The List

James wasn’t sure how he gotten there. For that matter he wasn’t exactly sure where ‘there’ was. A small part of his mind told him that something was off but for some reason he just didn’t care.

“Can I take your order sir?” said a voice somewhere nearby.

James looked round and was surprised to see a man in a fine tuxedo and carrying a notepad. That’s right, that’s where he was, remembered James. He was sitting at the VIP table in a restaurant. And it wasn’t just any restaurant. This was La Fleur Croix, a famous restaurant in Paris that he had seen on a TV show once. He remembered that he had liked the look of it so much that he had written it down in his little black book to remind him to visit it one day. And now here he was.

He scanned the menu and picked out something that appealed to him. When it arrived a short while later, the food, met all of his expectations and more.

Satisfied he asked for the bill. “$1 please sir” said the waiter. It seemed a little strange. Was the restaurant having some kind of special for it to be so cheap? For that matter did they even use dollars in France? James wasn’t entirely sure. It wasn’t like it really mattered anyway.

He reached into his pocket only to find it empty. “Er, I seem to have lost my wallet,” said James.

“Well, that is unfortunate sir,” said the waiter. ‘Perhaps you placed it in your briefcase?”

James looked down to see a briefcase resting at his feet. For a moment he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before but he quickly shook that thought away and opened it up.

The inside was stuffed to the brim with money. Dollar bills. Specifically, $1 bills. There was $20,000 worth of $1 bills in there. James wasn’t sure how he knew that it was that exact amount but he was certain that that was the case, or more accurately that that was what was in the case. It was more money than James had ever seen in one place before. For some reason though, it just seemed right.

He pulled out a dollar and handed it to the waiter who thanked him. He picked up the case and left. As he was walking out the door James got the strange sensation that he was forgetting something. Well, if it was important then no doubt it would come to him later. He pulled his little black book and a pen out of his pocket and crossed out 'Eat at La Fleur Croix'.

As he walked down the street James noticed an old theatre. They were advertising a play that James had been wanting to see. He had even written it down in his book. He decided to buy a ticket. Why not? After all he had so much money.

“$1 please!” said the woman behind the ticket booth. They must be having a special as well. It was his lucky day. James entered the theatre, $19,998 left.

The Great Pyramids had been everything James had hoped for. He had even found a tour guide that had been willing to take him inside them for a very cheap price. He checked the inside of his briefcase. Inside was $17,486. James took one last look at the Pyramids. He kind of felt like he was forgetting something. He had been feeling like that a lot lately. There wasn’t really time to dwell on it though. He had booked a cruise down the Nile and only had an hour before it was due to leave. He crossed the Pyramids off of his list and moved on.

The wave splashed over him and he fell into the sea. It turned out he was not very good at surfing. He was lucky that he had found a shop willing to sell him a board for only a dollar. If he had spent more, he certainly would have regretted it. He doubted he would be doing this again.

After he had dried himself off, James pulled out his little black book and crossed surfing off the list. He decided that the next thing that he chose should be something a little less physically demanding.

His flipped though the book till something caught his eye, 'Sing a karaoke duet'. That would be hard to do alone. Perhaps he could find someone at the karaoke bar that would sing with him. For some reason James was certain that he would. He didn’t even like singing, he wasn’t sure why he had even put that on his list really.

The feeling he had forgotten something was back. It seemed to hit him hard this time. He slapped his cheeks and after a moment the feeling faded. A flashing neon sign caught his attention. A karaoke bar on the beach, wondered James, how strange. The lady at the door asked him for a dollar so he handed her one. $12,253 remained inside of his briefcase now. He asked the lady if she would sing with him and she happily obliged.

A hole in one. James had won the tournament. Spectators and TV cameras crowded around, all of them trying to get a good look at him. The organiser came over and handed James the trophy. In return James handed him a Dollar. He wasn’t sure why he did this but it just seemed right.

It had been quite the day. He had run a marathon, eaten truffles, climbed the empire state building and now he had won a golf tournament. He crossed it off his list and looked at what was next. 'Visit the Moon'. That seemed like a good way to end the day. He wondered if anyone around here had a rocket he could buy. He wondered how much a rocket would cost. Not too much he hoped, he only had $5032 left. Luckily, when he asked around, he found someone willing to take him to the moon, and all it cost him was a single dollar.

James closed the storybook in front of him and lay back in his arm chair. The child he had been reading to clapped excitedly and exclaimed that he had really enjoyed the book. James handed him a dollar and told the kid to go buy himself something nice.

He didn’t have many left now, in fact he didn’t need the briefcase anymore he could fit what was left inside his pocket. Still, he was a good kid for listening to an old man’s request so James didn’t mind giving one away.

For a moment James felt a pang of sadness and guilt that he couldn’t explain. Eventually he forced his old bones to move and pulled down his little black book off of the shelf. 'Read a story to a child'. He crossed it out and wondered what was next.

'See the Northern Lights'. That sounded like it would be a difficult trip. Maybe he would do that one tomorrow.

His hand rested weakly on top of hers. She gently stroked his small frail fingers. She carefully watched his face, trying to remember every feature. He had been so handsome when they had met, now his face was thin and pale, but he still looked so young. His once thick hair was gone, lost to the treatment. A monitor carefully measured his slow heartbeat, each time it beeped she feared it would be the last. Tubes snaked their way around the bed and into his arm. Atop his head was the apparatus, a thin blue light indicating that it was turned on.

She turned to the nurse and asked uncertainly, “Is it… working?”

“Yes,” they replied. “Right now, the machine is giving him the new memories. It’s letting him experience a lifetime in an instant.”

She looked back at him and tried to resist the urge to cry. She reached into her pocket and felt the cover of the little black book the lay inside. Their little black book. The book that held the list they had made together. 20,000 things that they were going to do. Big things, little things, anything they could think of. Their list. Almost none had been crossed off.

“It’s done. He should wake up any moment,” said the nurse. They removed the apparatus from his head.

She watched as his eyes slowly opened. It took a moment but they focused on her. “That’s right now I remember,” he said weakly.

She smiled. He remembered doing all the things on the list. The machine had let him experience every single thing in their little black book. She was certain.

“I finally remember what was missing,” James said.

He closed his eyes.