Scene Four opens at Rockefeller Center. Ebenezer continues to figure skate.
Ebenezer: This is pretty nice. Maybe today didn’t go bad after all.
{Just then, paparazzi are seen skating to get Ebenezer to answer their questions about tomorrow’s big basketball game.}
Reporter One: Ebenezer! What can we expect from tomorrow’s game?
Ebenezer: Well, you can expect the best. The Knicks have been doing well this season, so I think we have a shot at the finals this year.
TMZ Reporter: Ebenezer! Will you be donating to charity this Christmas?
Ebenezer: {Angry.} No, no, no! Time out! For the last time, basketball is more important! Humbug!
{Ebenezer takes the TMZ Reporter’s camera and stomps on it. He notices the name on the camera is Present.}
Present: Hello, Ebenezer. I am your Present. Your right now.
Ebenezer: Let me guess: You are gonna show me what’s happening right now.
Present: Pretty much. Let’s go to your old friend, Head Huncho, first.
{Present and Ebenezer go to the jail where Ebenezer spent last Christmas. Head Huncho is seen in his cell, on his phone, looking angry.}
Head Huncho: {Angry.} Who does Ebenezer think he is?!?!?! Look what he put on Twitter about me!
{Huncho tosses his phone to a cop.}
Cop: {Reading the Tweet.} That dude, Head Huncho, just took his nickname from Quavo. #retard.
Head Huncho: When I see that basketball player, I’m gonna smack him so hard, he’ll open a Gmail account to eat the Spam!
Present: So, you like Twitter?
Ebenezer: Oh, come on!!! I was teasing him! Show me something else!
{Present and Ebenezer go to Casa Bonita in Colorado, where Cratchitt and his family are having Christmas dinner.}
Ebenezer: {Looking at Cratchitt’s dinner.} Lucky! I’m on a diet, so I can’t have Casa Bonita! {Notices that the family looks sad.} But why do they look sad? Casa Bonita is the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants.
Present: Listen closely.
Cratchitt: I know this isn’t the best Christmas dinner ever, but what do you expect? Granny and Grandpa have COVID-19, so we can’t go there this year.
Ebenezer: I didn’t know his parents had COVID.
Cratchitt: {Holding his son, who is sick.} You ready to eat, Tim?
Tim: Yes, Pa. {Coughs.} Hopefully, this scarlet fever goes away soon.
Ebenezer: I didn’t know his son had scarlet fever. Present, will the boy live?
Present: No. His parents try to make him better, but it gets worst and worst on the regular. He should be gone by next Christmas.
Cratchitt: To the Knicks and Ebenezer.
Cratchitt’s wife: {Spits out her whisky.} What?!?! That brute of a basketball player?!?! He’s mean to you, 24/7/365, babe!
Cratchitt: I know, I know. But he has good in him. I still care for him and want him to have a good Christmas. Is that an OK thing to want?
All: Yes!
Ebenezer: Even though I was mean to him, he still wants to include me in his Christmas dinner.
Present: Now, let’s go to someone who hates you. Peter.
{Present and Ebenezer go to Peter’s mansion, where he is fuming.}
Peter: Humbug?!?! I’ll show him a humbug! Where to stuff it, that is! Brute! All I do is help him, only for him to be mean to me!
Ebenezer: What have I done?
Present: Hurt those you love over the game of basketball. But hey: It’s more important, right?
Ebenezer: Did you use what I said against me?
Present: Yes. In fact, we are in the Bronx, where you will meet the final spirit. See you.
{Present leaves and Ebenezer will soon learn what his fate will be unless he gets it together.
End of scene. To be continued.}
