Koda and the Little Black Book

It was a quiet morning while I was enjoying my breakfast outside of the cafe. I was alone with my laptop researching jobs and updating my resume. I had been recently let go from my position at a law firm because the attorney closed his office after retiring.

While I was packing my laptop and cleaned the table, a friendly dog approached me. I stood still because I was terrified of dogs. This one seemed friendly and barked lightly at me. This didn’t help my fear. I stepped back while the dog took one step forward towards me.

I couldn’t help but notice a small little black book hanging from the collar. The dog moved closer to me and sat down. This was strange because the dog acted like it knew me. I had no idea who this dog was as I had never seen it before.

The dog was a soft golden-brown color and sort of looked like a labradoodle. She was a female, that much I could tell. She was docile and sweet.

I reached for the collar of the dog and it read, “Whoever finds me is going on an adventure.”

What adventure, I asked myself quietly.

I opened the little black book, and it had an introduction to the dog.

“Greetings. My name is Koda and I am a Golden Doodle sent to help you find the adventure that awaits you. Follow the instructions, and you find it along with my owner. Very few have tried this, and none of them have found the treasure. Will you be the one?”

My heart started beating fast and I broke out into a sweat. I grabbed my backpack and walked to my apartment as fast as I could since I was only a few blocks away.

I wondered if this could be a trick and Koda’s owner had to be nearby watching us. I mean, how else could the dog come to me directly without assistance?

Coming up to my door, Koda barked and scared me. I dropped my bag and Koda began scratching the door. It made me wonder if someone was inside the apartment.

I opened the door and let Koda go inside since she sensed someone. She ran straight to the kitchen. I followed her with a distance grabbing the bat near the door. She began to eat. I walked in the kitchen and on the floor next to the island counter, were two bowls of food and water. A large bag of food was on the counter along with a note.

“Koda requires to be fed twice daily and must be walked every day for thirty minutes.”

“What in the world!” I said out loud. “Who got into my apartment?”

I looked around to see if the window or door was broken into. It was not. There was, however, another note on the refrigerator addressed to me.

“Silvia, please follow the instructions from the little black book to find the treasure. You will be awarded twenty thousand dollars if you find it. A private jet is at your disposal to go to the destinations you need to find clues that will lead you to the final treasure. Best of luck!”

Okay, someone is playing a trick on me. Nobody has a key to my apartment. So how did they get in? I need a job, not an adventure. Although I haven’t taken a day off in six years. I needed this. Maybe I should go on this adventure.

The next morning, I took the little black book and read the instructions. The first stop would be in Odessa, Texas. A museum was the first visit to find a meteor shaped in a heart with Koda’s name on it. The second trip would be heading to New York City to find a piece of art with Koda’s portrait, and the last trip would be to the Cayman Islands to find a piece of jewelry with a K and puppy emblem. Seemed simple enough. How hard could this be? They’re literally telling me what I need to find, and it is common sense as to where to find it.

I packed two suitcases of clothes and comfortable shoes. The book also stated that I needed to take Koda with me. I packed her dog food and bowls and headed to the airport where the plane was.

Arriving to the airport I made my way to the private hangars where the little black book stated to go. I parked my car outside and I was greeted by a gentleman who took my keys and luggage. He loaded them onto the plane and directed me to get on. My heart sank because for a split second, I thought this was a huge mistake. Then Koda got on the plane as she was familiar with it, and I followed her.

Our flight was about three hours since I lived in San Francisco. I had a car ready for me to head to the museum.

On my way following the directions, I thought this would be an easy task. Was I surprised when I arrived. The museum director provided me with a map of an area that I needed to search for the meteor along with a small shovel and pick. So much for this being simple. Koda and I headed to the walkway. It was hot in Odessa. The heat was different than being back home. It was hot and dry with a ton of dirt flowing everywhere.

I spent five hours out there and right when I was about to give up the search, I tripped over a small rock and landed face first on another rock. I dug up both of them and the one I happened to hit my face with, was the meteor I had been searching for. It was about three inches wide with Koda’s name written on it. This was definitely a hard find and luckily I found it.

I headed back to the museum to show the director I had found it and he was surprised. He said very few spent that much time out there in the heat and expected me to give up after a couple of hours. Not me, I wanted to find it and move on to the next search. Granted, I thought it would be easy, but this gave me an idea of what to expect with the following searches.

Landing in New York, I already had a list of art galleries to visit for the second search. It was walking to the fifth art gallery, I noticed an alley with vendors. Walking through it was a vendor selling art and I asked him if there were more throughout the city. He advised me there was and it gave me an idea that the piece I was looking for would not be in an art gallery. This trip took me about four days to find the portrait. Everywhere I would ask, they didn’t know what I was talking about, but one customer told me she had seen something similar at a pawn shop in Staten Island. She gave me the crappiest directions to the pawn shop, but I eventually found it after spending all day going from pawn shop to pawn shop. Sure enough, they had a painting matching the description and a letter along with it.

The letter congratulated me and said I was one step closer to finding the last of the treasure in the Cayman Islands.

Back at the airport, I was exhausted and luckily, I had showered before heading on the plane. I fell asleep and didn’t do the research I was supposed to do for the jewelry locations. The way things had been going, it would be somewhere I least expected and I would have to think outside of the box to find a necklace.

Arriving in the Cayman Islands, I took in the gorgeous blue ocean from the plane. It was windy and the water was choppy, but the view was incredible.

This time, the pilot showed me an image of the necklace I would need to find. The pendent looked identical to Koda and it had the letter K on her dog tag. I was expecting the necklace to have two pendants, but instead it was one piece. It was a white gold necklace and pendent and the letter K was pink.

I started out in the most common places where jewelry was sold and asked several questions. The pilot didn’t let me keep the image since he said this would be a test of being able to recall correctly what I was looking for.

I had a time limit here in the Cayman Islands, and I was to take no more than three days searching for the item.

On my third day, I was ready to give up. I had searched high and low, and nobody had any idea of what I was looking for. I was nearing the end of the day when I entered a restaurant for dinner because I skipped lunch. The woman was wearing a pendent similar to what I was looking for, so I asked her where she purchased it. She said her grandmother made it, but she had passed away late last year. This shot my hopes down of finding the pendent. I asked her if she had any for sale or available. She said her sister had the remaining pieces of jewelry and she provided me with her address.

I ate first and literally zoomed through the dinner. I took a taxi to the address I was given and was greeted by a friendly woman. She was outside watering her plants. I advised her that her sister sent me, and she said she knew I was going to visit her. She welcomed me into her home and said that she several pieces available, except for a special one.

The special one caught my attention. I immediately asked her if it was a dog with a letter K. Her face lit up and asked if I was part of the treasure hunt.

“Yes!” I exclaimed with relief.

She gave me a relieved look and said nobody ever got this far. She knew of ten other people who had tried the challenge. She ran to the room where she had the necklace and handed it to me.

Making my way back to the airport, I was crying because I couldn’t believe that I had managed to complete all of the challenges.

Inside the plane was Koda’s owner because she ran towards him. He opened a suitcase, congratulated me and said that I was the first person to complete the challenge and here was my reward. Twenty thousand dollars in cash. I bargained to keep Koda, but he refused.

We talked about how I managed to continue the journey and the reason why I was chosen. Apparently, my ex-boss was best friends with him and they both decided this would be good for me. Not only did I win the challenge, I also received a job offer from him.

Say hello to the new Marketing Technologist in charge of his tech company.