failed to exhaust the alternatives. For between what could be and what will be lies what would be. What the spirit was revealing to Scrooge was what would happen if Scrooge did not repent and change. The spirit was not exhibiting mere possibilities (it was possible that Scrooge would sell his business and open a flower stand in Covent Garden, but who cares about that?), nor was he showing Scrooge what was in fact going to happen (Dickens assures us that Tiny Tim did not die). Rather the spirit was