Gabby groaned as she slapped the snooze button then pulled her thick down comforter up around her ears and rolled over. Her head was thick and heavy. She tried to remember the details of the previous night. She remembered the party, the dancing, the trip to the diner after the party with Julie, Sam and, what was his name? She remembered meeting him at the party and dancing with him. Oh how she remembered dancing with him. But what was his name? She couldn't remember. Grinning, she decided that for the moment, it didn't matter.

She conjured up his face and felt smile widen. The lighting at the party had been dim, but now she threw a spotlight on him for full examination. His black hair was cut short and styled nicely, flowing and bouncing with his movements. His face was long with a tall, skinny nose and pronounced jawline. His lips were full but not thick and she remembered the night before she had caught herself staring at his mouth while he spoke, watching the precise movements of his lips. But it was his eyes that had caught her primary attention.

His brown eyes had a sensitive, caring depth to them. It often looked as though they were closing ever so slightly. Not as though he was squinting, but just an added expression of concentration or concern. His eyes focused on her intently every moment they were together. Whenever she looked at his eyes, she felt as though she were the whole and complete object of his attention. While their glance was dedicated at her and seemed intent on gathering her in completely, the look wasn't overbearing or frighteningly penetrating. Rather, it was full of concern, attention and caring. As he looked at her, she felt, for the first time in a long time, as though someone, him, was genuinely and completely interested in her.

A glaring blast of voices from the morning radio show interrupted her thoughts. With a sigh of exasperation, she forced her eyelids open a slit and pressed the OFF button on the clock radio. Her eyelashes fluttered reluctantly as though trying to pull themselves back to a fully closed state. With a huff, she threw the blanket aside and vigorously rubbed her eyes to add some clarity to the hazy morning scene. Automatically and with a yawn, Gabby shuffled out of bed, plopped her glasses on her nose and ears and wandered to the bathroom.

She watched herself in the mirror as she contorted and stretched her face widely and extensively to get the blood flowing. She watched her glasses wriggle above her nose as she sqrunched up her eyes and forehead and then stretched them out as far as possible while opening and stretching her mouth into strange wide circles and ovals. Her morning exercises ended when she realized how ridiculous she looked and let out a small chuckle followed by a sigh and shake of the head. A few splashes of cold water and she was truly awake.

Checking the hall clock, she decided to have breakfast before getting dressed. Still a bit groggy from the night before, she meandered to the kitchen and pulled out the carton of juice. She should have been more shocked at the envelope taped to the side of the carton, but she was still a bit groggy. She gave it a sideways glance and then pulled it off and turned it over in her hands. It was a plain white envelope, empty except for a long strip of tape and her name written in meticulously well formed block-capital letters: GABRIELLE

Fiddling with the envelope, she glanced around her kitchen and even stared out the small window over the sink. Stepping back to the hall, she looked at the door with its bolt and chain in place. She thought back to the previous night and distinctly remembered riding with the group in Julie's car back to her apartment building and then walking upstairs and into her apartment alone. She couldn't think how anyone could have put the note on the juice. Or why.

Grabbing a glass from the cupboard and pouring some juice, Gabby sat down at the table, grabbed an apple and took a bite. Then she turned over the envelope, slid her finger under the flap and tore it open. Inside was a folded piece of heavy red paper. Unfolding it, a smaller bit of folded paper fell out which she immediately recognized as the color and consistency of a dollar bill. She dropped the red paper and picked up the tightly folded green, yellow and white. Unfolding it, she found that it was indeed money, but not a single dollar bill. With a slight gasp, she dropped the bill on the table and stared at it. Staring back at her with his high bald forehead and 18th century mullet was Benjamin Franklin.

After staring for a moment in disbelief, she remembered the red paper and picked it up again. Unfolding it completely, it was about 7 inches around and was the shape of a bird in flight. Written in vibrant gold ink with the same block lettering as on the envelope were the words: RIVERSIDE PARK. NORTHWEST BANK. MIDDLE BENCH. 6:45 PM

Gabby scanned the message again and again, now holding the note in one hand and the 100 dollar bill in the other. She racked her brain over what she saw before her but couldn't make any sense of it.

A sudden burst of sound behind her made her jump. Jolted from her trance, she quickly recognized the sound as her cell phone notification of a new text message. It was from Julie: want a ride 2 work

The message quickly brought her back to reality. Looking at the time, she realized she was way behind schedule. There was no way she'd be ready in time to catch the bus. She tapped the keys on her phone: yeah thx give me 10 min

She set the phone on the table beside the red bird, the green bill and the white envelope. She still didn't know what to make of any of it. But she didn't have time to figure it out. Taking another bite of her apple and a large swallow of orange juice, she hurried down the hall to get ready for work. Ten minutes later, she was on the sidewalk in front of her apartment, scanning the road for Julie's car. Inside her purse, a crumpled envelope held a folded hundred dollar bill, a red paper bird with a cryptic message and the entirety of Gabby's attention.