An Avoidable Dream

Scrooge ate an indigestible snack

before bedtime and was plagued

the entire night with a nightmare.

Old people often make that mistake-

eating something before bedtime.

After he was startled awake

Within the first hour of the dream

A little bicarbonate of soda

Would have settled his stomach

And most likely end the nightmare

where he could have slept soundly

through most or at least part of Christmas

And therefore avoiding the phantoms

that followed that scared him *hitless.