This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people,

coming to you from the city where the west begins, Fort Worth, Texas.

Up next, a story courtesy of our regular contributor from Alaska, Leslie Layland Fields.

Here's her writing student, Jen Neiman, with her story entitled The Mysterious Gift.

Take it away, Jen.

Shivering, I wrapped my fuzzy blue robe tighter around my body.

The view from my second-story office window revealed fat snowflakes swirling furiously in the mid-march darkness.

How disheartening!

I pulled the curtains together to shut out the return of winter.

Grabbing a throw blanket, I curled into my favorite chair.

Music grabbing a throw blanket, I curled into my favorite chair. The low rumbling of a delivery truck turning into our dead-end street surprised me.

Isn't it almost 8 p.m.?

What a messy night to be out making deliveries, I thought.

I paid little attention until the truck downshifted and turned,

headlights flashing across their upper windows.

Wait, did that delivery truck turn into our driveway?

Did I order anything?

My memory came up blank, but I knew my husband often received deliveries for work. The truck door slammed.

Heavy boots clopped down the sidewalk, and then a ding-dong rang out as the deliverer dropped the package and retreated.

I tried yelling from the top of the stairs.

...