A baby is on the way for Charles and Melinda. Everyone rushes out and goes to the hospital. In the delivery room, the baby is delivered, and to their surprise, it turns out to be a boy, who they name Charles Crandell Finster, Jr. (although everyone will call him "Chuckie").

And yes, we're going back into Charles' childhood to explore his near-lifelong desire to become a father before he actually became a father.

Do you remember when young Charles Finster first wanted to be a father? It all started when he was only ten years old…

Back in 1967, young Charles said to his friends, "Being a grown-up is awful! I don't want to grow up!"

It wasn't long before Melinda placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "I understand. Growing up can be scary, but at the same time, growing up can be an adventure."

"Yeah," said Stu. "When you're a grown-up, you get to have a house and get married and maybe even have some babies."

This was a comforting thought for Charles. "Maybe you guys are right," he said. "It'd be kinda nice to get married!" He then turned to Melinda and said, "I'll do it!"

"Great!" cried Stu. "So what do you guys wanna be when you grow up?"

"I wanna be a pro wrestler," said Betty.

"And I wanna be a CEO," said Charlotte.

"As for me, I'd like to be a teacher," said Didi.

"And I want to be a toymaker," said Stu. "What about you, Chas?"

Charles took a good look at Melinda and said, "You know what I think… I think that when I grow up, I wanna get married and become a father…"

And he, Melinda, Stu, Drew, Betty, Didi, and Charlotte all laughed together.

A few months later, during the summer of '67, Melinda came to the Finsters' residence, rang the doorbell, and said to Marvin and Shirley, "Mr. and Mrs. Finster, is Charles at home?"

Marvin replied, "Sure. We'll bring him over."

"Charles!" cried Shirley. "Your friend is here!"

Young Chas came down and saw Melinda who said, "Hi, Charles! You'll never guess what my daddy got me!"

"A movie camera?"

"Nope! I'll show you!"

And Melinda grabbed Chas by the arm and took him to her house.

There, Chas saw what Melinda was referring to. He saw an incubator with an egg inside it and a lamp above it.

Chas was confused. "You're showing me an egg in a glass box with a lamp above it?" he asked.

"Not just any egg," Melinda replied. "A duck egg! And not just any box, an incubator! This lamp, lit above the egg, will keep it warm and allow the duckling inside it to hatch. My daddy says that being a parent is a big responsibility, so if you wanna be a daddy, you gotta start small."

"Oh! I had no idea."

"Now, you do."

And Chas and Melinda sat by, watching the duck egg.

"So, we just wait?" asked Chas.

"That's what my daddy said," Melinda answered.

The incubation period of the duck egg seemed like an eternity for a ten-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl who was going on ten. Chas and Melinda were to wait for four weeks, each of them taking shifts as they periodically turned the egg, read stories to it, and played lullabies for it. Melinda even once changed the lightbulb in the lamp after it had gone out.

Finally, after four weeks of watching and waiting, Chas and Melinda saw that the duckling was about to hatch. Soon, they heard a faint chirping noise, as if the duckling were trying to call to its mommy. As the two children watched, the duckling made its small but momentous entrance into the world, and as it stretched and straightened itself out, it was imprinting on Chas and Melinda.

Melinda chuckled, "It must think I'm its mommy."

"And it must think I'm its daddy," said Chas.

The two children smiled as they accepted the duckling as their own, for they were getting their first taste of parenthood. And neither of them had even wept yet…

Ten years later, in 1977, Chas was attending college with Howard DeVille, but they were taking different classes. Chas was taking classes like home economics and child psychology, while Howard was taking drama classes. During this time, Chas even made appearances at children's birthday parties as the Amazing Flubbo the Clown, making balloon animals, riding a unicycle, or balancing a stick with three cream pies on his nose. Why? Simply because he liked being around children.

After one birthday party, Howard came to Chas and called him by his real name, "Charles!"

Chas looked back and asked, "Howard?"

Howard asked, "What are you doing dressed up like a clown?"

"Oh, Howard, I think you'll enjoy this job! I've been making birthday clown appearances for about a year now!"

"Birthday clown appearances?"

"Yeah! It pays very well, and you get to interact with the kiddies!"

Howard thought about it a little, then he asked, "Are you sure we'll get lots of spending money from this?"

Chas replied, "You could be my sidekick…"

And so, at the next birthday party Chas had been assigned, he announced to the little guests, "Presenting the Amazing Flubbo and his sidekick Looney Boy!"

Yes, Howard was Looney Boy. Chas pulled on Howard's tie, to the amusement of the kids. He then blew into a balloon and made it into a balloon animal for the birthday boy. While Howard juggled some bowling pins, Chas rode on a unicycle while balancing three cream pies on a stick on his nose. The children were all amused, to the delight of their parents.

Sometimes, though, their routine involved slapstick, which would amuse the guests even more…

Finally, in August of the year 1988, Chas was on his honeymoon with Melinda. They had rented a nice little honeymoon cottage out in the beautiful countryside. There, they would be on their own, with only each other to talk to.

Even after they had been married for two months, Chas still didn't get why Melinda chose him over everyone else. While they were in bed one night, Chas said to his new wife, "You know, Mimi," (for that's what he would call her from that moment onward) "there's been something I've been meaning to tell you that's been bugging me for quite some time."

"What is it, Charles?" asked Melinda.

"Back when I was in sixth grade, I was told that whatever a sixth grader weeps his first adult tears over foreshadows what kind of adult life he will have. For example, if a sixth grader were to weep over a tragic opera by Verdi or Puccini, an event in his adult life will reflect the ending of the opera that made him weep. I'm just afraid I'll lose you."

Melinda chuckled, "Oh, Charles, that's just an old wives' tale."

Chas looked confused. "W-what do you mean?"

"Back when we were sixth graders, I've seen some classmates weep with remorse over their own wrongdoings, and hardly any of them have become priests or rabbis. Other classmates wept over sad movies, and none of them are in Hollywood. Betty told me that she wept with rage at seeing Didi being bullied in school, and she's not in the Army, is she?"

"No…"

"And you, you wept at the ending of La Bohême, and look at us now. We're not parted, I'm not dead. Instead, we're married, and nothing else matters."

This made Chas smile a little, for he was thus reassured, and then he asked, "But, Mimi, there's something I still don't get. I love you a lot, but why did you marry me specifically? You could have married any other guy. You could have married Drew. He's richer and more handsome than me."

"Drew is Charlotte's business."

"And I dread to think about what would have happened to you had you married that dirty and obnoxious Rex Pester, now a news reporter!"

"Let Rex bug other people. He was never my concern."

"But… why did you marry me? Why me?"

Melinda sighed happily, "Because, Charles, I wanted you to be the father of my baby."

Again, Chas smiled and said, "That's nice, Mimi…" Then, suddenly, he rose up and cried out, "Wait! The father?! Of your baby?!"

Melinda replied, "My knight in shining armor has captured a stork…"

Chas couldn't believe it. Melinda was pregnant! Although he saw that she had drifted off to sleep, Chas himself couldn't sleep a wink. He knew that being a father had been his lifelong dream, but now, it just seemed all so sudden…

The next day, Chas and Melinda were driving home from their honeymoon cottage to tell all their friends the news. Melinda noticed that Chas was sweating bullets.

"What's the matter, Charles?" she asked.

Chas replied, "Uh… well… I always dreamed of being a father, but…"

"That's okay. Don't be scared. To be honest, I also dreamed of having children since I was a rugrat."

"Wait, what does 'rugrat' even mean?"

"Oh, it's just another word for a small child," Melinda giggled. "What did your dad call you when you were a kid?"

"Slugger," Chas replied sheepishly. "Mom called me her little muffin man. She even had me sleep in a puff pastry crib when I was six months old. I would know because she took a picture of it. I smelled like butter for a week!"

Melinda laughed a little. "Now that I'm pregnant, it's nice to know that you and I are gonna have at least one child of our own. And hey, my father may be comforted by the fact that he's going to be a grandfather."

This got Chas thinking…

After telling his friends the news of his wife's pregnancy, Chas came to Christian's house and said to him, "Mr. Cavanaugh, I'd like to apply for a job."

Christian was confused. "Don't you already have a job?"

"Yes, but the job I'm applying for is the kind of job I've always wanted since I was a kid. This job involves working with children 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and it will last as long as I or the children shall live. And get this, Mr. Cavanaugh, you're the boss."

Christian then smiled and said, "Are you telling me you're going to be a father?"

"Yeah. I've told my parents, I've told my friends, and now, I'm telling you."

"Any work experience?"

"Yes. I have no brothers or sisters, but remember in the summer after your daughter and I completed fourth grade? We got to care for the baby duckling you let us hatch. Back in my college days, Howard and I served as birthday clowns for little children's parties. And recently, Melinda and I have babysat our friend's infant daughter."

Christian then said to Chas, "I'll give you and Melinda a few months. Then, I'll see if you've got the job."

Chas smiled, but at the same time, he was nervous. How would he turn out as a father?

A few months later, in December 1988, Melinda was five months pregnant. At the park, she and Chas were going for a stroll when they came across Drew and Charlotte. While Charlotte was blabbering away on her cell phone as usual, Drew was pushing a stroller with a wailing Angelica, now seven months old.

"So, you and Melinda are finally going to have a baby, huh?" Drew asked Chas. "How do ya feel?"

"I-I-I-I don't know," stammered Chas. "It's the kind of job I always wanted, but at the same time, I'm scared."

"Why?"

"Well, ever since Mimi announced she was pregnant…"

"Mimi? Is that what you're calling Melinda now?"

"Yes. By the way, have you been able to calm Angelica down?"

"Not really," said Drew sheepishly. "She really is a fussy baby."

"I think she wants a cookie," said Melinda. "I remember when she was born and she cried when Didi wouldn't let her have a cookie."

"Yeah, right. I've tried everything to get Angelica to stop crying, and I doubt that cookies would help, 'Mimi'!" Drew using Chas' nickname for Melinda mockingly.

Chas was offended. "Hey! I don't make fun of the way you call Charlotte 'Char'!" he shouted as Drew and Charlotte left with Angelica.

Once they had gotten to the sidewalk, however, Drew and Charlotte noticed that Angelica was eating a cookie—which, unbeknownst to them, she had taken off another kid!

"Well, I'll be!" cried Charlotte. "Angelica's stopped crying now!"

"Well, Melinda was right all along," said Drew. "I should tell her I'm sorry if I doubted her."

And from that moment on, Angelica would love cookies. They would certainly help her with her teething problems…

Several months went by. Chas and Melinda were preparing for their new baby. They decorated a spare room in their house and got a crib made by Chas' father Marvin. They also bought as much Dummi Bears merchandise as they could. Chas wasn't so sure about the Dummi Bears himself, but other parents had told him and Melinda that they were a huge hit with the kids.

Finally, in April of 1989, it was time for the baby shower. Stu, Didi, Drew, Charlotte, Howard, and Betty all arrived to give Chas and Melinda presents for their new baby.

"Are you sure it's going to be a boy?" Didi asked.

"Oh, yes, the doctor is very certain," Chas replied.

"What do you think he'll be when he grows up?" asked Stu.

Chas shrugged sheepishly. "Maybe he'll be a bureaucrat like me someday."

"Either way," said Melinda, "this child will be our baby, and I will love him or her no matter what." She opened Drew's present to reveal a pair of small red shoes. "Oh, these are just perfect! Our baby will love them! Thank you, Drew!"

Drew smiled, then turned to Chas and asked, "So, have you thought of any names?"

Chas shrugged again. "My dad thinks we should name the baby after him, but we might change it once we meet our special little guy."

"What about Jonathan?" asked Charlotte.

But Melinda smiled and shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks, Charlotte. I don't really think that's a good name."

She then asked Drew and Charlotte, "By the way, how's Angelica?"

Charlotte smiled and said, "Great, great! We're already trying to teach her to walk."

On an aside, Stu said to Didi, "Just think, Deed, when we have kids of our own, they could be Angelica's playmates."

And Didi grinned humbly at the thought.

When Melinda saw Howard and Betty at the shower, she cried out, "Howard! Betty! I'm so glad you guys came to our baby shower! I didn't think you cared."

"Well, of course, we do," said Howard.

Betty handed Melinda her present and said, "By the way, we were hoping that your new baby boy would like this."

Melinda opened the present to discover some baseball equipment. "Wow! Thanks, Betty! I hope Charles will be able to play catch with our baby one of these days."

Once the baby shower was over, Chas was taking out the trash when he found Melinda seated at the sewing machine. "Mimi, what are you doing?" he asked.

Melinda replied, "I'm making a teddy bear for the baby. All those gifts our friends gave us are nice, but I want to make something special. There's no better gift than a mother's love."

Chas soon saw that the teddy bear, hand-stitched together, was very soft and fluffy. He said to his wife, "Do you sew often?"

Melinda nodded. "My mom used to sew all the time, from my old baby blankets to the sock monkey she made me for my first birthday."

"I know it's been over twenty years, but do you miss your mom?"

Melinda sighed, "Sometimes… but I know she's watching me from Heaven. She's watching over us, my dad, and the baby."

Chas then embraced his dear wife and cried, "I don't know if I could ever raise the child without you!"

And they both shared a long and tender embrace…

Not long thereafter, on April 15, 1989, just before sunrise, Melinda suddenly woke up with a gasp. Upon hearing this, Chas woke up and asked, "Mimi, what's wrong?"

Melinda gasped, "It's time."

This made Chas very nervous. Frantically, he called Christian on the phone.

Christian woke up, answered the phone, and said drowsily, "Hello…"

"It's time!"

Chas also phoned his parents about the new arrival.

After phoning the hospital, Chas took his wife there as she breathed shakily, seated on a wheelchair. Accompanying him were Marvin, Shirley, and Christian. As soon as Chas had signed himself and Melinda in, a nurse came to the couple and said, "Charles, Melinda, you're right on schedule! How far apart are the pains, dear?"

Melinda was in such pain she squeezed Chas' hand while he was holding hers, so they both screamed at the same time!

The nurse then said, "OK, Melinda, let's go get you settled in."

And the nurse took Melinda down the hallways to the delivery room, with Chas and Christian accompanying her.

As they walked to the delivery room, Chas was so agitated he could hardly breathe. He had to use his inhaler just to catch his breath. What didn't help was what he saw along the way: the simplest cough sounded like a wheeze of death, some people who were staying overnight looked like they had already died. Poor Chas was already squeamish enough at the sight of blood, but seeing it in a hospital nearly made him throw up!

Christian saw that Chas was quivering with terror and said to him, "Calm down, Charles. Your wife's just going to give birth."

In the delivery room, Chas was pacing the floor, nearly sweating blood as he watched Melinda give birth. And once Melinda screamed so loudly that Chas fainted dead away!

Next thing he knew, Christian was saying to him, "Charles, Charles, wake up!"

Chas got up, saying drowsily, "Huh? What? What just happened?"

Christian shouted with joy, "You're hired!"

And Christian revealed to his son-in-law that Melinda, while clearly exhausted from all the labor, was smiling and happy, cradling a newborn baby boy that was swaddled in a blue blanket. "Charles," said Melinda, "would you like to meet our son?"

Chas nodded with a smile.

He saw that his and Melinda's baby boy was as pale as he was, and had inherited his red hair.

"He looks so much like you, Charles," said Melinda. "In fact, I'm naming him after you: Charles Crandall Finster."

"Crandall?" asked Chas. "But my middle name is Norbert."

"Crandall was my mother's maiden name."

Christian sighed wistfully, "Charles Crandall Finster."

"But for short," added Melinda, "we'll call him Chuckie."

"Chuckie Finster," said Chas as tears of joy filled his eyes.

"My little Chuckie…" said Melinda softly as she gently handed her baby boy the bear she had made for him. "This is your bear. He's yours to treasure."

Baby Chuckie put his pudgy arms around the bear just as Marvin and Shirley came in to join Christian as the new grandparents…

Meanwhile, Drew was still trying to teach Angelica, now nearly a year old, how to walk. "Come to Daddy," he said to his little daughter. "Come to Daddy!"

But every time Angelica tried to take her first step, she stumbled and fell on the floor.

"Oh, that's okay," said Drew. "Try again, sweetie."

Angelica tried again, and again stumbled.

"Any luck?" asked Charlotte.

"Nah," said Drew. "I think she's still too little to walk on her own."

Presently, the couple heard a knock on the door. When Drew opened, he saw Chas holding a plate of chocolate cookies!

"Hey, Drew! Guess what?" cried Chas with joy. "I'm a father! I've finally fulfilled my childhood dream! And it's a boy! Have a chocolate cookie!"

As Chas handed him one of the cookies, Drew couldn't help but ask, "Why chocolate cookies?"

Chas replied, "When I was born, my dad handed out cigars to his friends, but since tobacco smoke triggers my asthma, I decided to hand out chocolate cookies to my friends instead."

But once Chas placed the plate of cookies on the table, Angelica saw them. This motivated her to take her first step.

"Look, Drew!" cried Charlotte. "She's walking!"

Drew smiled at the sight of seeing his baby daughter walking, and thinking she was walking towards him, he shouted with joy, "That's it! That's it, cupcake! Come to Daddy! Come to Da…"

But soon, he, Charlotte, and Chas saw that Angelica was walking towards Chas' cookies, not to her father. As Angelica stuffed her face with the cookies, Drew and Charlotte were confused, but Chas was horrified.

"NO!" he screamed as he swiped the plate of cookies from Angelica. "Those cookies are for my friends!"

And Chas stormed out of the house with what few cookies were left from the Angelica ordeal.

April 15, 1989, the day Chuckie Finster was born, was the most joyful day of Charles Finster's life. He and Melinda knew that being parents wasn't going to be easy, but they were sure that, come what may, they would be decent parents and raise Chuckie to adulthood.

Melinda herself made sure that Chuckie spent as much time with her as possible, even as she was tending to her garden. One time, when a butterfly landed on Chuckie's head, Melinda said to him, "It's okay, Chuckie. Don't be scared."

At his mother's calm, warm, reassuring voice, Chuckie wasn't scared of the butterfly. Instead, he clapped with joy as he saw it flutter about…

Enjoy this happy moment while you can. It won't last much longer…