stands there a second after her call ends, something nagging at the back of her mind, but she can’t quite put her finger on it. She heads inside to finish lunch with her grandma.

“Everything okay”, her grandma asks.

“Yeah, remember how I was telling you about Patty’s air conditioner?”

“I think so. It stopped working, right?

“Yeah, and I know a guy who does heating and cooling, so I called him and he agreed to check out the AC. That was Patty on the phone. She said she just got done with the guy and he not only agreed to fix it, but also agreed to do it for free. Patty was so happy, she could hardly breathe.”

“Wow, you seem to bring good luck wherever you go today”, her grandma laughs, ‘you missed it though. While you were outside, someone did leave our lovely waitress a very generous tip; a total stranger. She says she has never seen him before. It was so precious; she was so thrilled!”

Rowen shakes her head and laughs, “I can’t believe, I missed it!” They finish their meals and stand to leave. They walk outside and exchange hugs and goodbyes before getting in their separate cars. Rowen waves as her grandma pulls away. She pulls out her little black notebook and begins crossing off the last couple of items from her list; something still nagging at the back of her mind. She looks at her list, thinking about her grandma’s words and about bringing good luck wherever she goes.

“It is odd that I seem to have good luck following me today”, Rowen says to herself.

She thumbs the notebook. The old lady’s words from this morning start crawling their way into her thoughts, “happy spending!”

“They can’t be related…can they?”