Hidden in the Leaves

Sarah sniffled as she walked down the empty sidewalk. It was autumn so there were hundreds of colorful leaves scattered across her path. With each step she took, there was a crunching sound to be heard. Sarah was looking down but she couldn’t bother to pay attention to where she was walking. In fact, she couldn’t see much more than an array of colors through the tears that shielded her eyes. Suddenly, there was a different sound that filled the crisp autumn air. Sarah lifted her gaze slightly. She had kicked something. Her eyes searched around for it, but the sidewalk was so entirely covered with leaves that she could only see orange, yellow, red, and brown caking the surface in front of her. Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. She thought maybe her eyes being glazed over with tears had obscured her vision. But, to her dismay, the sidewalk was really just smothered with warmly colored leaves. She frowned for the umpteenth time that day. Nothing seemed to be going right for her today. First, her professor embarrassed her in front of the entire class for not knowing what the bell curve is. She felt like she was never going to learn anything in that class because the statistics professor expected her to know everything already. Speaking of not learning anything, Sarah could not learn a thing in her French class, which was right after stats, because all she could do was replay the moment the class broke out into snickers. What a horrible sound. Then, in the library, she tripped and spilled her iced coffee onto the pretty girl in the pastel dress and got glared at by the pretty girl in pastel as well as her comparably pretty friends. Now, she was walking home with tears spilling down her cheeks, and not even that could go right. Of course, she had to kick something.

“Where is it?” She mumbled to herself as she crouched down, searching through the leaves. “Aha.” Sarah sighed in relief as she lifted a textured and yet still smooth item out of the leaves.

Sarah held up a small black notebook with a stretchy band wrapped vertically around the first inch or so of the book. She wiped any remaining tears as her eyes focused on the book with curiosity. The corners of the notebook were bent slightly, showing its age through wear. This wear and tear could also be partly due to Sarah kicking it and maybe others kicking it.

Carefully, Sarah slid the band over the edge and opened the cover. Inside, read “In case of loss, please return to: Amelia Kim”, followed by an address that looked to be nearby. Just below the address, the page read “As a reward: $2”. The number was smudged and all that Sarah could make out was 2, so she assumed that it was twenty dollars.

“Let’s get you home,” Sarah said softly to the notebook in her hand.

After about ten minutes of wandering through more leaves, Sarah found herself at the walkway of the assumed residence of Amelia Kim.

“This better not go badly,” Sarah said, hoping it wouldn’t add to her bad day.

Cautiously, Sarah approached the front door. Other than it being painted a pretentious pink color, the door was a plain paneled structure with a little black hole drilled into the upper three-fourths of it. Sarah presumed that the hole was a peephole for Amelia.

Taking in a deep breath, Sarah raised her hand and pressed in the doorbell. She heard a pretty chime sound and then soft footsteps. Her heart raced as her anxiety began to kick in. The footsteps stopped and there was a moment of silence. Sarah just knew that whoever it was behind the door was peeking at her through the peephole. She looked down shyly.

Finally, the door was heard unlocking and it gently swung open just enough for a thin figure to fill the space. Sarah looked up at the woman holding the door open.

“May I help you?” the woman, who appeared to be half Korean and half Caucasian, had a calm and slightly husky voice. Sarah loved the sound of it.

Slightly flustered, Sarah smiled sheepishly and lifted the black notebook up as she spoke, “Ah, I found this, and… well I believe it belongs to you. That is if you are Amelia?”

Amelia’s face contorted into a relieved grin. Swiftly, she snatched the book from Sarah’s hands. “You found it! Thank you so much!” Amelia smiled down at the notebook in her hands and then looked up at Sarah with glee written all over her face. “Where was it?!”

“Oh, uh, I found it on the sidewalk near my university. It was covered with a thick layer of leaves,” Sarah explained.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Amelia cheered and jumped up and down a little bit.

Sarah smiled awkwardly, unsure of what to do next. Should I leave? She thought to herself.

When Amelia realized how uncomfortable the young woman standing in front of her was becoming, she quickly gathered herself. Clearing her throat, she said, “Hey, why don’t you come in a have something to drink?” She pushed the door open more to invite Sarah in.

“Oh, that’s alright, I’ll, uh, just head home.” Sarah gestured behind herself, letting out an awkward laugh.

“No, no, I insist! Please, do come in.” Amelia enthusiastically motioned inside her house.

With a little hesitation, Sarah finally obeyed and entered Amelia’s house. Amelia led her to a living room area set up with a beige couch and three baby blue chairs.

“Go ahead and sit and I’ll be right in with some snacks and drinks,” Amelia instructed softly.

Sarah was a little nervous but she found a seat in the chair nearest to the couch and to the right of a small lamp table. She waited patiently for a few moments, looking around the room to take in every detail.

Soon, Amelia had returned with a plate of assorted biscuits, cookies, and crackers as well as a few bottles in her hand. “Here are some of my favorite snacks, feel free to help yourself. And here are the drinks that I have.” She set down a bottle of water, carbonated water, and a brightly colored soda. “I can also make you some coffee if you would like that.”

Sarah smiled politely and reached for the bottled water, “That’s okay! I’m good with water.”

Amelia relaxed a bit and sat down in the chair to the left of the lamp table. After an unpleasant pause, Amelia spoke up, not making eye contact with Sarah. “I… I um…” she rubbed her palms together, “I am really grateful that you returned my book. It is very precious to me.”

Sarah nodded, slowly munching on a cookie.

“It’s actually my brother’s notebook… or it was.”

Sarah tilted her head to the side. “Oh, then why was your name written on the inside cover?”

Amelia chuckled faintly, still not meeting Sarah’s eyes. “He was too lazy to write anything on the cover. Or maybe lazy isn’t the right word but he never found any importance in filling out the first page.”

“So you filled it out for him… but with your name instead of his?” Sarah asked.

“Well, he’s, uh… he’s dead so it’s best for it to be returned to me.”

The air in the room became thick. Sarah swallowed hard. “I-I I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize-”

Amelia interjected, “It’s okay! How could you have known? It’s been a few years now anyway.” She waved her hands around, trying to show her guest that it wasn’t a big deal.

Sarah looked down at the bottle in her hand. “So, did he write memorable things in his notebook?”

Amelia looked a little surprised. “You didn’t read any of it?”

Sarah glanced up and met Amelia’s gaze. “No, I thought that would be rude.”

Amelia gave a wide smile. “You are amazing, uh, what is your name?”

“Sarah, Sarah Peterson.”

“I like you, Sarah, you’re really cool. I know James would have liked you too,” Amelia stated, revealing her brother’s name to Sarah. “Anyway, he wrote songs. He was a musician. This little black notebook might not seem too special but it is the most amazing memento I could ever have. It has his every creative thought, a ray of sunshine, dark cloud, doubt, confusion, and his favorite memories written in it in the form of songs.”

Sarah nodded in awe. “That must be a wonderful way to remember him by.”

“It is! And I was devastated when I lost it yesterday afternoon. I searched everywhere for it, I even walked my same path three times to try and find it! I am just so so thankful that you found it and returned it to me!”

“Of course! I didn’t realize it would be this phenomenal though, I will admit. But I am glad that I stumbled upon it- well actually, I kicked it,” Sarah blushed ever so slightly when admitting her mode of discovery.

“I don’t mind! I am happy it is here and in tack.” Amelia beamed. “Oh, I’m sure you’re here because of the reward!” She stood up to go find her bag.

“What? No, I’m not that desperate for money, it’s really okay.” Sarah smiled reassuringly.

Amelia cocked her head to the side.

Sarah returned Amelia’s questioning stare. Now, Sarah’s eyebrows creased together. “What?”

“Are you rich or something?”

“What? No, I just mean I don’t need twenty dollars for returning a book. It’s not my motivation.”

Amelia continued to look quizically at her guest. “What? Twenty dollars?”

“Um, yes, that’s what it said on the inside cover, right? Or was it just two dollars?” Sarah felt her cheeks get hot.

Without saying anything, Amelia walked away. When she returned, she was holding her wallet and the notebook in hand. She set the wallet down on the couch and opened the front cover of the book. Then she began to laugh. Her laugh started as a low chuckle and morphed into a jovial cackle.

Sarah was beyond confused but gave a nervous laugh to go along with Amelia.

Once Amelia had calmed down and caught her breath, she turned to Sarah. “This originally said twenty thousand dollars.” She held the notebook so that the inner page was displayed towards Sarah.

Sarah felt the color drain from her face instantly. “What?”

“It got smudged somehow but it was supposed to say twenty thousand dollars.”

Sarah thought she might choke on her heart that had jumped into her throat. “Twenty thousand!?”

“Yes, twenty thousand. And I would gladly give it to you because you have proven your kindness to me.”

Sarah couldn’t seem to form any words.

Amelia grinned. “Why don’t we read some of my brother’s writings and calm ourselves a bit. Then, I’ll send you on your way with the big bucks. By the way, would you prefer cash, check, Venmo, PayPal, or something else?” Amelia inquired.

Sarah sat with her mouth agape. She still couldn’t process a thing.

“You know, I think we’re gonna be good friends, Sarah,” Amelia said. She sat down and started turning pages in her black notebook. Today had flipped from one of the worst days to the greatest day Sarah had had so far. Boy, was she glad she had kicked that notebook.