The Chalk Board

Charlie: It was just me and my two year old son. My wife Jennifer died in a car crash a a year ago. She was hit by a truck driver head on. The truck driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel. She was only 49. I rember what Jennifer use to say to me and my son Mark. She'd say "I will always take care of you two". An entire year went by and me and Mark were just trying to move forward in our life. My wife made really good money but after she died I had to sell our expensive house. I just couldn't afford the mortgage. Mark and I moved to a small town called Pine Oaks. I bought a small house in a really friendly neighborhood. There was always those worse days though. Like when Mark would wounder where mommy is. I would just tell him. Mommy is not coming back, it's just us from now on. It was just us until my friend Darren set me up with his coworker Lucy. I was hesitant at first thinking it was too soon but I told myself. It has already been a year, I need to get back in the dating game. I decided to make a date with Lucy the very next day. Unfortunately I was one out of the millions of dad's that happen to be a "stay at home dad". So when my wife died I had barley any money for my son and I to get by on. My wife's life insurance barley covered the cost for her funeral. Jennifer had a safety deposit box in the bank but I never knew what the password for it was. I didn't know the safety deposit box even existed until after Jennifer's death. It was a name that I couldn't for the life of me figure out. She died before she could ever tell me about the safety box. Anyways, I had no money so I decided to take Lucy to all the yard sales around my block. Every weekend there would be at least eight yard sales on my street. I had no babysitter so it was perfect because I could take my son with me and didn't have to spend that much money. Lucy, Mark (in his stroller) and myself were walking up my street looking at all the different yard sales. We came upon Mrs. Shire's house. She has a yard sale every weekend so I knew she would be out that day. I walked up and introduced Lucy to Mrs. Shire's. While I was making small talk with Mrs. Shire I noticed my son pulling a chalkboard off one of Mrs. Shire's tables that was full of random belongings. I tried to take the chalkboard from my son but he insisted on having it. I asked Mrs. Shire what she wanted for the old chalkboard. She only wanted a dollar so I had to get it. I didn't know what it was about that old chalkboard but my son really liked it. The next morning I was making Mark some breakfast and seen him still playing with that old chalkboard. All of a sudden, Mark started crying. I ran to him not knowing what was going on. He kept looking at that old chalkboard and crying. I looked at the chalkboard and i couldn't believe it. In mixed matched words through a bunch of scribbles, it read. "Save Mrs. Howl". Mark doesn't even know his numbers or ABC's, how could he have wrote that. Mrs. Howl was are across the street neighbor that Mark had met once when we first moved in. There was no way he could have know who she was. I read that and I couldn't help myself. I headed straight across the street to Mrs. Howl's with Mark hanging to my neck. I knocked on the door but nobody answered. I looked through the window and saw Mrs. Howl sprawled out on her couch. I used my cell phone to call the police. I put mark down and busted down her door. I instantly smelled gas when I stepped inside. I picked up Mrs. Howl and pulled her outside to safety until the paramedics arrived. Mrs. Howl still thinks I saved her life but I know the truth. If it wasn't for Mark and that old chalkboard Mrs. Howl's would have surely died that night. I told lucy what had happened and she thinks Mark might be some kind of psychic. I dont believe in any of that but Lucy and I watched that old chalkboard for weeks after that. It was the weirdest thing. After that night at Mrs. Howl's, Mark never picked up that old chalkboard for awhile. Weeks later is when he decided to start playing with the chalkboard again. He picked it up and I watched him for two hours just making scribbles. It wasn't until I refilled my coffee and came back into the living room, I noticed the chalkboard. Again within all the scribbles was another word. "Rudy". The minute I looked at it I knew what it meant. "Rudy" is what my wife used to call Mark when he was first born. The second I saw that name, I knew why Mark wrote it. I called my wife's bank and told them the password was "Rudy" for my late wife's safety deposit box. It was the correct passcode. I was in disbelief, my son and I ended up getting everything in the safety deposit box. 940,000 dollars. It's been 3 years since then and Lucy and I got married in Costa Rico. We bought ourselves a very nice house and have never seen another message from that old chalkboard. We still keep it around but Mark never uses it anymore. People like to think it was Jennifer channeling herself using Mark and the chalkboard. She did say she would always take care of us. Some say Mark is a psychic that used the chalkboard as his was of portraying his visions. We will never know how Mark knew all those things but I can assure you. That chalkboard saved Mrs. Howl's life. It also financially saved Mark and I. Now we dont have to want for anything