Well, hey there, friend.

Glad you made it by tonight. You know what I was just thinking?

On this very day back in 1966, the Starship Enterprise sat off to boldly go where no man had ever gone before.

And tonight, 57 years later, the two of us are about to embark

on exactly what we do every Friday. Isn't that exciting?

Ah, what can I say, Chester? I'm a bit of a homebody. Come on in, friend.

Mmm. Come on in, friend.

That's more like it. So smoke them if you got them and drink those glasses to the bottom, friends.

Because the final frontier is right here at home.

For our first story tonight, we welcome back Mr. Season Finale himself, W.B. Stickle.

For our first tell, we joined Lyle Goodman, an old man about to welcome some unexpected company.

So without further delay, I give you from author, full of wrath, wind, and rain.

Plus scads of lightning and thunder and what sounded like hell.

I hear you, he said at its fiercest. And for the better part of an hour, he simply sat in his favorite reading chair, listening as the torrent expended its fury.

When things finally settled down, withering to a steady downpour,

Lyle rose from his chair, got a fire going in a stone fireplace,

and prepared himself a cup of camomile tea.

He had a familiar feeling about the storm,

and if he was right about that, he was going to need as much comfort as he could possibly muster.

Maybe, he said, returning to the living room.

A little fireside reading is in order.

Sipping his tea, he approached the fireplace and considered the two massive bookcases that

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