January 9: Stave Six, What Comes Next, Future

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol consists of five chapters (or staves).  At the end of Stave Five, Dickens assures his readers that Scrooge did live up to his promise to reform.  He also assures his audience that Tiny Tim did not die.  This second piece of information was added by Dickens after some of his readers expressed concern over the little lame Cratchit's fate.  Let's face it:  Dickens had a habit of killing off children characters.  Ask Little Nell.  So Dickens had to give his audience some assurance that Tiny Tim did not hobble off to that great Christmas Party in the sky.

In essence, his readers wanted a Stave Six.  My daughter used to ask me at the end of a book, "What comes next?"  That's what Dickens' Londoners wanted.  They wanted to know that everybody lived happily ever after.  Of course, Dickens, being a good writer and an even smarter businessman, gave his consumers exactly what they wanted.  A happy ending.  And he made a lot of money doing it.

I think we all want to know what happens in the next stave of our lives.  We all want to know, "What comes next?"  We learn that as kids.  I wanted to know what happened to Charlie after he inherited Willy Wonka's factory.  I wanted to know what happened to all of Charlotte's little spider babies.  I wanted to know what happened to Grover after he found the monster at the end of the book.

Tiny Tim doesn't end up as a Biology experiment

I guess I've been stressing about the future since I was a child.  Scrooge is scared shitless by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.  So am I.  I want to know that Tiny Tim lives and walks without his little crutch.  I want to know what happens in Stave Six.

Saint Marty wants a Charles Dickens happy ending.