(Strip Number 4535, Original Publication Date, 19 November 1985)
Panel 1: Now that the ritual Anne castigation is over with, Susan asks Elly what she thinks of her idea for this year's window display.
Panel 2: She wants Elly to base it on "A Christmas Carol" by possibly using a scene from the book.
Panel 3: She then says that she'll have to do it on the cheap because the board ain't giving them much of a budget.
Panel 4: Elly smiles at the 'irony' and thinks "Scrooge lives."
Summary: This means that we have a rich person commenting on the 'irony' of cogs in the machine being forced to do things because of other needs being more pressing. In Elly's vision of the world, the ghost of Library Past will come haunt the mayor and whine about how he wanted clean drinking water and rivers and lakes that aren't open sewers and other non-essentials when he could have spent all that money on Elly's pet projects.