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Reviewed by Emily-Jane Hills Orford for Readers' Favorite
The businessman's name really isn't Scrooge. It's John. But you can imagine why everyone always calls him Scrooge. He tends to have some similarities to the old scoundrel from Dickens' classic tale. This Scrooge lives in contemporary Athens and, like the Scrooge of old, he operates a financial business and pinches pennies at every turn. His one employee has a sick son and she almost has to beg for the day off on Christmas. Scrooge even makes her work late Christmas Eve.
Leaving work late on Christmas Eve, John, or Scrooge, tries to hail a taxi, but all of the taxis refuse to pick him up, claiming he's a bad customer. He finally gets a ride, but this ride is like the journey Dickens' Scrooge took with the ghosts of Christmases past. There's not much else that needs explaining here. As John/Scrooge explores himself in the past, in the present and in the future, he doesn't like what he sees and he undergoes a complete transformation. Christmas morning dawns and all is well in the world because John/Scrooge has decided to be more giving and caring.
George Saoulidis' The Impossible Quest Of Hailing A Taxi On Christmas Eve (God Complex Universe) is a clever, contemporary rewrite of Dickens' classic story. Reading Saoulidis' story, one can easily see the parallels between the twenty-first century greed and that of Dickens' nineteenth century London. There have been other attempts at retelling Dickens' story, but this one certainly reveals the greed and evil of both time periods that can easily (and often does) twist the heart. Well done!
