The last spirit came slowly and silently. It moved towards Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge went down on his knees. The air around the spirit felt dark and scary.
The spirit wore a deep black garment (a long piece of clothing). This clothing covered its head and its face. Ebenezer Scrooge could see nothing of the spirit. He only saw one hand pointing forward. It was difficult to see the spirit in the dark night.
The spirit was tall and serious. Its presence made Ebenezer Scrooge feel a great fear. The spirit did not speak and it did not move. Ebenezer Scrooge looked at the dark shape.
"Are you the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come?" Ebenezer Scrooge asked. The spirit did not answer. It only pointed forward with its hand. Ebenezer Scrooge knew the spirit showed the future.
"You will show me things from the time before us," Ebenezer Scrooge said. The spirit moved its head slightly. This was the only answer. Ebenezer Scrooge felt very afraid. His legs were weak and he could not stand easily.
The spirit waited for Ebenezer Scrooge to feel better. But Ebenezer Scrooge felt more horror. He knew the spirit was looking at him with ghostly eyes. He could only see a black shape and a pointing hand.
"Ghost of the Future!" Ebenezer Scrooge cried. "I fear you more than the other spirits. But I know you want to help me. I want to be a better man now. I will go with you with a thankful heart."
The spirit gave no reply. Its hand pointed straight ahead. "Lead on!" Ebenezer Scrooge said. "The night is ending quickly. Time is very important to me now. Lead on, Spirit!"
The spirit moved away and Ebenezer Scrooge followed. They went into the city. The city appeared around them suddenly. They were in the heart of the business center.
Many businessmen were there. They walked up and down and talked in groups. They played with the money in their pockets. They looked at their expensive gold watches. Ebenezer Scrooge knew these men well.
The spirit stopped near a small group of men. Its hand pointed at them. Ebenezer Scrooge went closer to listen to their conversation. He wanted to understand why the spirit brought him here.
"No," said a fat man with a large chin. "I do not know much about it. I only know he is dead." Another man asked when the person died. "Last night, I believe," the fat man replied.
"What was the matter with him?" a third man asked. "I thought he would live forever." The fat man yawned. "God knows," he said. They did not seem sad about the death.
"What did he do with his money?" a man with a red face asked. The fat man laughed again. "He did not leave it to me. That is all I know," he said. All the men laughed at this joke.
"The funeral will be very cheap," the fat man said. "I do not know anyone who will go to it. Should we go together?" The red-faced man laughed. "I will go if there is a free lunch," he said.
The men walked away and joined other groups. Ebenezer Scrooge looked at the spirit for an explanation. The spirit moved into a different street. Its finger pointed to two wealthy businessmen.
Ebenezer Scrooge knew these men too. They were very important in business. Ebenezer Scrooge always wanted these men to respect him. He listened to their short conversation.
"How are you?" the first man asked. "How are you?" the second man replied. "Well!" said the first. "The old man is finally dead, eh?" The second man agreed. Then they talked about the cold weather.
They did not say another word about the death. They said goodbye and walked away. Ebenezer Scrooge was surprised. Why did the spirit want him to hear these small conversations?
Ebenezer Scrooge thought the conversations were important for his future. He looked for his own image in the street. Usually, Ebenezer Scrooge stood at one specific corner at this time. But another man stood there now.
Ebenezer Scrooge saw the clock, but he did not see himself. He was not worried. He planned to change his life. He hoped he was not there because he was a new man.
The spirit stood beside him with its hand held out. Ebenezer Scrooge felt the spirit was looking at him. This made him shudder. He felt very cold and afraid.
They left the busy streets and went to a bad part of town. Ebenezer Scrooge knew the area, but he never went there. The streets were narrow and very dirty. The houses were old and the people were very poor.
They went to a small shop. This shop bought old things like iron, bones, and rags (pieces of old cloth). A gray-haired man named Joe sat inside. He sat near a small stove and smoked a pipe.
A woman with a large bundle came into the shop. Then another woman with a bag came in. Finally, a man in old black clothes entered. All three people were surprised to see each other. They all began to laugh.
"The charwoman is first!" the first woman cried. A charwoman (a woman who cleans houses) is a worker. "The laundress is second!" she said. A laundress (a woman who washes clothes) is also a worker.
The third man worked for the undertaker (a person who prepares dead people for burial). They all met at Old Joe's shop. Joe told them to come into the back room. The room was full of old cloth and dirty things.
The first woman threw her bundle on the floor. She was not ashamed. "Every person must take care of themselves," she said. "The dead man always took care of himself. He was a wicked old man."
The laundress agreed with her. "He died alone," the first woman said. "If he was a good man, someone would be with him." She told Joe to open her bundle and name a price.
First, the man in black showed his things. He had a few small items like buttons and a brooch. Joe wrote the price on the wall. Then the laundress showed her things. She had sheets and silver spoons.
Finally, Joe opened the large bundle from the charwoman. He pulled out some dark cloth. "What is this?" Joe asked. "Are these bed-curtains?" He was surprised.
"Yes," the woman laughed. "I took them down while he lay there dead." Joe looked at her. "You are very brave," he said. The woman did not care about the dead man.
She also took the blankets from the bed. "He is not going to feel cold now," she said. She even took the shirt from the dead man's body. She said it was a very fine shirt.
"They wanted to bury him in it," the woman said. "But I took it off. This shirt is too good for a dead man." Ebenezer Scrooge listened in horror. These people were stealing from a dead man.
"He frightened everyone away when he was alive," the woman laughed. "Now he helps us because he is dead!" Joe gave the people their money. Ebenezer Scrooge felt sick.
"Spirit!" Ebenezer Scrooge said. "I see. This dead man could be me. My life is like his life." Suddenly, the scene changed. Ebenezer Scrooge was now in a dark room.
He saw a bed with no curtains. A body lay on the bed under a ragged sheet. The room was very quiet and scary. A pale light fell on the bed. The dead man was alone and uncared for.
The spirit pointed at the man's head. Ebenezer Scrooge only needed to lift the sheet to see the face. He wanted to do it, but he was too afraid. He did not have the power to move the cloth.
Ebenezer Scrooge thought about the dead man. No one was there to say a kind word. There was a cat at the door and rats under the floor. Ebenezer Scrooge did not want to think about the animals.
"Spirit!" Ebenezer Scrooge said. "This is a terrible place. Let us leave! I have learned the lesson." But the spirit still pointed at the man's head.
"I cannot look at the face, Spirit," Ebenezer Scrooge said. "Show me someone who feels something about this death." Ebenezer Scrooge was very upset.
The spirit moved its robe. Suddenly, they were in a bright room. Ebenezer Scrooge saw a mother and her children. The mother was waiting for her husband. She was very nervous.
The husband came home with a worried face. He sat down to eat his dinner. "Is there any news?" the wife asked. "Is it good or bad?" The husband answered that the news was bad.
"Are we ruined?" she asked. "No," the husband said. "There is hope. The man is dead." The wife was happy to hear this news. She prayed for forgiveness, but her heart was lighter.
They owed the dead man a debt (money that you owe to someone). Now the man was dead. They had more time to pay the money. The house was happier because the man was dead.
"Show me some sadness for a death," Ebenezer Scrooge said. "I only see people who are happy he is dead." The spirit took Ebenezer Scrooge to Bob Cratchit’s house.
The house was very quiet. The children were not noisy. They sat in a corner and looked at a book. Bob Cratchit’s wife and daughters were sewing. They were all very sad.
Bob Cratchit’s wife put her hand to her face. "The color hurts my eyes," she said. She was crying. They were waiting for Bob Cratchit to come home from work.
"He walks slower now," said Peter, the son. The mother remembered when Bob Cratchit walked very fast. He used to carry Tiny Tim on his shoulder. "Tiny Tim was very light to carry," she said.
Bob Cratchit came into the house. He wore his comforter (a long, warm scarf). His family tried to help him and make him happy. Bob Cratchit looked at the work the girls were doing.
"It will be finished before Sunday," Bob Cratchit said. He started to cry. "My little child!" he cried. Bob Cratchit went upstairs to a small room. He kissed Tiny Tim’s cold face.
Tiny Tim was dead. Bob Cratchit was sad, but he was at peace. He came downstairs and talked to his family. He told them about the kindness of Ebenezer Scrooge’s nephew.
"He was very sorry for us," Bob Cratchit said. "He told me he would help us." Bob Cratchit told his children to be kind to each other. He told them never to forget Tiny Tim.
"We will never forget him!" the children cried. They all kissed Bob Cratchit. Ebenezer Scrooge felt the love in the house. He was very sorry for the family.
"Spirit," Ebenezer Scrooge said. "I think it is time for us to part. Tell me, who was the dead man on the bed?" The spirit took Ebenezer Scrooge back to the business streets.
Ebenezer Scrooge looked for himself again, but he did not see himself. The spirit went straight to a specific place. "Wait," Ebenezer Scrooge said. "My office is there. Let me see myself in the future."
The spirit pointed in a different direction. Ebenezer Scrooge looked into his office window. It was still an office, but the man inside was not him. The furniture was different too.
They went to a churchyard (the area around a church where people are buried). It was a dark place with many weeds and old stones. The spirit stood among the graves and pointed at one.
Ebenezer Scrooge was trembling. "Before I look at the stone," he said, "tell me one thing. Can I change these shadows? Or must these things happen?" The spirit did not move.
Ebenezer Scrooge went to the grave. He looked at the gravestone (a stone that shows the name of a dead person). On the stone, he read his own name: EBENEZER SCROOGE.
"Am I the man who lay on the bed?" Ebenezer Scrooge cried. The spirit pointed from the grave to him. "No, Spirit! No, no!" Ebenezer Scrooge fell to his knees.
"Spirit, hear me!" he cried. "I am not the same man. I will not be the man I was! Why show me this if I cannot change?" For the first time, the spirit’s hand shook.
"Good Spirit," Ebenezer Scrooge said. "I will honor Christmas in my heart. I will try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future."
Ebenezer Scrooge caught the spirit’s hand. He prayed for his fate to change. Suddenly, the spirit began to change. Its black clothes shrunk and became small.
The spirit collapsed and turned into wood. It was not a spirit anymore. It was now a bedpost (one of the four tall poles at the corners of a bed). Ebenezer Scrooge was in his own room.