The little black book

The little black book:

It was a hot and sunny day in New Jersey. Malcolm was 26 years old, 6 feet tall. He was slim and always wore blue jeans with a black leather jacket. He had green eyes, and short blonde hair which was often kept hidden under a plain black ball cap.

Today was his grandmothers 72nd birthday, and he was headed downtown to pick up flowers for her from the shop his girlfriend Lucille worked at.

While Malcolm made his way downtown the sun beamed down heavily on him causing sweat to drip from his face. As he went to wipe the sweat from his forehead a loud screeching noise filled the air, followed by a loud thump. The noise caught him by surprise. He jumped slightly, and looked around to see what had happened.

A small red car had crashed into a pole behind him. Immediately Malcolm ran over to the car to see if the person inside was alright. When he got closer a person from inside the car erected from the drivers seat and slammed the door behind him, while holding a phone to his ear. The man was short, chubby, had a scruffy beard, and wore a white t-shirt that was covered in grease stains.

“Are you alright sir?” Malcolm called out from a few meters away, “can’t you see I’m on the phone?” the man responded back harshly.

He realized the man was having a hard time and didn’t think much of it, he also noticed a small black book slowly falling from the mans sweater pocket.“Sorry for interrupting.” He replied while watching the book slowly drop from the mans pocket to the ground.

Malcolm observed the man for a few minutes as he paced back and forth while talking on the phone, and then when the man wasn’t looking he quickly picked up the book, put it in his back pocket, and continued on his way to the flower shop.

When he was far enough away from the accident he pulled the book out from his pocket to take a better look at it.

The book was small, black, and had a money symbol scratched into it.

Intrigued by the cover he quickly opened the book and began skimming pages while he walked. The pages where filled with scribbled notes and drawings that fascinated him, but he couldn’t really make out what anything said. When Malcolm was near at hand to the flower shop he closed the book and placed it back into his pocket.

The flower shop was Lucilles mini oasis. Lucille was 24, had beautiful brown skin, deep hazel eyes, and gorgeous locks of long black hair. She was soft spoken, gentle, and often wore dresses.

She loved to garden, and had grown a batch of Malcolm’s grandmas favourite flowers for her special day.

“Hey Malcolm!” Lucille said excitedly as he walked through the front door of the shop. She immediately ran over to hug him. “Hey hunny, how is work going?” He inquired as her arms tightly wrapped around him. Malcom hugged her back, and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“It’s been busy all afternoon, but I got a bouquet ready for you!”

Lucille quickly shuffled off to the back to grab the bouquet of flowers she passionately grew for his grandmother.

“Daffodils, roses, tulips and tiger lilies, all her favourite kinds I made sure of it!” She double checked for each, while carrying the bouquet towards him.

Malcolm reached out and grabbed the flowers from her “these are almost as beautiful as you are, she will love them thank you Lucille!” her eyes lit up as the words left his mouth. Malcolm was about to tell Lucille about the book he picked up when suddenly a bell noise interrupted them and a customer entered the shop. “Well I better let you get back to work, thank you for the flowers.” Malcolm remarked. “Tell her I said happy birthday!” Lucille said as she hugged him goodbye.

After leaving the flower shop, Malcolm headed straight to the retirement home where his grandmother was staying.

She was patiently knitting in her rocking chair when he arrived.

His grandmother was short, had sparkling green eyes, and shoulder length grey hair which was often kept tied into a bun.

She wore a light pink nightgown, and liked to crochet. When Malcolm entered the room a smile lit up her face “Happy birthday Grandma!” he excitedly exclaimed while handing her the bouquet. “These are wonderful! Did Lucille grow these?” she wondered as he placed them into her arms. “You can tell, she takes very good care of things. You’re lucky to have a lady like that in your life” she told him. “Would you be a dear and grab a vase from under the sink for me?”

Malcolm walked towards the kitchen sink, and as he bent over to pick up a vase from the cupboard underneath the small black book fell out of his pocket and onto the floor. “What’s that?” His grandmother questioned. “What’s what?” He asked.

“That small black book on the floor” she pointed “What is it?”,

“Oh this?” He picked the book back up from off the floor, and poured a small amount of water into the vase from the tap. “I found this on the street, I’m not really sure what it is yet”. He brought the book towards her alongside the vase.

“Well let me have a look at it!” She said.

His grandmother examined the book, the first thing she noticed was the cover was black with a small money symbol scratched into the front of it. She opened the book and began skimming through pages, just as Malcolm did when he was walking. “I know what this is! It’s a treasure map!” She told him. Excited he questioned her “How do you know?”

“Hunny this book was reported missing awhile ago, did you not see on the news a book with a hidden treasure map inside went missing from the museum? This book looks exactly like it, a small black book, the only difference is somebody scratched a money sign into it, I’m sure this is the one! They are offering a large cash reward for it’s return didn’t you know?”

“I had no idea” he replied.

“Well you better not have stolen it from somewhere! Take this book back to the museum right away before you get caught with it!” Malcolm’s grandmother handed the book back to him, and then began placing her new flowers from the bouquet into the vase one by one. “You better get going to the museum before it closes”

Malcolm wished his grandmother a happy birthday once again, gave her a hug and made his departure.

As he was leaving the retirement home he noticed parked across the street was a small red car with a dent in the bumper.

“I know you stole the book from me!” The man shouted at Malcolm as he stepped out of the home and onto the sidewalk.

“My dash cam caught you red handed!”

Taken by surprise, Malcolm began to bolt.

“This book isn’t yours it belongs to the museum” he shouted back, while running down the street. The car quickly took after him. Panicked Malcolm cuts down an alley, and enters into a restaurant through the back door. As he runs through the restaurants kitchen, staff look up in consternation. He runs through the restaurant, past the customers, and out the front door without looking back. He continues down the street, and with the red car no longer insight Malcolm has an idea to take pictures of the book with his phone before he returns it. He goes down another alley, and begins taking pictures of all the pages then afterwards makes his way to the museum.

When he is about a block away from the museum he once again sees the red car parked outside. Malcolm feels panicked but keeps his composure. “All I have to do is run past this guy and give the book to the museum” he tells himself.

The man from the car steps out, and begins to run towards him. Malcolm runs towards the man, right past him, and enters the museum. The man follows after him “It’s my book! I’m the one who found it! He stole it from me! The reward is mine not his!” The man shouts inside the museum. Malcolm pulls the book out of his pocket and tosses it towards a lady dressed in business attire, who is working the front desk of the museum. She is tall, skinny, with long brown hair, and glasses. “What’s going on here?” She questions Malcolm. “This man stole the lost treasure book from me, and tried to return it for the reward” the man chasing Malcolm exclaimed. “This book is stolen property to begin with” she says “how did you get your hands on it?”, suddenly a security guard dressed in uniform enters the room “what’s this ruckus about?” He questions the men. “I’ve just returned the lost black book” Malcolm says to him. “This man had no intentions of returning it, he dropped it in the street and I brought it back to you!”, flustered the man who was chasing Malcolm tries to run from the museum, but the security guard grabs and detains him. “You have a lot of explaining to do, I noticed you where here before the book even went missing” the security guard says to the man as he walks him towards his office. The lady at the front desk looks at Malcolm, “We where offering a reward of $10,000 for the return of this book!” she informs him. “That’s way too much! Your joking right?” Malcolm says in astonishment.

After a short conversation and an exchange of information, Malcolm is handed a cheque for $10,000.

He leaves the museum and returns home to tell Lucille about the day he just had, and surprises her with their new acquired wealth. They also make plans to go on a treasure hunt once they decipher the pictures of the little black book he stored in his phone.

The end.