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Robert Abernathy’s dark fantasy begins with a solitary man whose hatred of Santa Claus becomes an obsession. The seasonal figures on street corners and in shops provoke an anger he cannot dismiss as an ordinary dislike of Christmas.
His attempts to explain the feeling draw him into questions about generosity, possession and behavior that seems impossible under the usual rules of life. Consultation offers little relief, and his resentment develops into a determination to confront the figure he believes is responsible for it. The apparently familiar holiday setting gradually acquires a more threatening logic.
The story uses the contrast between a comforting public image and the protagonist’s private hostility to build toward its final reversal. It is an adult magazine fantasy, presented here from the January 1954 issue of Beyond Fantasy Fiction. The complete text and Rupert Conrad’s source illustration are retained in this original Gutenberg edition.