Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 21:29:10 -0800 (PST)
From: Billy Burrew <billy_burrew@yahoo.com>
Subject: Christmas Carol Part one (corrected)

A Christmas Carol '99
By Billy Burrew

Disclaimer: As usual, I would like to comment that this story is purely
fictional and that it is no reflection on the sexual orientation of any of
the members of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys or their estranged manager, Lou
Pearlman. Please read this and enjoy it for what I intended it to be, an
entertaining story.

Scrooge was dead.  Long dead...and tellings and re-tellings of his
remarkable change of life after that remarkable Christmas visitation were
known throughout the world.  In the time following that Christmas, Scrooge
was indeed a changed man, and for the rest of his life, which,
unfortunately, was not very long, he was known to keep Christmas better
than any man in memory.  Too soon, however, like all men, Scrooge shrugged
off his mortal coil, passing out of the sphere of the living. Scrooge's
spirit found itself in a ghostly gray limbo, the place that lies between
heavenly salvation and eternal damnation, a place Scrooge found all too
familiar to him from his visitation with Jacob.  Scrooge's arms and legs
were loosely bound in only a small length of chain and the few moneyboxes
that his change of heart and kindness had been unable to sponge out of the
ledger of his life. Their presence a constant reminder of his former years,
Scrooge counted himself blessed that the spirits, in that visitation, had
given him the opportunity to shorten the heavy chain as much as he had
before he had died.  As Scrooge floated in limbo, silently holding his
chains, he was suddenly drawn upwards...up towards the clouds where he
assumed heaven lay.  As he neared the clouds, several other spirits
materialized and stood before him.

"Ebeneezer Scrooge?", the one spirit asked,

Ebeneezer nodded slowly, cautiously studying the man.

"We have brought you here for a purpose.  We have been witness to the great
change of heart that you accomplished in the last years of your life, and
we have come to offer you a proposition.", the second spirit continued.

"Ebeneezer, Heaven's salvation lies just beyond your grasp, and had you
lived longer, your kind heart and deeds would have easily erased the
atrocities committed by your former despicable self.  Heaven, however, is
not yet beyond your grasp and one small miracle would easily be enough to
erase those last few misdeeds and tip the scale in your favor, thus
securing you a place in heaven.", the first spirit remarked hopefully.

"Ebeneezer, there is another soul down on earth now, one whose crimes and
misdeeds have turned his heart a hundred times more black than yours ever
was.  His greed, his self-importance, his arrogance and pride, his
abusiveness to his fellow man is unmatched the world over.  Therefore, to
attain your admittance into Heaven, you will have to repay the kindness
that Jacob Marley did for you in much the same way.  We want you to visit
this man...Lou Pearlman, and ready him for a Christmas visitation.", the
first spirit finished.

Ebeneezer's face brightened considerably and he nodded.

"I will.  This small kindness towards my fellow man is the least I can
still do." Ebeneezer replied quietly

The spirits walked over to him and lay their hands upon his arms, and
instantly their knowledge of the misdeeds and dealings of Lou Pearlman
transferred to Scrooge.  Scrooge's eyes widened and he gasped.

"Lord....This man is truly more than my equal, even when I was at my worst
in life.  I pray that I can do what is needed.", Scrooge said with a sigh.

"Fear not Ebeneezer", the first spirit announced, "you have only a small
part in this affair.  The weight of this miracle will fall upon the
shoulders of another."


Patrick's last memory of his life was hovering outside his body and seeing
himself in his hospital bed with all his beloved friends and his lover
surrounding him.  Lance Bass was holding his right hand while Nick Carter
held his left.  Both boys had tear stained faces from crying and Patrick
ached deep in his soul, wanting so badly to just wake up and wipe their
tears away. Patrick saw his lover Mike sitting at the foot of the bed with
JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake and Kevin Richardson.  JC had wrapped his arms
around Mike in an attempt to comfort him as Justin sat quietly beside
Kevin, tears streaming down both their faces.

Patrick then saw his body twitch slightly and breathe its last as the
machines around his bed began to beep frantically.  The doctors and nurses
came in and the orderlies pushed everyone out of the room as the doctors
tried in vain to revive Patrick's lifeless body.  Lance was the last to be
forced from the room, crying hysterically and wailing Patrick's name.
Moments later, after the doctors pronounced him dead, the weeping of his
friends from the hallway became too much for him to bear. Patrick looked at
his body one last time and then the entire scene disappeared. Next, Patrick
stood watching sadly at his funeral, listening to Mike's beautiful eulogy
and then the guys singing a final song for him.  Patrick stood behind Lance
and Diana as she tried to comfort the young man.

Lance looked over at Diana and sighed, "I promised him...I'd be
there...that'd I'd be the last thing he saw...cause I loved him and didn't
want him to die not knowing it."

Tears streamed down Diana's face as she replied, "He knew... He loved you
and Mike so much. You guys were all he talked about. You sat with him to
the end, right? He knew you were there for him. He knew."

Lance and Diana wept together silently as Patrick's coffin was lowered into
the ground.

Lance's grief was so deep, he had taken Patrick's death the hardest of any
of his friends, including his lover, Mike.  Patrick sighed as he watched
Lance cry and as Patrick laid his hand on his friends shoulder, the scene
faded and disappeared.  Patrick was still at the cemetery, but it was now
empty, save for the empty chairs left over from the service.  As Patrick
sat down, he noticed suddenly noticed two other men walking over to his
gravesite and then sitting down a few seats away.

"We thought you might want to see your death and funeral", the first man as
he looked from Patrick's grave to the seat where Patrick was sitting.

Patrick jumped, realizing that this man could see him. He absorbed the
man's words and nodded.

"It was a nice service.", Patrick said soberly, "I wonder if they served
any good food afterwards?"

The two men looked over at Patrick quizzically until they saw a small smile
on his face, and then they too began to smile and chuckle.

"Good...Very good!", the second man replied as he chuckled, "A man that can
laugh after seeing his own funeral is a strong man indeed!  In all my years
as a spirit, I have never seen anyone do that before."

"Well", Patrick smiled as he shook his head, "Humor is my way of coping, I
guess."

"You did well in life, Patrick", the one man said, getting up and taking
the seat next to him.  "Your love for your friends and partner and their
love for you shall remain a testament to your life.  It is because of these
qualities of your that we are here."

Patrick nodded at the two men, beckoning them to continue.

"As you had guessed in life, there was a purpose behind your meeting and
befriending the guys of NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.", the second man
continued, "Your getting to know them was integral in your helping them in
the years to come."

"How am I going to help them now...I am not of the living anymore.",
Patrick said quietly.

"To help them most effectively, you would have to be of the spiritual
plane, not of the living.", the first spirit said quickly. "Patrick...both
groups share a common fault.  It is this shared fault that will cause the
downfall of both bands as well as their slide into depression, disillusion
and death in their near future.", the first man said morbidly.

Patrick paled as the thought of his friends in pain.

"What is it....and how can I stop it?", Patrick said as he shook his head.

"It's a he..not an it.  His name is...", the second man replied.

"Lou Pearlman", Patrick finished, his eyes closed as the final piece of the
puzzle snapped into place.

"Yeah", the first man said quietly, "I heard you two had met."

"We met...oh yeah!", Patrick replied, "I knew I hadn't seen the last of
that guy.  That man is like herpes....he just keeps coming back!"

The first man chuckled for a second at Patrick's comment.

"Patrick, your distaste for him does you credit, however, it is that man
that you must change."

"Change him??....Just give me a gun and make me real in that world for 30
seconds.  I'll change him permanently!", Patrick growled.

Both spirits smiled and shook their heads.  "Nope...too easy...and
besides....killing him wouldn't alter the future enough to make amends for
his wrongs up to this point.  You are gonna have to visit him and try to
change him that way."

"Visit him, huh?", Patrick said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes, "How
very Charles Dickens-esque.  Lemme guess...I visit him on Christmas
Eve...show him his life, past, present, and future and hope to God it's bad
enough to scare him to change his outlook on life."

"Uhhh...yeah.  Wow!  That's it...Exactly!", the first man replied, his eyes
wide as he bobbed his head up and down.

Patrick made a half choking noise and then faked a smiled as he thought,
'I've died and ended up in Charles Dickens hell.'

The two spirits looked at Patrick for a while as he got up and paced back
and forth.

"OK", Patrick said, "You got yourselves a Christmas Spirit."

The two men smiled and a third man, as an old man, wrapped in chains,
appeared beside them.

"Patrick", the second man, "This is the man that will herald your visit on
Christmas Eve...Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge."

Patrick's eyes widened as he walked over to the man clasping their hands
together in greeting.

"Its an honor to meet you Mr. Scrooge.", Patrick replied as Scrooge looked
at him at first with a look of shock that changed to a small smile as he
saw the warm smile that Patrick wore.

"You as well, Patrick.", Scrooge replied heartily.

The first man coughed lightly, bringing Patrick back to the conversation at
hand.

"There is also one other matter for you to attend to first Patrick."

"Oh?", Patrick replied curiously.

"A Christmas wish...actually two of them.", the second man replied with a
smile.

"There is a young man on earth that was heartbroken when you died.", the
first man began.

"Lance", Patrick said sadly, "I promised him a few things and was unable to
come through on them before I died."

The first man nodded, "His christmas wish...in fact, his overriding thought
since you passed into this realm, is that he would be able to see you and
talk to you one last time."

"Normally", the second man continued, "this would be out of the
question....But in this case, it is feasible, in fact, necessary to your
visitation that this wish is granted."

"And the second wish", Patrick said quietly.

"Is from Justin.", the first man replied, "He loves Lance deeply and your
death and Lance's mourning and isolation from the rest of the guys,
especially Justin himself, has left him feeling shut out and heartsick."

Patrick nodded, "When do I start?"