Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today
3 .
"Let the stars in the sky remind of man's compassion. Let us love till we die, and God bless us everyone." - Scrooge ( Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today )
.. *...* ..
Belle had been forbidden to speak, during her time with Scrooge. She could not answer his questions about the future, so loaded silence was all she could offer. But her hand pointed him in the right direction, and she stood sure and steadfast as she ferried him through the possibilities of his future, should he remain the same.
His unmourned death, his giddy servants pawning his belongings with relish, the indifference felt by his passing, and the fate of Tiny Tim should he not receive the needed care.
Belle's heart ached as she beheld her grandson's grave, but still did not speak. It surprised her that the fate of her son's family was so closely intertwined with Scrooge, but it also gave her hope. It was a small world, and a beautiful one at that.
Timmy and Ebenezer. The two living humans that still needed her. . . The two pieces of her heart.
Scrooge would never know that he wept for his former fiancee's grandchild, or that he'd employed her son at his place of business. He'd never know what happened to her. But perhaps, he felt the connection. Maybe his heart saw what his eyes and mind could not?
Belle's ponderings were given an answer, as Ebenezer knelt before his own grave and wept. "Spirit, hear me," he cried. "I am not the man I was! How can this be? When I have learned so much? When my heart is so full? Why show me all this… if I am past all hope?"
Belle gave no verbal reply, but she pointed once more towards the tombstone. He looked again, and she saw the longing fill his gaze. . . Those eyes that she knew and loved so well.
"I can change," he murmured, tears streaming down his face. "The future can not be written in stone. Give me time to change, spirit! And I shall discard all that I was!" Then, running his shaking fingers down his own grave, he whispered to himself, "I can see a future full of beauty and my spirit starts to fly. . . . I'll spend my fortune on the ones who need me, go where kindness and my conscience lead me. Give my heart and soul to all. Let the Christmas spirit live within me, Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Today!"
Now Belle's eyes matched Scrooge's, as her own tears fell. She could see the darkness leave his heart in that moment. As he vowed to become a better man.
Before them Scrooge's gravestone cracked in two, and the world began to spin.
Ebenezer had chosen. Belle's work was done. . .