Melinda was born a farmer's daughter in 1957, and Charles has known her since fourth grade. After spending their school years as good friends, Charles and Melinda reunited in 1985 and got married in 1988. But now that Melinda has been diagnosed with leukemia, it looks like their marriage will be cut short. Will Melinda pull through… or not?

Let's face it. You saw it coming. And so, I took heavy inspiration from the final act of Puccini's "La Bohême."

While she was in the hospital, Melinda's favorite pastime was writing in her diary. In it, she wrote all about her life story and her inner thoughts…

Mrs. Melinda Finster was born Melinda Cavanaugh, the daughter of a farmer and his wife, on September 13, 1957. With the help of her parents, she often raised the farm animals she grew up with, so they looked up to her as though she were their mother. Years later, in 1966, Mrs. Cavanaugh became very sick with leukemia, which meant Melinda and her father had to move into the city. There, Melinda met new human friends, but there was none she liked more than Charles "Chas" Finster, a shy, awkward boy who was just her age. As she grew up, so did her affection for Chas and vice versa. But it wasn't until 1988 when they finally got married, and a year later, they had a son: Charles Crandall "Chuckie" Finster.

But now, in 1990, poor Melinda was about to lose her own battle with leukemia. She knew that her father had been so grief-stricken upon the death of her mother that he never married again. She hoped that the same wouldn't be the case with Chas, for Chuckie needed a mother, and she knew it.

On July 12, 1990, Melinda wrote what was to be her last diary entry: a poem for her son Chuckie to read when he got older. It went like this:

"My sweet, little Chuckie, though I must leave you behind me.
This poem will tell you where you always can find me.
When a gentle wind blows, that's my hand on your face.
And when the tree gives you shade, that's my sheltering embrace.
When the sun gives you freckles, that's me tickling my boy.
When the rain wets your hair, those are my tears of joy.
When the long grass enfolds you, that's me holding you tight.
When the whippoorwill sings, that's me whispering, 'Night, night.'"

July 12, 1990. Chas would remember it all too well. It started out like a normal day: Chas driving his son Chuckie to Stu Pickles' residence to drop him off. At the same time, though, he was worried about Melinda. He had hoped that she would pull through, but she was only looking weaker every day. The last time he saw her, she looked even paler than he would on a good day!

As soon as Chas had put Chuckie in the playpen that Stu and Didi had made for Tommy, he came to Lou, who was sleeping in the armchair, and woke him up.

"Huh? Huh? I'm awake! I'm awake!" cried Lou as he woke up with a start. Then, he noticed Chas and said, "Oh, Charles. It's you."

"Lou," said Chas. "I've been meaning to ask you: my wife is sick in the hospital, and she could be dying. What's it like to be a widower?"

Lou replied, with a solemn look on his face, "Losing the woman you love is a very severe loss. You may not even think about it while she's still alive, but once she becomes deathly ill, you get very agitated! And when she finally croaks, you just completely lose it!"

Chas gulped as Lou continued, "Without your beloved wife by your side, you feel extremely lonely. Sometimes, you even cry your eyes out, especially at her funeral."

Chas stammered, "H-h-how long does it take a widower to recover from his loss?"

Lou answered, "That depends on the man. Some recover fairly quickly, within a month or so. Others take considerably longer. A year, two years, five years, or maybe even fifteen years. But then there are those who never recover at all…"

"Yeah, take my father-in-law, for example."

"I've also heard about some widowers who died of despair following the deaths of their wives! It hasn't happened to me so far, but sometimes, I wonder when death will ever knock on my door…"

This made Chas very anxious, and he cried out, "Oh, no! I don't wanna die! If my Mimi dies and I must follow her to the grave, then poor Chuckie won't have any parents to look after him! And he's only a year old! Who will take care of him?!"

But soon, he saw that Lou had nodded off and fallen asleep again.

Chas sighed, "I'm gonna need some levity…" And he went to the backyard where Stu was turning on the garden hose to water his and Didi's garden plants.

When he saw Chas in the backyard, he said, "Oh, hi, Chas."

"Hey, Stu," said Chas. "I hear your son's coming along nicely."

"Yes," said Didi. "In fact, the doctors say that Tommy will pull through in a month or so."

Chas sighed, "I sure wish I could say the same for my wife."

Stu then said, "Come on, Chas. Let's have some fun. Howard, Drew, and their wives are coming very soon. My in-laws should be coming too."

Presently, into the backyard came Howard, Betty, Drew, Charlotte, Boris, and Minka. Charlotte was again blabbing into her cell phone: "Oh, you won't believe what games my brother-in-law has in store for my husband and his friends, Jonathan! They're planning a dance routine with us, their wives, and then, they're going to have a mock duel."

Betty shouted, "Here we are, guys!"

Carrying a paper sack full of bread rolls, Howard added, "We brought some bread rolls for us to enjoy."

"And some gefilte fish!" cried Boris as he lifted a container full of gefilte fish.

"It's homemade, too," said Minka.

Chas turned to Drew and said, "Hey, Drew. How's your daughter coming along?"

Drew smiled and said, "Angelica's doing great! She's only two, but she's already starting to speak with a wide range of words! Her favorite words: 'cookie,' 'mommy,' 'daddy,' and, my own nickname for her, 'princess.'"

"Wow! That's sweet!" sighed Chas.

"Come on, guys!" cried Stu. "Dinner's on the table!"

And as the men and women seated themselves at the table with the bread rolls, herring, and water, they imagined that they were in a royal palace in 17th-century France.

Chas said to Drew, "Which do you choose, Baron Andrew, trout or salmon?"

Drew said to Howard and Betty, "Duke Howard, Duchess Elizabeth, how about some ox-tongue?"

"No, thanks," said Howard. "That's too fattening. Besides, I'm still full from eating gefilte fish."

"Come on, Howie!" shouted Betty. "Where's the fun in avoiding the food? I'll have the ox-tongue!"

And they ate the food as much as they could…

Later, once they had eaten their fill, the men and women were ready for the dance routine.

"So, it shall be a dance with a vinyl record for accompaniment?" asked Howard.

"Sure!" cried Betty. "What else did you think it would be?"

"I suggest the gavotte!" said Stu.

"How about a minuet?" asked Drew.

"Or a pavane?" asked Chas.

"I know!" cried Boris. "The hora!"

Minka had to stifle her laughter. Then she said, "I even brought a record to accompany our dancing."

And she placed the record on the record player and played it. The singers on the record sang:

"Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Hava nagila ve-nismeḥa
Hava nagila
Hava nagila
Hava nagila ve-nismeḥa
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah ve-nismeḥa
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah
Hava neranenah ve-nismeḥa…"

And during the song, Chas, Drew, Charlotte, Stu, Didi, Howard, Betty, Boris, and Minka got together in a circle and danced around and around.

Suddenly, they heard a girlish scream from Stu. This caused the record to stop abruptly, with a screech.

"You stepped on my foot, you clumsy ox!" cried Stu.

Drew replied, "Me? You're the one with the boorish manners!"

"Are you provoking me? Then, draw your sword!"

"All right! Lay on! I'm ready to taste your blood!"

"One of us will go down, and it's not gonna be me!"

"Let's have a stretcher ready!"

"How about a grave or two?"

And so, the Pickles brothers began to wrestle with each other across the grassy lawn.

Chas, Howard, and Betty all laughed together.

"Looks like in the days since grade school, some things never change!"

Chas grabbed a stick and, using it like a microphone, he announced, "Hello, and welcome to the Sports Channel! I'm Chas Finster, and with me are that husband-and-wife team, Howard and Betty DeVille! So, Howard, Betty, what's the outlook of this wrestling match?"

"Well, it's just that…" Howard began to say.

But Betty interrupted, "I'm sure they'll both be fine! Lou told us that these two contestants, Stu and Drew, have been arguing since they were babies!"

"I know," sighed Chas. "I saw one of their arguments when I was only two. But let's hope they don't get into any trouble."

On the sidelines, Didi whispered to Charlotte, "Why don't we check on the kids while our husbands are at it?"

And the two women went inside to check on Chuckie and Angelica.

Meanwhile, Boris and Minka were watching as Boris shouted, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"Boris!" cried Minka with indignation. "Why are you encouraging them?"

"Come on, Minka. In the old country, I used to wrestle with the other boys from the time when I was very little. This came in handy whenever I had to deal with bullies."

Back in the stand, Chas, Howard, and Betty saw Stu stuffing Drew's mouth with grass. Stu cried out, "Eat grass, Drew!"

Drew spat out the grass. Enraged, he shoved Stu so hard they both fell into a nearby mud puddle.

"Whoa! Mud everywhere, Chas!" shouted Betty.

"What a mess, Betty!" cried Chas.

But Howard tried to keep to himself as he saw the Pickles brothers continuing to wrestle.

Both Stu and Drew were already covered with mud when Drew started to shove Stu's face into the mud, shouting, "Grovel, Stu! Grovel shamelessly and give up!"

Stu lifted his face from the mud, screaming, "Never!"

This made Drew shove Stu into the mud some more.

But then, Charlotte could be heard calling out: "Drew!"

"Charlotte?!" cried Drew as he got up from the mud.

Stu also lifted himself from the mud as he and Drew came to their respective wives.

Didi cried out, "You boys need to get yourselves cleaned up! The hospital called."

"The hospital?" gasped Chas.

"Yes," said Charlotte. "It's Melinda! She's extremely ill."

"How is she?"

"The doctor said she might die before the day's over."

With an agonized scream, Chas fainted…

Later, after Stu and Drew had gotten themselves cleaned up, they accompanied Chas, Howard, Betty, Didi, Charlotte, Boris, and Minka to the hospital, having left Lou to babysit Chuckie and Angelica.

As they were walking down the hallways, Charlotte told her friends everything, "I heard from the doctor that Melinda is dying. Where was she? I asked the doctor if I could talk to her. The doctor said yes, so I was connected to Melinda. She said, 'I can't last much longer. I can sense that I'm dying… But I want to die with Charles by my side… Perhaps he wants to see me again… Please bring him to me, Charlotte…'"

And once they entered Melinda's hospital room, Melinda saw Chas among them and smiled, saying softly, "I feel much better now… Let me look around. How wonderful it is here. I'll recover… I will… I feel like I've been brought back to life. Charles, my prince, you're not going to leave me…"

"Mimi, your beloved lips still speak to me again," Chas said with a smile. But he was really doing his best to hold back his tears, because he had been told that Melinda would be lucky to live another day.

As Chas approached Melinda, Charlotte whispered to her own husband, "Did you bring anything, Drew?"

"Nothing," sighed Drew sadly.

"What? No soup or coffee?"

"No…"

As Betty stared at the woman in her deathbed, tears streamed down her face. "I think she'll be dead within half an hour!" she sobbed. "Hold me, Howie!"

And Howard tried his best to hold Betty, who was so much stronger than he.

As Melinda looked around and saw everyone trying to maintain their composure, she said, "Hello, Drew, Charlotte, Howard, Betty, Stu, Didi, Boris, Minka… All of you are here, smiling at me."

Chas shushed her gently, "Don't speak. You'll tire yourself."

"I'm used to this, Charles. I'll speak softly. Don't be afraid." Melinda then turned to Drew and whispered, "Believe me, Drew; Charlotte is a good woman. She is the mother of your child, whom you are to raise well."

Two tears rolled down Drew's cheeks and his voice quavered a little as he murmured, "She's right, Charlotte."

Charlotte herself tearfully replied, "And this may be the last thing Melinda will ever say of me."

Both Drew and Charlotte were so upset they had to leave the room to pray in the hospital chapel.

Soon, Boris noticed that Minka was also crying. "Minka, Minka," he said soothingly. "It's all right. We'll go to the synagogue to pray for her and for our little grandson Tommy."

And the old Jewish couple, still uncertain about the future, left the room for the hospital synagogue.

Stu also left the room, but to see Tommy, who was still in the incubator.

It was then when Didi said to her best friend, "You know, Betty, our methods may possibly differ, but let's perform two kindly acts with our husbands. Stu and I will watch over Tommy, while you and Howard should leave Chas and Melinda to themselves."

Betty replied with a sad smile, "You're right, Deed. Howie and I will go."

And so, Didi, Howard, and Betty left the room, Betty waving a last goodbye to Melinda.

As Chas gazed into Melinda's eyes, he imagined that they were back in the Belle-Époque garret, Chas as Rodolfo and Melinda as Mimi.

Melinda gazed up at Chas and sang:

"Sono andati? Fingevo di dormire
perché volli con te sola restare.
Ho tante cose che ti voglio dire,
o una sola ma grande come il mare,
come il mare profonda ed infinita…
Sei il mio amor… e tutta la mia vita.
Sei il mio amor… e tutta la mia vita."

Chas joyfully sang as he embraced her:

"Ah Mimì, mia bella Mimì!"

Melinda: "Son bella ancora?"

Chas: "Bella come un'aurora."

Melinda: "Hai sbagliato il raffronto.
Volevi dir: bella
come un tramonto.
'Mi chiamano Mimì…
Mi chiamano Mimì…
il perché non so.'"

Chas: "Tornò al nido la rondine e cinguetta."

He then took a pink bonnet from his bosom and placed it in Melinda's hands. Joyfully, Melinda cried out:

"La mia cuffietta!
La mia cuffietta!
Ah! te lo rammenti
quando sono entrata
la prima volta là?"

Chas: "Se lo rammento!"

Melinda: "Il lume s'era spento."

Chas: "Eri tanto turbata.
Poi smarristi la chiave…"

Yes, Chas and Melinda could remember the time when they got lost in the corn maze five years earlier.

Melinda: "E a cercarla tastoni ti sei messo!"

Chas: "E cerca, cerca…"

Melinda: "Mio bel signorino,
posso ben dirlo adesso,
lei la trovò assai presto."

Melinda knew that he had found the exit soon enough.

Chas smiled and sighed: "Aiutavo il destino."

Melinda: "Era buio e il mio rossor
non si vedeva…
'Che gelida manina…
Se la lasci riscaldar…'
Era buio e la man
tu mi prendevi…"

Melinda knew that Chas had been caught up in his own world and couldn't see her blushing…

But Chas was snapped back into reality when Melinda began to cough again.

"Mimi, what's wrong?" he asked with more than a hint of alarm.

Betty entered and cried out, "Sufferin' sassafras! What's going on?!"

"Nothing, Betty," sighed Melinda. "I'm just fine."

"Please don't talk," said Chas as he gently stroked her.

Melinda replied, "Okay, forgive me, Charles. I'll be good."

When Howard entered, he took pity on the sight and buried his face in Betty's chest, as if to weep quietly.

Howard was quickly followed by Drew, Charlotte, Stu, and Didi.

"How is she?" asked Charlotte.

Chas replied, "She's resting."

Drew added, "I'm sure the doctor will come to check on her."

"Well, he'd better hurry," said Stu, not angrily, as he handed Charlotte his red blanket.

This conversation made Melinda open her eyes, and she asked, "Who's talking?"

"It's only me, Charlotte," said Charlotte as she placed Stu's blanket on Melinda.

Melinda quickly felt the blanket's warmth and sighed, "Oh, how lovely and soft it is. Now, I'll no longer feel so cold. This blanket shall make me warm." She turned to Chas and said, "Tell Stu that I say 'thank you.'"

Upon hearing this, poor Chas burst into tears, for he knew she was going to die.

When Melinda saw this, she said to him calmly, "There, there. Don't cry. I'm feeling better. Why are you crying? I'll always be with you, Charles. I'm feeling… much warmer… now, let me sleep, Charles…"

And with those words, Melinda closed her eyes.

While Melinda was sleeping, Chas came to Stu and said to him, "Hey, Stu, maybe I should do something for Melinda. You gave her your blanket, so I should get her a bouquet."

Stu smiled and said, "You know, Chas, that sounds like a good idea."

And so Stu and Chas went to the florist's shop while the others gathered around her.

"Do you think she's going to be okay, Betty?" asked Didi.

"I don't know, Deed," sighed Betty.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was praying for Melinda: "Lord, be merciful to this poor young woman who doesn't deserve to die. Grant her peace. I know I'm unworthy of forgiveness, but Melinda is an angel come down from heaven."

Drew said to Charlotte, "You know, Char, Chas still has hope for Melinda. He's getting her a bouquet of flowers. Do you think her leukemia is serious?"

"I don't know," sighed Charlotte.

At that moment, however, Betty approached the bed and saw Melinda's electrocardiogram flatline. She whispered in a voice hoarse from tears, "Howard, she's dead."

And Howard whispered in a choked voice, "Drew, Melinda's dead."

Howard, Betty, and Drew became very sad upon finding this out. When Didi and Charlotte caught on, they too were upset, and they all began to weep.

Meanwhile, Chas had bought a bouquet of flowers for Melinda, so he and Stu were on their way back to Melinda's room when they caught up with Boris and Minka.

"How's your wife?" Boris asked Chas.

Chas replied, "Last time I saw her she was sleeping like a baby."

Once the four entered the room, Chas added, showing Melinda to the other three, "See now? She's resting peacefully. Her eyes closed in sleep, her lips smiling as if she were having a sweet dream…"

But as Chas spoke, Didi approached Stu and showed him that Melinda had died. Stu started weeping with Didi as he hugged her.

Soon, Boris and Minka found out, and even they were in tears as well.

"You see?" But once Chas had stopped talking, he noticed that everyone in the room was weeping. First confused, then concerned, Chas approached Melinda and asked the others, "What's the matter? Why are all of you crying? Why can't Mimi wake up?!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Drew grabbed Chas and sobbed, "Be brave for your son, Chas! Be brave for your son!"

Finally, Chas cried out, "Melinda? Melinda?! MELINDA!"

But his beloved wife was no longer with him. As the fortissimo chords that announced Mimi's death to her beloved Rodolfo pounded in his mind, Chas collapsed in an agony of tears on top of Melinda's bed. Great sobs racked his skinny frame as the others tried in vain to comfort him. By the time Stu removed him from the bed, Chas' eyes were red and puffy from weeping, and his nose was running dreadfully. He looked absolutely wretched, but who could blame him? Chas was so utterly devastated by the loss of his beloved wife Melinda that he was beyond caring whether or not his crying made him look and sound undignified!

July 12, 1990, the day Melinda Cavanaugh-Finster died, was the most sorrowful day of Charles Finster's life.