December 22, 1953
The North Pole
Santa’s Caucus Room
The ancient cuckoo clock struck ten o’clock. Whistler, Santa Claus’s Head Elf and Chief of Staff, looked up from his task list and gritted his teeth. He hated that clock as much as Santa loved it. To his round-bellied, white-bearded boss, the clock represented whimsy and allegorical innocence. To Whistler, it was a constant reminder of deadlines, bleating out warnings in its maniacal cackle.