MAY I SEE YOUR PAPERS, PLEASE?

Another "this reminds me of something" moment. Santa was working his way down the train car at the Polar Express. I shot what I could in a very cramped space. At one moment he seemed to be looking right at me with a suspicious expression. It made me think of old WW II or Cold War movies in which someone demanded identity documents or safe conduct passes from the hero, or the time many years ago when we crossed the German - Czech border by train. Gonna find out who's naughty and nice.              

SO WHAT'S THIS STORY, ANYWAY?

I have neither read the book or seen the movie so I really don't know. You can make a guess from context. Characters (from the book, I assume) brought around  large print editions for the children to follow.Ellie was spellbound. I think the illustration, at least on the right side of these pages, is a little strange. Santa is standing bolt upright, chin a little raised. He is staring forward, looking like he was watching the approach of H. G. Wells' martians. But I'm sure everything turned out well in the end.  

Very late post today. I've got some kind of bug that leaves me feeling sleepy all the time.