Moleskin Notebooks

Retired Pastor Randall Nathan drove his 1956 Ford pickup out to the Good to the Last Slop Coffee Shop, located in a refurbished pig barn, in the hamlet of Winkleblue, at the confluence of the Lapis Lazuli and Cerullian Rivers. He knew he would have peace there. No one else goes there. They are afraid of the owner, a former CIA agent.

Over his Chester White, a white chocolate mocha, he pulled from his pocket the notebook his daughter gave him for Christmas. In it he keeps count of his points and rating in the HOTY [Hermudgeon Of The Year] competition.

For the first time he noticed that the notebook had a line on the "return to..." page for a monetary reward. Apparently he was supposed to fill in how much he would pay to get it back if he lost it. "That's ridiculous," he said. "It's only a notebook."

That's when the little piece of paper with the history of the individually hand-crafted moleskin notebooks fell into the Chester White. He pulled it out, and smoothed it out, and read the English page. The history was also given in German, French, Spanish, Latin, and Japanese.

According to the history page, this wasn't just another notebook. Apparently the little books are made from French moles specifically bred for the purpose of shedding their skins to provide the covers.

He immediately thought of the mole in the tunnel behind the other moles. The first moles kept smelling sorghum. Finally, the last mole said, "All I can smell is molasses." Randall wrote that into the notebook, so he would remember to tell it to Jake Newland. He was pretty sure Jake had told it to him, but he was also pretty sure Jake would not remember, and Jake obviously liked the story, or he wouldn't have told it in the first place, so he would enjoy hearing it again.

But Randall Nathan read on. The history page said that Picasso and Hemingway had used the special moleskin notebooks to jot down their ideas.

Pastor Nathan stuck the book back into his pocket.

"I've GOT to get a higher class of thoughts to write down," he said to the Chester White.