Community Corner

A Lonely Reading Of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"

Five people show up for the Friday night reading of the classic Christmas tale but they plow forward in true Dickens fashion

It was a scene somewhat out of a Dickens novel.

In a large but mostly vacant room behind the bustling ice skating rink in the back of a darkened park, five determined people sat around a table.

They were resolutely reading word for word the Charles Dickens' classic, "A Christmas Carol."

It was going to take them two hours, but they were going to do it anyway. And they planned to return to the Civic Park Community Center from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday night and do it again.

The event was organized by Cameron Murphey, who was inspired by the fact that Dickens did more than 100 public readings of his novels during his lifetime.

Murphey was reading the parts of the narrator on Friday night.

Sitting next to him was his mother, Margaret Murphey. She was there to support her son but also to support literature.

"I'm a strong believer in story telling," she said.

Next to her was Linda Ortega, a second grade teacher at El Monte Elementary School in Concord. She recently read a children's version of "A Christmas Carol" to her students.

Next to Ortega was Concord High School English teacher Brad Roy. He was reading the part of Scrooge on Friday evening.   

Next to him was Lierre Keith, a Crescent City resident who is in town for the holidays. She has participated in many Dickens readings and decided to join this one, too.


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