The Mystical, Magical, Composition Notebook

You know the one. Black on the cover and kind of speckled. Lined, empty, full -of -possibilities paper on the inside? Ya, that one. As a teacher I used to have kids buy several as their school supplies and with my own money bought many more for kids whose parents were cheap or lazy or who didn't have a buck. After math activities I would have the kids write about why Mrs. Kruse would have them do what we did. The beginning of the year I would get such "magical" thinking as "because it was fun," or honest ones like "because she said so." At the end of the year many of the kidlets would surprise me with things like "I think she wanted to make me think about how things are made," or "this wasn't  fun, I had to work a lot and think," or "I think she just wants me to get smarter."  Magical, yes, and all recorded in that little composition notebook.

Here in Puerto Rico I have one of those notebooks. When I see things on the internet I write down links, or recipes, or ideas in it. Lately I have recorded clasificados house numbers and realtors numbers in it. In Puerto Rico I am not the only one doing this - you cannot go to a doctor's office or a lab without seeing one. WHAT? Yes, you read correctly. These little notebooks appear in laboratories and doctor's offices and are referred to when the office staff look up codes for lab work, the medical codes for x-rays etc. There is a notebook for each insurance company. Not a printed directory or on-line, on-screen page - a composition notebook. Yes, it is 2011. Today I went to make oatmeal for breakfast, looked in the cabinet and realized I did not have any oatmeal to make. Hmmm, I was just at Walmart and could a sworn I bought 3 canisters since they had old-fashioned not quick ones. Shit. In all the excitement to get out of the store I must have left a bag behind.. I checked my purse for the receipt and yes, I bought 3 and had none. Since I was at the mall this morning to get my elbow x-rayed I decided to see how much of a hassle it would be to see if anything could be done and to my utter amazement was able to leave with oatmeal in hand and NO LINES OR WAITING. Here is what happened.

I went to the door person at the store. "Hables ingle?" "No." "Lunes compro oatmeal aqui pero cuando voy a mi casa no tengo esta." "Un momento."

Then it appears! Like a magical genie bottle or something the woman goes and retrieves a composition notebook. She looks at my receipt, flips some pages and inside that book, 3 days after it happened are the words "Quaker Oats."!!!!! I sign my name, take my oats and happily float out the door with an improved attitude about Walmart. Yes - the notebook is a most powerful thing.