A Christmas Carol A New Version

By A. J. Gallant

This book is different. It's a new version of a Christmas Carol.

 

Marley is alive and kicking his fellow man along with Scrooge. The old miser is meaner than ever, but so are the ghosts. And what happens when Tiny Tim tells Scrooge that he loves him?

 

Fannie is in heaven and has a request that makes everyone shake their heads.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: A. J. Gallant
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781728818740

A. J. Gallant

I write fantasy and sci-fi and some variations. It seems my imagination needs magical inspiration. More of my books will appear in the future on this site. Recently took in a starving cat that we thought was a male, but she's had four kittens.

Book preview

Chapter One

JACOB MARLEY WAS dead tired.

It was five minutes before midnight and a week before Christmas. A pleasant time of the year for most, although the underprivileged always struggled, the want felt even more keenly during the holidays. The poor families that felt insignificant considered they were even more inadequate than usual. Making ends meet was harder every year, but for others, their pockets got heavier with coins. Surprisingly, Scrooge and Marley’s pantaloons didn’t fall to their ankles due to the weight of their riches, yet their gains were never enough.

Their greed knew no boundaries. Why settle for a hundred gold coins in a week when they could get their grubby hands on two hundred? It meant nothing to Scrooge to evict a family in the dead of winter as long as someone else was waiting to pay good money for his rat traps.

A winter storm was building, and although the snow was moderate, the wind was getting angrier and would soon turn into a nasty blizzard. A Snow Devil swirled across the street as if it was going for a stroll, taking a gentleman’s tophat and sending him scurrying after it. A gust of wind took one of the shutters off one of Marley and Scrooge's dwellings and sent it flying. It would be necessary, of course, for the tenant to pay for it.

The falling snow got even more substantial as the wind increased in intensity. It was now drifting in bands as Mother Nature worked up a fury, slowly but steadily growing. A gale howled through a crack in a nearby oak tree that had been struck by lightning years ago. The sound was eerie as if the grim reaper had come out to see who he could get. A bonfire that had been outed by the storm had two homeless individuals climb inside it for warmth.

A frigid night if there ever was one. It was peculiar, but the scent of banana bread was in the air, making Scrooge and Marley hungry. The bakery across the street gave some food to the poor, but their ability to help was limited. Scrooge had disguised himself one morning to get a free loaf of bread, but all he received was a stern look and a head shake. His crooked nose was unable to be masked from recognition. Nevertheless, it was so satisfying anytime Scrooge could get something for nothing; it made his heart sing and his feet dance.

The two old faces were red and freezing but enjoying themselves nonetheless, staring through the blowing snow as best they could, side by side in the winter sleigh, like peas in a rotten pod. Their thick coats were long past pristine, threadbare with several holes in each because it cost good money to have them repaired or, heaven forbid, replaced, as neither were in the habit of spending much. Saying that they were frugal was an understatement.  Money made them happy and not much else. Every coin gained was like a mother’s hug, and every coin lost a kick in the pants. 

Someone down the hill was cooking bacon and eggs, and although they couldn’t smell the eggs, they did detect the pleasant aroma of bacon. Marley, who the hell is preparing a meal at this hour? My stomach growls like a mad dog.

Some work late, answered Marley. "But it is almost midnight."

Even Big Willie, the big white draft horse, wondered what they were doing out here with a blizzard threatening. The horse shook his head in protest. No one with sense was out at this time except Scrooge and Marley. The two sat in their sleigh on top of the hill, waiting for the right moment to charge. They were like soldiers after the enemy but were pursuing the poor. It was a profitable business to evict someone and confiscate their belongings that sometimes hid a treasure that the owners were often unaware of, especially antiques. A penny earned was a penny cherished. A penny stolen was a penny that was loved even more.

Some called them soul suckers others thought their cruelty and miserliness had put some in the graveyard. Still, others said they must be in cahoots with the grim reaper. Everyone stated that Scrooge was as crooked as his nose. One could not be sure who was the most hated, Jacob Marley or Ebenezer Scrooge. 

The horse complained again, but the humans weren't sympathetic. Many considered the two more like beasts than humans, although the comparison might insult the creatures.

Don’t you fret, horse, said Scrooge. I’ll give you a piece of straw when we get back. Does Big Willie look fat to you?

Jacob laughed. About as fat as a piece of straw.

They both laughed, pushing one another until they got into a slap fight. The poor horse’s bones were visible, and with so little insulation, the animal was freezing in this weather. Seized from an old gentleman who couldn’t pay his rent, the animal now suffered for it. Big Willie’s existence was nothing but drudgery.

Jacob tried to take a drink from a cup of tea he had brought, now a cup-shaped piece of ice. He turned the cup upside down, and the ice fell at his feet. His hands were shivering as he placed the teacup at the bottom of the sleigh. Christmas is the best time of year, is it not?

Scrooge nodded. Even his wrinkles looked happy. We get richer every Christmas. People purchase too much food, grab a bird they can’t afford, and buy junk for their brats they don’t need. Why does every stupid child need his own sleigh? Why don’t they just pile them a dozen high? More fun that way, wouldn’t you say? I like to see the carnage at the bottom of that hill.

"Aye, no sense to it, Scrooge, and then they don’t pay us our due. And they feign surprise when we evict them. Well, maybe they don’t feign surprise, but they beg nonetheless. Oh, please give me another month, another week. Not another minute, I say!" Jacob giggled. They were one another’s only friends in the world. Partners in crime, some said. Associates only to the devil himself.

Scrooge belched up a bit of gruel. Aye, that’s what I like about you, Marley, fair but firm. You have a no-nonsense approach to commerce. There can be no other way to run a business. We evicted three last year on Christmas eve; remember putting that old lady in the snowbank? The look on that old bat’s face. He managed a good imitation. "You put me down!" he said in his old lady voice.

I’ll never forget it. You hurt your back picking her up. Her arms crossed all the while as you placed her in the snowbank. Whatever happened to that cantankerous old woman?

A horse ran her over, Scrooge stated matter-of-factly. Perhaps she was frozen stiff before it happened, I don’t know.

Scrooge had confiscated the big hill because of a technicality, along with twenty acres that overlooked the city so that he and Marley could ride down it every year, precisely one week before Christmas, causing havoc and terror amongst the citizens. The two began to look forward to the excursion from October on, remembering their past trips and planning the next one, guessing who they would get to throw out and what they might get to appropriate. Their position on the hill allowed them to see many of the derelict houses they owned, some lit up with candles barely visible through