We only read A Christmas Carol together, but he always said”—Lucy dropped her voice low—“ ‘Dickens loved people best. He always gave the little man a way out.’ When I read a bunch of Dickens in college, I finally got what he meant.” She squeezed Helen’s arm for emphasis. “Did you know Dickens never killed his bad guys? Well, he killed off one. The others were cowards, bullies, minor villains, and general degenerates, but they were worth something and they lived. If they didn’t change on the page and find redemption, they lived with that promise still out there.”
