Helen stopped her car at the bottom of her driveway by her mailbox. Included with the bills and fliers was a small cardboard box from a company she had never heard of before. Shrugging, she got back in the car and set the mail with her groceries. She pulled up the driveway and parked. It took two trips to carry all the bags in.

Once everything had been put away, Helen sat at the kitchen table and went through the mail. The last thing she opened was the cardboard box. Inside was a book, written by her son.

“Oh.” She stared at it for a few seconds before flipping through it. When she was done she picked up her phone and called her son.

“Hello?” he answered.

“You didn’t tell me you were writing a book.”

He chuckled. “It wouldn’t have been as big a surprise if I had.” After a moment he added, “Surprise.”