Scrooge Revised

By James Livingood

In the 1843 classic, Ebenezer Scrooge is cold-hearted old miser; bent on making a profit over people.

In this revision of the holiday classic, Ebenezer Scrooge is a forever orphaned man, desperate to find a human connection. He spent the day burying his mentor in the ground and now just wants to lose himself in work. As he rushes home, tired and cold, his (now dead) mentor is waiting...

There is business to be done and Scrooge has been chosen to invest!

• Language: English
• Publisher: James Livingood
• Release date: Jun 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201136680

James Livingood

James was born in Montana, raised with three brothers, and provided trouble for two parents. In his 20's he fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. He then moved out to Seattle after college and started a life. In 2014, he started to write books.

Book preview

SCROOGE REVISED

James Livingood

Copyright © 2021 James Livingood

All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Marley was dead. Not dead tired or felt like the walking dead. Instead, he was slowly being lowered toward the wrong side of grass. That is to say, he was getting an excellent view of the roots and not so much of the green shoots that the living step on. Marley’s view started at one foot deep and finished seven and half feet deep. Perhaps the grave digger was worried about contamination or was feeling ambitious. Either way Marley was dug an extra deep grave.

Standing above the overachievement was a man of business. He was looking down at the hole and feeling both frustrated and guilty, but for the wrong reasons. Scrooge did not voice his opinion, as decorum in a cemetery required solemn silence, but his internal voice was screaming.

‘They must have had the graveside service,’ he thought. ‘But then why is this grave plot not filled in? I have a lot to do today and this frivolous exercise is taking time.’

A man started walking his way. Contrasted to Scrooge’s suit, this man wore patchy denim and carried a shovel with chips in the blade. Without acknowledging Scrooge, the man scooped from a nearby pile of dirt and flung it into the hole. The shovel was only half full of dirt and barely filled the hole at all.

‘I must have missed the ceremony. Or perhaps it is going on elsewhere and will end here. I had better figure out the timeframe of this, with only two hours of daylight time is moving quick.’ Scrooge thought to himself, looking at the afternoon sun and then the grave.

Pardon me, good sir, but did they already do the ceremony? Scrooge asked.

The man sighed and cocked his head towards Scrooge. He buried his shovel in the mound and gestured toward the grave impatiently. He crossed his arms and huffed.

Marley was truly dead and in an act of over-achievement, now had two men frustrated that he couldn’t die sooner. Marley did not care or notice. He was long dead and such things don’t concern the dead.

The thought hit Scrooge in a sudden wave of unusable sadness. He wasn’t scheduled for a funeral, was he?

The man shook his head, grabbed his shovel, and continued to fill in the hole. Scrooge shook his head and the small amounts of dirt that were piled on the coffin. The shovel was only mildly used on each swing.

‘If you are going to do a job, best to do it with the proper zeal.’

Scrooge took off his expensive jacket and carefully put it over the gravestone. He unbuttoned his expensive white shirt and rolled the sleeves up. He walked over to the gravedigger and yanked the shovel away with potent force.

The man looked at Scrooge with a stare of hot venom. He was ready to fight this interloper when Scrooge grabbed a large scoop of dirt and threw it toward an empty area of the grave plot. The grave digger watched Scrooge filling in the hole and finally walked away.

The sun was an hour away from setting when Scrooge started scraping the bottom of the pile of dirt. He knew it was the bottom when clumps of green grass were tossed on the grave pile. Scrooge wiped his sweat and nodded to the dirt. Marley was always a man of efficiency; this was as good of sendoff as could be expected. No preacher with words of comfort to the living, for no one living needed comfort at Marley’s passing.

Scrooge looked at the sun and grabbed his jacket from the gravestone.