The Little Black Book

Sophie’s feet ached. Her shift had ended late last night and she was already back on the morning Route 42 bus to Pymble after what felt like an hour of sleep. She’d left cereal on the bench for her twins Sebastian and Grace and hoped they’d wake to their alarms and get to school on time. She knows what teenagers are like and it made her worry enough to send a quick text while she was in transit. She was struggling to concentrate as her thoughts wandered back to the reason her shift ended late last night. She usually doesn’t let herself get too attached to patients that come through the ER but for some reason, she couldn’t get Thomas out of her mind. Thomas had been brought in late last night after being struck by a bike whilst waiting for a bus near Hornsby. He seemed to be a dear old man who mentioned surviving World War II after being imprisoned as a child. His eyes were kind and soulful and looked as though they could tell a thousand stories. As Sophie continued to think about Thomas she imagined she’d met him under different circumstances where they could chat over tea and cake and talk for hours.

Still in a tired haze, Sophie gazed out the window as the bus got closer and closer to work. Closer and closer to another 8 hour shift she thought. As the bus approached a road side bus stop, Sophie noticed a worn leather satchel strewn below the graffitied bus stop bench. It wasn’t her stop. She was still 20 minutes from arriving at the Hospital that she had worked for 14 years.

Even though tired and needing to arrive to work on time, an inner voice guided Sophie to pull the stop cord and get off the bus to go to the satchel. She hesitated, thinking it was silly but an overpowering knowing pulled her hand upward and she was pulling the stop cord before she had time to overthink it. She exited the bus on her aching feet and walked slowly towards the discarded satchel. The grain in the leather told her that it was a quality and well loved piece and she knew that someone would be missing it. Sophie carefully picked up the bag and went to sit down on the bus stop bench. She chose an area that was less graffitied and perched while she opened the bag. She was hoping to find some form of identification or anything that would see her reunite the mystery bag with its owner. The bag was empty except for one thing. A small black notebook. It was a quality piece that looked like it had been around the world and back. The pages were well loved and full to the brim with writing. The key to finding the owner of the satchel and little black book was scratchy hand writing inside the front cover. The name said ‘Thomas Goldstein’. Sophie’s mind flooded with thoughts and questions as she wondered whether this bag could belong to her patient from last night. Could this bag really belong to 92 year old Thomas who arrived via ambulance to be treated for a scraped knee and elbow? Although Sophie didn’t want to pry, she flicked through the pages taking in the books contents. She lost herself momentarily as her eyes welled with passages about family, prison camps and gratitude for liberation. There were recipes, song lyrics and names of towns. Sophie collected her thoughts along with the bag and satchel. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath before getting up and stepping out closer to the curb to look for the next bus.

Reenergised and not at all noticing her sore feet, Sophie boarded the next bus and headed to the hospital for her shift. She felt like it wasn’t going to be an ordinary day and the excitement of the bag and little black book was a welcome change to her exhausting life as a soul parent and shift worker. With a new lease of energy, Sophie arrived at work and entered via the ER. She went straight to her locker and then met her co workers at the nurses station for handover. She felt as though the run through was taking forever and really just wanted to hear how her patient Thomas from last night was fairing and what his surname was. After discussing 3 patients, the outgoing nurse finally got to Thomas’ file. As she opened the file the nurse said to Sophie “Mr Goldstein is doing well and expected to go home later today”. Sophie’s eyes welled and her arms tingled. Her inner knowing that has led her off the bus was for a reason. Sophie tried to focus on the other patients files as the nurses words seemed to drag on forever. Once handover was complete, Sophie headed down the corridor towards Thomas’ cubicle.

He was sitting comfortably nursing abrasions to his head, knee and elbow. His eyes were soulful and his voice was gentle as he said ‘Good Morning’. She said ‘Mr Goldstein did you have a satchel with you when you were waiting at the bus stop’. His eyes looked panicked and his mouth dropped as he looked to the chair where his clothes were bagged up. Sophie could tell without him answering that the satchel was indeed his. She told him she’d be right back and ran to her locker to retrieve the satchel. She excitedly ran back to the cubicle to reunite Thomas with his precious belongings. Sophie passed it to him and said “I found this this morning at a bus stop on the way here”. Sophie explained how she came to find it and all the while she realised he had been patting her hand. His eyes were glistening with tears and his voice was soft. He explained that this little book was more valuable than she could understand. This worn book was filled with names of aunties, uncles, cousins, songs, holiday destinations, and favourite foods. Thomas explained that whilst most people have family photographs, he had none. This book was everything he could recollect and he had penned it with love hoping that every time he would read it his mind would let him picture those happy times with his family. The meals, the songs, the holidays, all of it. He explained that as his lens to his memory blurred, the words in this book was a way of keeping his family alive and in his heart.

Both with tears and still hand on hand, Thomas and Sophie felt connected.

Sophie passed over the satchel and continued her shift and kept checking in on Thomas and each time he’d give her a wink.

The next morning as Sophie arrived to work she headed to the nurses station with her eyes drawn to a beautiful bunch of blooms sitting atop the desk. “Someone’s lucky” Sophie said to one of her co-workers. “That someone is you” the nurse replied. Sophie was confused and intrigued. She excitedly reached for the little card that was pinned to the box. The card read ‘Dear Sophie, The book is more than a book to me. You’ll never know the gratitude I have for you for finding it and enabling me to continue remembering parts of my life that are now fading away. Please accept this small gesture’. Sophie saw a folded up piece of paper in the envelope. As she unfolded it she quickly realised that it was a bank check. A bank check for twenty thousand dollars. Three days later Sophie got her wish of being able to meet Thomas as she visited him at his home. Together the two chatted for hours over tea and cake. As she stood up to leave, Thomas gave her a wink and said “I’m writing about today in my little black book.”

The End