Lovino stood staring at the bed. "Poor, whoever he is, alone in a dark and empty house," Lovino thought, "without a person to remember him. I can hear rats by the fireplace; I'd hate to think what they want!"

He turned to the Ghost. "This is a horrible place!" he cried, "I'll remember what you've taught me. Let's go."

But the Ghost pointed towards the head of the body.

"I know what you're asking," Lovino said, "but I can't look. I can't. If there anybody in town who feels any emotion of the man's death? If there is, show it to me... Please!"

The Ghost spread it's dark robe before him like a wing. Then he pulled it back to reveal a room where a mother sat waiting with her children. She got up from time to time and walked anxiously up and down the room. She glanced at the clock, then through the window. At last, her partner returned. He was young but his face looked old and worried. But now he wore a guilty smile.

"Good news?" she asked him. "Will he give us more time to pay back the money we owe him?"

"Yes," her partner replied. "He's dead."

"Thank God!" she cried. "I know I shouldn't say that, but thank God!"

"I don't know who'll ask us the pay the money, but well have saved it by then," he said, smiling. "We can sleep tonight, dear."

"But they're happy about the death. Show me someone upset about death."

The Ghost led him to Antonio's house. The noisy children were oddly quiet and sat as still as statues in the corner of the room. A knock came at the door and Mrs Fernandez Carriedo ran to let her husband in. As he came in, his son and daughter ran to kiss him. He was cheerful at first, as he always was. Then suddenly tears fell Dow his cheeks. This surprised Lovino.

"Mr Lovino's nephew has always been kind to me," Antonio told his family. "I only met him once, but he noticed that I looked sad when he passed me in the street the other day. I told him that Jovani had died. He offered to help in any way he could." Antonio looked at his family. "I'm sure none of us will forget Jovani, will we?"

"No, padre!" They both cried, getting up to kiss him again.

"Spirit," Lovino said. "You're fading, so before you leave, tell me the name if the dead man."

The Ghost of Christmas Future hurried Lovino past his own house and last the place he worked. The man sitting at his desk was a stranger. "Where am I?" Lovino asked himself. At last, they reached an iron gate. Lovino looked around him.

"A churchyard!" he whispered. "They've buried the man...whose man I still don't know!"

The Ghost stood among the graves and pointed down to one of them. Lovino walked towards it, trembling.

"Before I read the name in the grave, answer me this one question," Lovino said. "Are these things the things that will happen, or might happen?"

"The future can be changed if the person chooses to change," the Ghost replied in a low and slightly hard to understand voice.

Lovino shuddered and bent down before the grave. He read the name that the Ghost traced with his finger on the headstone: LOVINO VARGAS. Lovino sank to his knees.

"I was the man on the bed!" he cried, "No, Spirit! No!" Lovino clutched its robe. "Listen to me. I'm not the man I was. I've changed. Please tell me this won't happen if I change."

He saw the Ghost's hand tremble.

"I'll celebrate Christmas with all my heart," Lovino continued. "And I'll be kind all though the year. The Three Ghosts will remind me. I'll never forget the lessons they've taught me. Oh tell me my name won't be on the gravestone."

In his agony, Lovino knelt and caught hold of the Ghost's hand, but the Ghost pushed him away.

"Please, tell me!" Lovino cried.

But the Ghost was stronger than Lovino. He pushed him away again. And Lovino held up his hands to beg one last time.