The Very Name of Christmas

A literary epilogue to Dickens' illustrious A Christmas Carol: It is a gray and bitter winter evening in Queen Victoria's London. Dr. Tim Cratchit stands near the resting place of his beloved mentor, Ebenezer Scrooge. Tim owes his health, his medical education, and his current life to his "Uncle" Ebenezer. Exhausted, cold, and grieving, Tim turns toward his lodgings. "This isn't the end of Uncle Ebenezer's good works for the poor children of this city," he whispers out loud. "He has given me the way and the means to further his charitable endeavors. I SHALL find the path to save these children and improve their health for generations; I SHALL push back the darkness for these little ones! I shall do it all, alone if need be!" He walks stiffly from the gravesite, his limp very evident. "Mankind IS our business!" he mutters. "So little time, so little time, no time to waste." As he moves to the street toward home, unthinking he turns instead toward the Great Ormand Street Children's Hospital. Unconsciously, his pace increases and his limp disappears. Head down, hunched against the cold, he hurries to his work, forgetting the freezing cold, his meeting with flat-mate Dr. Babbington, and his promised dinner with his beautiful fiancee, Julianne. The descending darkness closes in and he is lost to human view.