Handwritten note

 

 

They usually come on a thin slip of white paper printed in red faded ink but this one was a neatly folded rectangle, hand written in black ink. I held the two pieces of the broken fortune cookie and looked around the table. If it was a prank no one seemed to show any sign of interest. They were all busy showing and reading their fortunes to each other. My husband looked at me and said “well, what you got?”

“Oh the usual obscure double meaning garbage” I said in a calm voice and tucked the note under my plate.

If it was a prank he will not get any satisfaction from me. I was not going to cooperate.

By now everybody’s attention was on Tal who was reading her fortune giggling aloud.

I took advantage of the moment and peeked at the note.

It was just an ordinary piece of paper, written in black ink. There was nothing unusual about it except for the message itself. I knew once I read it that it was not meant for me personally but to anyone who happened to open it.

“If you opened it” it said “know that this message is important, beware of the danger, keep your eyes opened and be ready…” Dot, dot, dot. I hate open end sentences. If you have something to say just go ahead and say it. If you have nothing to say don’t put dots as if you do and preferred to keep silent.

I was mad and a little apprehensive too. Now that I read the words it was hard to keep them out of my mind. “Danger, be ready, keep your eyes open…” and the dots!!! I knew that as hard as I will try the words will keep whispering in the back of my mind. It’s like opening a Pandora box; once you let the content spill out it is impossible to push it back in. Even if I could fold the note and somehow tuck it back into the broken cookie, and believe me the idea had crossed my mind, it will never work. The words, now out there gained a power of their own free to move in my head and shake my balance.

I looked around the table at my family happily digging into plates of food. No one was aware of me being so engrossed in thoughts or of the danger lurking in an unseen corner. Ah, the bliss of ignorance, I watched them with envy and longed to turn the watch back to the moment before I so carelessly broke the cookie in half. I looked around me, the restaurant was full, and everyone but me seemed content. The hum of voices, clicks of silverware touching the plates, the quick footsteps of the waitresses it all came together to create a harmony of sorts. At any other time I could have enjoyed it but now it seemed like a very thin cover ready to burst at any moment.  

And then, suddenly with a renewed insight I knew what needed to be done. I did not like it but realized I had no choice. You cannot fight the irrational with logic. You have to outsmart it, be quick and resourceful. I got up and walked towards the bathroom. No one seemed to pay attention. I walked slowly screening everything around me making sure there was nothing lurking in the shadows.  Everything seemed normal, ordinary, boring even. The tiny bathroom looked like hundredth I have seen before in public places. A little run down, in urgent need of some cosmetic repairs but other than that misleadingly normal. I still felt the tension building inside me threatening to explode. I was expecting something that will jump at me from the corner and kept looking over my shoulder.

‘Now that you are present and fully aware of the danger it will not happen” I kept saying to myself rather irritated, everybody knows that its 101 danger watching for dummies.  I knew I had to come up with some sort of deterrence, something that will create enough disorder and chaos to break whatever evil plan was brewing. Working quickly before I will have time to regret, I walked out of the bathroom straight towards the fire alarm system and pulled the handle. The deafening sound was almost unbearable and while everyone ran to the door I was already outside looking in through the back windows at the commotion I created single handed. I did not expect thanks and did not receive any. My family was relieved to find me standing outside safe; they thought they lost me in the turmoil. My daughter handed me my purse that I left hanging on a chair while walking to the bathroom. “I put your fortune cookie inside with the note” she told me. “We did not want you to lose it, don’t you think it was an odd looking fortune” She looked innocently into my eyes and for the life of me I couldn’t tell if there was something else behind her words.