The Mysterious Man and His Little Black Book

Brian Roam walks into “The Coffee Shop” and orders his usual; medium coffee black with two sugars, and a cheese danish. He then sits down in the back corner of the shop at his usual table. Brian then cracks open his laptop and sits there for hours, occasionally getting up to stretch his legs, and to order another coffee. This has been Brian’s daily routine for the past three months. Brian is an aspiring writer, and it was painstakingly obvious that he has been overcome with a severe case of writer's block.

One day at “The Coffee Shop” Brian is approached by a mysterious man.

Mysterious Man

“Hey, what are you working on?”

Brian answers coldly without even looking up from his screen.

Brian

“Nothing”

Unfazed. The man sits down right next to Brian, and peaks at the screen.

Mysterious Man

“Sure doesn’t look like nothing to me… What are you writing, is this your novel?”

Brian is taken aback, and tries to shield his screen from this man’s prying eyes. This guy clearly does not know anything about privacy or personal space.

Brian

“Excuse me sir, do you mind sitting somewhere else? I am very busy.”

But the man is relentless.

Mysterious Man

“C'mon man... eventually someone is going to have to read it, might as well let me take a look, maybe I can help”

Brian eventually gives in and let's the man read his screen. Brian is now anxiously looking over this man's shoulder and is on pins and needles, as this stranger is reading his unfinished work, his baby. Brian feels like this man is peering into his soul.

Mysterious Man

“Umm excuse me… personal space.. "

He says sarcastically.

"Relax, go grab something from the front, Im almost done”

Brian leaves, and then returns with his coffee.

The man dramatically closes Brian’s computer screen very slowly and looks up at him.

Brian

“Well?!”

Mysterious Man

“Well, It doesn’t suck”

Brian’s heart drops to his stomach, and his face is flushed red with anger.

Brian

“Thats it!?, That's all you have to say??”

Brian slams down his coffee and snatches his computer from the table and stuffs it into his bag.

Brian

“I knew I should not have let you look at my work! Such a waste of time!

Brian turns to storm out of the coffee shop, but the man stops him.

Mysterious Man

“Hey wait…don’t leave just yet”

The mysterious man reaches in his breast pocket and pulls out a MOLESKINE Little Black Book and hands it to Brian.

Brian is confused. He begins thumbing through the pages, it's full of poetry, journal entries, and personal notes.

Brian

“What is this, I can’t take this”

He attempts to give it back, but the man refuses.

Mysterious Man

" This is my little black book, and it's the secret to becoming the best writer you can possibly be. Take a look at the back, you will find a list of directions. If you follow them to the letter, I promise you that you will become a very very rich man, and maybe even a best selling author."

Brian

“Whats the catch, why are you giving this to me?”

Mysterious Man

“The catch is that you have to promise that you do not attempt to write another sentence of that novel until you have finished everything on that list.”

Brian is very confused but he puts the book in his pocket and agrees to go on this mysterious man’s strange quest and walks out of the coffee shop.

The first item on the list was to visit Sal at the local deli in town and ask for the special.

Strange, Brian thought to himself, but still he proceeds.

When Brian gets to the deli, he walks to the front clerk and asks for Sal.

Brian

“Hello I was sent here by some guy.. he told me to ask for the special”

The old man’s face lights up.

Sal

“Your looking at him! How is our old friend? He hasn’t been here for a while, I was beginning to worry”

Brian has no idea what or who he is referring to, but he obviously must be talking about the man who gave him this little black book, and sent him on this bizarre quest. Duh.

Sal

“Welp, you better get to work, this store is not going to clean itself.

He hands Brian a broom and walks away towards the kitchen.

Brian

“What? No..”

Before he could finish his sentence Sal was already gone.

Brian is furious, but he came this far, so he puts his head down and gets to work.

As he is working, re-organizing the shelf, the most delightful smell takes over his senses. The smell of freshly baked bread, and the aroma of chicken with the finest seasoning. He’s never smelled food this good in his entire life.

Brian finished cleaning the entire store, it must have taken at least 2 hours. Exhausted, Brian slumps to the ground. Sal walks over and hands him a plate.

Sal

“Here you go kid, my famous chicken cutlet, made with homemade bread from scratch, just like our friend likes it”

Brian takes a bite, and he is sent to another universe. He’s never tasted anything this good in his life.

Sal

“Get up, let's grab a seat outside, it's such a nice day out and I could use some air”

Brian and Sal sit outside to eat and talk. They talk about life, they talk about the people walking past, they just talk, and they do so for hours.

Sal

“Oh look at the time, I better not hold you any longer, tell our friend I said hello”

He hands him a a slip of paper.

Sal

“Do me a favor and bring this ticket to this address, don’t worry it should be on the list”

Brian

“Sure anything Sal, thank you for the food.

Sal

“Thank you talking with me and for cleaning up the place”

Brian gets up and begins toward the address it looks like a cleaner’s across town, he could call an Uber, but decides instead to cut through the park. It is such a nice day.

For the first time in a long time Brian takes in the beauty of his surroundings. The fresh air, dogs barking, people laughing, kites flying in the air.

Brian arrives at Mrs Shannon’s Cleaners, he hands the woman the ticket, and a smile is immediately brought to her face.

Brian

“Mrs Shannon I presume.. Sal sent me”

Mrs Shannon

“Oh yes! You presume correctly.. now lets see what Sal needs now”

She takes the ticket, flips it around and reads. It's a poem from Sal.

Mrs Shannon blushes.

She walks towards the back and hands him a laundry bag, a blazer and an address.

Mrs Shannon

“Here.. take the laundry bag to this address, the jacket is for our friend, tell him I said hello. Oh and let Sal know if he wants to talk, he should come here himself.

She says with a flirty smirk.

Brian takes the jacket and the clothes and walks out of the door.

Brian has no idea how to reach this man, he doesn't even know his name. So Brian decides to put the jacket on.. a perfect fit. He continues toward the address.

The address takes him to a nursing home, where he ends up walking the dog of every tenant that owned a dog, plus one cat.

Another errand to run.. It seems like this "quest", is only a list of chores this mysterious man was too lazy to do himself. He is starting to feel like he is working for Amazon or Post-mates. Weeks go by, and everything on this list has had him picking something up and delivering to the next person or place. But every single time, he is greeted by the warmest smile, and almost always accompanied by a great conversation or story.

Brian is almost done with this list but he is still no closer to a becoming a very rich man, or becoming a best selling author.

A little annoyed, that this has all turned out to be some wild goose chase, but he’s actually had some fun.

The last item on the list. He is tasked to drop off some books at a local bookstore that he picked up from a local merchant named Hurang who moved to the USA from Indonesia for a better life and to send money for his family back home. Turns out that the bookstore was right across the street from “The Coffee Shop”. This list has literally brought Brian back full circle. All done with this strange list, Brian decides to drop back in for his usual coffee black with two sugars and a cheese danish and to toil away at his novel.

But this time the words flow to him. His writer's block is gone and he finds himself in the zone. Brian completes the rest of his novel with ease. Brian closes his computer only to look up to see the mysterious man standing in front of him.

Mysterious man

“All done?

Brian looks back at him in disbelief, he doesn’t know whether to be happy or angry to see this man. But he just gives this man the biggest smile and gets up shake his hand and embraces him in a hug. Brian has literally just walked a mile in his shoes, and he truly feels like this mysterious man is an old friend.

Brian

“Yes all done. How did you know? Please take a seat and have a look, and I will go grab you something to eat from the front”

Brian hands the mysterious man a coffee and a cheese danish, but instead of staring at this man while he reads, he instead decides to take a walk outside to get some fresh air.. It is a beautiful day out.

When Brian returns the man is just finishing up.

Brian

“So what did you think”

Mysterious Man

“Brilliant!... See!... All you needed was a little break and some fresh air, and all I needed was a little bit of chores crossed off my list. Thought it would be a win win”

Brian laughs. He knew he was being played, but he didn’t mind. His book was finally done and he felt incredible. Brian slouches back into the seat, closes his eyes and lets out a sigh of relief.

The Mysterious man reaches into his breast pocket and pulls out a checkbook, and writes a check for a Million Dollars and hands it to Brian.

Brian takes the check and stares at it in disbelief. He reads the company name.

Little Black Book Publishing Co. - signed CEO.

Mysterious Man

“I think this might be a best seller one day”

THE END