Welcome to bedtime stories for grown-ups, in which nothing much happens.

You feel good, and then you fall asleep. I'm Catherine Nikolai.

I write and read all the stories you hear on nothing much happens.

Audio engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

My book, also called Nothing Much Happens, is available wherever books are sold.

Thank you for your support.

Sometimes even when our bodies are ready for sleep,

our minds aren't. They might race and wander and keep us up or wake us

back up after too little sleep.

That's where I come in.

I'll tell you a story, and as you listen, your busy mind will slow and relax.

And before too long, you'll be peacefully asleep.

I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through.

If you wake again in the night, go right back to whatever you can remember about the story.

Any detail or image, and your brain will quiet right back down.

We're habituating a response in your system.

So the more you do this, the more quickly and easily you will find sleep.

Our story tonight is called Coffee on the Stoop, or How to Have a Better Day.

And it's a story about a day devoted to small acts of kindness.

It's also about a kitty sleeping in a window,

paints and brushes and flower seeds.

And the awe that we feel when a stranger reaches out to do us a good turn.

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