The Little Black Notebook

The Little Black Notebook

By L.L. Shaddox

Ebert stepped out of the building and paused to check his newspaper and drew a circle around the add he had marked with a seven. It was how he kept track of how many applications he had submitted. He had searched every other day for almost two weeks. Many of the adds, he had marked with an X because he was not qualified. On days he didn’t actively search for a job, he would go to a local construction supply store to work menial jobs for contractors. He often worked with a friend he made named Robert.

He turned and walked down the sidewalk. A sudden monstrous wind hit him in the back and he slammed his hands against the wall to keep from being face planted on it, loosing his paper. It was snatched away by the wind and he staggered after it.

The paper suddenly dropped close to the ground and slapped against large flowerpot by the entrance of the next building. As he snatched it up, he spotted a little black notebook, half hidden behind the pot. He retrieved it and looked about to see no one was paying attention to him. He opened the book and saw money folded inside. He stood against the wall and hid the book with his paper. The notebook held two twenty-dollar bills, which he pocketed.

Intrigued by his good fortune, he made a pretense of looking up at the name of the bank over the door and back at his paper but read the one line on the first page in the black notebook written in fancy flowing script.

“Share your prize and turn the page.”

He flipped to the next page, and it was blank. With raised eyebrows, he pondered it looked about. Just down the street, a man using crutches, wearing a long, heavy, worn at the edges overcoat, caught his attention. He leaned against the wall not thirty feet away as he held out a cup asking for spare change.

“Homeless,” Ebert thought. He stepped out from his spot and entered the bank. He placed the twenties on the counter. “Four tens please.”

The clerk examined his bills and promptly filled his request with a smile.

He thanked her, left to stroll casually down the street, and dropped a folded up ten in the man’s cup to hear blessings from him. Along his way to his eighth and last interview of the day, he spotted another beggar and shared his good fortune.

He was turned down for an application because they had already filled the position. He smiled and thanked the person behind the counter of the store. Back on the street he sighed against his disappointment. Along the block he took towards home, he stopped at a grocery store and purchased some carrots, pasta, a whole chicken, and other groceries. His change was exactly bus fare home. He felt strangely happy, even though his day had not gained him more than three offers of a call if he got the job. Suddenly he remembered the little black notebook. He fished it from his pocket and opened it.

“Blessed is he who helps the poor.”

He paused to smile for a moment and turned the page.

“Tell no one. Read me every morning before six.”

He reached home and gave his wife the food with word he had lucked into a little money. She promised him chicken and pasta for supper and the next night, and chicken and dumplings.

He pondered his good fortune but said nothing of it to his wife.

#

At five AM, as per his normal routine, he rose to the alarm, to go head out and look for work. He went to the bathroom to read the little black notebook.

“Seek and ye shall find.”

“34563 West 4th Street. Six AM.”

“Tell a friend.”

Ebert quickly dressed in his suit with a fresh white shirt instead of his work clothes. He took bus fare from the box of their sparce money hidden in the sock drawer, grabbed his sack lunch his wife made for him, his work clothes bag, and hurried out. On the way to the bus stop, his friend Robert joined him.

“I have a job prospect,” Ebert said.

Robert tried to pump him for details, but he only knew the address was in the warehouse district.

They arrived slightly before six and a man was unlocking the front door to McGillan’s Supply. They approached and he stopped to look them over before opening the door.

“Pardon me, Mr. McGillan, sir. We heard you might have a couple of openings for workers,” Ebert said, and they introduced themselves.

“How do you know? I haven called the agency yet.” He looked them over, obviously evaluating them.

“Grapevine, friend of a friend, sir.”

“It isn’t a suit and tie job, fella.”

He pulled his bag from around behind him. “I can make a quick change to work clothes, sir.”

The man smiled. “You come prepared. I like that. Have either of you have driver’s licenses?” He held out a hand and they forked them over. “You can change in the back. Shift starts at seven. You can make a pot of coffee and have some. Instructions are on the cupboard door.” They followed him in and went to the back. Robert made coffee while Ebert changed. They cleaned up the break area a bit while they waited.

At six-thirty, the boss stepped in, filled his cup, looked about with a smile smiled. “I’ll start your clock now. He handed Ebert a clip board. “The far-right column has the storage aisle and shelf number where the goods are located. Load them on pallets designated, no more than three-foot high, heavy things on bottom, pack them tight, and throw plastic wrap around them. Tape the packing slips on top. Frank, my foreman will have them moved to the loadout location for shipping.”

Frank kept them busy loading goods from the shelving and prepping them for delivery all day. At half an hour left to the day, all the drivers were out and they were done. Ebert and Robert grabbed brooms and started sweeping the place out.

Mr. McGillan stepped out of his office with a paper in his hand. “Where’s Frank?”

“He said he was out of drivers and went to make a rush delivery, sir.”

He tossed Ebert a key ring. “Bring in the van and load it. We need to make a fast delivery. Time is of the essence.”

They took the load order and hustled the goods by hand truck to load the van.

The boss smiled at their work. “I’ve already checked your driving records. Here’s the address. Drive careful, but hurry.”

Robert helped read the map as Ebert drove. They arrived at the customer site half an hour later. The customer was ecstatic.

“All my crews left for the day. I’ll pay you to reload into my trucks.” He stood and instructed where each carton belonged. When finished, he signed the invoice and handed Ebert forty dollars. He split it with Robert.

They returned to the office to find it was locked up. They locked the van and rode the bus home. He told his wife of his good fortune for the day and gave her his tip money.

#

The next morning, he opened the little black book.

“Be early. Share your good fortune.”

He called Robert to meet him early and they rode to work together. They were walking towards the office when they saw Mr. McGillan and a man pushing him back against the wall. It struck Ebert as off, then he saw the knife. “Come on,” he said and started running. “Morning Mr. McGillan, sorry we are late,” He shouted. The assailant stole a look at them wide eyed and dashed off.

The boss pressed a hand to his chest. “He was trying to rob me. You scared him off.” He rushed inside and sat on a crate to gather his nerves. He pulled money out of his wallet and held it out for them. They protested that it wasn’t necessary. He insisted. “I know it ain’t much considering what you just did for me, but I do thank you. Clock in and sweep the warehouse until Frank gets here. I’ll call the police.”

They started their day the same as before. When Frank arrived, the boss stepped out into the warehouse. “Frank, Ebert is your new driver, if we need or lose one, Robert is the next fill in. Make sure they can handle a forklift.”

Frank took time to train them on little tricks of the trade using the forklift.

The police arrived and took their descriptions of the man that accosted their boss.

Frank assigned Ebert a late delivery to make. He told him to just take the van home and drive in the next day. He stopped on the way home and donated half the money his boss had given him to a soup kitchen. He called Robert and said he was driving in the next day and would give him a lift.

#

Ebert was up at five in the morning as per his routine.

He read the page in the little black notebook.

“Take a step of faith. Buy a dollar ticket at Marty’s News Stand.”

“Share your prize.”

Ebert looked in the mirror. “Where in a city of twelve million will I find one little independent news stand out of thousands?” He and Robert checked the name of every news stand along the route to work but failed to find it.

Later in the day Frank sent him alone to make a pickup and he was to deliver it to a customer. At the pickup point, the warehouse manager informed him the shipment was delayed from the out of town manufacture and was an hour out. He called the office to let them know about the delay.

“Stay put until you get the goods and deliver the load, no matter what,” his boss said.

“I’ll take an early lunch then, sir.”

He sat in the van to eat as he looked about. Down the block he spotted a news stand. He chose to stroll to see the name of it and discovered it was Marty’s News Stand.

“I’ll have a dollar ticket please.”

“Which one, Sir? I have twelve different ones?”

“I don’t know.” He looked at the man with raised eyebrows and a shrug.

“I do have a brand new one I just unwrapped.”

“Sounds good. I’ll take one.” Ebert bought it, stuffed it in his pocket, went to finish his lunch in the van and pulled out the ticket. He scratched off the numbers while he chewed a bite of his sandwich. Then he forgot his food as he looked at the ticket and fought for calm as he studied it. He had to mail it in or refund his ticket at the lottery board office. He forced himself to eat and figure out a plan. His load arrived. He delivered it, drove straight back to the warehouse, and went in to see his boss.

“Mr. McGillan, I wish to ask a personal favor.” The man nodded. “I’m not trying to take an unfair advantage of you or anything, but I wish to ask for tomorrow morning off for personal natters if it is not inconvenient.”

“Nothing serious, I hope?”

“Thanks to you giving me a job, no, sir all is well in my life right now.”

“How about I ask you a favor? I have a shipment that needs to be delivered out of town now. You will be rather late getting back tonight. Just take the van home and the morning off.”

“Certainly, sir. I’ll need to call my wife, please?”

“Yes, we shouldn’t worry the little woman by not letting her know.” They laughed.

#

The next morning, Ebert opened the little black book, and the page next page was blank. He drove to the lottery office, parked in the delivery area and walked in carrying an empty box as a pretense of working. He cashed in his ticket for a certified check and drove to his bank. He deposited the money in his checking account and bought ten, one-hundred-dollar money orders. He got a phonebook and called shelters and soup kitchens. He mailed each one he spoke to a money order and went to work. He gave his friend Robert a money order too.

#

The next day, he read the little black notebook.

“Thank you for giving out blessings as you received them. Monday, return the notebook to where you found it with forty dollars.”

“Wow, I guess it is time to pass it along. I thank who ever made this magical book.”

He took a different bus to get to the bank where he found the book. When he put the money in it, he saw the pages were blank. He made sure he wasn’t noticed and stashed it half hidden behind the flowerpot as he found it. He headed to work wishing whoever found it would be a good person that would share and did not just take the money to throw away the notebook. That evening he told his wife the entire story, except the name of the bank where he found the notebook. They rejoiced together knowing they had a nest egg of several thousand dollars if he lost his job again, thanks to the little black notebook.