1402 – A Christmas Carol, Part 2 | Read With Me
It’s a dozen of one or one-tenth of another any way you look at it, but this episode will surely be meandering as Scrooge learns about business, fiber optics, and which kind of elf has the most holiday cheer.
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Episode 1402 – A Christmas Carol, Part 2 | Read With Me
[START OF RECORDING]
SCOOTER: Friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, if you skip holiday spirits like I do but you get the spirit of the holidays…or if you enjoy all kinds of holiday spirits, that’s cool, too. Or if you say, I pass on all that, but I wouldn't mind you read…misreading and paraphrasing through a famous story…so, if any of those…or if you're new, you say, I thought this was a sleep podcast or a reading of A Christmas Carol. I’d say, well, it’s a little bit of both. Welcome to Sleep With Me, the podcast that’s here to put you to sleep by keeping you company and taking your mind off of stuff, or in this case kinda reading to you, but where your friend makes commentary throughout the reading or changes it around to make it more sleepy.
So, it’ll be part of a familiar tale. But actually, especially in this episode, there was a couple things that stuck out to me that I never noticed before in other versions of A Christmas Carol. So, yeah, this will be Part 2 of our reading of A Christmas Carol, and then next year we’ll keep going with this if people enjoy it. So, let me know what you think if you're a regular listener or if you're new. This show is to be here for you in the deep, dark night, keep you company…we're all rooting for you. We're all sharing something here together. So, I’m glad you're here. This show is very different, so if you're new, give it a few tries. Happy holiday season. Or if you pass on the holiday season, happy winter or summer wherever you are in the world. Happy season, seasonally. This is seasonally dull. So, anything else?
If you're new, yeah, just give the show a few tries. What we got coming up is support so paying for the show is optional, then after the support, a long, meandering intro meant to ease you into bedtime, and then later on will be our reading from A Christmas Carol, from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. This show is exclusively made possible by listener support, listeners that support the show directly or listeners that support our sponsors so our sponsors stay around and support the show back. So, we could not do it without those listeners that are engaged. So, if you have a chance right now, if you are one of those people…you're like, I’m a super-listener; how can I make sure this podcast is here for me and everybody else?
Coming up is the ways you could do so, but if you could also take a second — if you're not in a place where you could support the show — to really send those thankful vibes…'cause I’m really thankful to be able to make the show, and I can't do it without the people that say, man, this podcast makes my life better; how can I help? If you're saying that to yourself, here’s the ways you could do that.
INTRO: [INTRO MUSIC] Hey, are you up all night tossing, turning, mind racing? Trouble getting to sleep? Trouble staying asleep? Well, welcome. This is Sleep With Me, the podcast that puts you to sleep. We do it with a bedtime story. Alls you need to do is get in bed, turn out the lights, and press Play. I’m gonna do the rest. What I’m going to attempt to do is create a safe place where you could set aside whatever’s keeping you awake.
Those could be thoughts on your mind, like thoughts you're thinking about, so, thoughts that you're thinking about, it could be feelings, anything coming up for you emotionally, like feelings about those thoughts or feelings that are left over from the day, it could be physical sensations, it could be changes in time, temperature, routine, you could be going through something, in the middle of something, getting over something, travel, guests, work schedule, maybe you work a different shift, maybe your work schedule changed. Whatever it is, the only reason I list through some of that stuff is because…and I mean this in the broadest way possible, in the softest way possible, in the most indirect way possible, but you can adjust the directness…is we are in this together, loosely and indirectly, but together.
I want you to know that even if I don't know what you're going through right now, even if I’ve never experienced what brought you to this show, there really is someone listening right now somewhere in the world who’s rooting for you, who’s been through something similar or very close or parallel, and they really do get how you feel right now. I know that might be hard for some people to accept, but there’s enough people listening right now that that’s true, that somewhere else in the world, someone’s rooting for you to get a good night's sleep, and they get the experience…and some people are experiencing this right now…or you can have both sides of the experience at the same time.
You could root…you could let them root for you and you could root for them back, or someone else in the world, and say, I hope you get a good night's sleep, too. I hope this show brings you some relief or comfort or mild humor in the deep, dark night. When you're new, just know there’s someone rooting for you. Even if the show does not work out for you, me and a lot of other people are still hopeful you'll get the rest you need and you deserve, because you deserve a bedtime where it’s…you don’t have to dread it, where it doesn't have as much rigmarole as it does for me when I’m having trouble, that…a bedtime you could feel neutral about or look forward to so you get the rest you need on a regular basis, so your day tomorrow is more manageable.
So, if you're doing that, it becomes something that…for me, sixty, seventy percent of the time, I get a good night's sleep, and then I could be out there flourishing in the world. Yeah, it’s kinda like a dial. No pressure to flourish, but hopefully it’ll make your life more manageable. Hopefully it’ll at least make things neutral for you. But I really strive to bring you more, indirectly, though, 'cause this show really doesn't solve any problems. It’s just to be here, and the other listeners are just to be here rooting for you, right? And I’m here to be distracting to you. So, I know that’s a bit much, but it’s important because you're important. Even if we’re all indirectly connected, we're connected here in the deep, dark night. That’s what I do; I send my voice across the deep, dark night.
I use lulling, soothing, creaky, dulcet tones, pointless meanders, and superfluous tangents, I go off topic, I get mixed up, sometimes I get serious, but a lot of times I get silly, and…also, what’s that stuff called? Not stuff…continuity. Holy lack of continuity with this one, because I hadn't…I have a inability…incontinuity is…is that a thing? Uncontinuity…I guess the show is full of decontinuity. But I think that’s a part of bedtime and stuff. So, my voice is not traditionally soothing, I have creaky, dulcet tones…pointless meanders and superfluous tangents are a demonstration of uncontinuity? I don't know. I mean, sometimes I attempt recontinuity, but I usually am unsuccessful at reestablishing continuity. If I ever become a expert in anything and then I publish a book…what was it called? Reestablishing Continuity?
I don't know. Would that just be a chapter? Can anybody get Dan…can anybody see if Daniel Pink could put a chapter in a book? Reestablishing Continuity…it’s kinda…in a good way feels like that. I don't know. But what am I here to explain? Oh, well, this show…I kinda said we're all in this together and I’m rooting for you, but when you first get here, you may be skeptical, doubtful, or frustrated, 'cause I don't know how you arrived at the show, right? Maybe it was through a search. Maybe it was through a recommendation. Maybe you just stumbled upon it. But if you're here, it’s probably 'cause you have some sort of relationship with sleep that’s not ideal, right? You probably have expectations of what a sleep podcast is.
Maybe you've listened to other sleep podcasts or maybe you've listened to meditative stuff, and then you get here and I’m kind of different, right? I’m very different, and that’s a good thing, but it’s not for everybody. But I will say that for most people, most regular listeners, people that support the show on a ongoing basis, they shared that when they got here because that’s a reasonable way to get here. You have reasonable expectations of what a sleep podcast might be. Alls I can tell you is what those listeners told me, is like, yeah, it took two or three tries; at first I really didn’t like the show.
I wasn’t sure about you or the format, and then I listened again and I was like, eh…and then on the third time I realized I fell asleep because I realized, oh, on the third time I kinda got that he was serious about all his nonsense. So, then it suddenly made sense that it doesn't make any sense at all. Like that song, Making Lulls Out of Not Much At All. I don't know, but there’s a different song…but yeah, that’s what I’m doing. So, just give it a few tries and see how it goes. You really have nothing to lose. Here’s the thing; if you decide or you've already decided this show is not for you, you don’t like me, that’s okay…or you're not sure and then you listen once or twice more and you're like, no, this definitely isn't for me, that’s totally cool. I have a website set up just for you, and a lot of other people share that.
It’s called sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou. If you click a couple questions, it’ll take you to a list of other sleep podcasts and sleepy stuff. That’s been a very successful thing because like I said, we're still rooting for you even if you don’t listen to the show ever again. We still passed and nodded to each other and said, yeah, I get it, I get it. So, I’m glad you're here, and if you move on, you move on. Sleepwithmepodcast.com/nothankyou…you got your options open. So, that’s one thing to know; most people are skeptical or doubtful, and a lot of people don’t like me or ever like the show, and that’s good. Then the other…a couple things to get used to if you're new — or reminders — is that this is a podcast you don’t really listen to, but you can listen to it.
It’s not like…totally like background noise, 'cause I am putting in effort to be here and be present with you, but you don’t need to listen to me. So, it is like TV on in the other room or sports or radio that you're barely paying attention to or listening to, or like a show streaming under your pillow or on the phone or a roommate talking about…you say, okay, can you give me a recap of A Christmas Carol? Oh yeah, which one? Which one do you want me to tell you about? It was a stormy eve when Jean-Luc Picard…no, no, no, tell me about the one with Patton. Okay, yeah, it was the guy that played Patton, I think. It was…or, so many options, so many options. Was that one on a train? No, that was a different one. Oh, okay. Okay, so that’s who I was thinking of. Can I…? Oh yeah, you could tell me about that.
So, if you had someone, a roommate or a friend or a partner, do that for you every night, you wouldn't need Sleep With Me. ‘Cause you'd say, okay, you keep talking, but I’m gonna kinda pay attention…I’m kinda listening to you. That works. The in-person service works one night…one or two nights a year, right? Or maybe even a month; you got a generous person or a talkative roommate on a different sleep…but at some point, if it’s in-person, you say, okay, could you stop talking now? But you can't even say it 'cause you're almost asleep. I’ve done the research, or I’ve been the…yeah. So, it’s a common refrain from roommates. I never need to hear it again. That’s what they say about me and the show. I got enough of it in person. So, yeah, but the podcast is optional.
So, it’s kinda like that, like sand passing through your hands, a out-of-focus picture. Just see how it goes. So, it’s a podcast you don’t really listen to. It’s also a podcast that’s not really here to put you to sleep. I kinda covered that in the intro. I’ve been making the show about twelve years, thirteen years. I guess we’re almost in our thirteenth year, maybe? I don't know. But this podcast has never been here…it’s the podcast that puts you to sleep, but it’s not…it’s a sleep podcast where there’s no pressure to fall asleep. There’s a reason the episodes are over an hour, so you don’t have to worry about falling asleep. There’s people listening who can't sleep at all or who wake up in the middle of the night or who need a break during the day.
I’m here to keep you company and them company to the very end, whether you're awake or asleep, whether you're listening to me or not, which is a little bit different, ‘cause my job is not to be a guru or a sleep expert. It’s to be your friend in the deep, dark night, your bore-friend, your bore-bae, your bore-sib, your bore-cuz, your neigh-bore, your bore-bie, your boreman, your chairman of the boreds, your Boris Borlaf, your best bore-friend f’eva, to just hang with you while you fall asleep. Yeah, to be here. That’s what a bore-bestie does, especially f’eva. However…F…number 4 E-V-A or whatever, kinda like girls4eva. 4Eva…or 4Eva, you may say.
But yeah, I’m here to be your bore-friend and just chill with you whether you're awake or asleep and take your mind off of stuff, be a mild distraction, barely…my bore-friend, he’s not as funny as my…the actual people in my life, but he’s not bad. So, that’s my job. The only other thing I like to explain if you're new or to reestablish and meet you where you are is that…the structure of the show. The show has a very specific structure to benefit the maximum amount of people it can, but it is adjustable if you become a regular listener. So, I’ll just run through that in case you're new or in case you're like, why is the show structured like this? Well, to benefit the maximum amount of people.
So, every show we do starts off with a greeting; friends beyond the binary, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, at least in the last ten…nine, ten years, so you feel seen and welcomed in. You say, oh, I got greeted. That’s nice, and he did say something silly. Okay, I kinda get it. Then there’s support, like requests for listeners to support the show on sponsor support, so that paying for the show is optional, especially optional for new listeners, occasional listeners, people that are just going through something over a few weeks or a few months. The regular listeners that support the show are the only way we're able to do this, and we're very thankful for that.
But paying for the show and being optional benefits a lot of those people that aren't super-listeners or super-listeners that just aren't in a place where they can support the show. So, that’s what’s up with the support. If you don’t like listening to the ads, whether you're new or a long-term listener, you could get it at Sleep With Me+, and you could get ad-free versions and a lot of other versions of the show built with super-listeners in mind. But this is a pretty good deal. It benefits more people than if the show was just behind a paywall. Then there’s a long, meandering intro totally separate from the support, meant to ease you into bedtime. It goes on about fifteen, twenty minutes where I try to explain what the podcast is and I go off-topic a few times.
I follow a familiar structure every time, but every intro is different so that, I don't know, you know I’m actually really here working for you. But it’s also different because whatever it is that keeps me awake, it adjusts and it has to have variety, familiarity and variety, in order to be distracting enough for me to fall asleep and get out of my head or my body or whatever’s keeping me awake, whatever it is that’s demanding my attention when I’m trying to fall asleep. So, yeah, I guess…what’s my point with that? I don't know. Oh, every intro is different. But the intro also serves another purpose, which is not to put you to sleep; it’s to ease you into bedtime.
If you fall asleep fast, you're way better off…we actually need you to support the show on Sleep With Me+. But…or if you prefer something without intros, we have a podcast, Bedtime Stories from Sleep With Me, in every podcast app. But the intro is kind of a hang time where we as a community hang around separately. Some people are getting ready for bed — it’s kinda like a giant dorm or a giant apartment building or a giant community with a speaker — and some people are getting ready for bed, some people are chilling out, winding down, doing some wind-down activity. Whatever, Sudoku is one, maybe. I don't know. Maybe not.
Maybe easier than hard, you know…reading a book, doodling, looking out the window, or just getting comfortable and easing into bedtime, because that’s what works for me personally, that’s what studies have shown works for most people, and it’s a nice time to be eased into bedtime instead of just being like, okay, I’m gonna put you to sleep now. I don't know if that necessarily has ever worked for me. I wish it did. I mean, I guess if I did, just…the show would be indispensible for everybody, but it’s not. I gotta ease into bedtime. But if you don’t like the intros, you can get that on Bedtime Stories from Sleep With Me. If you love the intros, bore-friends and bore-besties get multiple all-intro episodes every single month. So, it’s kinda one dozen of the other and one-tenth of something. I don't know.
Not good with math or fractions. But I love you, fractions and math. Oh boy, we can agree…we're on…you know. You know what I’m saying. Okay, so…oh, that’s the intro. Then there’s support and then there will be our reading of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Part 2. Part 1 probably came out a couple weeks ago. That’s it. I’m really glad you're here. I work really hard. I yearn and I strive. I really want to help you fall asleep. Thanks again for coming by, and if this show makes your life better on a regular basis, particularly if you've been listening over three years or you listen to multiple episodes every single night or you fall asleep fast, this is the ways you could enable us to keep doing this for you and for everybody else. Thanks.
Alright, this is Sleep With Me’s reading of A Christmas Carol, Part 2. When we last left off, Jacob Marley had just…was saying, hey, Scrooge, it’s me, Casper Jacob Marley. Said, hey, this is long, man. I got a lot to carry around. Seven…I’m bringing joy to people. I could bring joy to you, too. Scrooge glanced about him on the floor in expectation of finding himself full of presents and merry. Jacob, he said imploringly, old Jacob Marley, old JM, tell me more. Speak comfort to me, Jacob. Sorry, I got a lot of comfort to give out tonight, Scrooge. I don't know if I could give you any. It comes…that comfort comes from other regions, Ebenezer Scrooge, and is conveyed by other ministers to other people.
A busy time of year to be giving out comfort, you know, unless you find comfort…I know you do find comfort in the form of coal, but that’s more…a very little more is all permitted to me. I cannot rest. I cannot stay. I cannot linger anywhere. I’ve been beyond…in a spiritual sense, beyond our counting house, mark me. In my life, my spirit never roved beyond the narrow limits of our workplace, but it was weary, and now I’m journeying to de-weary the weary. Now, it was a habit with Scrooge whenever he became thoughtful to put his hands in his britches’ pockets, or breaches. A little comforting. Pondering on what Jacob Marley had said, he did so now, but without lifting up his eyes or getting off his knees. He must have been very slow about it, Jacob…Scrooge observed in a businesslike manner.
This look through with humility and deference. Slow? What are you talking about, dude? Said Jacob Marley. Seven years. You've been traveling the whole time? Yeah, the whole time I’ve been traveling. I’ve been gift…doing stuff to prepare for people’s…bowls…yeah. There’s no time to rest. Incessant preparation for the holiday season…you travel fast, said Scrooge? Do you travel by reindeer or is it jet-powered? Jets haven't been invented yet, Ebenezer, but I travel on the Wings of the Wind. That’s the name of one of the many sleighs in Santa’s employ. Man, that sounds great. You must have been around and around and around in seven years, said Scrooge. Marley, hearing this, let out a thing like ‘ugh’, and didn’t…it sounded like a groan in the silence of the night.
Someone would have said, ‘That’s a nuisance; I’m trying to sleep’ if he had did it while they were sleeping. Oh man…oh, the bowls of jelly…oh, the cheeks so rosy and merry. But it takes a lot of work to supply the Christmas joy and to get more people into Christmas joy. Incessant labor it is, and it’s by mortal beings that really…that make the holidays happen, for this Earth must pass into eternity before the good of which susceptible is all developed. Not to know that everybody’s working hard in other worlds kindly in this little sphere…the kindly work, whatever it may be, will find its…time flies by, for its vast means of usefulness…not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one’s life’s opportunities misused. Such was I. Oh, such was I. Wait a second, you're saying part of this is your job?
Like, you have a non-stop, twenty-four-seven job for the past seven years in preparation for the holiday season? I don't remember this from last episode. You were always a good man of business, Jacob, faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself. Why wouldn't they have you…? Didn’t you already earn your time off? Wouldn't they have you in the business department? Business? Said Marley, wringing his hands again. Business? Humankind was my business. Or, it should have been. The common welfare, charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, those should have been my business. But the dealings of my trade were a drop…but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business. He held up some of the tinsel that was around him as if it were the cause of his woe, and he flung some tinsel heavily upon the ground.
At the time of the rolling year, Marley said, the closer it gets to the holidays, the worse it is. The more work and the less holiday cheer for me. I don't get to enjoy it or stop and savor it. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down? I mean in the past when I could have appreciated it. Never did I raise my eyes to that blessed star which led the wise man to the poor abode. Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me on…during my earthly time, where I could have brought joy? Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear Marley going on and on and on, and his teeth began to chatter just a bit. Hear me, said Marley, my time is nearly up. I gotta move on. I got work to do. Okay, okay, I’ll listen, said Scrooge. But please, give it to me straight, but not too straight.
Don’t be flowery. Be straightforward so I understand, but not overwhelming. Okay, let me ask you a question, then, Ebenezer. How is it I appear before you in a shape you can see? That’s not a riddle. I also wonder that, too, because there’s been many days I’ve been here and you couldn't see me. Scrooge didn’t like that idea. He looked around like he was looking for someone watching him. He wiped the perspiration from his brow. Listen, there’s no light part of my work. I mean, it’s cheery. It’s full of cheer, so I guess it’s kinda my attitude, too. Maybe you're bringing out something in me, Scrooge. But I’m here tonight to share with you that you have yet a chance and hope of not exceeding but escaping my fate. Though, you play your cards the other way, you could be exceeding it.
Chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer. Mmkay. Thanks, man. You've always been such a good friend, said Scrooge. Okay, you're gonna be visited by three characters tonight, three characters portrayed in song, in screen, musicals, movies, shows. Three visits, three very special visitors. Scrooge’s countenance fell almost as low as Jacob’s frowny face was. Okay, but…wait a second, so, is the chance and hope that you mentioned, Jacob…is this part of the chance? It is. I’m not so…are these beings…these are characters or beings from other realms or realms beyond my understanding? I prefer not. Isn't there some more efficient way or less…better way, said Scrooge? Now, without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread, except the first tomorrow when the bell tolls 1:00.
Sorry, I’m not catch…I’m not sure…couldn't we all…couldn't all three of them come together with you here to keep me comfort…? Just get it over with, Jacob, how about that? Expect the second visitor on the same night at the same hour, and the third upon the next night when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate. Look to see me no more, and look that for your own sake you remember what has passed between us. When he said these words, he took his…he took some of the tinsel and picked it up and wrapped it around him. Now, Scrooge knew this 'cause it made a jingling sound. He surrounded himself in tinsel, and there was even a little mistletoe above his head.
He looked Jacob up and down and found him standing before him wrapped in tinsel, almost like a tinsel…like he was wearing a suit of tinsel like a mummy, but instead of band…toilet paper, it was tinsel. Then he walked backwards, and every step he took, the window went up, the window of his house. Then, by the time he backed up to it, it was wide open. He beckoned Scrooge to approach, which he did. When they were within two paces of each other, Marley held up his hand and warning him, come no closer…and Scrooge stopped not so much in obedience as surprise, for on the raising of the hand, he became sensible of jingling, laughter in the air, sounds of braying reindeer, children joyfully singing, and Jacob groaning, even though he wasn’t groaning at the moment.
Marley, after listening for a moment, he did groan and then floated up and out the window, though it seemed like he was…with some sort of sparkles, red and green sparkles, coming out of his shoes. Scrooge followed to the window, hoping to see the noon day below or something. He was curious. He looked…maybe he’d see Rudolph. He looked out, and the air was filled with other Marleys moving hither and tither in restless haste. Groaning and jingling as they went, every one of them wore tinsel like Marley did. Some few, they seemed, were even in tinsel chains together. Like, they were like one tinsel connected to another. But everybody was covered in tinsel and some poinsettias and some…those cranberry…some with popcorn, too, many of them Scrooge recognized, despite all the tinsel, from past meetings.
He saw one person who had a lot of popcorn, almost a waistcoat made of popcorn, but also was carrying a safe. He was talking to somebody and trying to help a baby fall asleep. It was confusing, this…'cause Scrooge said, I never heard of this before. Whether all these beings faded into the mist or the mist enshrouded them, Scrooge could not tell, but they and their voices faded together and the night became as it had been when he walked home. So, Scrooge closed his window and examined the door which Marley had entered. It was double locked. He had locked it with his own hands, and the bolts were undisturbed. Scrooge tried to say hum…humbug, but he said, huh, huh, huh.
Being from the emotion he had undergone or the fatigues of the day or his glimpse into the invisible world or just his conversation with Marley or the lateness of the hour, he was in need of some repose. So, he went straight to bed without undressing and fell asleep upon the instant. Stave two. The first character to visit Scrooge. When Scrooge awoke, it was so dark that, looking out of his bed, he could scarcely distinguish from the transparent window from the opaque walls of his bedroom. He was endeavoring to pierce the darkness with his ferret eyes when the chimes of a neighboring church struck the four quarters. So, he listened for the hour. To his great astonishment, the heavy bell went from…on from six to seven and then from seven to eight and regularly up to twelve, and then it stopped. Twelve.
It was past 2:00 when he went to bed. The clock was wrong. 12:00? No, no, no, an icicle must have got in the works. 12:00? He touched the spring of his repeater to correct the most preposterous clock. Its rapid little pulse beat twelve and then stopped. Wait a second, no, no, no, it can't be 12:00, said Scrooge. That I have slept through a whole day and far into another night? That is impossible. The sun…maybe it’s 12:00 as in noon 12:00? The idea of not knowing what time it was alarmed him, so he scrambled out of bed and groped his way to the window. He was obliged to rub the frost off with his sleeve from his dressing gown before he could see anything. He could see very little then.
Alls he could make out was that it was still very foggy and extremely cold, and there was no noise of people running to or fro, making a great stir, as there questionably would have been 'cause it was a busy street. You know, if night had come to day, if…and then that day was in possession of the world. But this was a great relief because three days after sight of this first of exchange paid to Mr. Ebenezer…what in the heck? This was a great relief 'cause three days after the sight of this first exchange…pay to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge or his order…and so forth would it become something if there was no days to count by. This is his business, counting days, I guess, in a sense. So, relieved that time…he hadn't traveled time, Scrooge went to bed again and thought it over and over. He couldn't make nothing of it.
The more he thought, the more perplexed he was and the more he endeavored not to think, and then the more he thought, just like a listener of Sleep With Me, probably. The fact that Marley visited him bothered him. Every time he resolved things with himself after mature inquiry, he said, yeah, it was just a dream. His mind flew to some detail like a strong spring released its first position. He presented the same problem to be worked through again. Was it a dream or not? Scrooge lay in this state ‘til the chime had gone three quarters more, and then he remembered all of a sudden that…he said, I was gonna have a visitor when the bell tolled 1:00.
He resolved to lie awake until the hour was passed, and considering that he could go no more to sleep than go to another world, then he said, this is the wisest resolution in my power. You could close your eyes, you could pretend to be asleep, you could try to sleep, or you could just stay awake, or you could get up and do something, or you could leave and go out. Scrooge has so far chosen to stay awake. The quarter was so long and he was more than once convinced he must have sunk into a heavy doze unconsciously and missed the clock. At length, it broke upon his listening ear. Ding-dong. A quarter passed, said Scrooge, counting. Ding-dong. Half-past, said Scrooge. Ding-dong. A quarter to it, said Scrooge. Ding-dong. The hour itself said, Scrooge, triumphantly, and nothing and nobody else.
But he had spoke before the hour bell sounded, which it now did with a deep, dull, melancholy tone. Light flashed up in the room upon this instant, and the curtains of his bed were drawn. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, I tell you, by a hand. Not the curtains by his feet nor the curtains at his back, but those to which his face was addressed. The curtains of his bed were drawn aside, and Scrooge, starting up into a half-recumbent attitude, found himself face-to-face with his visitor, who drew their eyes as close to Scrooge as my voice is to your ears right now, as if I am standing at your elbow. Also, a little aside here; so, this was the glory days of canopy beds, when your bed was its own curtain sleeping area. Whence did this change and why?
Other than for airflow, this seems to make a lot of sense, having a bed that’s also somewhat of a tent as far as sleep hygiene goes. Now, this figure, it was different, this character. It was childlike but not a child. It also had a appearance of…well, he didn’t know ‘translucent’, but it was the appearance of being see-through but not translucent or transparent, and also kinda having fun like a child; a big smile, long hair down its back, white hair, but not with age, as their face did not have a wrinkle in it, and the tenderest bloom upon the skins of their cheek. Their arms were long and muscular and the hands the same, as if they held uncommon strength. Legs and feet most delicately formed…and shorts…they were wearing shorts or culottes. I’m not sure the difference. Short-sleeved shirt and kind of like a…well, it wasn’t a shirt.
I guess you'd call it a tunic of purest white, and round its waist bound a lustrous belt, the sheen of which was beautiful. They held a branch of fresh, green holly in their hand, and in a singular contradiction of this wintery album, the print around the cuff of the culottes was summer flowers. Or shorts; I don't know. The strangest thing about it was, though, from the crown of his head there was light. Not a halo, but it was…nowadays we’d be able to say it was like their hair was also…what are those things called? Fiberoptic…their hair did not look like fiberoptic threads, but light came out of the tips of their hair. But also, the core of their hair folicles was glowing with light, neon light, like a bright white neon light, but warming and calming at the same time, but cool.
Bright, very bright. They also had under their arm a cap. You'd say, the cap you wear for a long winter’s nap, possibly. But even this cap, when Scrooge looked at it with increasing steadiness, the cap was not strange, no, but their belt, it glittered and sparkled in one part and another. Scrooge didn’t have battery power or mystical powers. Like lights…doing different modes like chasing mode, strobe mode, blinking message, maybe even a Morse code mode. It was a belt, man. It was a show within a show on a belt, and it wasn’t cheap-looking, so it looked mystical and magical 'cause maybe it was.
Light after light…and then it would go dark so that the light would have more power, and the figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness, being…with all the flashing lights in their hair and their belt, they’d be bathed in light, then they’d be bathed in shadow, then they’d be bathed on the right side with light or the left. Then you could see their head, then you could see their body. It seemed to be that the dense gloom surrounding them melted away and in the very wonder of this, there would be this being again, distinct and clear as ever. We’ve seen this portrayed many times, but this one I could say in this particular version was elven, but not Galadriel’s elves, though it could be. More of a Keebler elf, but not in green and red.
Though, you say, ironically, Keebler elves are dressed for the holidays; a Keebler elven sleeping cap under their arm and…I don't know why. I guess they could be a bit elven, too. Any elf will do, whichever elf you choose, but distinct and clear as ever. Excuse me, are you the one whose coming was foretold to me, asked Scrooge? I am. The voice, also elven, I guess, soft and gentle, singularly low as if it was at a distance even though it was close by. I say, wow, maybe you are an elf. But Scrooge didn’t know any of this. He didn’t have these pop-culture references. So, he said, who and what are you? In a demanding voice. I’m here representing Christmas past. You could say I’m the Elf of Christmas Past. The shelf elf? I’ve heard about that. Which past? Whose past? Long past? No, your past. Repast? No, your past. Half-past?
No, Ebenezer. Your past. Yes, Ebenezer, your past. Now, perhaps Scrooge couldn't have told anybody why if they had asked him, but he wanted…he had this uncontrollable thing which at a distance we could say is incredibly cute and disarming for Scrooge, for our view of Scrooge, but this was deep-seated in Ebenezer. We can't exactly tell the reason why, but Ebenezer deeply desired to see this elf in their cap and begged him to put it on. Please, please, put that cap on your head, please? Can you wear your cap? Can you doff your cap to me? What? Exclaimed the elf. Would you so soon…do you see my hair? It’s glowing, and I also have a high pro glow. I mean, V05 hot oil didn’t do this, but it could have helped. Would you so soon put out with worldly hands the light that doth shine from my hair that I give freely?
Is it not enough that you are one of those whose passions made this cap, and for years and years and years I had to wear this low on my brow because of people like you? Huh. I say, what? Scrooge reverently disclaimed all intention to offend or any knowledge of having been willfully bonneted the spirit in any period of his life. He then made bold to inquire what business brought…forget about the cap; I just wanted this…I just had this deep desire within me to see you in that cap. I’m sorry. It was…I had no intention in it. But I’m just wondering what you're here for, anyway. Caps…all caps aside. I’m here for your welfare, said the elf. Oh, much…you're much obliged, then, Scrooge said. But, no offense, you're here for my welfare, like my best interests? Yes, your best interests.
I mean, 'cause I could have been asleep, but I was…I got woken up, then I couldn't tell what time it was, then I was waiting for you. So, if I was sleep…I could have been asleep. That would have been way more conducive to my wellbeing, me sleeping. You know what I’m saying? The spirit, hearing him go on and on and on, raised their hand gently and said, okay, your reclamation, then. Take heed. Then it took its hand from holding it upright and held it out and clasped Scrooge gently by the arm. Here, out of bed. Come. Walk with me. That would have been vain to…for Scrooge to plead the weather and the hour. It’s just not…I mean, that’d be the first thing I would have done. You're right. It’s not really a good time to go out walking. I need a bunch of layers. Have you walked in dense fog before in the winter?
‘Cause you're not…neither one of us…I mean, you'll definitely have to wear your cap out there, unless your hair creates heat. Even so, couldn't…is it waterproof? Because it’s gonna be wet, like in-our-bones wet, no matter how many layers we put on. Also, generally, nighttime…not a great time around here to be walking. My bed’s warm. Look at the thermometer; it’s below freezing. I got my slippers, but I’d have to put on a few layers of socks. I just have this dressing gown and nightcap. By the way, I think I’m catching something, too. It’s just…not been feeling great…I appreciate, again, to get back…if it’s my welfare or reclamation…what’s the reclamation policy for if I get sick when you're reclaiming me? If it’s the past, it’s the past, right? But the grasp, while it was gentle, it was not to be resisted.
Scrooge rose and, finding the elf made towards the window, he clasped against the elf in supplication. Oh, by the way, also, I can't fly. So, this…I’m gonna…I can't fly. Bear but a touch of my hand, and there, said the elf, laying it upon their heart, you shall be upheld in more than this. Was that a…your heart’s gonna keep me warm and fly? But as the words were spoken, they passed through a wall and stood upon an open country road with fields on either hand. The city had entirely vanished. Not a vestige of it was to be seen. The darkness and the mist had vanished with it, for it was a clear, cold winter day with the snow upon the ground. Goodness gracious, said Scrooge, clasping his hands together as he looked about.
I mean, wait a second, this place looks…wait a second, this looks just like the place I grew up in, where I was a kid. The spirit gazed upon him mildly. Its gentle touch, though it had been light and instantaneous, appeared still present to the old man’s sense of feeling. He was conscious of a thousand odors floating in the air, each one of them connected with a thousand thoughts, a thousand hopes, a thousand joys, and a thousand cares long forgotten. You're sniffing at the air and your lip is trendling. Trembling. Not trendling; trembling, said the elf. What is that upon your cheek? Scrooge muttered with an unusual catching in his voice that it was a pimple, and begged the elf to lead him where he would. You recollect the way, inquired the elf? I remember it. I could walk it blindfold.
Strange to have forgotten it after so many years, observed the elf. Let us go on. They walked along the road, Scrooge recognizing every gate and post and tree until a little market town appeared in the distance with its bridge, its church, and its winding river. Some shaggy ponies now were seen trotting towards them with boys upon their backs, who called to other boys in country gigs and carts driven by farmers. All of these boys were in great spirits and shouted to each other until the broad fields were so full of merry music that the crisp air laughed to see it or hear it. These are but shadows of the things that have been, said the elf. They have no consciousness or awareness of it. More and more happy travelers came on, and as they came, Scrooge knew and named them, every one.
Why, he rejoiced beyond all bounds to see them. His cold eye glistened and his heart leapt as they went past. He didn’t understand why he was filled with gladness when he heard them each give each other a Merry Christmas as they parted at the crossroads and byways for their several homes. What was ‘Merry Christmas’ to Scrooge? Out upon ‘Merry Christmas’, what good had it ever done to him? There’s still some people at the school, I believe, said the elf. A solitary child is there still. Scrooge said he knew it, and he got choked up. They left the high road by a well-remembered lane and soon approached a mansion of dull, red brick with a little weather…what are those things? Weathervane surmounted on a cupola on the roof with a bell.
It was a large house but one that seemed cool and unhappy, for a lot of it was little-used, and the walls were damp and mossy, some of the windows broken, the gates decayed. Birds walked around like they owned the place, and the coach houses and sheds were overrun with grass. Nor was it more retentive of its ancient state within. It was a dreary hall glancing through the open doors of many rooms, poorly finished, cold, and vast. There was an earthly savor in the air, a chilly bareness in the place which associated itself somehow with too much getting up by candlelight and not too much heat. They went, and the elf and Scrooge crossed the hall to the door at the back of the house. It opened before them and disclosed a long, bare, melancholy room made barer still by lines of plain-deal forms and desks.
At one of these a lonely boy was reading near a feeble fire, and Scrooge sat down upon a form and looked at himself as he had used to be. Not a latent echo in the house. Not a squeak and a scuffle from a mouse. Not a drip from the half-thawed waterspout in the dull yard behind. Not a sigh among the leafless boughs of one despondent tree. Not the idle swinging of a empty storehouse door. No, not a clicking in the fire. But fell upon the heart of Scrooge with softening influence to give a freer passage to his tears. The spirit touched him on the arm and pointed to his younger self intent upon his reading. Suddenly a man in very fancy garments but different garments wonderfully real and distinct to look at stood outside the window. He had an axe in his belt and he was leading by bridle a donkey laden with wood.
Hello, hello, said Scrooge in ecstasy. Oh, dear, old Ollie. Yes, I know. One Christmastime when yonder Scrooge was here, he did come for the first time, just like that, and Valentine, said Scrooge, and his brother Orson; there they go, and what’s his name who’s in the drawers, asleep at the gate of Damascus? Don’t you see him? These are characters from books. I’m seeing them in the real world. The sultan’s horse, the genie…yep, oh boy, do I remember…didn’t one of them get married to the princess? To hear Scrooge expending all the earnestness of his nature on subjects in the most extraordinary voice between laughing and crying, to see his heightened and excited face, would have been a surprise to his business friends in the city indeed. There’s a green parrot flying by, green and yellow.
Oh, look at that tail. It’s like flying lettuce on its head. Remember Robin…? Oh, no, that’s what we called him, Robin Crusoe. He came…oh no, that was the guy who sailed around the island. Where have you been, Robin Crusoe? Yeah, oh boy, and then the parrot…and the parrot would say…he’d repeat what he said. There goes Friday, he would say. Hello, hello, hello. Down to the creek. There goes Friday. Scrooge started to flap his wings and spin about the room. Then, with a rapidity of transition surprising to his usual character, he said in a pity for his former self, poor boy, and cried again. I wish, Scrooge muttered, putting his hand in his pocket and looking about him after drying his eyes, but it’s too late now. What’s the matter, asked the spirit? Nothing, said Scrooge, nothing.
Well, there was a boy singing a Christmas Carol at my door last night. I wish I gave him something. That’s all. The elf smiled thoughtfully and waved their hand, saying as it did so, let us see yet another Christmas. Scrooge’s former self grew larger at the words, and the room became darker, more dirty. The panels shrunk, the windows cracked, and fragments of plaster fell out of the ceiling. How all this was brought, Scrooge had no more idea than you would. Maybe magic, maybe something else. He only knew that the room was changing, that everything had happened so, that there he was alone again, as the other boys had gone home for the jolly holidays. He was not reading now; he was walking up and down, pacing. Scrooge looked at the elf, and with a mournful shaking of his head, glanced anxiously at the door.
It opened, and a little girl much younger than the boy came darting in, and putting her arms around his neck and often kissing him, addressing him as dear, dear brother. I’ve come to bring you home, dear, dear brother, said the child, clasping their hands, to bring you home, home, home, she said. Home, little fan, returned the boy? Yes, said the child with glee. Home for good, home for all, home forever and ever. Father’s in quite a good mood this year, better than he used to be, and home is the best. He even reads us stories and gives us gifts. I had been asking him, when’s Ebenezer coming home? He said, yes, go find him, and he sent me a coach to bring you.
But it looks like you're about to become a man, said the child, opening her eyes, but hopefully you never have to come back here, because we're gonna spend Christmas together all Christmas long and have the merriest time in the world. It’s quite good to see you, little fan, said the boy. She clapped her hands and laughed and tried not to pat him on the head. But being little, she tried, but she couldn't reach him, so she laughed again, and then stood on her tiptoes to hug him. Then she began to drag him in her childish eagerness towards the door. He held on to her, and they headed out. But then there was a voice in the hall; bring down Master’s Scrooge’s box there. The schoolmaster glared on Scrooge with condescension and shook his hands and conveyed him and his sister into a parlor, one that didn’t seem very nice.
There was maps upon the walls and celestial and terrestrial globes in the windows, but it was waxy and cold. Here he produced a decanter of curiously light wine and a block of heavy cake, and administered installments of them to the people while sending out a meager servant to offer a glass of something to the post boy, who had answered it and thanked the gentleman. But if it was the same tap that he had tasted before, he was like, eh, no thank you. Mr. Scrooge’s trunk at this time being tied on the top of the chaise, the children bade the schoolmaster goodbye right willingly and got into it and drove down the garden sweep, the quick wheels dashing upon the frost and snow off the dark leaves of evergreen like spray. Always a delicate creature, but she had a large heart, said the elf. So she had, said Scrooge.
You're right. I will not ‘gain say it, elf. She ended up having children, I believe, said the elf. One child, Scrooge returned. True, said the elf, your nephew. Scrooge, seemingly uneasy in mind, answered briefly. Yes. Although they had a moment left of school behind them, they were now in the busy thoroughfares of the city where shadowy passengers passed and repassed, and carts and coaches went by. Busy traffic…strife and tumult of a real city. That was clear enough. By the dressing of the shops it was Christmastime, but it was evening and the streets were lighted up. The elf stopped at a door and asked Scrooge if he knew where it was. I do, but could we take…? Before we go to the party, let’s rest up. Oh yeah, this is where you used to work. That’s a great idea, said the elf.
So, they went to the inn next door and climbed the stairs and got in a bed, two separate beds. But they could hear the sounds of a holiday party next door just getting started. Through the thick walls, it was relaxing and calming to them and everyone listening, and made them comfortable and ready to drift away, listening to a holiday party at a distance. We’ll be back with more soon.
[END OF RECORDING]
(Transcription performed by LeahTranscribes)
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Holiday / Seasonal / Read With Me
History of Dorm Buildings
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-college-dorms-180971457/
https://journalpanorama.org/article/living-on-campus/
Culottes
https://startupfashion.com/fashion-archives-history-of-culottes/
https://medium.com/this-tailored-life/culottes-from-french-revolution-to-feminism-e986746039c3
Fiber Optic Cable
https://www.timbercon.com/resources/blog/history-of-fiber-optics/
https://www.thoughtco.com/birth-of-fiber-optics-4091837
https://www.m2optics.com/blog/history-of-optical-fiber
Robinson Crusoe
DOWN TO BUSINESS
Skipping holiday spirits but keeping the spirit of the holidays
Kind of part of a familiar tale
But there were some details I’d never noticed before
PLUGS
Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed; Rusty Biscuit Links; Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline
SPONSORS
Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Uncommon Goods; Everyday Dose; American Giant
INTRO
Thoughts you’re thinking about
Maybe your work schedule changed
We are (loosely and indirectly) all in this together
I hope there’s less rigamarole for you
I hope we make things at least neutral for you
Holy Uncontinuity!
Is this show full of a) incontinuity, b) decontinuity, or c) uncontinuity?
Reestablishing Continuity
It’s normal to not get the show
“Making Lulls Out Of Not Much At All”, a song
Recounting all the different versions of Christmas Carol
An in person service could work maybe one or two nights a year
Explaining the show structure
The importance of support
A different, but familiar, structure
Familiarity and Variety
Shoutout to the Story Only feed
The intro is like a community hangtime
Like a Giant Dorm
I guess an easy Sudoku could be a wind down activity
One dozen of one and one one-tenth of another
I love you fractions, but I’m not very good with you
STORY
Christmas Carol, part 2
Marley had just visited Scrooge
He’s a Casper bringing joy to so many people
Old JM, tell me more!
Comfort comes from other regions tonight, Ebenezer
JM cannot stay
JM’s journey is now to deweary the weary
Scrooge puts his hands in his pockets when he feels thoughtful
JM has been traveling nonstop for 7 years!
Incessant Preparation for the Holiday Season
Traveling on the wings of the wind
A half-breathed groan from Marley
Ohhhh, the bowls of jelly and cheeks so rosy!
It is mortal beings that make the holidays happen
Wait, JM this is your job??
I don’t remember this from Part 1…
Why isn’t Marley in the business department
Humankind should’ve been JM”s business!
A drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business
Ebenezer, you have a chance of escaping my fate!
A chance of hope at JM’s procuring
Visited by 3 characters tonight…
This is the hope you mentioned, Jacob?
Scrooge would prefer not
Expect the 3 to come soon
JM surrounded himself with tinsel
Wrapped in tinsel
JM beckons Scrooge to the window
ES hears a jingling in the air the braying of reindeer
JM groans at this sound then floats out the window…
The air is filled with groaning Marleys
All covered in tinsels and poinsettias and popcorn
Scrooge recognized many of them
Popcorn Waistcoat
It was..confusing
He tried to say Humbug, but it just came out, “Humbuhh….”
He fell asleep instantly
Stave 2: The First Visitor
Scrooge awoke
Chimes of the neighboring church struck the hour: 12
The clock was wrong!
It can’t be 12!
Did Scrooge sleep all day?
He gropes his way to the window
It’s foggy and you can’t see many people
Wait, what the heck?
Scrooge went to bed again but could make nothing of it
It must’ve just been a dream
The clock rings again!
The hour of 1 has arrived!
Light flashes and his bed curtains are drawn!
This was the glory days of canopy beds
Childlike but not a child
Translucent but not transparent
A big long smile
Youthful but with white hair
Long and muscular arms
They were wearing shorts or culottes
A crisp white shirt
Summer flowers garland them
A light but not a halo
It was like their hair was fiber optic threads
They have a cap under their arm
The lights are blinking in different modes
A show within a show within a belt
The figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness
Bathed in shifting lights
The dense gloom surrounding them melted away
This particular version was Elven
More Keebler than Galadrien
I just realized Keebler elves are always dressed for Christmas
Scrooge doesn’t have the pop culture knowledge to think of them as an elf
The Elf of Christmas Past
Ebenezer deeply desired to see this elf with their cap on
Please put your cap on!
All caps aside, why are you here?
The elf is here for Scrooge’s best interests
Wouldn’t Scrooge getting a good night’s sleep be in his best interest?
His reclamation, then
Walk with the Elf
Scrooge doesn’t want to go out in this weather
And Scrooge can’t fly…
That’s okay
They pass through a wall and emerge on an open country road
A clear, cold winter day, with snow on the ground
This looks just like where Scrooge grew up
A thousand odors connected with a thousand hopes and memories
Shadows of things that have been
Scrooge remembers all of them
Why is he filled with gladness when he hears their Christmas tidings?
Out upon “Merry Christmas”!
Heading to the school…and the solitary child
A mansion of dull, red brick
Scrooge sits down and looks at his young self
A free passage to Scrooge’s tears
A forester enters
Dear Old Ollie!
Seeing characters from his childhood books!
A parrot like a flying lettuce
Where have you been, Robin Caruso?
Scrooge pities his former self
Young Scrooge is all alone, pacing
Scrooge’s little sister, Fan, is here to bring him home
Home, home, home!
Father is in a good mood this year
She drags him home with childish eagerness
Scrooge bids adieu to the schoolmaster
Fan was delicate but had a large heart
Fan had one child…Scrooge’s nephew
Transporting to a tumultuous city street
Scrooge knows where they are
But he wants to rest before he attends his old work party
They rest in 2 separate beds, listening to the sounds of a relaxing holiday party
SUMMARY:
Episode: 1402
Title: A Christmas Carol, Part 2 | Read With Me
Plugs: Sleep With Me Plus; SleepPhones; Story Only Feed; Rusty Biscuit Links; Emily Tat Artwork; Crisis Textline
Sponsors: Helix Sleep; Zocdoc; Uncommon Goods; Everyday Dose; American Giant
Notable Language:
- Rigamarole
- Holy Uncontinuity!
- Familiarity and Variety
- Giant Dorm
- One dozen of one and one one-tenth of another
- Old JM
- Deweary the Weary
- Incessant Preparation for the Holiday Season
- Wrapped in tinsel
- Popcorn Waistcoat
- Humbuhh
- Culotte
- A show within a show within a belt
Notable Culture:
- A Christmas Carol
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- Charles Dickens
- Reestablishing Continuity
-
- Daniel Pink
- “Making Lulls Out Of Not Much At All”, a song
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
-
- Keebler Elves
- The Lord of the Rings
-
- Christmas
- Elf on a Shelf
- Robinson Crusoe
Notable Talking Points:
- Thoughts you’re thinking about
- Maybe your work schedule changed
- We are (loosely and indirectly) all in this together
- I hope there’s less rigamarole for you
- I hope we make things at least neutral for you
- Holy Uncontinuity!
- Is this show full of a) incontinuity, b) decontinuity, or c) uncontinuity?
- Reestablishing Continuity
- It’s normal to not get the show
- “Making Lulls Out Of Not Much At All”, a song
- Recounting all the different versions of Christmas Carol
- An in person service could work maybe one or two nights a year
- Explaining the show structure
- The importance of support
- A different, but familiar, structure
- Familiarity and Variety
- Shoutout to the Story Only feed
- The intro is like a community hangtime
- Like a Giant Dorm
- I guess an easy Sudoku could be a wind down activity
- One dozen of one and one one-tenth of another
- I love you fractions, but I’m not very good with you
- Christmas Carol, part 2
- Marley had just visited Scrooge
- He’s a Casper bringing joy to so many people
- Old JM, tell me more!
- Comfort comes from other regions tonight, Ebenezer
- JM cannot stay
- JM’s journey is now to deweary the weary
- Scrooge puts his hands in his pockets when he feels thoughtful
- JM has been traveling nonstop for 7 years!
- Incessant Preparation for the Holiday Season
- Traveling on the wings of the wind
- A half-breathed groan from Marley
- Ohhhh, the bowls of jelly and cheeks so rosy!
- It is mortal beings that make the holidays happen
- Wait, JM this is your job??
- I don’t remember this from Part 1…
- Why isn’t Marley in the business department
- Humankind should’ve been JM”s business!
- A drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business
- Ebenezer, you have a chance of escaping my fate!
- A chance of hope at JM’s procuring
- Visited by 3 characters tonight…
- This is the hope you mentioned, Jacob?
- Scrooge would prefer not
- Expect the 3 to come soon
- JM surrounded himself with tinsel
- Wrapped in tinsel
- JM beckons Scrooge to the window
- ES hears a jingling in the air the braying of reindeer
- JM groans at this sound then floats out the window…
- The air is filled with groaning Marleys
- All covered in tinsels and poinsettias and popcorn
- Scrooge recognized many of them
- Popcorn Waistcoat
- It was..confusing
- He tried to say Humbug, but it just came out, “Humbuhh….”
- He fell asleep instantly
- Stave 2: The First Visitor
- Scrooge awoke
- Chimes of the neighboring church struck the hour: 12
- The clock was wrong!
- It can’t be 12!
- Did Scrooge sleep all day?
- He gropes his way to the window
- It’s foggy and you can’t see many people
- Wait, what the heck?
- Scrooge went to bed again but could make nothing of it
- It must’ve just been a dream
- The clock rings again!
- The hour of 1 has arrived!
- Light flashes and his bed curtains are drawn!
- This was the glory days of canopy beds
- Childlike but not a child
- Translucent but not transparent
- A big long smile
- Youthful but with white hair
- Long and muscular arms
- They were wearing shorts or culottes
- A crisp white shirt
- Summer flowers garland them
- A light but not a halo
- It was like their hair was fiber optic threads
- They have a cap under their arm
- The lights are blinking in different modes
- A show within a show within a belt
- The figure itself fluctuated in its distinctness
- Bathed in shifting lights
- The dense gloom surrounding them melted away
- This particular version was Elven
- More Keebler than Galadrien
- I just realized Keebler elves are always dressed for Christmas
- Scrooge doesn’t have the pop culture knowledge to think of them as an elf
- The Elf of Christmas Past
- Ebenezer deeply desired to see this elf with their cap on
- Please put your cap on!
- All caps aside, why are you here?
- The elf is here for Scrooge’s best interests
- Wouldn’t Scrooge getting a good night’s sleep be in his best interest?
- His reclamation, then
- Walk with the Elf
- Scrooge doesn’t want to go out in this weather
- And Scrooge can’t fly…
- That’s okay
- They pass through a wall and emerge on an open country road
- A clear, cold winter day, with snow on the ground
- This looks just like where Scrooge grew up
- A thousand odors connected with a thousand hopes and memories
- Shadows of things that have been
- Scrooge remembers all of them
- Why is he filled with gladness when he hears their Christmas tidings?
- Out upon “Merry Christmas”!
- Heading to the school…and the solitary child
- A mansion of dull, red brick
- Scrooge sits down and looks at his young self
- A free passage to Scrooge’s tears
- A forester enters
- Dear Old Ollie!
- Seeing characters from his childhood books!
- A parrot like a flying lettuce
- Where have you been, Robin Caruso?
- Scrooge pities his former self
- Young Scrooge is all alone, pacing
- Scrooge’s little sister, Fan, is here to bring him home
- Home, home, home!
- Father is in a good mood this year
- She drags him home with childish eagerness
- Scrooge bids adieu to the schoolmaster
- Fan was delicate but had a large heart
- Fan had one child…Scrooge’s nephew
- Transporting to a tumultuous city street
- Scrooge knows where they are
- But he wants to rest before he attends his old work party
- They rest in 2 separate beds, listening to the sounds of a relaxing holiday party
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