December 1
When native New Yorker Rosalind Lloyd got off the bus at the end of her workday, a gust of unseasonably cold wind blew against her legs, which were shielded from the elements only by a pair of nylon stockings. She shivered and then hurried up the stairs and through the front door of her apartment building. As she searched for her set of keys in her cluttered handbag, she noticed that the FedEx man had left a package in the hallway, outside the door to her unit.
I wonder what that could be, she thought with mild curiosity. I haven't ordered anything recently.
After opening the door and placing her briefcase in the apartment, she picked up the package and carried it inside.
Rosalind hung up her coat on the wooden coat rack before carrying the package into the kitchen where she took a pair of scissors out of the junk drawer and cut the packing tape. When she opened the shipping box and pushed aside the protective bubble wrap, she discovered an intricately carved and hand-painted wooden advent calendar inside. Its workmanship was exquisite, and it had obviously been quite expensive to buy.
It must have been sent to me by mistake.
She searched the box inside and out, but there was no clue as to the identity of the sender. No packing list was included with the calendar, nor was there a return address on the airbill.
"I'll call FedEx tomorrow and let them straighten it out," she decided.
As she was placing the advent calendar back in the cardboard box, the small drawer marked with the number one slid open, and a folded note fell to the floor. To Rosalind's surprise, the message was addressed to her.
Please enjoy this advent calendar as an early Christmas present, it read. On or before the day you open box number twenty-five, I will make my identity known to you. Until that time, I remain your devoted secret admirer.
"Is this some kind of a joke?"
Rosalind had always assumed secret admirers only existed in Victorian romance novels and old black-and-white melodramas. Still, whoever had typed the note intended for her to have the advent calendar as a gift. Joke or not, it was a beautiful piece, so she placed it on her fireplace mantel as a Christmas decoration. It was the only sign of the approaching holiday in her apartment.
