Good evening. Welcome to the Just Sleep podcast. I'm Tasia, your host. Every week, I will read you

an old story to help you relax, put the stressful day behind you, and drift off to sleep.

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Tonight, I will be reading The Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather.

So lie down, close your eyes, and let me read you a story.

Two very shabby-looking young men stood at the corner of Prairie Avenue, an 80th street,

looking despondently at the carriages that whirled by.

It was Christmas Eve, and the streets were full of vehicles, florists, wagons, grocers, carts,

and carriages. The streets were in that half-liquid, half-congealed condition, peculiar

to the streets of Chicago at that season of the year. The swift wheels that spun by sometimes

through the slush of mud and snow

over the two young men

who were talking on the corner.

Well, remarked the elder of the two.

I guess we are at our ropes end, sure enough.

How do you feel?

Pretty shaky. The wind's sharp tonight. If I had had anything to eat, I mightn't mind it so much. There's simply no show. I'm sick of the whole business.

Looks like there's nothing for it but the lake.

...