The Polar Express - Sony Pictures Imageworks - ... File

Then came the . A troupe of waiters somersaulted down the aisle, pouring steaming cocoa from silver pots into porcelain cups without spilling a single drop. It was rich, thick, and tasted like melted magic.

"Well? Are you coming?" the Conductor asked, clicking his pocket watch shut with a sharp snap .

The boy didn't answer. He climbed the stairs, the cold metal biting through his slippers. Inside, the coach was a blur of velvet seats and children in robes, their faces pressed against the frosted glass. As the train lurched forward, the world outside became a streak of white and pine-tree green. THE POLAR EXPRESS - Sony Pictures Imageworks - ...

To his parents, it was silent. But to those who truly , the sound was the most beautiful music in the world.

The snow fell in heavy, silent clumps as the massive locomotive hissed to a halt on a quiet suburban street. The boy, standing in his pajamas on the frozen lawn, stared up at the impossible sight: the , its iron skin glistening under the moonlight. Then came the

On Christmas morning, his sister Sarah found one small box left behind the tree. Inside was the silver bell, with a note: Found this on the seat of my sleigh. Fix that hole in your pocket.

But as they climbed into the jagged peaks of the , the boy felt a tug on his heart. He reached into his pocket and found only a hole. The silver bell—the one he had received from Santa himself at the North Pole, the one that rang with the purest sound he’d ever heard—was gone. He climbed the stairs, the cold metal biting

The boy shook the bell. It let out a crystalline ring that echoed through the house. His parents looked at it, smiling but puzzled. "What a beautiful bell," his mother said. "Too bad it’s broken." "It’s not broken, Mom," the boy whispered.