p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"That evening, something mystical was in the air. It was as plain to men the likes of Ebeneezer Scrooge as it was to simple men, such as Bob Cratchit. Something was afoot in the realms of good and evil, of past and present. Bob couldn't shake the feeling that things were changing on this night./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"God rest ye merry gentleman,/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Let nothing you dismay.../span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Remember Christ our Savior/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Was born on Christmas Day/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"The singing flooded Bob's heart, warming him from deep inside, giving him the courage to do what he must. He cleared his throat as he wrapped his scarf more tightly around his neck. The cold of Scrooge and Marley Money Lenders crept deeply back into his bones. "Mr. Scrooge. If you please sir...well, that is..." His tongue failed him. It sputtered and retreated at the thought of his employer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Yes?" Scrooge said, peering up over his tiny round glasses that perched themselves at the tip of his hooked nose. "Spit it out, Cratchit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Well, um, Mr. Scrooge sir...I was wondering, if perhaps sir, that the uh, the..." he searched for the word, "...the bookkeeping staff..." which was only him, oh heavens he was making a mess of things. "...if one might ask for tomorrow off, away from the office."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""A day off?" Scrooge shook his head, and returned his eyes to his facts and figures."Whatever for? Your youngest taken ill, yet again?" he spat with disdain. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob let it fall. Tim's health often forced him to miss work, but any time that was missed was made up, sometimes even hours and hours into the morning hours. "Tomorrow is Christmas sir." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Scrooge peered up through his glasses once again. There was a great silence for a moment. "You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Yes sir. If it's convenient." Bob said, his hands grasping the ends of his scarf so tightly that his fingers had gone quite numb./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""It isn't." Scrooge retorted. He was neither angry, nor beligerant. His tone was even, curt, as it often was. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob released his grip and mustered his courage. "Tomorrow is Christmas sir. My wife, and my children..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Christmas." Scrooge held up his hand to signal that Bob had gone far enough. "A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25/spansupspan style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: super;"th/span/supspan style="font-size: 12pt;" of December." He rose from his chair, and walked over to the coat rack, where he retrieved his black great coat and hat. "But, I suppose you shall have the whole day." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob wanted to shout. Instead he squeaked out a mild "Thank you sir." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Scrooge stepped his way to the front door. "Be here all the earlier the next morning." He turned as he slapped his top-hat atop his head, and in a flash, he was gone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Closing up the office was left to Bob, as it was every night. As he worked to close up the books, tidy the office, and shut all the blinds, Bob thought over the events that led him to being Ebeneezer Scrooge's faithful clerk. The reality couldn't be helped. What had happened happened, and it had to happen, indeed. He wouldn't change it for anything. He was protecting his Emily, and that's all their was to it. Every day he spent in his prison, was every day that she was not. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"The office was closed down in a twinkling, and Bob headed the opposite direction of Mr. Scrooge's grand mansion to his meager row house. The differences in the two homes were vast. But the most notable were the smiling faces of love that met Bob at the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"*I managed to fall into an afternoon of working on this story. Long past Christmas, but oh well! Hope those reading enjoy! I'm exciting to get back into the "meat" of this story! /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"God rest ye merry gentleman,/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Let nothing you dismay.../span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Remember Christ our Savior/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;"Was born on Christmas Day/span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"emspan style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/em/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"The singing flooded Bob's heart, warming him from deep inside, giving him the courage to do what he must. He cleared his throat as he wrapped his scarf more tightly around his neck. The cold of Scrooge and Marley Money Lenders crept deeply back into his bones. "Mr. Scrooge. If you please sir...well, that is..." His tongue failed him. It sputtered and retreated at the thought of his employer./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Yes?" Scrooge said, peering up over his tiny round glasses that perched themselves at the tip of his hooked nose. "Spit it out, Cratchit."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Well, um, Mr. Scrooge sir...I was wondering, if perhaps sir, that the uh, the..." he searched for the word, "...the bookkeeping staff..." which was only him, oh heavens he was making a mess of things. "...if one might ask for tomorrow off, away from the office."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""A day off?" Scrooge shook his head, and returned his eyes to his facts and figures."Whatever for? Your youngest taken ill, yet again?" he spat with disdain. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob let it fall. Tim's health often forced him to miss work, but any time that was missed was made up, sometimes even hours and hours into the morning hours. "Tomorrow is Christmas sir." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Scrooge peered up through his glasses once again. There was a great silence for a moment. "You'll want all day tomorrow, I suppose." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Yes sir. If it's convenient." Bob said, his hands grasping the ends of his scarf so tightly that his fingers had gone quite numb./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""It isn't." Scrooge retorted. He was neither angry, nor beligerant. His tone was even, curt, as it often was. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob released his grip and mustered his courage. "Tomorrow is Christmas sir. My wife, and my children..."/span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;""Christmas." Scrooge held up his hand to signal that Bob had gone far enough. "A poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every 25/spansupspan style="font-size: 12pt; vertical-align: super;"th/span/supspan style="font-size: 12pt;" of December." He rose from his chair, and walked over to the coat rack, where he retrieved his black great coat and hat. "But, I suppose you shall have the whole day." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Bob wanted to shout. Instead he squeaked out a mild "Thank you sir." /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Scrooge stepped his way to the front door. "Be here all the earlier the next morning." He turned as he slapped his top-hat atop his head, and in a flash, he was gone./span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"Closing up the office was left to Bob, as it was every night. As he worked to close up the books, tidy the office, and shut all the blinds, Bob thought over the events that led him to being Ebeneezer Scrooge's faithful clerk. The reality couldn't be helped. What had happened happened, and it had to happen, indeed. He wouldn't change it for anything. He was protecting his Emily, and that's all their was to it. Every day he spent in his prison, was every day that she was not. /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;" /span/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"The office was closed down in a twinkling, and Bob headed the opposite direction of Mr. Scrooge's grand mansion to his meager row house. The differences in the two homes were vast. But the most notable were the smiling faces of love that met Bob at the door./span/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 12pt;"*I managed to fall into an afternoon of working on this story. Long past Christmas, but oh well! Hope those reading enjoy! I'm exciting to get back into the "meat" of this story! /span/p
