Mint to Be

Cars and trucks lined the parking lot of the local watering hole. Every Friday night, white collars, blue collars and no collars gathered to shrug off another week of stress and ring in the weekend. Some threw darts; others chalked cue sticks and played 9-ball. Ciera chose a corner booth situated in the shadows cast by a neon advertising sign dangling over the nearest pool table. She reached into the inside of her denim jacket and retrieved a little black notebook. Ciera gingerly opened the notebook worn with age. The first line grabbed her attention, "My Encounter with Aliens in 1942."

A waitress stepped to her table. "Can I get you anything, hon?"

Coffee, black," Ciera requested, with an appreciative nod.

"Got it. Have it right out," the waitress said cheerily as she noted another customer needing her service.

Ciera earned her living buying and selling. Inspired by reality television shows like "Storage Wars," she frequently bid on the contents of storage units long abandoned by owners delinquent in their rental fees. The contents of the units were sold on Ebay and listed on Facebook Marketplace. Though far from wealthy, Ciera enjoyed being self-employed and living her life as a "treasure" hunter. The previous owner of the little black notebook had taped it to the bottom of an antique dresser drawer for safekeeping. Noting the yellowing of the pages, Ciera determined the notebook hadn't seen the light of day in quite sometime and decided this little gem might offer a bit of entertainment.

The waitress returned with a cup of coffee and some creamer. Ciera cradled the cup of joe in her hands and started to read.

"Last night changed my life.

I left my shift at the Hercules Powder Company about 9 pm. Several of my fellow Munitionettes planned to go to the dance hall; I chose to walk on home. My feet ached from standing on the concrete floor all day. Of course this was a small sacrifice in comparison to all the boys serving overseas. When I left the factory, I chose the familiar shortcut across the field behind Dixie's Cafe. About halfway home, I experienced an other worldly encounter."

"Need a refill?" The waitress stood patiently, holding a coffee pot.

The waitress startled Ciera. "No thanks, I'm good." She focused once again on the journal.

"A bright light beamed down from the sky. Though frightened, I felt compelled to get closer. Suddenly, I became weightless and lifted off the ground, sucked into a ship of some unknown kind."

"Okay, this is just a story," Ciera thought. She paused and sipped her coffee. Someone dropped a quarter in the jukebox and a classic rock song from the 1980's rocked the house. Many customers belted out the chorus of 'Livin on a Prayer.' Ciera smiled and focused once again on the journal.

"Flashing multi-colored lights raced around the walls in thin bands. I've seen Flash Gordon fight aliens on television. These visitors from another universe looked similar to humans on earth; The main difference was their color. Each alien's skin glowed blue and green. When they spoke, they didn't move their mouths but transmitted messages from their brain to mine. They asked if our planet conducted business in cryptocurrency, specifically BitCoin."

Ciera became suddenly interested. "BitCoin in 1942?" she whispered.

"I explained we used cash and coins as currency. I opened my pocketbook and showed them samples. The aliens stared at the currency that could be held in the hand and exchanged for goods and services. The aliens explained they created this form of electronic currency eons ago and sought other universes willing to utilize this means of money. They detailed the benefits of BitCoin and described how it was transmitted digitally. I have no clue what "digitally" means. At this point, they handed me a slip of paper gifting me one Bitcoin for my service and assured me that at some point, the earth would honor this payment. The conversation ended and without warning, I found myself waking as from a dream, sprawled in the field.

"I shook my head trying to clear the cobwebs. I thought I had passed out...maybe hallucinating from dehydration. But then I opened my hand, and there was the slip of paper with a payment of BitCoin.

I'm hiding this piece of paper in my notebook and chalk this all up to some type of weird dream..."

Ciera's heart started to race. She turned the notebook up on end and fanned the pages. A slip of paper fluttered down, landing on the table. The paper read, 'Good for one Bitcoin.' Ciera motioned for the waitress, paid her bill, left a generous tip, and drove home.

____________________________________________________

A few days later, financial experts validated the authenticity of the Bitcoin payment and transferred twenty thousand dollars into Ciera's checking account.

It was time to buy out some more storage units.