BC Bob Cratchet
Excuse me, Mr. Scrooge, but it appears to be closing time.
Ebenezer Scrooge
Very well. I'll see you at 8 tomorrow morning.
BC Bob Cratchet
Um, tomorrow's Christmas.
Ebenezer Scrooge
8:30, then.
BC Bob Cratchet
If you please, sir, half an hour off hardly seems customary for Christmas Day.
Ebenezer Scrooge
And how much time is customary, Mr. Cratchet?
BC Bob Cratchet
Well, the, uh, whole day.
Ebenezer Scrooge
The entire day?
B Bookkeepers
[all talking at once]
Oh, no! No! It was the frog's idea!
BC Bob Cratchet
If you please, Mr. Scrooge, why open the business tomorrow? Other businesses will be closed; you'll have no one to do business with. It'll waste a lot of expensive coal for the fire.
Ebenezer Scrooge
It's a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every December the 25th. But as I seem to be the only one around who knows that... take the day off.
JM Jacob Marley
Why do you doubt your senses?
Ebenezer Scrooge
Because a little thing can affect them. A slight disorder of the stomach can make them cheat. You may be a bit of undigested beef, a blob of mustard, a crumb of cheese. Yes, there's more gravy than of grave about you!
RM Robert Marley
"More of gravy than of grave"?
JM Jacob Marley
What a terrible pun! Where do you get those jokes?
RM Robert Marley
Leave the comedy to the bears, Ebenezer!
Ebenezer Scrooge
[The Ghost of Christmas Future has taken Scrooge back to the graveyard]
Must we return to this place? There is something else I must know, is that not true? Spirit, I know what I must ask. I fear to, but I must. Who was the wretched man whose death brought so much glee and happiness to others?
Ebenezer Scrooge
[The Ghost points to a gravestone. Scrooge starts to step towards it, but then turns back to the Ghost, frightened]
Answer me one more question: Are these the shadows of things that will be, or are they the shadows of things that may be only?
Ebenezer Scrooge
[The Ghost points to the gravestone again, Scrooge slowly steps towards it, apprehensively]
These events can be changed... A life can be made right.
Ebenezer Scrooge
[Scrooge finally reaches the gravestone and brushes off the snow covering it, revealing the name...] [gasps and breaks down]
"Ebenezer Scrooge"?! Oh, please, Spirit, no! Hear me! I–I'm not the man I was! Why would you show me this if I was past all hope? [Goes back to the Ghost, crying] I–I will honor Christmas and try to keep it all the year. I will live my life in the past, the present, and the future. I will not shut out the lessons the spirits have taught me. [Gestures to his gravestone] Tell me that I may sponge out the writing on this stone. [Falls to his knees, grasping the Ghost's robe desperately] Oh, Spirit...Please speak to me!
[Scrooge suddenly finds himself back in his room on Christmas Day in the present]
