NOTABLE DEPARTURES FROM ORIGINAL STORY:
In #7, Scrooge does not fall asleep.
In #14, that doesn't happen.
The author wrote, immediately preceding the supposed due date:
It's not due according to two,
So this idea I must imbue,
Into my brain,
To stay sane,
So I don't come to school in a tutu.
----- STAVE I -----
There was once a very mean, old man
So cheap he would put no money in anyone's donation can
His name was Ebenezer
His Christmases grew ever cheaper
On Christmas cheer there was basically a ban
There was once a dreary eve of the twenty-five
With Mister Ebenezer, frustrated but alive
His employee wanted the next day free
Bob Cratchet, his name, did all but fill Scrooge with holiday glee
Scrooge asked Bob to come in at five
Then there came two donation collecters who preached:
"Blessed are those who give to the poor their reach!"
It was a portly pair in charge
(By the way, portly means large!)
Scrooge sent them off with an empty can and a speech
Soon after that, but still the same day
Fred, his own nephew, was seen coming in to say:
"Uncle, uncle, would you eat with us tomorrow?"
"No, kid, for it is another's soul I would have to borrow"
Scrooge had ways like that of keeping happiness at bay
Now wait, a break in our story there must be
For once in Scrooge's business there was not one and not three
Jacob Marley was once his partner in the accounting house
It's too bad that seven years ago today this flame was doused
So now Scrooge is alone--whatever that means to thee
Going home, Scrooge looked at his door knocker
He noticed his dead partner's face on his house's locker
Jacob Marley was to the day dead exactly 7 years
But that night the dead would be causing some fears
Scrooge just went to his room and sat in his rocker
Asleep Scrooge fell, only to be woken
Thrown from dreamland by Marley and his chain of tokens
Marley's ghost wore a chain with weight for every misdeed
It had cashboxes, keys, and padlocks--many indeed
Marley had lots of habits he now wishes he'd broken
Marley said Scrooge would be unhappy for a time that is long
If in the life he is still living, he did not right all his wrongs
If Marley could go back, he would fix his mistakes
Scrooge did not yet understand, and did not undertake
Marley said: "Three more ghosts will haunt you before the night is gone!"
----- STAVE II -----
In the night Scrooge encountered a ghost
About the size of a child, 4 feet tall at most
This was the ghost of things that have been
The Ghost of Christmas Past, as we know him
He will go places a-many from here to the coast
First the Ghost took Scrooge to a very small town
Scrooge grew up here, oh there was never a frown
He visited his school and saw his friends
He watched and enjoyed, but then remembered the ends
After reliving his past, he felt really down
And then Scrooge and the Ghost went to a boyhood home
Home to none other than Mr. Heart Of Stone
Ebenezer's emotions welled up in his heart
As he himself enjoyed Christmas, playing his part
Something since his childhood has chilled him to the bone
After seeing his family and seeing his friends
He saw his old mentor, his old business he tends
Fezziwig was his name, accounting his life
Scrooge he did train, forever cursing with strife
Scrooge became miserly at this point of his life's bends
Then all of a sudden, Scrooge was engaged to be wed!
How happy, how merry, what a rush through the head!
Her name was Belle, she was pretty as could be
But she dumped Mr. Scrooge on account of his greed
Mr. Scrooge, about then, might as well have been dead
After seeing all that, Scrooge grew very mad
Watching his past, himself a young lad
He begged the Ghost to take him back
The ghost decided to cut some slack
So Scrooge found himself at his pad
----- STAVE III -----
Knowing there was another ghost to see
Scrooge looked around his house to be
Sure he would notice
Even a fly's eye out of focus
So wow did he see the ghost the size of a tree
The Ghost of Plenty was he, indeed
Of Christmas Present, he himself decreed
He was surrounded with eatings
He had green-colored sheetings
In eating he did succeed
The Green Giant showed Scrooge the cheer of the day
Of the Christmas spirit making people happy in every way
The Cratchet family on Bob's day home
Was merry making with a purse of only stones
Scrooge was impressed with how many were gay today!
Scrooge went to Fred's party after all
And when there, he simply had a ball
Even though he was as invisible as a ghost
He had so much fun! I'd say the most!
Now Scrooge wished he had said yes to Fred's call
After knowing of all the holiday cheer
Of all the happiness this one day of the year
Scrooge found one family not so cheery
In fact, the air collapsed into more of a "dreary"
As Scrooge learned the Cratchets' fear
Tiny Tim Cratchet was nearing his death
Perhaps even breathing his very last breath
Scrooge asked the Ghost if Tiny Tim would live
But the Ghost said Tim needed what Scrooge couldn't give
According to the present then, the future is death
----- STAVE IV -----
The third and last ghost was clad in black
His presence, to Scrooge, in the head was a smack
The Ghost of Christmas Future, scary to see
Fortold the future: how things turn out to be
If only this ghost had spoke, but it was speech he did lack
Ebenezer visited people discussing his death
From brokers to borrowers to those on last breath
Everyone he saw was happy to find
That old Scrooge was no longer among our kind
There were no missers of Scrooge's last breath
The Ghost nextly takes Scrooge to somewhere sad
The Cratchets house, oh no! Too bad!
Tiny Tim had died hours before
The family as a whole was saddened and wore
The silence of the Ghost almost made him seem glad
Scrooge, disturbed greatly to find Tiny Tim dead
Almost screamed, "Can I wake him up from his bed?"
But Scrooge knew he would get no answer
From this Ghost of Christmas disaster
And so the Ebenezer heart was of lead
The last straw, though, was when he saw a grave
With only the following inscribed in a stave:
"Scrooge, Ebenezer"
"-- Who was an old weezer"
With the last part by hand in stone saved
25
Overcome by emotion, Scrooge broke down
He asked the Ghost
Scrooge begged for mercy, asked just for a chance
Won
ghost exploded (not really)
?
----- STAVE V -----
This was all in one night, and nothing was real
The spirits themselves only appeared to deal
In fears and tragedy
But in reality
Everyone was having their Christmas morning meal
Ebenezer Scrooge at this point in time
Was feeling guilty for all the other reason and rhyme
So for the Cratchets a turkey that won a prize
For alone the factor of its size
Did Scrooge buy for the Cratchets in their prime
Scrooge ran by chance into an earlier guy
A portly gentlemen who he earlier passed on by
Scrooge signed a paper
And the poor's fortune grew greater
Scrooge had never felt better, without a lie
When he got to work, he decided to play a game at his gate
He pretended to be angry at Bob when he came in late
"You're 18.5 minutes late, Cratchet"
"So I'll raise your salary up a ratchet"
To Bob that was all Scrooge said to change Tim's fate
It was like Scrooge became a father to Tim
They would play and learn and enjoy the trim
Of next year's Christmas tree
When EVERYONE was filled with holiday glee
Suddenly, the chances of Tiny Tim's death were slim