One Last Hope

The last three years of his life had been difficult, to say the least, but Nelson made the best of each day.

His current place of residence was underneath a large maple tree at the intersection of Richmond Street and Power street in the city of Toronto.

Nelson had been forced into the streets when his job was lost due to downsizing. He had worked at the same factory for nearly twenty years and they gave him two weeks notice to find another job. Unfortunately, Nelson’s skills were limited to what he had learned at this company, so finding another job appeared to be more difficult than he had expected.

Eventually, the bank foreclosed on his home, leaving him with nowhere to go. His family had all passed away or were now estranged to him, so he did what many others did who were down on their luck, he turned to the street. His life as a transient had been gruelling, and he did not believe he would last another year.

One day, while scavenging through a trashcan outside of St. Paul’s Basilica, Nelson came across a faded black notebook. It had the initials N.W. embroidered upon the worn leather cover. Nelson thought that this was a sign from God because those were his initials. He quickly shoved the book into his ripped jacket pocket and continued in search of his next meal.

Later that afternoon, when Nelson arrived back at his homestead under the maple tree, he began to sort through the collection of knick-knacks that he had gathered that morning. There was a stained, but comfortable down-filled pillow, a baseball hat with the Toronto Blue Jays symbol above the brim, a half bag of Hostess Salt & Vinegar potato chips, and the black notebook that he removed from his jacket pocket.

He carefully examined it before opening it. Nelson then eased open the cover to reveal the first page. It had a few lines handwritten on the inside cover.

“Inside this book, you will find clues leading you to a hidden treasure. Only those worthy of this treasure, will be able to solve the riddles.”

Excitedly, Nelson continued onto the next page. The thought of finding a treasure changed his outlook on the way his life had been going. He read the next clue.

“To take delivery of this prize of Power, you must first find the tree by the Post.”

Nelson reread the clue over-and-over until it came to him. He noticed that the words, “Post” and “Power” were written with a capital ‘P’, and one of the keywords in the riddle was “delivery”. The first clue must be located on or around a tree at the Canada Post office just up Power Street. He stored his other findings inside his makeshift cardboard shack and headed up Power Street.

When he arrived at the Canada Post building, he began to search the property for a tree that had a clue on it. There were only about five trees around the building, so it did not take long before he discovered an arrow carved into the bark. It pointed downward. At the base of the tree sat a large rock. With all the strength he could muster, Nelson flipped the rock over. He dug the dirt below it but found nothing. He was ready to give up when he spotted writing on the base of the rock.

“A King that sits in Parliament, can still be in the dumps, but looking ahead can bring great joy.”

Nelson immediately realized that the location must be King Street and Parliament Street, but he was not sure about the rest of the clue. Perhaps he could find his answer when he arrived.

When he arrived at the intersection, Nelson stood in front of a local production company and pondered what the rest of the clue meant. He walked around to the back of the building and that is when he spotted it. Across the parking lot sat a garbage dumpster. He hurried over to the dumpster and searched all sides and even underneath in search of the next clue. Nothing. He thought about the riddle once again. It said that “…looking ahead could bring great joy.”

Nelson stood at the front of the dumpster and stared across the parking lot. On the back wall of the building, a picture of a pointing finger was spray painted. It seemed to be pointing toward the back door of the studio, so Nelson walked over and gave it a tug. It was unlocked.

As he entered the building, a dark set of stairs led up to the second floor. Nelson held onto the rickety railing and inched his way up to a red door. It had a sign on it which read, “Ring for Service”.

Nelson rang the doorbell as instructed, not knowing what to expect, then the door opened slightly. A burly man in a blue hoody asked Nelson what he wanted. When Nelson explained that he followed clues that he found in the book, the man simply said, “Wait here,” and he shut the door.

Nelson nervously waited at the closed door. He had several thoughts entering his mind. First, he thought that someone was going to show up with a knife and stab him, then he thought that the man would return and tell him that the police were called, and he had better leave. What did happen was completely unexpected, however.

After a few minutes, the door had swung wide open. Standing on the other side, was a handsome man in a black blazer. He held a microphone in his hand and a cameraman stood about a foot behind him with a bright light shining in Nelson’s face.

“What is this? What’s going on?” Nelson asked.

“Can I have your name, sir?” the man in the blazer enquired.

“Nelson. My name is Nelson White,” he replied.

“Well, today is your lucky day, my friend. An anonymous benefactor of our studio asked me to give $20,000 to the person who found the book and successfully followed the clues to our door. That man, I am happy to say, is you, Nelson White. Congratulations!”

Nelson stood there dumbstruck. He thought that this whole thing was a dream, and he would soon wake up back under his maple tree, but that did not happen. Instead, the man in the blazer handed a check to Nelson for the sum of $20,000. He then asked Nelson to tell the viewers about himself and how he came to find the black notebook that he still held tight. The man stood silently while Nelson described his whole story in a matter of ten minutes.

Once the camera was off and Nelson had time to fathom what had just happened, he realized that he had no way of cashing the check. He no longer existed in the eyes of the world. The man in the blazer, who he later found out was the producer and star of a reality TV show, told Nelson that he would personally help him get the check cashed and aid him in starting his life over again.

A few months later, Nelson had moved off the street and into a townhouse complex. His new job at the production studio gave him more than he needed to pay rent and put food in his belly every day. The remainder of the $20,000 was still building interest in the bank, and on top of that money, Nelson was given several thousand more when the episode about his rags to riches story finally aired. A fundraiser was formed online, and after one month, he was presented with an additional $20,000 plus.

Nelson sat at his kitchen table one day and opened the book up again. He had not read through the rest of the notes. The following pages were blank except for the initials, “N.W.”, and the words, “Not Worthless.” His one last hope became his greatest blessing.