Amanda is following a dream and the consequences can be life-altering.

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Loving island life. Living in a small thatch-roofed cabin on the beach, meditating at sunrise, teaching herself to paint, and reconnecting with nature; has created a synergy that’s restoring her soul.

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Chicago’s rumbling background noises and her problems there are one thousand six hundred eighty as the crow flies miles away from this little lost-in-time caye in Belize. But it feels like a century or more in time travel as Amanda walks the wet sandy edge of a natural, wild stretch of beach. The morning sun sparkling across the Caribbean Sea, birds chirp and whistle from the palms and mangroves as she beach combs, looking for her new gift to paint.

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The locals on Drunk Caye believe that if something washes ashore, it is a gift from the gods, and it is to be put to good use. And if you don’t use it, the angered gods will cut off all future gifts.

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Sometimes what washes up is miraculously what you need, what you’ve wished for. And at other times — well, it proves the gods have a wicked sense of humor.

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Amanda’s vacation time on the island is running out; depressingly so if she were to dwell on it. So she focuses on the day and living in the moment. It is everything she needs; for the moment.

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In reading order, this short story is #5 in the Amanda J. Wilde series.

#1 Disruption (short read - prequel)

#2 Tumbling Down (novel)

#3 Refuge (novel)

#4 Asylum (novel)

#5 gifts from the gods (a short read)