Mysterious Black Book

“Ugh! I am so tired of living paycheck to paycheck and barely making ends meet!” Seraphine complained out loud to herself.

She sat in her truck and stared at her small paycheck. It was only $450 which was not enough to pay the mortgage on her house or the note on her truck which together was four times the amount of her paycheck. She lit a cigarette, opened the truck door, and got out heading to the front door. As she unlocked the door and opened it, she was greeted by her lovable pooch, Dixie. Dixie is a black and brindle colored Labrador-Pitbull mix. Dixie sat wagging her tail patiently waiting for Seraphine to greet her back.

“Hey Dixie!” Seraphine said with a smile, “Did you miss me?”

Dixie barked and trotted over to Seraphine and jumped up putting her paws on Seraphine’s legs. Seraphine pet her head affectionately and gave her a hug.

“You ready to go for a walk?” Seraphine asked while pulling Dixie’s leash from the wall rack that was hanging on. Dixie immediately sat down and waited for Seraphine to clip the leash to her collar. Seraphine opened the door and they walked out, locking the door as they went. They walked down the cobblestone steps and down the driveway to the sidewalk. The neighborhood was a nice and friendly community with well kept lawns and sidewalks and road clear of debris and trash. They walked down to the community dog park which was only 10 minutes from their house. Along the way, one of their neighbors known affectionately as Maggie greeted them as they passed by.

“Good Afternoon, Seraphine!” she said with a smile, “Hello Dixie!”

“Good Afternoon, Maggie” replied Seraphine warmly, “how are you?”

“I am doing alright today. My arthritis hasn’t flared up today so I thought I would do a bit of gardening” , replied Maggie. “Are y’all headed to the dog park?”

“Yes, ma’am. It has been so nice out so I thought I would take Dixie since it has been a while” Seraphine said.

“Well, y’all go and have fun together and I will see you both later,” she stated.

They exchanged goodbyes and Seraphine and Dixie headed to the dog park. When they arrived, there was only a few people with their pets in the dog park. Seraphine looked around at the people that were there and her eyes immediately fell onto one man.

James! He is here! Her heart began to skip a beat. James was her next-door neighbor and she had developed an attraction to him when they first met. He was one of Miami’s most sought-after bachelors and was very wealthy. Although he had a lot of wealth, he did not really flaunt it, but rather chose to live a simple life with a quaint house in the suburbs and drove an old white Chevrolet pick-up truck. She let Dixie and herself into the gate of the dog park and unhooked her leash.

As Dixie ran through the park, Seraphine walked over to James, who was sitting at one of the benches watching his dog, Titan playing with Dixie.

“Hey, Seraphine!” he greeted her enthusiastically, “How have you been?”

“Hi, James. “ she said nervously, “You know, same ole same ole. How about you?”

“I am doing rather good! Just entered Titan and I into a 5K running marathon for charity event this weekend!” he said enthusiastically.

“Oh, that is wonderful and sounds interesting!” Seraphine replied, “What day and time is the event?”

“It’s this Saturday at 8am in Cherry park, are you interested in signing you and Dixie up?” he asked quizzically.

“Yea, it would give us both a chance to get out of the house and do something active,” she replied back.

“Woof!”, barked Dixie as she ran over to where Seraphine and James were sitting. When she approached them, Seraphine notice that she had something in her mouth.

“What’s that you have, Dixie?” Seraphine questioned her. Dixie brought the object over to Seraphine and gently sat in on the bench between Seraphine and James. It was a little black book that looked as if had been left outside in the elements. The cover was leather that looked old and weather-worn and the pages were tinted yellow and were bent downward at the corners.

“What’s in it?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” replied Seraphine with curiosity. She turned the book over in her hand to see if there was a name on it, but non could be found. She opened the book to the first page and gasped.

“Oh my gosh, James look!” she said with a start handing him the book. James took the book looking at the surprised reaction on Seraphine’s face. He looked down at the book and his face wore a look of shock and bewilderment.

“Holy crap!” he said in surprise, “Your name is in this book!”

The inside cover of the book read:

Dear Seraphine, I hope this book finds you well. I did not know how to contact you as I did not have your address or phone number. This book was found in the attic of my home about 6 months ago. I did not read the contents of this book as I believed it to be a forgotten diary. I am unsure of the condition in which you will find this, but when I found it, there was only minor scratches on the binding of the book. I did notice when I looked at the first page that it was address to Seraphine McKinney. I spent the past 6 months attempting to find you to return it to you. If you have any questions, you can call me on the number I have listed below, or you are welcome to visit me in person at the address listed below. I hope that this book reaches you and is of some insight to you.

Sincerely,

Daniel

Address: 1550 Cherry Park Ln

Miami, FL 33150

Phone: (305) 220-5150

“What should I do now, James?” Seraphine asked after James finished reading the note.

“Well, the first question is, do you know anyone named Daniel?” James asked her after a minute.

Seraphine shook her head in response. “I’ve never seen this book before either, before you ask,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Then how do you know that this isn’t some scam and the person who wrote this note didn’t write anything in this book?” James asked incredulously.

“I don’t know that either,” she replied with uncertainty.

She opened the next page in the book and read it.

Seraphine,

If you are reading this, then that means that I am no longer able to keep this a secret. I wrote the contents of this book before your father passed away. Together, we came up with its contents in order to help you have a better life. If you have received this book and you have fallen on hard times, then you need to read it carefully and follow the instructions. Most importantly, you don’t need to tell any one about what is written in this book as it can jeopardize what you are searching for. This book will lead you to amazing amount of money that will help you with your current financial struggles. The instructions in this book are detailed to specific tasks that you need to complete before you can claim what is rightfully yours, if you are up to it and willing to complete them. Some of these instructions contain puzzles and riddles that need to be solved in order to start the next task. If you have any trouble then pick only one person that you trust to help you solve the issues, but only give limited amount of information. As I said, if too many people know or get a hold of this book it will jeopardize your chances of getting to the money that you need. Now a little information about the money, the amount of money that you will be seeking to find is $20,000. This money was saved up from the day you were born and has been hidden where no one will find it without the help of this book, So guard this book with your life. Happy hunting and good luck with your future fortunes.

Love,

M.R.