It's been years since I've posted a chapter of this story, which only has one chapter so far.
Will anyone remember?
Is anyone going to care?
Should they?
Should I?
Well, whether or not I should care, I do, and here goes nothing, as in here goes the next chapter. Hopefully someone will read this, hopefully someone who read the first chapter, although I wouldn't blame anyone for ignoring it. I did; this chapter was completed over two years ago. Well, like I said, here goes nothing.
First, the usual acknowledgments of the reviewers.
Chelsi: Well, I'm glad that you do get what you get, and I'm glad that you're interested.
Lil Kimi: I think you get what I'm going for here. You're one of the top authors of Rugrats fics on ff.n, and your opinion is one of those I value the most. I'm going to get back to work on the other stories too; Chapter 6 of I Miss You a Little is on the same disk as this chapter. Catch you around.
Wicked Wonder: I finally added another chapter, but it can by no stretch of the imagination be called soon. Thanks for understanding about multiple series.
Rugrats, All Grown Up, and all related characters and concepts are copyright Klasky-Csupo and Nickelodeon, a unit of Viacom.
Daniel Boone, Jackie Chan, Marshall Faulk and Norman Rockwell are copyright themselves.
The Air Force Academy, Operations Desert Shield & Desert Storm, and ROTC are copyright the government of the United States.
The Hollywood Hills, Lake Michigan and the Persian Gulf are public domain, I think.
Chuck's hand was still on the door handle, the door itself as yet slightly ajar, when he heard two voices from outside; one sweet, one slightly gruff, and both dearly familiar to him.
"Wait for us, sweetheart!"
"You might want to hold that door open, Chuckie."
As if he hadn't instantly recognized their voices, Chuck knew who it was from that name, a name that only two people in all the world used in referring to him anymore now that he was a teenager.
It was them. Marvin Finster had survived the years in pretty good health; his only noticeable handicap was the stooped shoulders and back characteristic of the aged. Other than that, he walked proudly, his head held high.
The same could not be said for his wife. Since her stroke two years previous, Shirley Finster chose to confine herself to a wheelchair when she ventured outside, which wasn't often. Her husband had lately been lobbying her to switch to a walker, but one might be excused from surmising from their rapport with each other that he wouldn't be anywhere other than exactly where he was, pushing her wheelchair for her, supporting his wife as he had done over the decades.
As Chuck held the door open and smiled for the late arrivals, he knew there was something he had to do or he'd really be in trouble with his sister; and with what was already going on he didn't want to find out what that entailed.
"Kimi, you might want to come here for a minute!" he called as loudly as he dared.
Fortunately the girls were but a few yards away, around a corner. Kimi had re-rounded that corner in seconds, trailed by a morbidly curious Lil.
"What is it, Chu- GRAMMA GRAMPA!"
But for the doorway and the door, Kimi might have injured her adopted grandparents in her haste to embrace them. As it was, her brother managed to delay her just enough to minimize any impact.
The reunion of the two teenagers with their grandparents brings a number of things to mind: cloying, treacly, maudlin, saccharine, Norman Rockwell-ian, just plain sentimental; hey, what happened happened.
The twins looked on from a distance. They felt uncomfortable, although not for the above reasons. The discomfort, though, was presently put aside as before husband wheeled wife on into the depths of the funeral home both Phil and Lil got at least one hug each from each grandparent.
As the senior Finsters were fading from view, and the youngsters were forming up to go inside, a question occurred to Phil.
"Say Chuck, I've been thinking..."
"That's good; I've learned that trying new things can be pretty-"
"Chuck!"
Separately, Lil and Kimi both smiled at their brothers' situation. They did, that is, until each noticed the other's smile. Both girls then looked away.
"Seriously, your name is the same as your father's, right?"
"Yeah, we're both named Charles, technically. At least that's what it says on both of our birth certificates. What of it?"
"Well, your middle names are different, right? I mean I heard his is Norbert, while you're Charles Crandall the Third, right?"
"Y- yeah."
"So what's the deal?"
"Well..."
"If it's another secret, that's okay..."
"No, it's not really a secret. It's just something that doesn't come up. It's kind of painful."
"Well, if you'd rather not talk about it..."
"I'd really rather not, but I'll talk about it anyway." Somewhere in the back of Chuck's mind, some part of his subconscious wanted the group to reconcile, and seized on the sharing of this family non-secret as a means to that end. "I warn you, though, it's a long story."
Kimi checked her watch. "The funeral doesn't really start for a half hour yet."
Her brother nodded with just a little bit of resignation. "All right, let's grab that bench there and I'll tell you all about it."
And so they did; those funeral homes have the occasional bench, and they just happened to be passing one at the time anyway. So started the telling of the history of the Finster family. To keep this recounting of that recounting from dragging on too long, I'll spare you the questions, put-ins, and other interruptions. Well, most of them at least.
"Well, first of all, there's my name. Of course I'm Charles Crandall Finster the Third, so it
follows that there was a First and a Second, or a Senior and Junior.
"Charles Crandall Finster Sr. was our Grandpa's brother, his big brother. From what I hear he was the ultimate big brother, in a good way. Grandpa looked up to him more than Dil ever looked up to Tommy, and with good reason.
"You might have overheard some stuff about Grandpa being tough, rugged, a real he-man. I know I've heard that line about tossing Dad into Lake Michigan with just some dry toast, although I'm not sure I believe it. Well, Great-uncle Charles was everything that his little brother ever wanted to be. Football hero, war hero, boxer, martial artist, outdoorsman, a genuine superman, kind of like Daniel Boone meets Jackie Chan crossed with Marshall Faulk.
"In due course, he got married, about the same time that Grandpa married Grandma. Her name was Stacy. They stayed out here while our branch of the family moved out to the Midwest for a decade or two, so neither couple knew that the other was expecting.
"Grandpa was determined to name his firstborn after his hero, his big brother. The 'Charles' was already on the birth certificate when the phone call happened - I'm not sure who called whom, but they found out that Charles Crandall Finster Jr. had already been born. It was too late to change the first name, so they gave Dad a different middle name: 'Norbert', after Grandma's family.
"Our branch of the family moved back here when Dad was just a kid, and then he got acquainted with his cousin and half-namesake. It was hero-worship all over again, and for about the same reason. Cran - that's what they called him - was his father's son.
"He excelled in his studies as well as in high school sports. He was also in ROTC with an aim toward enrolling in the Air Force Academy, which is exactly what he did. He graduated sometime in the '80's as a first lieutenant. By the end of the decade he was a captain in command of a squadron.
"Then that trouble started in the Persian Gulf; it was around the time that I was on the way."
(A/N: I said that I'd skip most of the interruptions to Chuckie's story. That ends now, because now the interruptions actually contribute something.)
"In late 1990, Captain Cran Finster's unit was one of the first to be activated and sent to the Gulf for Desert Shield." Chuck was saying.
"And then Desert Storm." Lil tried to contribute.
Surprising the others, Chuck shook his head. "No, not exactly.
"The bombing started on January 17, 1991. On January 16, my great-uncle Charles & great-aunt Stacy got a couple of visitors. Two Air Force officers. They had a letter with them, from the government. The kind that begins: 'We regret to inform you...'"
As the full impact of that statement sunk in, the girls gasped and Phil hung his head in silent grieving.
Chuck continued. "It was one of those training accidents; we never found out the details, nor did we really want to. Even before that happened my parents were going to name me after him; they just took that as confirmation that the name Charles Crandall Finster had to live on. So that's how I got my name."
No one else spoke a word, although there was the occasional sob. Then Phil broke the silence.
"Someone once said in a movie that no one should have to outlive their own child."
Chuck grimaced; the sad story was not over yet.
"Well, they didn't miss it by much.
"It was right after my mother died, around six months after they'd lost their son. They lived up in the Hollywood hills. You might have heard about the wildfires that tore through there about that time?"
"You don't mean...?" Kimi was afraid to venture.
Chuck nodded. "Took their house, and the two of them in it."
Now there was open weeping, appropriate for the time & place, and yet so much deeper.
"That was when Grandpa & Grandma moved to Eucaipah. They, Dad and I were all that was left of the family. I guess the thinking was that if we were doomed, we might as well all go together. It did do them some good to see that Dad & I had some good friends, and to touch base with peers like Boris & Minka, and Lou."
He then turned to his sister. "You don't know what it meant to them when Dad got married again, and you & Mom came into our lives. It was like a new lease on life for the whole family."
That pushed Kimi over the edge; she lost it. The next few minutes she spent crying in her brother's arms. On Chuck's other side Phil watched the scene, mute and morose as on his other side his twin held her hands in front of her face so that no one would see her cry.
When Kimi finished, Chuck sensibly acted the part of the good big brother. He let go as soon as he thought she wanted him to, and handed her a couple of tissues so she could fix her face. When she'd composed herself, he spoke again.
"And that's the story of our family, basically; at least, the current three generations. We already found out about the family before that, for that school project, remember?"
Kimi nodded, remembering the hornet's nest the family tree project had stirred up but choosing to not mention that.
Chuck finished. "Just before the Pickles found out Dil was on the way, Dad did his own family tree project. After all the tragedy in current generations, he was determined to find out what came before. So my part of the family tree project was easy."
With the story over, there was nothing else to say. Taking the lead, Chuck stood.
"If everyone's ready, I guess we should find our seats."
There were murmurs of agreement as the others moved to stand. Chuck held his hand out, and Kimi let him pull her up. She had one question left, though. As the walk started, she voiced it where only he could hear. And she dared to address him by the name he'd long since abandoned, a right which every sibling claims and on occasion uses.
"Chuckie? Why wasn't I ever told any of this?"
"You never asked, I guess."
"Don't be flippant."
"I'm not. I asked Mom about it once; something told me I shouldn't ask Dad. It turned out that he'd told her once, and that had been enough for him. Then she told me once, and that was enough for me.
"Maybe it's a family tradition that just hasn't been around for that long: you only hear it once, and you only tell it once. I know I'll never tell it again."
She nodded acceptance as the bench and the twins fell behind them.
Sort-of alone for a minute, Phil dared to speak to his twin for the first time in many a day.
"There might be hope for the group yet."
"Hmm."
With the lack of a definite negative from Lil, Phil took a breath, readying himself to attempt a reconciliation.
"Look, Lil, I'm really sorry for what I did, and I want more than anything for all of us to be friends again. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen."
"Hmm."
Taking another deep breath, Phil took the biggest chance he could remember having taken lately.
"I really mean it. I want more than anything for all of us to be friends again, to be your brother again. Will you at least think about it? Please, Lillian?"
But answered she never a word as she started fast-walking to catch up with the Finsters. Sighing, Phil brought up the rear, comforting himself with what slim chance he could find in her conduct.
"Well, I didn't hear a 'no'..."
So we go to the funeral, but there are others to hear from first. Who? You'll have to wait until next time to find out. I'll try not to take years to post the next chapter; maybe months. We'll see. Until then, and after that as well, I'm Nftnat.