BLACK BOOKS & WHITE LINES

BLACK BOOK & WHITE LINES

Written by Azaleh Artist

This is a typical Monday in the month of August in New York City. Just doing the normal thing up early at 6AM walking my beautiful dogs in Riverside Park in Harlem. As I am on the way back to my apartment to get dressed to go to work. I see this black book in the trashcan on the corner of 142nd Street and Riverside Drive. I get on the downtown subway as I get off the train at 42nd Street, there again I notice another black book in the trash can on 42nd and 5th Avenue. This was very a bit strange to me because I had never paid attention to the trash cans in New York City, unless I was disposing trash myself. In both trash cans I was not disposing any trash, they just happened to be on the corners where I walk my dogs every day and where I worked.

Throughout the day this really intrigued me because it was just a different energy. As I close the office at the end of the day waiting for the cleaning crew to arrive. As I shut off the lights in the copy room there again is another black book in the trash can. As I am shutting the office for the night the cleaning crew walks in and begins to start pulling all the trash bags out the bins. One of the cleaning crews began taking the trash to the front of the building and stopped me on my way out and advised me that she was unsure why this black book was in the trash and handed it to me.

I placed the black book in my bag and ran to catch the subway. As I was walking towards the subway, I noticed that the same black book was still in the trash can on the corner of 42nd Street. The black book had been placed on the top of the trashcan. I grabbed the book and headed for the subway. Now I have 2 books and since it seemed as though, I was being followed by the black books I wanted to make sure that what I was feeling felt authentic. I could not wait to get off the subway to see if the black book were still in the trash can on the corner of my block on 142nd Street.

As I get into my apartment, I feed the dogs and ready for the walk to Riverside Park to see if the black book is still there. I take both books and I wipe both down with Lysol anti-bacterial spray and proceeded with my dogs to walk to the park. I was so eager filled with anxiety to see what this really means that I am seeing black books in trashcans by my home, by my job and at my job all in corner trashcans. The anxiety continues to build as I approach the corner of 142nd and Riverside Drive and I specifically walked terribly slow so that the light would not change. The purpose to get caught at the traffic light was so I could look at the trash can before the traffic light was to change before the sun went down. There it was. Another black book in the trash can. I was hesitant to grab the book which would have been awkward to walk with both dogs, but I grabbed it and put it up under my left arm.

Here I am now with three black books that were obtained from my office from the cleaning crew, the black book from the corner of the office building where I work and where I live. What does this mean? What am I supposed get from the collection of the books? Here it is black book with white pages. As I wipe them off with the anti- bacterial wipes just trying to process what does it mean. The black books all have beautiful designs that are engraved on the front and back cover made of leather. I open all the books and all the pages are blank from what I can see. Just empty white pages nothing from what can be seen with a quick breeze through the black book.

Days go by and the black book is sitting on my table still not knowing what the black books contained because there is not penmanship on any of the white pages. The black book sat on the table for a month and during the Spring cleaning I decide to go through the black book again, since nothing fell out the books. There must be a reason that the black books were everywhere. I continued to be lost on why the books were thrown in the trash.

I hesitated to add all the books to my goodwill boxes, but I never got the answer of the circumstance of finding them but there had to be a reason. I decided not to put them in the box. The famous black book had such a unique design on each of the book cover. I placed all three of them on my bookshelf and another month goes by.

Within the next sixty days all the cool things started happening at work for me in every aspect of my life. I received a promotion and some of the larger commission deals were less complicated and purchased new vehicle. I began to have great energy and just positive vibes since the black books were in my possession. Very stress free the last sixty days. As another day is on the calendar, having the same routine and the books are still in my possession. Since I am really into the zodiac signs, this day my horoscope stated that I was going to be surprised with a large sum of money.

The day started off well, on the way into work and a nice pigeon left his breakfast on my coat while walking to 42nd Street from 5th Avenue. I ran into the nearest place to use the restroom to clean off the pigeon poop. As I was leaving rushing into work, the thought came over me that some people say that it is good luck if the bird poops on you. I was continuing to think about all the energy surrounding me with all the changes that have happened with everything were positive. I am in great vibes and staying in good spirits as the horoscope predicts for the day.

I go home get off the subway, it is the end of the day, rush hour and ready for some good food and a glass of wine. I did forget to check my mailbox when arriving at my apartment. Looking and searching for some of the entertainment things to do and I hear a beep three times. I was unsure where it was coming from because I had nothing that I was aware of that makes that sound. I hear it again and it stops. I am unable to find out where the noise is coming from. Its Friday night, I am very relaxed and have nothing planned for the weekend.

Saturday morning, I wake up and do my normal, walk the dogs and then have my coffee. I enter my home from the walk with the dogs and I hear the three beeps again. I am looking at the books and all three of the black books are in the same spot. As soon as I am in front of the bookshelf the sound of the beeps stopped. I removed the books and tried to find where the sound was coming from. I could not find anything on the books to provide that sound. It puzzled me as I did not find anything. I just left it alone and enjoyed my evening being a couch potato.

Another day passed time to get ready for the work week. Sunday is my domestic day. I never heard the beeps again, yet still puzzled. I decided to finally go check my mail since I forgot during the week. All the great things have been happening the last three months since I found the three black books. As I am grabbing the mail, I return upstairs to go through it as normal. My house is ready and perfect, and all the things are done, now it is time to make dinner and start to wind down a get ready for the week.

I decide to go through the stack of envelopes that I get everything ready to pay but there is a beautiful envelope that has a return address from Osaka, Japan. The envelope was beautiful with all types of beautiful colors with no name but my correct address. I do not want to rip the envelope because the design is so beautiful and matches my home décor. I am very confused if this mail really belongs to me. The letter stated “Thank You for finding all three of my black books that were lost in three different places in New York City. Each book has a GPS tracker inside the design on the black book. Once all three of the books were back together there was a series of three beeps which indicates that all three books are together”. I thank you for keeping them safe and not discarding the black books. I have enclosed a cashier’s check in the amount of twenty thousand dollars for you for finding all three black books. The black books are very sentimental to my family and we placed trackers on all three of the black books. The books have been in my family for many centuries. I have enclosed a prepaid international label with my address fully prepaid to send back to me. I thank you again.”

I could not believe that a cashier’s check for twenty thousand dollars was sitting in my mailbox for a week, not knowing that the horoscope for the prediction was sitting in my mailbox the entire time and has come true. This is my story about the black books and stumbling upon twenty thousand dollars.