A Slice of Orange

I’ve always loved the Dickens’ holiday classic about Scrooge and his scratchy quill pen. But what if Scrooge worked on Wall Street and used a smartphone?

Sounds good. I set my fingers to tapping on my keyboard. I know the story by heart, including Scrooge complaining about giving his clerk the day off on Christmas and sending the poor to workhouses.

But we live in a social media world with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. I had to update the story. And I wanted my Scrooge to be a sexy hunk. So I let my imagination run wild.

Imagine you’re rushing around doing last minute Christmas shopping and you run smack into the most gorgeous man you’ve ever seen. Tall, broad shoulders, muscular chest filling out a well-cut $5,000 suit. Silky pin-striped tie, platinum cuff links. His deep blue eyes casting bold glances your way your mama would never approve of. But you do.

Oh, my.

‘Do you work around here?’ you ask casually, loving the way he smells just like in the commercial when he leans over to see if you’re okay. You nearly faint when you get a whiff of his aristocratic masculine scent. Sweet tobacco, musk. Cinnamon. He smells divine.

‘I work on Wall street,’ he says, smiling.

A banker, nice.

‘It’s hard to get an Uber this time of day,’ he says, so he sends you home in his limo.

You can’t believe your luck. Is he one of those sexy billionaires you’ve been reading about? You bet. You’re hooked. A Christmas present in your silk stocking and it’s only Christmas Eve. He gives you his business card and invites you to have holiday brunch with him in his penthouse.

You’re beside yourself with glee, humming a jingly tune.

Then you read his card.

Ebenezer Scrooge.

No, no, no…

I hit the Delete button.

It ain’t gonna work.

No matter how handsome, how sexy, how rich, who’s going to fall in love with a guy named Ebenezer? It’s obvious Dickens’ curmudgeon with his ill-fitting suit and stovepipe hat isn’t cover model material. No way would you want him catching you under the mistletoe.

Therein lies the rub: How to make my Scrooge sexy? And stay true to the Dickens’ classic? A timeless story of the hero seeing the error of his ways. That’s what we love about the story, watching him change. I wanted to take that idea a step further and write about an alpha male gone wrong who finds his way home through the love of a beautiful woman.

First, Scrooge needed a new name.

Nick Radnor.

Then I had to make the other characters sexy as well. What if his faithful clerk, Mr. Cratchit, was a gorgeous blonde secretary named Jinger?

I decided my modern Scrooge would also have a beautiful fiancée named Monique:

Nick frequents Mamie’s, a gentleman’s club in the financial district and Marley the Ghost became Nick’s business partner, Charlie Harris, who died in the arms of a beautiful woman at Mamie’s.

And we can’t forget the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future: three sexy female spirits with great bods and killer wardrobes. Not to mention magical powers.

Once I had my cast of characters (I have a Tiny Tim character, too), now what?

I wanted to stay true to the Dickens’ classic, so I opened the story on Christmas Eve in Nick’s office. It’s late and Nick is working overtime when Jinger asks him about a promotion. Not this year, Nick says.

Nick is a heartless one-percenter. Just like Scrooge. I had to find out why Nick is so cold-hearted. It goes back to Christmas Eve when he was a kid and his corporate raider father gave him coal in his stocking every year. That’s why Nick hates Christmas. He’s turned cold and heartless but he’s about to find out where that path is taking him when he convinces Mamie to open up her club for him late on Christmas Eve.

The old gal adores Nick, and not just his generous tips. Mamie sees something in him no one else does: he’s a lost little boy. She also knows Nick is still grieving over the sudden death of his business partner Charlie last Christmas Eve.

When Charlie’s ghost shows up after a night of wild drinking and womanizing, we’re off and running. The three ghosts make their appearance just like in the classic story and we discover Nick wasn’t always a greedy businessman. These three sexy babes take Nick on a whirlwind tour of his past, present, and future with each episode tied to his beautiful fiancée, Monique.

Monique is the anchor in my story. She never stops believing in her man, no matter what. It’s through her eyes that we fall in love with Nick, hoping he wakes up before it’s too late and he loses everything.

Including her.

A Naughty Christmas Carol is the story of a modern day Scrooge with three sexy female ghosts trying to save the soul of a Wall Street trader on Christmas Eve.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

~Jina

A Christmas Novella for 99 cents:

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