Ebenezer Scrooge’s Supernatural Reckoning: Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" (Ghost Stories)

0:05 Speaker 1: It lies in wait amidst your dreams, where nothing is ever how it seems. It is a portal to a terrifying world beyond the doorway to nightmare.

0:25 Speaker 2: Nightmare.

0:38 Speaker 1: Come in. Welcome. I'm Artemis Black. One of the greatest ghost stories ever put to paper was by, oddly enough, Charles Dickens.

0:58 Speaker 3: Oh?

0:59 Speaker 1: You don't consider A Christmas Carol to be a true ghost story? Are you so certain?

1:11 Speaker 4: You?

1:12 Speaker 5: You may be an undigested bit of beef, a piece of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.

1:18 Speaker 2: There is more gravy than grave of you. It's all humbug, I tell you.

1:24 Speaker 6: No!

1:26 Speaker 7: Scrooge, you will be visited by three spirits. Heed them or be doomed.

1:39 Speaker 1: Our mystery drama, A Christmas Carol, was adapted from the classic by Charles Dickens and written especially for Doorway to Nightmare by Winslow Swan and edited by Crimson McKenzie. Our cast includes Raven Adams, Patience Adams, Winslow Swan, Annie Nick, Dave Archibald, Crimson McKenzie, Nick Davis, Robert Jackson, and starring as Ebenezer Scrooge, Darren Marlar. I'll return shortly with Act One.

2:12 Speaker 8: Have you heard any good books lately? Audiobooks from Winslow Swan, now available on Spotify.

2:32 Speaker 1: Jacob Marley was dead to begin with. There is no doubt about that. Whatever. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner, Scrooge. Old Jacob Marley was dead as a doornail, decaying in his grave. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing that follows will be wondrous. And Ebenezer Scrooge? Oh, he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire. Solitary as an oyster, he iced his office in the dark days and didn't thaw it out one degree, even at Christmas.

3:34 Speaker 9: A merry Christmas to you, Uncle Ebeneezer. God save you.

3:38 Speaker 2: Merry Christmas. Bah. Humbug.

3:41 Speaker 9: Christmas a humbug, Uncle. You don't mean that, surely.

3:45 Speaker 2: And what right have you to be merry? You're poor enough.

3:50 Speaker 9: What right do you have to be dismal? You're rich enough.

3:53 Speaker 5: If I could work my will, every idiot who went around with Merry Christmas on their lips would be boiled in their own pudding and buried with a stick of holly driven through their heart.

4:05 Speaker 9: My, you have quite a way with words.

4:08 Speaker 5: Nephew, you keep Christmas in your way, and I shall keep it in mine.

4:13 Speaker 9: Christmas is a loving, honest, and charitable time. And though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that Christmas has done me good. And I say God bless it.

4:27 Speaker 2: Hear, hear!

4:29 Speaker 5: One more word from you, Bob Cratchit, and you can keep your Christmas by losing your employment.

4:36 Speaker 10: I'm very sorry, Mr. Scrooge. I humbly beg your pardon. It was only said on the spur of the moment.

4:43 Speaker 5: Perhaps I should apply the spur into goading you into finishing your work.

4:48 Speaker 2: And let's hear no more from you. Oh, yes, sir.

4:51 Speaker 4: Yes, sir.

4:52 Speaker 2: Fred, why are you here bothering me?

4:55 Speaker 9: To simply ask you to come and dine with us tomorrow.

4:58 Speaker 2: There's nothing more idiotic than wasting money on a lavish meal.

5:03 Speaker 9: But why, Uncle? I ask nothing of you. Only for you to come to Christmas dinner.

5:08 Speaker 2: Why did you ever marry?

5:12 Speaker 9: Because I fell in love.

5:14 Speaker 2: An even more stupid sentiment than Christmas. Good afternoon.

5:18 Speaker 9: Then I still wish you a Merry Christmas.

5:21 Speaker 2: Good afternoon.

5:22 Speaker 9: And a Happy New Year.

5:25 Speaker 2: I said good afternoon.

5:29 Speaker 7: Humbug!

5:31 Speaker 9: And how is Miss Cratchit and all of the assorted Cratchits, Bob?

5:35 Speaker 10: Oh, very well, sir.

5:37 Speaker 9: Eager for the holiday to begin, I expect?

5:40 Speaker 7: Oh, very eager, sir.

5:43 Speaker 9: And the little lame boy, Tim? How is he?

5:46 Speaker 10: We're in high hopes that he is getting better.

5:49 Speaker 9: That's good news. Well then, Merry Christmas.

5:53 Speaker 10: And Merry Christmas to you, sir.

5:59 Speaker 11: Excuse me, sir.

6:01 Speaker 12: Have I the privilege of addressing Mr. Marley or Mr.

6:04 Speaker 1: Scrooge?

6:05 Speaker 12: Neither, gentlemen.

6:06 Speaker 9: But you will find Mr. Scrooge in his office. Poor Marley has been dead for seven years now. He died this very night.

6:13 Speaker 12: I trust that the generosity of Mr. Marley is well represented by his surviving partner.

6:20 Speaker 9: Oh, I'm sure that you will find Mr. Scrooge in a very giving mood. Merry Christmas to you.

6:35 Speaker 2: Well, what do you want?

6:37 Speaker 12: At this rather festive time of year, it is more than desirable to make some slight provision for the poor and destitute.

6:47 Speaker 13: What?

6:48 Speaker 2: Are there no prisons?

6:50 Speaker 12: Plenty of prisons.

6:53 Speaker 2: And the workhouses, are they not still in operation?

6:57 Speaker 12: I wish I could say they were not.

6:59 Speaker 2: The trade mill, still in full vigour, I presume?

7:03 Speaker 12: Very busy, sir.

7:05 Speaker 5: Well, from what you said at first, I was afraid that something had happened to stop them in their useful course.

7:11 Speaker 2: I'm very glad to hear otherwise.

7:14 Speaker 12: But I don't think that you understand. A few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the poor food and means of warmth.

7:22 Speaker 2: Why?

7:23 Speaker 12: Because it is at Christmas that want is more keenly felt and abundance rejoices. Now then, what can I put you down for?

7:34 Speaker 2: Nothing.

7:35 Speaker 12: Oh, you wish to remain anonymous.

7:37 Speaker 5: I wish to be left alone. I help to support the establishments that I have mentioned. Those that are badly off must go there.

7:46 Speaker 12: Many can't go there, and some would rather die.

7:49 Speaker 5: Well then, if they would rather die, then they'd better do it and decrease the surplus population.

7:55 Speaker 2: Besides, it's not my business.

7:58 Speaker 12: Isn't it, sir?

7:59 Speaker 6: No.

7:59 Speaker 5: It is enough for a man to understand his own business without interfering.

8:03 Speaker 2: In other people's. My business occupies me constantly.

8:08 Speaker 5: And as I am extremely busy, and as you asked what it is that I would wish, I wish to be left alone.

8:14 Speaker 2: Good afternoon, gentlemen.

8:27 Speaker 10: Sir, Mr Scrooge, sir, it's six o'clock. Time to close.

8:33 Speaker 2: I suppose that you'll want the whole day off tomorrow.

8:37 Speaker 10: Well, if it's quite convenient, sir.

8:39 Speaker 2: It's not, and it's not fair.

8:42 Speaker 5: If I thought you half a day's pay, you would think yourself ill-used, right? But you don't think me ill-used by paying a day's wages for no work, do you?

8:53 Speaker 10: It is only once a year, sir.

8:56 Speaker 5: A rather poor excuse for picking a man's pockets every December 25th.

9:00 Speaker 10: Oh, yes, sir. I'm sorry, sir, to have to cause you such an inconvenience. It's the family more than me, sir. They pour their hearts into it.

9:09 Speaker 5: Yes, and put their hands into my pockets, sir. Oh, well, I suppose you'd better have the whole day. But be back all the earlier the next morning.

9:19 Speaker 10: Oh, yes, sir. I will indeed, sir.

9:21 Speaker 2: Thank you, sir.

9:22 Speaker 10: More than generous of you, sir.

9:24 Speaker 2: Yes, I know it is. You don't have to tell me.

9:27 Speaker 10: And Merry Christmas, sir.

9:30 Speaker 2: Merry Christmas, sir.

9:32 Speaker 5: You, a clerk on 15 shillings a week with a wife and a family.

9:37 Speaker 2: Talking about a Merry Christmas. I'll retire to bedlam.

10:05 Speaker 7: Scrooge.

10:07 Speaker 1: What?

10:08 Speaker 2: Who's there?

10:09 Speaker 6: Scrooge.

10:12 Speaker 2: On the doorknob? Is that Marley?

10:16 Speaker 10: Oh, Scrooge!

10:19 Speaker 2: No, he couldn't be. With the cost of wood, I shouldn't even make a fire. Yeah, that's funny. It's not even on the hour.

10:39 Speaker 3: Here, here.

10:44 Speaker 2: What's going on?

10:45 Speaker 14: Stop it!

10:48 Speaker 2: Stop it!

10:48 Speaker 3: Stop it!

10:53 Speaker 10: Stop it!

11:13 Speaker 2: Who are you?

11:14 Speaker 7: Ask me who I was.

11:18 Speaker 2: All right, then. Who were you then?

11:20 Speaker 7: In life, I was your partner, Jacob Marley.

11:26 Speaker 2: You're awful particular for a ghost. Jacob Marley. You've looked better. What do you want of me?

11:33 Speaker 1: Much.

11:34 Speaker 2: So much.

11:36 Speaker 7: You don't believe in me.

11:38 Speaker 2: No, I don't.

11:39 Speaker 7: Why do you doubt your senses?

11:42 Speaker 5: Because the slightest thing can affect them. A slight disorder of the stomach.

11:46 Speaker 2: Makes them jeeps.

11:48 Speaker 5: You, you may be an undigested bit of beef, a piece of cheese, a fragment of an undone potato. There is more gravy than grave of you. It's all humbug, I tell you.

12:00 Speaker 1: No!

12:03 Speaker 2: Nessie, please.

12:05 Speaker 7: Man of the world of mine, do you believe in me or not?

12:10 Speaker 2: I do. I do, I do, I do.

12:12 Speaker 13: I must.

12:13 Speaker 2: But why do you walk the earth, Jacob?

12:16 Speaker 1: Because, Ebenezer, I am doomed.

12:22 Speaker 7: You see these chains? I forged them in life, link by link. I girded it on of my own free will. And you, your chain is now longer than mine. You have labored on it these past seven years. What a ponderous chain you have built to drag you down in death.

12:50 Speaker 12: No, no, no.

12:51 Speaker 2: Please, please, Jacob. Speak comfort to me.

12:54 Speaker 7: I have none to give. I cannot stay or linger anywhere. My spirit never walked beyond our accounting house in life. In death, weary journeys lie before me. No rest, no peace. The incessant torture of remorse.

13:18 Speaker 2: But why, Jacob? Why are you here now? To warn you.

13:23 Speaker 7: To tell that you have a chance of escaping my fate.

13:28 Speaker 2: You were always a good friend, Jacob.

13:30 Speaker 7: You will be visited by three spirits.

13:37 Speaker 2: If it's all the same to you, I think I would rather not.

13:40 Speaker 7: Without them, you have no hope but to walk the path that I tread now. Expect the first tomorrow when the bell tolls one.

13:53 Speaker 2: But could I not just take them all at once and be done with it all?

13:58 Speaker 7: Expect the second one the next night at the same hour. The third when the last bell of midnight ceases to vibrate on your mantel clock. And for your own sake, Ebenezer Scrooge, do not forget what has passed between us. Passed between us.

14:23 Speaker 2: No, Jacob, no! No, don't leave me, Jacob! No, don't! Jacob! Jacob!

14:43 Speaker 1: Scrooge fell asleep where he was sitting, remembering the horrible figure of his old partner. I'll return shortly with Act Two.

14:58 Speaker 6: Mystery.

15:00 Speaker 8: Horror. Thriller.

15:03 Speaker 14: Suspense.

15:04 Speaker 8: Novels and short story collections from Winslow Swan, now available from Amazon.

15:23 Speaker 1: When Scrooge awoke, it was dark. Chimes of a neighborhood church were stroking the four quarters. To his amazement, they were followed by twelve strokes of the bell. Twelve?

15:40 Speaker 3: Impossible.

15:41 Speaker 1: It was two when he fell asleep. That he distinctly remembered.

15:56 Speaker 2: Who are you?

15:57 Speaker 3: I am the ghost of Christmas past.

16:01 Speaker 2: Long past?

16:02 Speaker 7: Your past.

16:05 Speaker 2: Strange figure. Almost like a child.

16:09 Speaker 15: My eyes.

16:10 Speaker 2: The light that shines from you is so bright. Could you not put on your cap?

16:14 Speaker 5: Would you so soon put out with worldly hands the light that I shed?

16:20 Speaker 3: It is not enough that you were the one... You were the one.

16:25 Speaker 8: That fashioned me with this cap and forced me to wear it. I?

16:32 Speaker 2: What business brings you here?

16:34 Speaker 6: Your welfare.

16:36 Speaker 1: I think not.

16:37 Speaker 5: If you were so concerned about my welfare, you would have let me sleep.

16:41 Speaker 3: Your reclamation, then.

16:45 Speaker 2: Take heed.

16:47 Speaker 6: Stand up and walk with me.

16:51 Speaker 2: I cannot resist you, but.

16:53 Speaker 5: I am an old man, lightly clad in nursing a cold.

16:59 Speaker 3: Do not deny me. Come, follow me.

17:13 Speaker 2: We are flying.

17:15 Speaker 3: Look, Ebenezer, over there.

17:20 Speaker 2: This place. I was a boy here.

17:24 Speaker 3: Your lip is trembling.

17:27 Speaker 8: What's that on your cheek?

17:32 Speaker 2: Nothing. Nothing at all. My... The wind. It makes my eyes water.

17:37 Speaker 6: Do you not remember?

17:39 Speaker 1: Yes, I.

17:40 Speaker 2: I do remember. Even blindfolded, I could find this building.

17:45 Speaker 6: You recognize this place? I.

17:49 Speaker 2: Old school.

17:50 Speaker 16: And over there, another lonely boy. No, it's too late now.

17:57 Speaker 3: What is?

17:59 Speaker 16: There was a boy outside my door earlier, singing. I would have liked to have given him something, that's all.

18:07 Speaker 17: Come, there is much more to see.

18:17 Speaker 5: Why, it's my first employer, old Fizzy Wig. His Christmas parties were the talk of the town.

18:23 Speaker 2: And look, his wife. She was so kind and beautiful. Yes, he taught me everything I know about business.

18:32 Speaker 6: And do you recognize her?

18:37 Speaker 2: No, not her. I shut her away many, many years ago.

18:42 Speaker 10: What is it, Scrooge?

18:44 Speaker 2: Please, spirit, do not make me see this.

18:48 Speaker 6: I ask you again.

18:50 Speaker 3: Do you not remember me?

18:53 Speaker 5: I told you that the light blinds me.

18:58 Speaker 3: Then remember who I was before you extinguished my light.

19:11 Speaker 17: Another year before our wedding.

19:14 Speaker 2: And it cannot be helped, Belle. Besides, there isn't even enough money for a decent home. Investments haven't grown as they should.

19:24 Speaker 17: So you said last year?

19:27 Speaker 2: Business continues to be poor.

19:29 Speaker 17: But you're a partner in your own firm now.

19:33 Speaker 2: And barely clearing expenses.

19:36 Speaker 17: You said that the partnership was the goal.

19:40 Speaker 2: This is for you, Belle. I love you.

19:44 Speaker 17: You did.

19:46 Speaker 2: Once.

19:47 Speaker 17: Long ago. Your love for me has been replaced by a different idol.

19:54 Speaker 2: Idol? What idol? Of what do you speak?

19:56 Speaker 17: A golden one. Oh, Ebenezer. The light in your eye from me has been put out. We had such... Sweet dreams. I wish you well, Ebenezer.

20:14 Speaker 2: What are you saying, Belle?

20:16 Speaker 17: Some dreams come true. Others fall by the wayside. It's time for us to say goodbye.

20:28 Speaker 2: No, Belle. I was foolish. Spirit, show me no more. Why do you torture me this way?

20:39 Speaker 17: These are the shadows of things that have been.

20:43 Speaker 3: They are what they are.

20:47 Speaker 6: Do not blame me.

20:49 Speaker 3: Leave me. Leave me alone.

21:14 Speaker 2: Come in. Come in and know me better, man. What is this? What is this food? That roaring fire?

21:34 Speaker 13: Look upon me, Ebenezer Scrooge.

21:37 Speaker 14: Have you not seen the likes of me before?

21:40 Speaker 2: Never. Never? In my life have I seen such a sight.

21:46 Speaker 14: Then come in and know me better, man. Did I already say that?

21:52 Speaker 2: Yes, you did.

21:55 Speaker 14: I am the ghost of Christmas present.

21:59 Speaker 13: This is the night before the dawn before the day of Christmas.

22:06 Speaker 10: Ha, ha, ha.

22:08 Speaker 14: Did I mention I'm the ghost of Christmas presents?

22:12 Speaker 2: Yes, you did.

22:15 Speaker 14: Come in and know me better, man.

22:19 Speaker 2: You're a little absent-minded spirit, aren't you?

22:23 Speaker 14: No, I'm a large absent-minded spirit.

22:31 Speaker 2: I'm too old. I'm beyond all hope.

22:35 Speaker 5: Go and redeem someone younger and leave me to keep Christmas in my own way.

22:40 Speaker 13: We spirits of Christmas do not only give one day of our year. We live every day of the year. So is it true of the child born in Bethlehem. He does not live in a man's heart only one day of the year.

23:01 Speaker 14: But all of them.

23:03 Speaker 2: I don't believe that I have met anyone like you before.

23:07 Speaker 1: Really?

23:08 Speaker 13: Over 1,800 of my brothers have come before me.

23:12 Speaker 2: That many? Imagine the grocery bill.

23:17 Speaker 14: You have never sought the spirit of Christmas in your heart.

23:22 Speaker 13: So you will come with me and seek it in the hearts of men of goodwill.

23:27 Speaker 12: Here, touch my robe.

23:41 Speaker 2: Where are we?

23:42 Speaker 14: At the home of your clerk, Bob Cratchit.

23:47 Speaker 2: And the small boy, the one holding the crutch and his legs and braces?

23:53 Speaker 13: The youngest of the Cratchits, Tiny Tim.

23:59 Speaker 6: Bob, how late you are, dear, and so cold. Come, sit by the fire.

24:06 Speaker 10: I'm all right, Martha.

24:08 Speaker 6: And how did Tiny Tim behave through the service?

24:11 Speaker 10: Oh, good as gold and better. Sometimes he gets thoughtful sitting by himself so much and thinks the strangest things you've ever heard.

24:23 Speaker 6: And what was it this time?

24:26 Speaker 10: He told me on the way home that he hoped everyone in church saw him because he was a cripple. because it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day who it was that made Lane Beggar's Walk and Blind Men's Scene. Now, come on, let's join the others.

24:47 Speaker 2: Tell me, spirit, I must know, will Tiny Tim live?

24:51 Speaker 14: I am only concerned with the present. However, I see a vacant seat over in the corner, and a small crutch without a note. If these shadows remain unaltered by the future, the child will surely die.

25:10 Speaker 2: No, Spirit, he mustn't.

25:13 Speaker 14: Well, if he's going to die, better hurry up and do it. And decrease the surplus population.

25:24 Speaker 10: A toast, a toast, before we eat. To Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast.

25:30 Speaker 6: Founder of the feast, indeed. Oh, I wish he were here now. I would give him a piece of my mind to feast on.

25:41 Speaker 10: Oh, but dear, it's Christmas.

25:44 Speaker 6: And I would hope that he would choke on it.

25:47 Speaker 10: Dear, the children, Christmas Day.

25:50 Speaker 6: All right, for your sake and the sake of the day. To Mr. Scrooge, long life to you.

25:59 Speaker 10: God bless us. God bless us, everyone.

26:21 Speaker 2: Dear me, this is my nephew, Fred.

26:26 Speaker 9: Moreover, he said that Christmas was a humbug. I swear, he honestly believed it, too. More shame for him to speak so. Well, his offenses carry their own punishment. And I, for one, will not say anything against him. And I will have no down-turned mouths at this season. So, raise your glass of wine and let us drink to the old man. Well, he has given us plenty of merriment at that. So, to Uncle Scrooge. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man. Whatever he is.

27:14 Speaker 2: I wish that I could have gone to them. Told them.

27:18 Speaker 14: My time is very brief. I believe that it will end on the stroke of twelve. Will you profit from what I've shown you?

27:29 Speaker 2: How can I... How can I say.

27:31 Speaker 14: Then learn this lesson.

27:37 Speaker 2: Under your robe, a boy and a girl. Are they your children?

27:42 Speaker 14: They are man's. They cling to me for protection from their fetters.

27:48 Speaker 13: The boy is ignorance. The girl is want. Beware them both. But most of all, beware this boy. For on his.

27:59 Speaker 14: Brow I see written, Doom, unless the writing can be erased.

28:09 Speaker 14: My time is sounding.

28:11 Speaker 2: But have they no refuge, no resource?

28:15 Speaker 14: Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Are there no prisons?

28:23 Speaker 11: Are there no workhouses?

28:26 Speaker 14: Are there no prisons?

28:29 Speaker 13: Are there no workhouses?

28:42 Speaker 1: As the last bell struck the hour of twelve, Scrooge turned to face a dread figure. A solemn phantom, draped and hooded in black and deep grey, creeping closer, like the mist about it, towards him. I'll return with Act 3 shortly.

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29:35 Speaker 1: The last phantasmic spirit silently dies. slowly, gravely approached. It was shrouded in a deep black garment, a hood concealing its face and form. Nothing of it was visible save one outstretched bony hand, which served as its only voice. This spirit neither spoke nor moved.

30:15 Speaker 5: Am I in the presence of the ghost of Christmas.

30:17 Speaker 2: Yet to come?

30:19 Speaker 5: Oh, spirit, I fear you more than did any specter I have met. You do not answer, but point where.

30:29 Speaker 2: We are to go. Yes, I will follow.

30:32 Speaker 18: I don't know much about it either way. I only know that he's dead.

30:42 Speaker 11: When did he die, Mr. Grimes?

30:46 Speaker 18: Last night, Mr.

30:47 Speaker 1: Goodfellow.

30:48 Speaker 11: I wonder what he could have cooked. I thought he would never die.

30:54 Speaker 1: Oh, who knows?

30:55 Speaker 2: Why should I care?

30:56 Speaker 18: The point is, he is dead.

31:00 Speaker 2: I wonder what he has done with his money.

31:02 Speaker 11: Well, he didn't leave it to me, and certainly not to charity.

31:08 Speaker 9: God knows he doesn't appear to have had any sort of personal tie to anyone.

31:13 Speaker 11: It will probably be a rather cheap funeral. I can't think of anyone who would even attend it.

31:23 Speaker 1: Oh, I don't know. I would go. You, Mr.

31:27 Speaker 10: Grimes?

31:28 Speaker 13: Yes, I believe I would.

31:31 Speaker 18: That is, if lunch was provided, he never fed anyone in his life, perhaps a good lunch in his death, or else I stay at home.

31:41 Speaker 15: Oh, how dismal and awful to dismiss another human being in such terms.

31:53 Speaker 2: Forgive me, Dread Ghost, I do not mean to diverge. Where are we going now? The cratchit home? But why here, spirit?

32:11 Speaker 6: Oh, Bob. I notice you're walking slower these past few weeks.

32:17 Speaker 10: I'm a little late, my dear.

32:19 Speaker 1: Please forgive me.

32:20 Speaker 6: You must be cold and tired. Sit near the fire and warm yourself.

32:26 Speaker 10: No, no, no. I'm very content, my dear. I went to see the place where he will rest. I was sheltered by green trees, very quiet and still. It was strange, but as I stood there, I felt his hand slip in mine as if he were standing beside me and comforting me. I felt very peaceful. He was telling me in his own little way that He was at peace. Truly happy now. And that we must cease to grieve for him. And be happy too.

33:13 Speaker 2: Oh, Tim. My kindest Tim.

33:23 Speaker 10: Oh, spirit.

33:24 Speaker 2: I fear that our time together is short. Where are you pointing now? Churchyard. Yes, I will go, but first, please tell me, are these.

33:37 Speaker 5: Shadows things that must be, or are they shadows of things that might only be?

33:44 Speaker 2: Very well, I will go to that stone and.

33:47 Speaker 1: No.

33:47 Speaker 2: No, no, uh.

33:58 Speaker 2: I have seen the error of my ways, spirit. I will repent. I swear it. No, please, stay away. Please, stay away. Stay away.

34:17 Speaker 7: Ah, so there you are.

34:21 Speaker 2: Marley, my friend, where are we?

34:26 Speaker 7: I sure thought that was obvious. We knew you were coming down today, so I thought I would greet you. No one else wanted to. Let me show you to your room.

34:44 Speaker 2: Very civil of you, old friend. Tell me, am I really dead?

34:50 Speaker 7: As a coffin nail.

34:52 Speaker 2: I rather hoped that I would end up in heaven. Did you?

34:56 Speaker 7: Did you indeed?

34:58 Speaker 2: Jacob, tell me, where are we going?

35:01 Speaker 7: To a warm place where you will not have to worry about the price of coal. Your activities in life were so pleasing to him. You will be his personal clerk.

35:15 Speaker 10: Down here.

35:16 Speaker 2: A great honor.

35:19 Speaker 7: You will be to him what Bob Cratchit was to you. Ha ha!

35:25 Speaker 2: But that's not right.

35:27 Speaker 1: It's... Diabolical. Yes, I know.

35:33 Speaker 7: I find the whole thing most amusing. This way, your.

35:40 Speaker 14: Office.

35:47 Speaker 7: But it's freezing in here. We turned the heat off. The boss felt it would make you drowsy. You're the only one in hell who is chilly.

36:02 Speaker 4: Please, please, Molly.

36:04 Speaker 2: Please help me. Please, Jacob, please.

36:07 Speaker 7: Oh, yes, I almost forgot. They apologize that your chain was not ready upon your arrival. Seems it is bigger than even I thought it would be. Oh, here it is now.

36:23 Speaker 10: No!

36:24 Speaker 2: No, Molly, please!

36:26 Speaker 10: Help me, Molly! Please!

36:28 Speaker 2: Please help me!

36:29 Speaker 10: Help!

36:29 Speaker 13: Help!

36:30 Speaker 12: Help!

36:30 Speaker 4: Help!

36:31 Speaker 13: Help!

36:38 Speaker 1: No!

36:39 Speaker 14: Help me!

36:39 Speaker 2: Help me! It's so cold! These chains!

36:43 Speaker 7: No!

36:44 Speaker 12: Help!

36:44 Speaker 7: Help!

36:44 Speaker 2: What? I'm at home? The bed! The room!

36:52 Speaker 14: The room!

36:54 Speaker 3: I'm home.

36:58 Speaker 2: I don't know what to do.

36:59 Speaker 5: I'm as light as a feather. I will live my life in the past, the present, and the future. Oh, Jacob, Molly, heaven be praised for this day.

37:11 Speaker 2: I don't know what to do. I'm as happy as a schoolboy. Look over there. That's where Jacob came. And there.

37:20 Speaker 5: That's where the spirit of Christmas present was. It all happened.

37:25 Speaker 2: I don't even know what day or month this is.

37:27 Speaker 5: I don't know anything. I never knew anything. But now I know. I know I didn't know anything.

37:36 Speaker 2: Such wonderful cold air. You there, boy.

37:38 Speaker 3: Mesa?

37:49 Speaker 2: What day is it today?

37:50 Speaker 6: It's Christmas Day.

37:53 Speaker 2: Christmas? Then I haven't missed it. The spirits did it all in one night. Of course they got their spirits. They can do anything they want. Do you know the butchers in the next street?

38:04 Speaker 3: I should say so, sir.

38:06 Speaker 2: Remarkable boy. Intelligent boy. Tell me, do they still have the prize goose in the window? Not the little one?

38:14 Speaker 6: You mean the one.

38:16 Speaker 2: As big as me?

38:17 Speaker 14: Yes.

38:18 Speaker 2: Most intelligent boy.

38:19 Speaker 5: Yes.

38:20 Speaker 3: Nice job, dude.

38:22 Speaker 5: Tell the butcher to bring it here. I'll tell him where to send it. Come back with him and I'll give you a shilling. Come back in five minutes and I'll give you half a crown.

38:33 Speaker 2: Oh, delightful boy. I'll send it to the Cratchits. The Cratchits, they won't know what to say. You there, sir.

38:52 Speaker 1: What?

38:53 Speaker 14: Oh, it's you.

38:55 Speaker 2: Is there still time to make a donation to your worthy cause?

38:59 Speaker 12: Why, yes, Mr. Scrooge, there is.

39:01 Speaker 2: Then here, take this. And this. Take it all.

39:06 Speaker 12: But this is... This is.

39:08 Speaker 2: And there will be more to come.

39:10 Speaker 5: I can assure you that there are a great many bad payments to be included.

39:15 Speaker 12: Thank you, Mr.

39:16 Speaker 8: Scrooge.

39:17 Speaker 12: And a Merry Christmas to you.

39:20 Speaker 2: Merry Christmas to you.

39:35 Speaker 6: Uncle?

39:36 Speaker 5: Is it too late to accept your invitation to dinner, Fred?

39:41 Speaker 12: Of course not!

39:42 Speaker 9: I'm delighted! Please, come in!

39:45 Speaker 5: Only, Fred, only if you can... you can forgive, uh... Big-headed old fool such as myself. I had no eyes to see with no ears to hear all these years.

39:57 Speaker 9: Please, Uncle Ebenezer, please come inside.

39:59 Speaker 2: The End Mr.

40:19 Speaker 14: Cratchit!

40:20 Speaker 2: Yes, Mr.

40:21 Speaker 1: Scrooge?

40:21 Speaker 2: You are eighteen and a half minutes late. What do you have to say for yourself?

40:28 Speaker 7: I'm very sorry, sir.

40:29 Speaker 10: I'm behind my time, sir.

40:31 Speaker 2: You are indeed. Step this way, Mr.

40:35 Speaker 10: Cratchit. It's only once a year, sir. It won't be repeated.

40:40 Speaker 5: Well then, let's not beat around the bush, Cratchit. I will not stand for this sort of thing any longer.

40:47 Speaker 10: Oh, but please, sir.

40:48 Speaker 2: No, I'm afraid there is no alternative.

40:51 Speaker 10: But it's only once a year, sir.

40:53 Speaker 2: The only thing I can think of is to... is.

40:56 Speaker 1: is.

40:58 Speaker 2: is to raise your salary.

40:59 Speaker 1: Ha ha ha!

41:04 Speaker 2: Look at your face, Bob. No. I have not taken leave of my senses. I have finally come to them.

41:12 Speaker 5: From now on, I want to try and help you raise that family of yours, if you will allow me, Bob. We can discuss it later over a bowl of hot punch. Now, go put some coal on that fire. It's quite chilly in here. Yes, Bob Cratchit. You do that before you dot another I. Yes, go out and buy.

41:34 Speaker 2: More coal before we both freeze to death.

41:38 Speaker 10: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

41:41 Speaker 3: Thank you.

41:46 Speaker 2: Oh, bastard. Why am I so happy? I don't deserve to be happy. I just can't help it.

41:57 Speaker 1: Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all. And to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was like a second father. He made a new will to look after his nephew Fred and his future partner, Bob Cratchit. He was as good a man, as good a master, as good a friend as the grand old city ever had. It was said that he knew how to keep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May it truly be said of all of us, and his tiny film observed and was echoed by Ebenezer.

42:37 Speaker 2: God bless us, everyone.

42:44 Speaker 1: I'll be back shortly with a final word.

42:49 Speaker 8: Have you heard any good books lately? Audiobooks from Winslow Swan, now available on Spotify.

43:06 Speaker 1: And what more is left to say? Perhaps the eternal message that this particular ghost story brings. Our cast included Raven Adams as Fred.

43:23 Speaker 9: A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to the old man. Whatever he is.

43:28 Speaker 1: Patience Adams as his wife, Elsa.

43:31 Speaker 9: He has given us plenty of merriment at that. So, to Uncle Scrooge.

43:36 Speaker 1: Winslow Swan as Bob Cratchit.

43:39 Speaker 10: To Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast.

43:42 Speaker 1: Annie Nick as Martha Cratchit.

43:45 Speaker 6: And I would hope that he would choke on it.

43:48 Speaker 1: Dave Archipaugh as Jacob Marley. Hmm, Don Evolico, yes, I know.

43:56 Speaker 7: I find the whole thing most amusing.

43:59 Speaker 1: Crimson McKenzie as the ghost of Christmas Past. And Scrooge's fiancée, Belle.

44:08 Speaker 4: Christmas past?

44:10 Speaker 7: Your past?

44:14 Speaker 17: Some dreams come true. Others fall by the wayside.

44:20 Speaker 1: Mick Davis, as in Ghost of Christmas Present, the Patreon, and Mr. Goodfellow.

44:26 Speaker 12: Have I the privilege of addressing Mr. Marley or Mr.

44:29 Speaker 2: Scringe?

44:30 Speaker 14: I am the Ghost of Christmas Present.

44:35 Speaker 11: I thought he would never die.

44:38 Speaker 18: I don't know much about it either way. I only know that he's dead.

44:46 Speaker 4: If I could work my will, every idiot who went around with Merry Christmas on their lips would be boiled in their own pudding and buried with a stick of holly driven through their heart.

44:59 Speaker 2: I do, I do, I do, I do, I must.' But why do you walk the earth, Jacob?'' I will.

45:06 Speaker 5: Live my life in the past, the present, and the future,' Oh, Jacob Marley, heaven be praised for this day!

45:13 Speaker 1: The script was edited by Crimson McKenzie and directed by Winslow Swan. This is Artemis Black, wishing everyone a happy holiday and a happy new year, and inviting you to return with us through the doorway to Nightmare. for another adventure in the world of your terrifying imagination. Until next time, slumber peacefully.

45:42 Speaker 10: Have luck.

45:44 Speaker 16: Shh.

45:46 Speaker 14: The butler did it.

45:48 Speaker 10: The butler didn't do it!

46:06 Speaker 6: Hey guys, this is Crimson.

46:08 Speaker 2: And this is Swan.

46:09 Speaker 10: And we'd love to know what you think of the stories.

46:12 Speaker 6: Even if it's bad.

46:13 Speaker 2: So leave us a comment.

46:15 Speaker 8: Or give us a thumbs up.

46:16 Speaker 10: Thank you!