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Sunday, she awoke to a light knock on the door.  She stumbled from bed and crossed the room to open it.  But, again, no one haunted the hallway.  However, once more, she found a package on the floor at her feet.  This time, her present was hidden within a gift sack.

She bent over to pick it up.  As she straightened, she stepped out into the corridor and walked down the hallway until she came to stand in front of the window that looked out onto the busy street.  She watched to see if anyone left the building through the front door.  She stood staring down at that sidewalk for several long moments.  But no one emerged.  Who on earth had left her the bag?

Curious about its contents, she returned to her apartment.  After shutting the door, she reached down and pulled the ocean-blue tissue paper out.  Then she peeked inside.  She gasped as she identified her gift.  Her fingers slid down to the bottom of the bag before curling around the white sand dollar.

How on earth had he – or she – known that she loved sand dollars?

She withdrew it and turned it over to study it.  But she was distracted from its beauty by her curiosity.  Her fingers had brushed a notecard on their ascent.  And she just knew that it contained a message.  A missive that was surely going to be as intriguing as this gift.  So she unearthed the note.

“Hello again.  Did you know that each sand dollar contains a whole host of gifts?  Hidden inside that little creature are five white doves.  Emblems of peace.  So when someone gives you a sand dollar, he’s giving you a plethora of presents.  Of peace.  I hope today finds you filled with peace.”

What a lovely thought!

April gazed down at the white sand dollar in her hand.  Did it really contain five doves?  She’d never heard of such a thing.  Despite having collected them at the beach from the time she was tiny. 

She picked up her phone and googled sand dollars and doves.  And discovered that her mystery friend was, indeed, correct.  Five pristine doves hid inside that little, white disk.  She stared in wonder at it as some of the note’s words floated back to her.

“So when someone gives you a sand dollar, he’s giving you a plethora of presents.”

 “…he’s giving you…”

 “…he’s…”

Was her admirer a man?

But if so, then who?

And why would he give her a sand dollar?

Because he wanted her to have some peace.  He had stated his objective quite clearly in his little letter, hadn’t he?  He wanted to share the serenity of the sand dollar with her.  Was he also hoping that its reminder of quiet beaches would lend her an added air of calm?  But…how had he known that she needed to feel some peace?