Young Scrooge by R. L. Stine Page A

eyes again. “We’ve been trying to tell you that.”
    â€œNo,” I said. “You don’t understand. I don’t live here. I come from the future. See how I’m dressed? That’s how we dress in the future.”
    â€œToo bad,” Emily-Ann muttered.
    â€œPeople dress in funny colors in the future?” Prescott asked. “And wear cloth elf shoes?”
    I nodded. “You probably don’t believe me,” I said, “but—”
    â€œThat’s the smartest thing you’ve said,” Benjamin interrupted. “We don’t believe you.”
    â€œHow can I convince you?” I said. “I’ll tell you some other things we wear. We wear a lot of T-shirts.”
    Emily-Ann squinted at me. “Shirts to wear to tea? Why would you wear a special shirt to tea?”
    I let out a long sigh. I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere with these kids. All three of them stared at me with tight grins on their faces. Of course, they believed I was crazy.
    I took a deep breath and tried again. “I really need your help,” I said. “I know it’s hard to believe, but I don’t live in your time. I live in the twenty-first century.”
    â€œAnd do you come from up there ?” Prescott said. He pointed up to the moon. All three of them laughed.
    â€œThat explains why you are so strange,” Emily-Ann said. “You come from the moon. We should have guessed it. And are you going to fly back up to the moon for dinner tonight?”
    â€œHe’s a Moon Man. He flies home to the moon every night,” Benjamin said. “That’s why we’ve never seen him in the village.”
    â€œWhere do you live?” Emily-Ann asked.
    â€œI … I don’t know,” I answered.
    They laughed again.
    Where did I live? The ghost never told me. Maybe I didn’t have a place to live. Maybe he wanted me to freeze to death in the snow.
    â€œPlease—” I begged. I know, I know. I never begged for anything in my life. Other kids begged me for things. But I couldn’t help it. I was desperate. “Please. You don’t have to believe me. But I need you to help me.”
    â€œRemember that crazy book I read?” Emily-Ann said to Prescott. “It was a story about how they made an enormous cannon and shot three men to the moon. Mr. Dulwich said he read it, too.”
    Prescott slapped me on the back. “Okay, Stoogeman. We’ll find a big gun and shoot you to the moon.”
    â€œStop it,” I said. “I told you, I don’t live on the moon. I live in Illinois. In the twenty-first century.”
    â€œDo you have a fever?” Benjamin asked. “You could see Dr. Honeycutt in the village.”
    I sighed again. “I guess you can’t help me. I just thought maybe you could tell me how to get away from here. Maybe get to a big city. Maybe…” My voice trailed off.
    I was trapped back in the 1800s. I suddenly thought about Charlie. And Mom. Were they looking for me? Were they worried to death because I had disappeared?
    Would I ever see them again?
    And what about my Christmas presents? What would Mom do with them if I wasn’t there?
    I almost had tears in my eyes. I’d never felt so sad in my life.
    â€œI can help you,” Prescott said, breaking into my frightening thoughts.
    I blinked. “You can?”
    â€œTime travel,” he said. “That’s what you want. Time travel, like in one of those crazy novels.”
    I nodded. “Yes. That’s it. That’s what I need.”
    Emily-Ann and Benjamin exchanged glances. Prescott kept his eyes on me. “I can help you with that,” he said. “Meet me right here tonight after dinner.”

 
    15
    That night, I waited for Prescott on the path behind the school. Even in the heavy overcoat, I hugged myself against the cold blasts of wind that sent swirls of snow flying all around. The pale moon