Ray Bradbury's strange, magical, and unsettling story of a grown boy bent on understanding the man behind the beard, red coat, and hat at his local department store. An adolescent boy stands patiently in the back of the long line of children waiting to sit on the lap of their local Santa Claus. Why is he there? What does he intend? What mysterious hopes does he hold for this holiday season? The answer arrives following a cryptic interaction between the two, when the reality of the boy's awareness and the goals of the man in the red suit become clear. "Dear Santa" by Ray Bradbury is one of 20 short stories within Mulholland Books's Strand Originals series, featuring thrilling stories by the biggest names in mystery from the Strand Magazine archives. View the full series list at and listen to them all!

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