Black Book

“Hey Kiddo.”

“Yeah,” replies Mason, sitting at the kitchen table, scribbling with a green crayon on a dinosaur printout.

“I think it’s time to head out, grab your shoes, Ok? Meet me in the van.” Looking in the mirror, Elizabeth combs her hair once more. Her long black curls bounce a little as she pulls the brush through. The frizz she thinks will just have to do. It’s always a touch humid here in North Carolina. She glances at her brown skin and eyes and smiles.

Headed to the car, she slips her feet into her sandals; she was always ready for sand or water. Mason is in the van waiting.

“Kiddo, are you buckled?”

“Yes, Mama. Can I watch a movie?”

“Sure.” Pushing the brake and the start button, the van clicks on, and the movie is already in the DVD player.

Clicking her seat belt on, Elizabeth pushes the garage door opener, hits the reverse button, and then backs out of the garage. The sun beams in, and she remembers to put on her sunglasses. The DVD begins to play, and she thinks to herself that maybe she should get the headphones fixed so she can listen to the radio and chuckles to herself.

“Mason, are you ready for a day at the beach?”

“Yes! Mason happily replies, “I want to build a sandcastle!”

“Ok, I have all your toys in the trunk already, and we are going to have a picnic, ok?”

The drive to her favorite spot isn’t long, only about 15 minutes through Wilmington. She takes River Road, which is partially new developments and views of the inter-coastal water way. The road is peaceful, and she loses focus as she drives and takes in the sights of water, sky, and green growth out of the windshield. The road curves alongside Snow Cut Bridge, and she turns onto the main road, which crosses over into what is known as Pleasure Island, which consists of the small coastal towns of Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, and Fort Fisher. Taking a right by the State Park, she heads down toward her favorite, Fort Fisher. Soon, she is passing by the withered Oaks on either side of the battered Civil War Fort and into the Fort Fisher State Park parking lot.

Mason squeals with excitement as he tumbles out of the Van.

“Mason, take your pail and shovel, Ok?”

Elizabeth begins to get her beach chair, a foldable blanket, and a picnic basket. “Mason, let’s look both ways before we cross the street.”

They glance both ways and make it safely across, then up a set of wooden stairs that go up to a walkway to the beach. The wooden walkway soon becomes sand that their feet sink into. There are quite a few people on the beach today, of course, as the weather is perfect. Nice and sunny and 82 with a good breeze smelling of fresh salty air. She walks to the right of the guard tower, not needing the guard because she doesn’t plan on going too deep in the water anyway. Mason runs ahead; surely the sun and the breeze feels good on his skin. Elizabeth finds an open spot and spreads out the blanket, placing the picnic basket on the blanket to hold it down and opens the beach chair. Mason begins scooping damp sand in the pail, pats it down, and flips the bucket upside down. Tapping the bucket, the sand forms a soft castle shape.

“Let’s find seashells to decorate the castle,” Mason eagerly asks his Mom.

They both start scouring the sand for the perfect shells, shells that are not broken or too big or too small. With a good handful, Mason places the shells around the castle. Laughing, Mason runs to the edge of the ocean, kicking and splashing as the sea foams. Her toes sinking in the sand and the cool water rushing up to her ankles, Elizabeth walks behind Mason as he plays. They head back to their spot on the beach and have a snack of sandwiches and apples. The beauty of the Fort Fisher area was the diversity of the landscape. The ocean, the twisted Oak trees, and the Marsh area.

After a while, Elizabeth asked Mason if he wanted to take a walk on the Basin Trail. They had often seen deer, hermit crabs, and various birds. It was also fun to see the Southport Ferry at the end of the walk. Mason was eager and helped fold the blanket and put things back into the picnic basket. Once they were off the beach and in the parking lot, Elizabeth stashed the items in the van. The beginning of the Basin Trail was just to the right of the parking lot. It began through a wooded area, then came out to the sand of the beach, and after a couple of hundred yards, a boardwalk over the marsh emerged. Elizabeth and Mason had ventured here plenty of times, and they knew that if they were quiet and walked lightly, little hermit crabs would pop out of holes in the soft ground. It was fun to see them scurry when they got close. They also would pass a Civil War era bunker known to the locals as the “Hermit House,” where, unfortunately, a local hermit had lived and was murdered back in 1972. Elizabeth let Mason pop in for a few seconds for fun.

“Mom,” Mason exclaimed, “there's a book in here!”

“Hmm...” Elizabeth said. “Grab it, and I’ll look at it. We could drop it off back at the Ranger Station.”

Mason handed his mother a small black book. The cover was plain and no title. Flipping the pages, it looked like a journal–scribbles, doodles, and nothing important. Maybe a kid had dropped it, no big deal, she thought as she slipped it in her back pocket. Let’s go see the Ferry, she told Mason and continued on their walk.

After their 2-mile walk, Mason was hungry by the time they got back to the van. Elizabeth promised him they could stop by their favorite spot in Carolina Beach, Hang Ten Grille. Mason loved the mini corn dog nuggets, and Elizabeth could never pass up the Philly Cheese Steak Salad. After ordering their meal, Elizabeth felt something in her back pocket…it was the small black book. She took it out as Mason scribbled on the Kid’s Menu the waitress had given him with a blue crayon. She saw a page with what looked like Coordinates on it. 33.9715* N77.918*W. Googling the coordinates, it popped up that this was the location of the Second Battle of Fort Fisher, which was won by the Union Army during the Civil War. This is interesting, a little book found in the Civil War bunker; maybe the owner was a Civil War fan.

She looked through the book and found three more coordinates, but one had an American Flag on the page. Googling it, she found that this location was at the Cameron Art Museum (CAM) in Wilmington. The Battle of Forks Road was won by the United States Colored Troops and led to the fall of Wilmington. This was very curious and led Elizabeth to ponder about this little black book. Why had the person just written the coordinates and not taken any notes if they were researching the sites or were so interested in the Civil War? CAM was close to her neighborhood, and this little Civil War lesson had piqued her interest, so she decided that since there was still time, maybe she would take Mason to see this site, too, and they could have a little discussion about it.

Once they reached CAM, there was a sign pointing to the trail that would lead them to the area of the Civil War battle. There was a plaque with information about the battle, the Generals, and the importance of this battle in the Civil War. There were still earthworks that the soldiers had built as a small protection against the gun and cannon blasts. Elizabeth noticed something at the end of the mound. She walked closer and saw that it was a small black box. She picked it up and noticed it was locked. She decided to keep the box and see what was inside.

Back at home, Elizabeth told her husband about her adventure that day and showed him the box. He was interested to see what was inside the box as well. They took the box in the garage and used a few different tools until they were able to get it open. A stack of money was revealed, Elizabeth gasped and her husband’s eyes widened. They halved the stack, and each counted, altogether there was $20K...Elizabeth was a little flabbergasted on exactly what had happened. Her husband had a worried look on his face.

“Did anyone see you leaving Fort Fisher or the CAM?” he asked.

Elizabeth sat and thought for a minute. It was off season, and there were not many people at Fort Fisher, maybe two cars in the parking lot when they left, but no one on the trail. At the CAM, there were a handful of cars parked toward the museum but not near the Civil War Trail. Elizabeth and her husband decided that they should get rid of the book. They took it into their backyard, piled wood into the firepit and lit it, and as the fire danced, Elizabeth threw in the book. It shriveled as the flames licked at it. Afterwards, back inside, the couple quickly decided they would keep the money. It was too risky trying to figure out who, where, and why. John would take $8,000 and deposit it into his account, and Elizabeth would do the same. They would keep the remaining $4,000 at home. This could be a blessing, which could help them get ahead in some financial matters. Hopefully, no one would come looking for the missing black box and its contents.

A few weeks later, Elizabeth and Mason decided to visit the Fort Fisher Aquarium. It was a cold and gray day. They drove by the recreation area where the Basin Trail was located. Elizabeth glanced at the twisted trees that covered the wooded area of the trail.

Mason, let’s keep our eyes peeled for treasure today, ok?”

Mason giggled, “Ok Mama.”