From PRX.

Studio 360.

It's a week until Christmas.

So, today, I've got a Christmas story for you.

There will be no stockings hung or mistletoe or talking snowmen in this Christmas story.

Instead, it involves high-tech surveillance and melting polar ice caps.

But I guarantee it's in the spirit.

It's fun.

It's not depressing at all.

Because this holiday season, I think, we need fun and not depressing.

I wrote this story for an anthology edited by the great fiction writer Neil Gaiman.

And then, with the help of the great radio maker and Studio 360 alumnist Jonathan Mitchell,

we turned it into this radio drama.

It's called Human Intelligence. I hope you enjoy it.

He found it painful to lie, which was unfortunate for someone who had spent most of his life as a spy.

In recent years, for fun, he had sometimes told strangers, children, as well as their childlike

parents, who he really was.

I'm a spy.

I'm here in a long-term intelligence gathering operation.

But it's super top secret, so, you know, if you don't mind, I really, that's all I can say about it.

In America in the 21st century, who was going to be anything but amused by a charming, well-groomed old gentleman,

making a fantastic remark or two?

...