Mr. Dickens and His Carol

by Samantha Silva

How strange, to return to the place of his own long-ago undoing, in hopes of somehow being redone.

“Flee all you like,” she said, turning to face him. “Your past is quicker than you are and will catch you soon enough.”

human foibles, fancies, and farce.

He knew that every person was a fiery furnace of passions and attachments, unknown to every other.

That he wanted to be seen, cherished, and cared for, without demands, without the necessity of fixing everything—understood for who he was when he meant well and did what he could.

“A door closes at times. Even between those who’ve loved well.”