BELINDA BOB_CRATCHIT BOY CAROL_SINGERS CONGREGATION FRANKLIN_SCROOGE LADY LOTTIE MAN MARLEY MARTHA MARY MR_THWAITES PASSER_BY PASSING_LADY PATRONS PEOPLE SCROOGE SCROOGE_7YA SPIRIT TIM VOICE VOICES WORKERS YOUNG_LOTTIE SPIRIT Until Ebenezer Scrooge repents, your soul will never have everlasting peace. SCROOGE Humbug, I will say. "Repent what," I will say. MARLEY I am without a doubt stuck here forever. SCROOGE Lottie-- YOUNG LOTTIE Our father made my brother stay here at Christmas. FRANKLIN SCROOGE I see ye, boy. Now what did ye say?! BOB CRATCHIT One of my children is very sick. Sir, these children cost money. SCROOGE Mrs. Cratchit, please. Take ten now and come to my apartment on Christmas Day at 400 p.m. SPIRIT This is not a game, Ebenezer Scrooge. PATRONS MAN ? When they are both full grown ? ? And all the trees that are in the wood were all... ? PEOPLE MR THWAITES Spare a penny for the poor, madam, on this fine Christmas day.... SPIRIT And so it came to pass that on this Christmas day seven years ago... SCROOGE Why do I feel the cold? Why do I feel the cold if I am only here in spirit and not here in body? SPIRIT The cold you are feeling comes from within. From inside your soul. Before this moment you couldn't feel it. But now you can... SCROOGE Then if I am to become a compassionate and tender person I will need thicker socks. SPIRIT When real feeling returns pins and needles will begin. Needles in your heart. Pins to hold up pictures from your past. Come. Follow poor Mary to her destiny and witness what you did. And remember, this is not about you Ebenezer Scrooge. It is about her. PASSING LADY Merry Christmas to you madam. MARY Dear God, forgive me. Dear, dear Bob, forgive me. Children, forgive me. Jesus, turn your head. SCROOGE 7YA Come in. SCROOGE I do not need to witness this. I do not need to be here. SCROOGE 7YA Drink. MARY No. Please. Let's get this thing done. I said I'd be back for.... SCROOGE 7YA For what? MARY For the pouring of the brandy on the pudding. SCROOGE 7YA Ah. A perfect Christmas tradition. Pour perfectly good brandy onto an already cooked pudding and set fire to it. Thus burning the pudding and wasting the brandy. MARY To the moment. SCROOGE 7YA And what is the moment? I need to be clear. MARY Our arrangement. SCROOGE 7YA I need to be clear. MARY You will... give me money. If I allow you. To do what you want. SCROOGE 7YA And... what do I want? I need to be clear. MARY I have to say it out loud? SCROOGE 7YA Yes. MARY I imagine... intercourse. SCROOGE 7YA To be clear. You are willing to have intercourse with me, in return for the 20 pounds cash I have put on the fireplace, along with the ten I put down as a deposit on your virtue. MARY In the name of God... SCROOGE 7YA You would do it in the name of God? MARY For my son. As you know.... SCROOGE 7YA Yes. Yes, I know. MARY Please. My family are all waiting... I do this only for the life of my child. SCROOGE 7YA In truth, your reason for needing the money is not part of my experiment... and therefore not of interest to me... Everyone has their own reasons for wanting and needing money. That is not the issue. My experiment is about currency. It is about finding out the extent of the things a good person will do in return for money. And how much each bad thing would cost. MARY SCROOGE 7YA Thereby establishing a kind of exchange rate... A human exchange rate. Similar to the exchange rate on the commodity market. Except now it is your virtue. Your virtue up for auction. And with it any doubt in my mind about human nature. Going, going... gone. MARY SCROOGE 7YA I have no interest in you, Mary Cratchit. Nor in anyone in that way anymore. The intercourse I sought was purely of the intellectual kind. You are a devoted wife. A loving mother. And yet on Christmas Day, you are prepared to run across town in the snow and break every solemn vow and commandment in return... for money. Take it. You have already given me what I want. Proof. Merry Christmas. MARY Never speak of this... SCROOGE 7YA I will never tell your husband. But if he should ever tell you he is thinking of leaving my employment... The truth might slip. So I will count on you to urge caution to him as he considers his future career. I value your husband very highly. Now go and burn your figgy pudding. MARY I will. And I will say a prayer. That someday, some power of justice will grab you by the throat and drag you to a true, bright mirror, that you might see the truth in your reflection. And that the truth will be known to the world. I am a woman and I have the power to summon such spirits. And I fucking will. PEOPLE SCROOGE 7YA Humbug. PEOPLE SCROOGE Is it true? Was it Mary Cratchit who summoned you to take me by the throat? SPIRIT Behold. Even yet. No pins. Mm? No needles... Oh, fuck. What care I about another? SCROOGE Just-just remember, the-the money I gave to Mary Cratchit was used to save her son's life. And-and Tim lives still. So if you view virtue purely through the consequence of action rather than the motivation for the said action we have just witnessed my former self doing a good thing. SPIRIT Bravo. You are a rock. A pile of rubble. A heart lost never to be found. The sun measures my allocation. My time with you is done. SCROOGE So-so I am forgiven? SPIRIT How many times must you be told?! It's not about your forgiveness! SCROOGE But what is it then? How am I supposed to find what I'm meant to find or feel what you want me to feel if, if I don't know what it is! SPIRIT It is now midday. The second spirit will come when the clock strikes midnight. The second spirit will search the blizzard for your heart. And if it only finds rocks and ice, Ebenezer Scrooge be damned! SCROOGE Wait! Wait! Wait! Tell me what to expect. Tell me what is expected of me! Where my thoughts are my own but my soul is beyond my control! Spirit! Tell me how to change it! MARLEY Spirit. Is there hope? Has he changed? Spirit, speak. Now please tell me the work you've done has begun to change him... I can't stay here for eternity. VOICES MARLEY They're sending you. SCROOGE Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. One and all. Many benefits. Prosper. I mean you prosper. Not me. Seasons tidings. Et cetera... Merry Christmas. One and all... Uh... And on, and on it goes. Empty, false, enforced. Year upon year, endlessly... YOUNG LOTTIE Ebby. SCROOGE Spirit? Spirit? YOUNG LOTTIE VOICES SCROOGE Lottie? LOTTIE You paid for my funeral, yet here I am. The ghost of Christmas present. A present unknown to you. Unknown to almost everyone. Till they are made to look. Come. BOY Help me... LOTTIE Come on. SCROOGE Lottie, if I'd known what you did for me, all those years ago, I would've shown more-more un... LOTTIE I will show, and you will learn. SCROOGE Oh... LOTTIE And hopefully, you will soon begin to feel. So you need to wrap up. You may recall that when I was alive, I was quite the scientist. Well, I still am. What I will show you is in the name of science. You like experiments, don't you? Any scientific study of human society will illustrate that the success of that society is dependent upon the function of the collective. And the function of the collective depends upon various discrete factors. SCROOGE You know Lottie I once remarked that you were the brightest person I knew. Later, I remarked that you were also a bit of a show off about it.... LOTTIE Just pay attention. LOTTIE Our first case study. It is Christmas morning. Now past, not future, but the here and now. Not an easy time for Bob and Mary. Not much surplus for gifts for the children. Bob has taken Belinda's old ice skates and he's mending them so that she can skate on the pond on Christmas day as she loves to do. Mary's writing out a story that she was told as a child. From memory. She has an excellent memory... It's the story of Icarus. And she's illustrating it for Tim so that she can give it to him. SCROOGE They have no money for books. BOB CRATCHIT It's almost time my love. LOTTIE Tim will value this book more than any bought in a shop. MARY Almost done. LOTTIE And if you're worried about the ink, Bob offered to steal her some ink from your supply, but she refused... She didn't want anything in the house that had even been touched by Ebenezer Scrooge. TIM It's Christmas! BOB CRATCHIT Ho-ho, Merry Christmas. MARY Merry Christmas! TIM Merry Christmas! BOB CRATCHIT Hey, mister! Did you sleep all right? BELINDA Merry Christmas. MARY Merry Christmas. SCROOGE Is this an experiment? To see if you can wring blood from my heart? LOTTIE No. No, I show you this scene to comfort you. MARY Did you sleep? TIM Yeah. MARY Did you? BELINDA No. MARY No? LOTTIE They have no money but listen. MARY That's for you, Belinda. BELINDA Thank you. BOB CRATCHIT This is for you. MARY Yeah, oh, that one's for you too, Tim. LOTTIE What they lack in money, they make up for with love. BELINDA Fruit and nuts! Yes! BOB CRATCHIT To share, Belinda. LOTTIE Don't you see the science of it? TIM Biscuits! Thank you. LOTTIE Love makes them mend and draw and write, make do. BELINDA My ice skates! Good as new. LOTTIE Without love they would demand more money for new skates and real books. Every Bob Cratchit in England survives half on money and half on love. MARY Yes? TIM This book is beautiful! MARY Well, be careful, it might still be a bit wet. TIM Okay. VOICE Ebenezer. It is I... LOTTIE So it is love. Love that saves the system from revolution. A scientific and economic reason for you to embrace it, Ebenezer. See the value of it. SCROOGE You're mocking me. LOTTIE You mock yourself. Putting a value to things that have no price. How many candles are there on the tree? And bells. How many bells? And presents for the children. How many were there? You didn't count. You stared for a long time but you didn't count. Before, you always counted everything. This time, you looked. SCROOGE Is that a good thing? Is that... progress? LOTTIE You tell me, Ebby. SCROOGE I thought you were supposed to know it all. LOTTIE Oh, do you smell that, Ebenezer? The day passes quickly. Already it's dinner time. Mm. And there's goose. MARTHA Mary. MARY MARTHA As a lonely widow, I had a dozen invitations to dinner and I am mightily glad that I chose to accept yours. Never a finer goose was seen. TIM And so cheap. It had a broken leg or a leg shorter than the other or something.... BOB CRATCHIT Tim. MARTHA/MARY MARY Bob, you carve. BELINDA After dinner I'm going skating. TIM I want to come. BELINDA You can't hardly walk, how will you skate.... BOB CRATCHIT Belinda, please. TIM I will skate someday. MARY You will. But if you read my book you will learn how to fly... BELINDA Will we have figgy pudding this year? BOB CRATCHIT Eat your dinner first, Belinda.... MARY Of course we'll have figgy pudding. It's already in the copper. TIM And will we pour brandy on it and set light to it? BOB CRATCHIT Yes, but you'll have the bit without the brandy. BELINDA Wasn't there a year where Mum had to go out and missed the brandy being poured? TIM When was that? MARTHA Really? BELINDA Come on, Dad, I'm starving. TIM Yeah, me, too. MARY Tim. TIM Thank you. MARTHA Mm, would you look at that? MARY Would you help Belinda, Tim? TIM I plucked it. LOTTIE The absence of money a family can survive. The absence of truthfulness they cannot. BOB CRATCHIT Mary? MARY I'm fine. Please go carve. BOB CRATCHIT We said we'd discuss the source of the money after— MARY How? How? It's as though the whole issue is somehow with us in this house. I need to tell you, Bob. BOB CRATCHIT MARY I want to tell you the truth. BOB CRATCHIT Please. Not now.... MARY No, I can't stand.... BELINDA Mum. Martha's trying to carve and she's making... MARY Okay, just go Belinda. MARTHA Hurry up. MARY I want to tell you where I got the money for Tim's operation. SCROOGE It's as if she can see me. LOTTIE Sometimes in high emotions they can see spirits. BOB CRATCHIT Mary... if you want to tell me the truth here and now, please go ahead and do it. Before the goose goes cold. MARY The truth is, there is no rich cousin in America. I made him up... That Christmas day, I... I went... to Margaret Henderson. Lady Henderson. You remember her. The one who lost her mind... I remember when I worked for her, s-she had so many diamonds that she never wore. I asked her if I could have a pair of her earrings. SCROOGE Why is she lying? LOTTIE To spare the day. SCROOGE What? LOTTIE To spare her loving husband. MARY She was old and she was confused and for all she knew, I might as well have been asking for a ginger biscuit. She said "Yes, take them." I took the diamonds from her jewelry box. And I sold them. So, there. Here I stand before you. Your wife. The jewelry thief. That is how I got the money. BOB CRATCHIT Sweetheart, this moment of truth is the best Christmas present I've ever had. MARY Oh... BOB CRATCHIT I have something to tell you. MARY BOB CRATCHIT All of you. Come. MARY Yeah. BOB CRATCHIT Everyone, I have some news. Cratchit tribe. One and all. Your father has something to tell you. MARY Bob, let's eat first. BOB CRATCHIT No, this news will help with our digestions. TIM What news? BELINDA Can we eat while we listen? MARTHA Hush, Belinda. BOB CRATCHIT I, uh... I wish to announce I've made a decision. About my career. I've decided that Monday morning, December 26th, that's tomorrow, I'm gonna go into the office, I'm gonna hand in my resignation notice to that old skin flint Ebenezer Scrooge. MARY/BELINDA/TIM BOB CRATCHIT Mary, don't be alarmed. I've received an alternative offer, you see. By Mr. Thwaites of Thwaites and Langley. He was quite disgusted by some of the things that Scrooge has said to him on the street. He sent me an offer. And, uh, the best part is... My, uh, my Christmas gift to the whole family. In my new position I will be receiving two extra shillings every week. MARTHA Two shillings? BOB CRATCHIT So, next year there will be brand new ice skates for you, Belinda and there will be real wings for you, Tim. TIM BELINDA Thank you. BOB CRATCHIT You're welcome. MARTHA Bob. Congratulations. Well done. BOB CRATCHIT Thank you. Mary. You of all people hate Scrooge. Now, when I leave we'll be free of him. MARY We will never be free of him. BOB CRATCHIT What do you mean? MARY Enough. We will get Christmas done, Bob. Then we must speak again. BOB CRATCHIT Mary... MARY We will get Christmas done! LOTTIE There. The happy family silenced by your experiment. SCROOGE I want her to know that if Bob Cratchit resigns I will say nothing about what happened. I-I want to tell her that right now. LOTTIE No. She already feels your presence. We need to leave... MARY Get out of my house. Get out of my house. Get out of my house! LOTTIE Behold, Ebenezer. The bruised and broken body of Christmas Day. BOY ? Hunan blentyn, are fy mynwes ? ? Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon ? LOTTIE Seen with your own eyes. Now listen. This very Christmas morning in a valley far away. They are singing. CONGREGATION ? Breichiau mam sy'n dyn amdanat ? ? Cariad mam sy dan fy mron ? ? Ni chaiff dim amharu'th gyntun ? SCROOGE Where are we? LOTTIE A Christmas Day memorial service for those who lost their lives in your great Trechloddfa pit disaster. CONGREGATION ? Huna'n dawel, annwyl bientyn ? ? Huna'n fwyn are fron dy fam ? ? Huna'n dawel hana huna ? LOTTIE What do you see? SCROOGE What am I meant to see? LOTTIE No tears. Nor self-pity. You see men and women and children united. CONGREGATION ? Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenum ? ? Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun ? WORKERS BOY ? Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu ? ? Arnat yno'n gwenu'n lion ? SCROOGE They harbor no hatred. LOTTIE There's some hated. That boy. CONGREGATION ? Titha'you'n gwenu'n ol a huno ? LOTTIE He takes a train to London every Christmas Eve to 'pay his respects' at Jacob Marley's grave. He lost his father and two brothers to your economies. My goodness, the feelings you instil are terribly strong. CONGREGATION ? ... dim ond deilen ? ? Gura, gura are why ddor ? SCROOGE Given my time again, I would not reduce expenditure on timber. CONGREGATION ? ... ton fach unig ? ? Sua, sua are lan why mor ? SCROOGE Given the time again... I would not be myself. CONGREGATION ? Huna blentyn nid oes yma ? LOTTIE There. The first pin. The first needle. CONGREGATION ? ... i roddi iti fraw ? SCROOGE "Erected in memory of the 17 brave ponies who perished in the earth one Christmas Day in the morning." You remember Flash? The black horse I rode to school before I was sent away. LOTTIE Yes. SCROOGE And then when I went away, Father sold him... Just as when I was a boy he, he sold me... LOTTIE Ebenezer, my time with you is almost done. Please speak of it. SCROOGE I just... I am feeling regret. It comes to me like... like a, like a lump in my... throat. A lump of rock in my throat. Regret. That is a start, isn't it? I should have thanked you for taking me out of that school. Where I now know I was part of a bargain done between a schoolmaster and our father. My father. My own father. There. Said out loud. If saying it conquered it, I would shout it. It doesn't. Lottie, I sh... I should have loved you. But I want you, in all the world, to understand... it was too late. You came with your carriage and your gun too late. That is what I will say is my defense. LOTTIE Ebenezer. When the next Spirit comes, please don't offer him excuses. He is the terrible one. The un-unknown one. And the one who decides. He has no interest in the past. SCROOGE Lottie... LOTTIE Only what lies ahead. Go back inside. Be ready. SCROOGE Lottie. LOTTIE Goodbye, dear brother. SCROOGE I couldn't love you. SCROOGE So… this is the future. Spirit? When the bell tolls, the spirit comes. Yes, I understand and I am ready. I understand you are the Spirit of Christmas Future and because we can never know the future, you are not allowed to speak. Yes, I do have a heart. I am ready for whatever you wish to show me. SCROOGE My office. That's a lot of coal. I must be out of town. Looks, looks the same. We're not too far in the future. What year is this? SCROOGE "Dear Mr. Scrooge, this letter is to inform you that I am as of this day offering my resignation..." So he's doing it. He's resigning. "Before I leave I wanted you to know that you are the most unpleasant, devious, inhuman..." BELINDA Dad. Come! It's Tim. There's been an accident. BOB CRATCHIT When? How? BELINDA He went to the pond. He borrowed my ice skates, but he didn't tell anyone. TIM BELINDA The ones you mended. BOB CRATCHIT Come on. TIM SCROOGE MARY SCROOGE Wait. My sister said it is you who decides. Are you deciding now? Is it in your power to change things? Because if it is... Me. I can change things. How? You mean if I had my time again? W-Well then give it to me. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but I understand now what it is I must... Tim, you'll catch your death. Or is it death that has caught you? Is he dead? Between life and death. Tim. Tim! If you can hear me you must, Tim! You must stay away, Tim! For your mother. TIM MARY We're here, little man. Stay with us. SCROOGE I don't care about the rules! MARY We're here, little man. Stay with us. SCROOGE My. Self. What year is this? What year do I die? CAROL SINGERS SCROOGE But it is Christmas. No mourners. Just worldy goods. Well actually Spirit, I don't care. I don't care what will become of me. I only care about one thing. SCROOGE Bravo. Bravo. I know my fate. And you know my question. What happened to Tim Cratchit? No matter what, nothing sinks them. Not even death. Nothing makes them question. Because they have... Spirit. I need to know. Why? What was the reason for all of this? Why did you spirits come to me? Why did you show me all of this? What purpose? MARLEY I'm not sure what the reason is, Ebenezer, but I know the purpose. It is something to do with redemption and our joint liability. All three spirits have done their work. I asked them to let me have a final try. We were so, so wrong. Admit that at least... SCROOGE No. No, I refuse. I refuse to change. All their efforts were for nothing because... I refuse redemption. MARLEY What in God's name, Ebenezer, why? SCROOGE This fate, this piss covered second-class grave is exactly what I deserve. If redemption were to result in some kind of forgiveness I do not want it, because I would find a way to justify everything I have done according to the consequence. Because that's who I am. The only thing... the only thing I want the Spirits to do, the only change I want them to make... is to spare the life of him. SCROOGE LADY Oh, my dear poor man, are you all right? SCROOGE I am more than all right. I can feel. And I can feel that I can feel. LADY Feel what? SCROOGE At the moment, a pain in my arse. Oh, ouch. Yes. LADY I was meaning to sprinkle this on the ice earlier... But what with it being Christmas, I forgot. SCROOGE Yes, yes. Everything in life is a lesson if you care to learn. The sprinkling of gravel on ice is an action taken by a person for the benefit of others without expectation of any reward of any kind. A whole new philosophy on human nature encapsulated in a handful of gravel. LADY Did you hit your head? SCROOGE Forgive me. PASSER BY Merry Christmas, Sir. SCROOGE It is! It is, yes. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. SCROOGE This I will do. This I will gladly do. No one will skate here this Christmas! MARTHA Mary, as a lonely widow I had a dozen invitations to dinner and I am mightily glad that I chose to accept yours. Never a finer goose was seen. TIM And so cheap. It had a broken leg or a leg shorter than the other or something. BOB CRATCHIT Tim. MARY Bob, you carve. BOB CRATCHIT Expecting company, Martha? MARTHA I wouldn't presume. BOB CRATCHIT Good God. SCROOGE Yes, I know, unwanted presumption but on this day... MARY What are you doing here? SCROOGE On this day, this I must do. I have three things I need to say. MARY Get out of my house! SCROOGE One, two, three, and-and then I will go. BOB CRATCHIT Leave. SCROOGE Item number one. BOB CRATCHIT I said leave. SCROOGE Item number one is I know you're planning to hand in your resignation tomorrow. MARY Bob, what's he talking about? SCROOGE And I want you to know that you leave with my blessing. Yes. Blessing. BOB CRATCHIT How'd you know I'm planning on handing in my resignation? SCROOGE I just know. And you are retiring at a very appropriate time because tomorrow morning I am closing the company down. MARY You need to leave my house. SCROOGE Scrooge and Marley will trade no more in this world. And, as a gesture of good will, my final item of company business is to... MARY You need to leave my house. SCROOGE ... is to draw up a check for 500 pounds, made payable to you, by way of thanks for your service. So, new ice skates for you, Belinda. And-and more books for you, Tim... BELINDA Mum. How does he know about my ice skates? SCROOGE I know these things because I have been shown them by Spirits. This is item number two by the way. I have been visited by spirits who were summoned by someone to grab me by the throat and drag me to a bright mirror so that I might see the truth. BOB CRATCHIT Mr. Scrooge, have you been drinking? SCROOGE Not yet, but later I will. I-I will drink a toast. Indeed. To fathers. And mothers and-and children. And-and-and whoever you are. At home together for Christmas. Item number three. Regarding children... Item three. Belinda, the pond where you love to go skating is no longer in use. It has been rendered unusable. Tim, you will not go skating. You will stay at home, you will read your book, and you will learn to fly instead. TIM Is this what happens when someone drinks laudanum? SCROOGE No. No, this is what happens when someone finally understands... Is made to understand. What it is to be human. That is all. Thank you. The-the will be delivered by hand. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. MARY I'll show you out. BOB CRATCHIT Mary? MARY I do not know what's happened to you. And I don't care. Your 500 pounds will be welcome. But it will not buy forgiveness. SCROOGE Nor shall forgiveness ever be earned. Or expected. Or wanted. My business now is the future. I will just be the best I can be. For the Spirits and the bright light and the mirror, I thank you. SCROOGE Sleep well, Jacob. SCROOGE ...why there would be camels in the snow. The whole thing... PEOPLE MARY Spirits. Past, present and future. There is still much to do.