Scrooge has this little exchange with a boy wandering by his house at the end of the book. Scrooge has obviously had a change of heart, and he’s beginning down his road to redemption. The boy runs to fetch the Poulterer and the prize Turkey for Scrooge.
I always picture this boy as an English version of Ralphie from the movie A Christmas Story, walking by Scrooge’s house with his Red Ryder BB gun hanging over his shoulder. I half-expect Scrooge to tell him, “Be careful, m’lad. You’ll shoot your eye out!”
This Blessing Thursday, I am having a friendly competition with a coworker. She is of the opinion that A Christmas Story only appeals to men who love The Three Stooges, and I believe it is universally beloved, crossing gender, age, and Stooge lines. (As a side note, I do love The Three Stooges.) We have been asking all women who enter the office their opinions of A Christmas Story. Aside from a few misanthropes, the response has been pretty standard, across-the-board: “Who doesn’t love that movie?”
Ralphie and Red Ryder bring joy to every one of my Christmases. At least two or three times during the holiday season, I will sit down and watch the film. My wife and I sometimes speak to each other in Ralphie-isms: “You’ll shoot your eye out!” and “Ho, ho, hoooo!” and “A crummy commercial!” and “Randy lay there like a slug…” The movie’s lines work in so many different situations. For example, if my wife wants to borrow a book from me that I’m reading, I can look at her and say, “Not a finger!” It gets the point across.
At the moment in our poll, Ralphie is winning almost 5,932,512 to 3.
This is what Saint Marty has to say about that: “I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!”
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| "Oh, fuuuuuuudge!" |
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