Rose of Happenstance

Rose had grown used to little synchronicities happening, when she pulled into the assigned parking spot of her new apartment, and a radio advertisement screamed, “YOU ARE IN THE RIGHT PLACE!”. She chuckled a bit, thinking to herself, “well there’s a good sign!”.

As she climbed up the stairs carrying heavy boxes, she thought about how she wanted her previous apartment to be her last rental ever. She had cheap rent there, and thought she could actually save money for her own home. She lived in the “International District”, … lovingly referred to by police as “THE WAR ZONE” of Albuquerque. Feeling a bit emotional, here she was again, (upgrading on the neighborhood), but renting another place instead of buying one. She turned her key and opened the door.

Rose was extremely tired, but managed a smile when noticing a particular cozy corner of the living room, next to the fireplace, that she knew her cat “Modo” would just love curling up in for naps. Rose had a thing for fireplaces. She loved to write in her journal, so had very little use for a television in that room. “This brick fireplace will be perfect for creative inspiration”, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she stepped out onto the balcony for a gorgeous view of the Sandia mountains, taking a moment to wonder, “will this finally be the place l get to write my short stories in?” Rose had plans. She got the idea of writing a short story series about human trafficking victims’ triumph over their traffickers, … and what freedom can do in the lives of those once in captivity. Realizing she was day dreaming, she snapped back into moving mode, but as soon as she stepped in from the balcony, there were several very loud and urgent knocks at the door, startling her. Assuming it was probably the apartment manager, she answered without hesitation.

She was a little shocked to see an unfamiliar woman, shoving a little black book into her hands, and then rushing off. The woman muttered something barely decipherable, … “I saw you moving in, … I’m late for an appointment, … you must’ve dropped this!”. Rose looked down at a smooth little notebook she had never seen before, feeling very confused. She laughed inside about how the woman reminded her of the white rabbit in Alice In Wonderland. “I’m late, I’m late!” “Ha Ha Ha”, she laughed out loud, … and before she even had the chance to say the book wasn’t hers, the woman was gone, … vanishing somewhere in between apartment buildings. Too exhausted to run after her, she tossed the book aside, onto the kitchen counter. She had so much left to do, and would have to deal with that later.

That evening, with the last box unpacked, and her cat quietly slinking around to surveil the new digs, Rose thought about the past year, and how much turmoil it had brought to her nursing career. Her hours were cut, there was more stress than ever before, and now the real estate situation was a seller’s market. She worried if she’d ever have enough money to purchase a home. She also wanted time for writing, but returning to school was also a dream. “Ugh, why am I thinking about this before going to sleep?”. “If only I had an extra $20,000 laying around”, she sighed, then quickly past out from exhaustion.

The next day, Rose started digging through piles, and found all the story ideas she had jotted down on random scraps of paper and yellow sticky notes. In the chaos of moving, she felt lucky to even find them! She really needed a notebook to keep them all safe.. It was just then that she remembered the mysterious black notebook she’d been given by mistake the day before. She took it off the counter, and opened it up. On the very first page, the owner had clearly written, “If lost, please return to Bruce Chat…”. Rose could not read the entire last name, nor could she read the contact information that was written underneath, because the page was torn. She sipped her coffee and began to flip through the pages. She couldn’t possibly use this notebook because it was almost full! She immediately felt sympathy for the owner, whom she imagined was probably upset over losing this! She made a promise to herself to try and find the rightful owner.

As caffeine started clearing the morning cobwebs from her mind, Rose decided to go down the rabbit hole of google search, using the author’s partial name to try and find his location. At first, she came up with amusing results, such as “Bruce Willis, and “Chat with Bruce Levine”. Having discarded those possibilities, she then landed on “Bruce Chatwood”. She felt excitement when she saw that he was a travel writer, and the details of his life exactly matched the contents in the notebook! As she continued her internet search, that excitement soon turned to disappointment, when she learned that Bruce was now deceased.

She paused for a moment, rubbed the soft covers of the book between her hands, and now felt a strong reverence for it. This book had literally fallen into her possession by some absurd twist of fate. Someone who knew and loved the author, would surely be glad to have this back. She got ready for work, and headed to the hospital.

A few weeks later, after shipping the book to Bruce’s widow with a greeting card enclosed, Rose was in the middle of her shift when an email notification popped up on her phone. It was notice about a financial reward for finding and returning the notebook! She asked her supervisor for a quick break and quickly left the nursing unit. She sat in the lobby, reading carefully, and saw that she’d soon be receiving a check for $20,000.00!!! Thinking it was just a hallucination, Rose read it over and over and over again… finally letting herself feel some excitement when she realized it was actually REAL!

“I can pay for my tuition now!” … “I can travel to meet the subjects of my stories!”, she thought. Suddenly, the world opened up for Rose, and her goals were all within reach. The disappointment of renting another apartment now turned into an absolute gift! If she had not rented there, she’d never have received that special notebook. That spring, after meeting three of her short story subjects, Rose sent them brand new Moleskine notebooks of their own to journal in. She wanted them to have ones just like Bruce’s, to express their thoughts in. They were so brave in sharing their stories, and Rose hoped that they would find comfort in the pages. The next morning, she filled out her application for the law and policy degree she had always wanted. Her cat climbed into her lap, and purred, as if she knew what was about to happen, … and then Rose hit SEND.