The Present

By Geanna Culbertson

A mystical agency exists that is responsible for creating Christmas Carol scenarios with preselected targets every December.

Employees of the agency work in either the Past, Present, or Future department and each year they are assigned a person on Earth in need of being “Scrooged,” as it were, so that person can reform and embrace the potential for goodness, love, and humanity they have in their hearts.

Frost Mason has worked in the Present department for almost a century and this Christmas is her 100th soul to save. The problem—Frost’s belief in the miracle of Christmas and what her agency does has started to fade because while many people commit to reforming after the “life-changing” experience of being Scrooged, human beings rarely change permanently and Frost has watched countless former Scrooges backtrack and return to their old ways once time has passed.

Frost must find a way to deal with her disenchantment over humanity’s potential to change while also working with her team to save the soul of this year’s Christmas Assignment: a young, up-and-coming political star running for governor.