The next morning, I thanked the farmer and his wife. I raced to school, my open coat flapping behind me, my sneakers crunching on the hardened snow.
The red morning sun reflected off the snow. The wind had stopped swirling. The bare trees stood perfectly still.
I was breathing hard as I reached the school building. The front hall was empty. I realized I was early. I stopped and caught my breath before going into Mr. Dulwich’s classroom.
He was at the back of the room, leaning over a small Christmas tree. I saw that he was attaching slender white candles to the branches. His black suit jacket was unbuttoned. His pointy collar stuck up from his shirt. His eyeglasses glistened from the sunlight pouring in through the window.
He turned as I stepped into the room. “Mr. Dulwich—?” I started.
He cleared his throat. “Can I help you, young man?”
“I … I need to report three students,” I said. I took a few steps closer. I hadn’t expected to feel this tense. “They grabbed me last night and … and forced me to spend the night in a pigpen.”
It was almost true. Maybe I made it sound a little worse than it was. Why should I tell him they had tricked me?
Mr. Dulwich set down a candle and pushed the glasses up on his nose. “Three students? From my class? Why did they do that to you?”
“They didn’t like me, I guess,” I replied. “They said they didn’t like new kids.”
He nodded. “Can you tell me their names?”
“Yes,” I said. “Prescott, Benjamin, and Emily-Ann.”
His eyebrows went up. “Please repeat those names, young man.”
So I repeated them.
“I believe you’ve made a mistake,” he said. “Perhaps you are in the wrong classroom?”
“No way,” I replied. “I was here yesterday. They were here, too, and—”
Mr. Dulwich shook his head. “No. Not here. I am afraid I have no students named Prescott, Benjamin, or Emily-Ann.”
18
“Of course you do,” I insisted. “They sat near the front and—”
Mr. Dulwich took long strides to his desk. His heavy shoes made the floorboards squeak. He shoved aside some papers on his desk and raised a black notebook.
I stepped up to the desk. “Is that your class list?”
He nodded and shoved the open book toward me. “This is my attendance book. You can see with your own eyes,” he said. “There are no students in my class named Prescott, Benjamin, or Emily-Ann.”
I let my eyes run down the list. He was telling the truth.
I suddenly had a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I had to force myself to breathe.
What is going down here?
Mr. Dulwich said something, but my thoughts were too loud. I couldn’t hear him. He squeezed the sleeve of my overcoat. “Young man, I asked you a question. What is your name?”
“Rick. Rick Scroogeman,” I said. “Remember? I’m the new kid. I arrived yesterday?”
He took the attendance book from my hand, and his finger rolled down the list of his students. He took his time, reading carefully.
Finally. He raised his eyes to me. “I’m afraid you aren’t in my class, either, Mr. Scroogeman.”
“But—but—but—” I sputtered like a motorboat. The heavy feeling in my stomach spread to my whole body.
“You should check Mr. Harrison’s class,” he said, closing the book. “Perhaps since you are new—”
“No,” I said. “I’m not in another class. I’m in your class.”
He shrugged. “Sorry. You’re not here.”
“Then where am I?” I cried.
“Nowhere,” he said softly.
And as he said that word, he faded away.
Nowhere.
The word lingered in my mind. And repeated. Nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere.
Mr. Dulwich vanished slowly, and the classroom faded with him. His desk shimmered and then was gone. The color seeped from the walls until I was surrounded by gray. Solid gray everywhere I turned. The little Christmas tree was the last thing I saw.
And then there I stood, like I was suspended in space, in a solid, silent world of gray … no shades … all the same gray … until I didn’t know if I was seeing or not. Didn’t know if my eyes were open or closed.
Then, when someone grabbed my shoulder, I opened my mouth and screamed.
19
I spun around. And cut off my scream as I saw a short, pudgy man in a black-and-white-checkered suit beside me. He had a funny face. I mean, the kind of face that makes you laugh. A big pink lightbulb of a nose and round black owl eyes, and a tiny red mouth shaped like a heart.
He had ringlets of curly orange hair falling from beneath a tall, shiny black top hat. He wore a red bow tie and had a matching red flower in the lapel of his checkered jacket. The flower looked like the kind that squirts water.
“Are you ready to come with me, Scroogeman?” he said. He had a high voice and kind of sang the words instead of speaking them.
“Who are you supposed to be?” I demanded.
His round cheeks turned red. So did his bulby nose. “I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,” he said in his odd singsong.
For a moment, he disappeared into the gray. Then he came back in full color.
“You’re the Ghost of Christmas Presents?” I said. “Did you bring me my Christmas presents?”
He flickered again and nearly disappeared.
“I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,” he said. “I shall take you to your family—if you have learned the lessons of the past.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You’ll take me to my family? Really?” I cried happily. “Oh yes. I learned a lot. I learned a lot of lessons from the past.”
Okay, I was lying. You know it, and I know it. But he didn’t have to know it—did he?
He stared hard at me, so hard his big bulby nose twitched. “And what lessons have you learned, Scroogeman?”
“Well…”
Think fast. Think fast.
“I learned to be a good guy and always be nice to people and to think about other people’s feelings, not just my own.”
The ghost crossed his arms in front of him. “I thought you were a better liar than that,” he said.
“Oh, I am. I am,” I replied. “Just give me a chance.”
“What did you really learn?” the ghost asked.
“Not to go running into a pigpen at night?”
He gripped my shoulder again. His grip wasn’t gentle. He tightened his fingers until I flinched. “Ow.”
“I’m taking you to your family, Scroogeman,” he said. “You have much to learn in the present day.”
“I … I get to go back to Mom and Charlie?” I asked.
He didn’t reply. He stared straight forward. We started to drop.
I gasped. We were falling fast, falling straight down through the solid gray. The cold air came up to meet us. It was like falling through clouds.
That was a dream I had a lot. Just falling straight down through clouds. Falling … falling … and never landing.
The ghost’s top hat flew off his head. His hand dug into my shoulder. We plunged down, then started to slow. Colors swirled up in the gray, bright flashes of green and blue and red. So bright, I shut my eyes.
When I opened them, I was standing on something solid. A floor in a living room. My eyes took a long time to focus. I saw a green carpet, stained and torn. The walls were covered in a green wallpaper. Some of it was curling off at the top.
Blinking hard, I saw a scrawny Christmas tree behind a low black couch. It had an angel tilted at the top and only a few tree decorations hanging on its skinny branches. A single flame flickered in the fireplace. A MERRY CHRISTMAS banner hung crookedly over the mantel.
The Ghost of Christmas Present was pushing down his wiry orange hair with both hands. Without his top hat, his hair had blown in all directions during our fall.
I tapped him on one arm. “Whoa. You got it wr
ong,” I said. “This isn’t my house. You’ve made a big mistake.”
“Ghosts don’t make mistakes,” he replied. “I’ve never heard of a ghost making a mistake.”
“Marley’s ghost made a mistake,” I said. “He tried to haunt the wrong house.”
“Who is Marley?” the ghost asked. “Am I supposed to know him?”
“Forget about him,” I said. “I don’t live here. Look at this place. It’s a dump.”
He pursed his tiny, heart-shaped lips. “This is your home now, Scroogeman. It’s very different from your home. I’m hoping it will make you appreciate your old life.”
“I do!” I protested. “I do appreciate my old life. Take me to my house. I’ll appreciate it. I swear!”
“My hope is that your new family will show you how you are mistaken about Christmas,” the ghost said, fiddling with his red bow tie. “I think they can show you the true meaning of the holiday.”
I tugged at his sleeve. “And if I learn it, can I go back to my family?”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You have a lot to learn before you can ever think of going back.”
Those words sent a chill to the back of my neck.
The ghost turned away from me. He motioned toward the small dining room. “This is your family now, Scroogeman.”
I saw a ragged-looking man and woman and a pale, scrawny girl, who was about eight or nine. They were standing awkwardly at the dining room table.
The woman had scraggly brown hair falling down the sides of her narrow, lined face. Her eyes were red, as if she’d been crying. She wore a long brown housedress under a square white apron. The apron was dotted with brown and yellow stains.
The man was thin and tired looking, too. His back was a little bent. He leaned on a wooden cane. His streaky gray hair was pulled behind his head in a stub of a ponytail. He wore a black sweatshirt over baggy maroon sweatpants.
The girl was kind of cute. She had wavy brown-blond hair and big blue eyes. She wore a blue smiley-face T-shirt pulled down over faded denim jeans, torn at both knees. She kept motioning impatiently to me. She wanted me to come over to them.
But I turned to the ghost. “Please—take me out of here. It’s Christmas Eve. Take me to my real family. Please.”
“Merry Christmas, Scroogeman,” he said. Then he vanished.
I felt a pop of cold air. And he was gone.
“Come to the table, Scroogeman,” the woman said. “You’re late. You know it’s time for Christmas Eve dinner.”
“Come sit down, sonny boy,” the man said. “If you stand there any longer, I’ll swat you. I swear I will.”
Sonny boy?
They acted as if they knew me, as if I really belonged in their family.
I was suddenly starving. My stomach grumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a meal.
I crossed the shabby living room to the dining room. “Okay. I’ll play along,” I said. “What’s for dinner?”
The woman gave me a thin smile. “We are each going to have a juicy ripe plum.”
20
Was there something wrong with my hearing?
Did she just say we were going to have a plum for Christmas dinner?
I let out a sigh and walked over to them. “Where should I sit?” I asked.
“Scroogeman, stop acting the clown,” the mother said. “You know where you sit. Why are you acting so strange tonight? Because it’s Christmas Eve?”
I took a chance and sat down next to the girl. Her name was Ashley. I figured it out because that’s what her parents kept calling her. She kept poking me with one finger and tickling my ribs when the parents weren’t looking. Just like a little sister.
Didn’t she know I don’t belong here?
The table was nearly bare. The four dinner plates didn’t match. On each plate, I saw a purple plum.
“Are we having turkey or ham after the plum?” I asked.
My new father scowled at me. “Scroogeman, we are having a plum for dinner, and let’s be grateful for that.”
My stomach rumbled again. “That’s all? A plum?” I cried. My voice cracked.
“Slice it very thin, and it will go a long way,” my new mom said. “Show him, Ashley.”
Ashley picked up her knife and began cutting her plum into very thin slices. “This looks so juicy,” she said. “I love Christmas Eve dinner.”
“We always have a turkey and a ham,” I said. “And a big layer cake for dessert.”
“In your dreams?” the dad said. He pushed a slice of plum into his mouth and chewed it as if it were a chunk of steak. “Is that what you dream about, Scroogeman?”
The mom sighed. “A tall layer cake. Yes, that’s something to dream about. Maybe someday…” Her voice trailed off.
I sliced my plum the way Ashley did. I took a bite. Mine wasn’t quite ripe. But I didn’t care. I was so hungry, I planned to eat the pit.
I finished my plum in about ten seconds. When Ashley turned away, I grabbed three or four slices off her plate, and I ate those, too.
“Hey!” she shouted angrily. “Mom—Scroogeman ate some of my plum.”
“It’s Christmas, dear,” the mom scolded. “Be generous.” Mom turned to me. “What else do you dream about?”
“I dream about my Christmas presents,” I said.
“Well, I have a nice present for the two of you,” the dad said. “It isn’t anything special. You know how hard it has been for me at the factory. Especially with my bad back.”
He climbed to his feet and crossed the room. He picked up two small items from the top of a cabinet. He handed one to Ashley and one to me. A smile spread over his face. “These were made with love,” he said. “Made with my own two hands.”
I gazed at mine. It was a tiny piece of molded plastic, very smooth, shaped like an old-fashioned whistle, painted blue with smile emojis up and down it. Ashley’s was just like mine, only painted green.
I raised my eyes to Dad, who was still smiling. “What are they?” I asked.
“Key chains,” he said. “They let me use the three-D printer at the factory, and I made them. My own design.”
“Love it!” Ashley cried. She jumped up and hugged her dad.
“Yeah. Awesome,” I said. “Thanks. Awesome present.” I tucked it into my jeans pocket.
“Maybe someday you’ll have keys to put on them,” the mom said.
I slipped the last plum slice off Ashley’s plate and swallowed it before she could try to grab it back. “And that’s it for presents?” I said, thinking of the big stack of gifts in the closet back home.
“Christmas is a time of giving,” Mom said, flashing me a sad smile. “We’ve always taught you that, Scroogeman.”
“But you’re not giving us anything else?” I said.
“We gave some of your clothes and some of your old games and books away,” Ashley said. “We gave them away to—”
“You what?” I cried.
“To those less fortunate than us,” she finished her sentence.
I stared at her. My mouth hung open. Was that the lesson I was supposed to learn about Christmas? To give my stuff away? They had to be joking.
We just had a plum for dinner. And we got plastic key chains for gifts? And they were talking about people less fortunate? Are you kidding me?
“Are you ready for our Christmas Eve dessert?” Mom asked. She disappeared into the kitchen. She returned a few seconds later carrying a plate of green grapes.
“My favorite!” Ashley cried, clapping her hands.
What a weirdo.
Mom dropped four grapes on each plate. “Enjoy,” she said.
Dad took his knife and sliced each grape into two halves. Then he ate the halves slowly, holding them up one by one, chewing each one a long time. “Now let’s do our annual Christmas tradition,” he said. “Let’s go around the table and tell what we are grateful for.”
Excuse me? Was I supposed to be grateful for a plum and four grapes?
&nbs
p; Dad started to talk about what he was thankful for. It had something to do with his back being better. I didn’t listen. I was staring at something hanging on the kitchen wall. Squinting into the kitchen, I saw the calendar stuck on the side of a cabinet.
And when I saw the year, I had to force myself not to utter a cry. Not to pump my fists in the air and leap onto the table and do a celebration dance.
It was this year. The ghost hadn’t lied. I really was in the present.
I was back in the right year. Back where I belonged.
And as my new mom yammered on about something she was happy about, I instantly realized what I was happy about. I was happy that I could escape from this house and go home.
No problem.
I just wait till they’re asleep. I run out of this tacky falling-apart house. I find someone who will lend me a phone. I call my real mom and she comes and gets me.
How easy is that?
It wouldn’t take long before I was home with Mom and Charlie, in time to celebrate my birthday and Christmas, and eat till I burst, and enjoy all my presents (and Charlie’s, too).
Ashley poked me in the ribs, jarring me from my happy thoughts. “Go ahead, Scroogeman. We’re waiting for you.”
I gazed around the table. “What?”
“We’re waiting,” she said. “What are you thankful for?”
“Well…” I thought hard.
What was the right answer?
“I’m just thankful to be able to enjoy Christmas Eve dinner with my wonderful family,” I said.
That brought smiles to all of their faces. Score one for Rick Scroogeman.
“Scroogeman is right,” Ashley said. “People have to care about each other. Whether they’re rich or as poor as our family. People have to love each other and stick together.”
“Yes. Stick together,” I said. “I’m all about that, Ashley. For sure. I’m all over that, you know. Sticking together is totally my thing.”
Of course, I was thinking of only one thing—escape.
I’m thankful to be getting out of this dump, and I’m thankful never to have a plum and a few grapes for dinner again. Good-bye and good luck.