Ms. Scrooge

Maude Marley:
[Appearing in a flash of Light] Ta Da! I always did like a big entrance, didn't I? [light fades] How's tricks, Ebenita?

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
Maude?

Maude Marley:
You haven't said a word about my outfit.

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
[laughing to herself] Oh, it can't be Maude. She's dead. I buried her.

Maude Marley:
And rather hastily, I might add. Afraid I might come back to life? Reclaim my possessions? [Ebenita slowly reaches for the phone] Now I can't. [as Ebenita's hand gets to the phone] NO! [voice becoming distorted] That line is dead, darling. Save us both time, Ebenita. I'm dead, I'm here, and I'm talking to you. [Coming up to her, talking in normal voice] Now I'll cut to the chase, I actually need your help. To rest in peace. That's all anybody ever talks about in the afterlife. How they do things differently. The grass is forever greener, but when I was alive, I lived by one question only: What's in it for me? I'll admit I was a little self centered then, cared not a whit for the little people. That's why every year on the anniversary of my death, I have to roam the world and see the happiness I can never share unless...

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
Yes?

Maude Marley:
Unless you listen to me and turn your little life around.

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
What's so little about my life? Business has never been better. I own three buildings, and a house with ten rooms...

Maude Marley:
[Yells, and then talks in the distorted voice] And how many rooms in your heart and how long will your chain of grief be when you join our miserable band?

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
I don't have to do anything.

Maude Marley:
[in normal voice] No, you don't. Not if you change. My fellow ghosts will show you how.

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
More ghosts?

Maude Marley:
Yes, but tightly organized on the other side. Actually, you'd probably love it for a while. Tight schedules, time clocks, the works. However, the only problem is it never ends. [circles her chair] It goes around, and around and around!

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
[Screams] Get away!

Maude Marley:
Anyway, expect your first visitor when the clock strikes midnight. your second visitor at one and your third at the stroke of two. Regular as clockwork.

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
What is the point of all of this?

Maude Marley:
Change, Ebenita, for your sake as well as mine. [fading into her light state] Either get me out of this or join the crowd FOREVER! [disappearing in a flash of light]

Ms. Ebenita Scrooge:
[looking around for a bit, then getting up out of her chair and gathering her shawl] Ghosts, you can have this place. [running out of the room] I'm going to be someplace else!