A Good Kick in the Pants

A Good Kick in the Pants

Maggie’s left eye cracked open at exactly 5:59 am, one minute before the alarm clock was set to do it’s job. She didn’t understand how this talent manifested itself but utilized it to give her daughter, Molly, sleeping in the bed next to her an extra 20 minutes of sleep before rising for school. Maggie and Molly shared a one bedroom apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan well before the area became the upscale neighborhood it is today. Molly had just turned 8, Maggie was 29. Her husband had an affair while Maggie was pregnant and left for good shortly after Molly’s birth. Times were lean, Maggie made just enough for them to scrape by with few extravagances. Yet they were happy.

Their weekday routine consisted of Maggie getting Molly ready for school, dropping her off at the bus stop and returning home to get ready for work. Maggie worked as a waitress and had the 9 to 5pm shift at Johnny’s 24/7 Diner just 6 blocks away on Delancey Street. Mrs. Anzalone, a widow in her late 50’s lived across the hall and would pick Molly up at the bus stop every day. They’d go back to her place where Molly was fed a snack and did her homework. The two of them bonded very quickly and established a grandmother/granddaughter type relationship. After work, Maggie would walk home and pick up Molly and return to their cozy apartment. Except on Friday’s where Maggie would bring home food from the restaurant and the three of them would have dinner together.

It was New Year’s Eve and Maggie was walking to work. It was unusually warm that day and many people were out and about. Her route to Johnny’s took her past Hamilton Fish Park where she and Molly would go in the summer to swim in the huge community pool. If she had a little extra time, like today, she would venture into the park for a bit. As she passed by an empty park bench, she noticed a small black book laying on the end of the bench. Curious, she picked it up and saw that it was a daily calendar without any entries. She looked around in hopes of returning the book to its owner but didn’t see a likely candidate until she noticed a young man and woman sitting on another bench nearby. She asked them if the book was theirs to which they replied no. She then asked if they had seen anyone sitting on the bench where the book was found. The man said no but the woman said she had seen an elderly woman sitting there a few minutes ago. They all looked around but saw no one that matched her description. Maggie said goodbye and headed to work putting the book in her bag.

Later that evening after dinner was done and Molly was engaged in her favorite past time, reading a book while sitting on the window seat, Maggie remembered the calendar book and retrieved it from her bag. She examined it again to see if someone had written their name or anything in it but it was completely clean. She then decided she would make use of the book and use it as a daily journal, capture a moment or two from each day. She turned to the page for January 1st and wrote, “What can I do to improve our situation this year? Will I be a waitress the rest of my life?” A little depressed by the thought, she put the book aside and returned to the duties of the night. She and Molly baked cupcakes and settled in to watch the New Year’s Eve events on TV. Molly was determined to make it to midnight but her beautiful blue eyes rolled close as that famous ball dropped. Maggie placed her sleeping daughter in bed and returned to the couch. A smile crossed her face when she saw all the revelers celebrating a new start. A new start sure would be great.

She decided to add another entry to the January 1st page that would have a bit more optimism. She turned to the page and noticed another entry had already been made. Did Molly see the book and decide to make entries as well? The handwriting was printed, not like Maggie’s cursive and it did not match Molly’s handwriting. She began to read the entry. It said; “There are many things you can do to improve the situation for you and Molly. I won’t address that in this entry but instead I’ll let you know how this works. Well to the best of my ability anyway because I actually don’t know how this is possible. Each day you make an entry into the book, I will comment or answer your questions to the best of my ability. The key here is I can only answer one question per each day’s entry. My response will post one minute past midnight on the day after your entry. I will do my best to steer you in the right direction with my comments.” Maggie’s head was spinning, was this a dream, if Molly didn’t make the entry how was this possible? The response entry didn’t sign-off with a name. Who was this person? Was it the elderly woman that had been spotted on the bench? A thousand questions crossed her mind and the thought of only getting one answer a day frustrated her. The first question she asked was “It sounds like you know me and Molly, do I know you?”

The response was; “Not yet, but someday you will.”

Maggie was hoping for a more lengthy response than that and one with actual information she could use in this mystery. Anyway, she would certainly play along. Each day she would ponder what that day’s question would be. While waiting tables and taking food orders her mind would invariably be on the question of the day. She decided not to tell a soul about this mysterious black book.

Maggie looked at the very first response to craft her next question. “You said there were many things I could do to improve our situation, what are they?”

The response; “You have certain long-buried talents you could use to establish a more profitable and satisfying career. Look back to your youth, high school and even that one year at the community college. What brought you pleasure and even recognition?

Maggie thought, interesting response and even a question posed back to me. It’s becoming a conversation. Her immediate answer to the question was obviously the writing she did during those years. Her interest in writing began with her high school English teacher, Mr. LaPointe. His writing assignments inspired Maggie and she instantly took to them, writing short stories or reporting on events at the school or her community. Her short stories were especially appreciated by Mr. LaPointe who often read them aloud in his classes. She often used her classmates as characters in her stories even assigning nicknames that would follow them through life. One overweight, tough girl named Carol, was given the nickname of “Crusher”. It turned out she was flattered by the moniker and would walk down the halls with a smile on her face as fellow students called out “Crusher!”.

Maggie thought that writing had to be what the mystery pen pal was referring to. So the next question she posed was; “I believe you were referring to my love of writing in my younger days. If that’s the case then what should be my next steps in the grand plan?”

At 12:01 that night the response came back; “Yes, writing is your key to a better future for you and Molly. It will take some serious work and dedication but if you follow my advice, I can guarantee you that things will seriously improve. First, pick a newspaper in your city and write three articles that cover current events. Second, pick a magazine published in the city and write three articles that could appear in that publication. Third, conceptualize and produce a column with three examples. This would be a recurring column for a newspaper or magazine. Take your time and make them perfect but don’t dawdle, time’s a wasting. Let me know when they are complete and the next phase of the plan will be revealed. We can continue our communications in the meantime.”

Maggie was very encouraged by this response especially the part that says “things will seriously improve”. The plan now seemed obvious to her. Buckle down and create various writing examples that she could present to publications in hopes of getting additional side work that would help their financial bottom line. That night after Molly was in bed, Maggie started to produce outlines for all the pieces. The toughest one was coming up with a concept for the column. There are so many out there already, what would be her spin, how could she make it unique and stand apart? Over the course of the next month, Maggie worked on the articles as their communications continued. She explored many topics with her benefactor who always seemed so wise. At one point the light bulb went off and she had the concept for her column. She wrote the title, “Words of wisdom” and as an afterthought, she wrote, “from my future self”. As she wrote the second part she got chills. Is that who this person is? They seem to know everything about me including my inner thoughts. That day’s question was; “Are you me in the future?”

The response shook Maggie especially when she noticed the writing was now being written in a cursive style that matched Maggie’s perfectly. The response was; “You are correct. I am you approximately 10 years in the future. I am unable to explain how this works and am as mystified as you are. But like you I decided to go along and see if I could help change our lives for the better. Now take your finished articles and send them to three newspapers, three magazines for the articles and another three publications that run columns.

Maggie’s reaction to this response was shock, disbelief followed by gradual acceptance and finally an admonition for not coming up with that conclusion sooner. The year was now half over and her next question to the other Maggie was; “What happens on December 31st when the book is filled, will our communications continue?”

Future Maggie’s response was; “Unfortunately, I don’t think so. You have acquired knowledge that will carry you through life. You are getting to the point where you almost know what my answer to your question will be.” Maggie sent the article examples to the publications and decided to wait a week before following up. She didn’t have to wait that long. Three responses from editors came back. One newspaper and two magazines. All three loved the column idea and were interested in talking to Maggie. She thought if she could get some freelance writing work for one of them, they might be able to get a bigger apartment where Molly could have her own room. The newspaper offered a weekly column but the compensation was very meager. The first magazine was a monthly column and the pay wasn’t much better. The third magazine was a new national women’s magazine. She met directly with the publisher this time. He was an attractive man in his early 40’s named Brandon. She sat across from him in his high-rise office and listened to his offer. He said they loved her concept and especially her writing style and are offering an annual salary of $40,000 a year but the kicker was he added a $20,000 signing bonus. Maggie couldn’t believe her ears and almost burst out an immediate yes but she quickly composed herself and in a professional manner said “Yes, that would be very acceptable, when do I start?” The answer was “Immediately of course!”

Her fellow employees at Johnny’s were sad to see her go but were so happy for her. Maggie rented a large two bedroom apartment on the same floor. This worked great as they could still be close to Mrs. Anzalone. Maggie loved the job and after a few months and an obvious attraction, Brandon asked her out. They started dating and fell deeply in love. Molly took to him right away and even Mrs. Anzalone took a liking to him as we continued our traditional Friday night dinners together now including Brandon.

One day when the three of them were riding bikes in the park, they pulled over for a rest. Maggie and Molly leaned their bikes up against a tree and when they turned around they saw Brandon on one knee, holding two small boxes. He said “Will you two have me as husband and daddy?” The answer was filled with joyful tears and non-stop hugs.

It was Friday so that night at dinner with Mrs. Anzalone they told her the good news. She managed a smile but inside was very sad. Maggie and Molly would be moving into Brandon’s huge uptown apartment but only on one condition. It was that Mrs. Anzalone come live with them. She would have her own master suite with a family to dote over. She said yes also on one condition. That she stopped being called Mrs. Anzalone and be called Grammy from this day forward. All agreed instantly.

Maggie’s column took off and was hugely popular. Life was great but Maggie was getting apprehensive as December 31st approached. She was trying to think of all the important questions she hadn’t asked yet but time had run out. Maggie’s’ final entry was; “To my future self, Maggie thank you for setting me on the right path and opening my eyes to life and all it has to offer. I will miss our daily missives but I know how to carry on.”

The last response came, it said; “You should be so proud of your accomplishments, you have worked hard and deserve all the success and happiness that has come your way. All you needed was a good kick in the pants. Your last task is to take this book and leave it on the same park bench in Hamilton Fish Park by the end of the day. - Love Maggie”

With that the writing on all the pages slowly faded away until there was nothing left and the book looked brand new. Later that day she placed the book on the same bench and took up post nearby behind a tree to watch. Soon a young man on a bike came riding by. He looked to be a messenger with a big bag with packages on his back. He stopped, picked up the book, looked around but didn’t see anyone. Then he stuck the book in his pouch and rode off. A smile crossed Maggie’s face as she wondered what his experience with the mystery book would be.

The End.