Unlike Charles Finster, Andrew Pickles learned how to tie his shoes when he was in kindergarten.
As he was getting ready to go to school one day, Drew grabbed the laces of his shoes and tied them all by himself. Drew was so overjoyed he ran for his parents, shouting, "Mom! Pop! I did it! I did it!"
At that moment, Chas' own parents, Marvin and Shirley, dropped him off.
"There's your little friend Stu," said Shirley. "Why don't you go play with him?"
Upon seeing Stu playing with his red blanket, Chas replied, "Okay, mommy."
But as Chas walked towards Stu, he tripped and fell on his shoelaces, which hadn't been tied.
"Oh, yeah," said Marvin. "I should have known we were missing something."
"Better tie those shoelaces," said Shirley.
Chas sighed, "Thanks, mom."
But Lou and Trixie came along, and Lou said to Marvin and Shirley, "Glad you two came along. Trixie and I need Shirley's help making a mushroom frittata for the barbeque tonight."
"Barbeque? Great!" shouted Marvin, who always had a real hankering for barbeques.
"Oh, well," sighed Shirley as Chas walked towards Stu.
Once Chas got to Stu, however, Drew rushed in with newly-tied shoes. "Hey, Finthter!" he cried to Chas. "You'll never gueth what I learned to do! Watch!"
And with that, Drew grabbed Chas' shoelaces and tied them up. Once Drew was done, Chas looked down to see that his shoes were tied.
"Am I great or what?" said Drew confidently.
"Wow!" gasped Chas. "Where did you learn to tie shoes?"
"I gueth it jutht cometh naturally," Drew replied.
"Then how come I can't tie my own shoes yet?"
"You'll learn," said Drew. "Bethideth, that'th not all I can tie."
And Drew grabbed Stu's blanket away from him and tied it up, much to Stu's displeasure.
"Hey! That's my blanket!" cried Stu.
But Drew didn't care. Instead, he cackled, "I was born to tie! More! More!"
And he ran upstairs to his parent's bedroom to tie more things.
As soon as Drew had left, Stu untied his own blanket.
"Glad that's over with," sighed Chas with relief.
But soon, Shirley entered and said, "Okay, Charles. Mommy can tie your shoelaces now."
Presently, she saw that Chas' shoelaces were already tied. "That's strange. They're already tied. But… your father, and Stu and Drew's parents are all outside in the yard. That can only mean… Charles, you must have done this yourself!"
"But, mom, I…"
Chas tried to explain how Drew had tied his shoes for him, but before he could say anything, Shirley embraced him and said, "Give me a hug, Charles! I'm so proud of you! I can't wait for your father to see you tie your shoes!"
And Shirley left to tell Marvin.
When Stu saw that Chas was feeling bad, Stu asked, "What's the matter, Chas?"
Chas replied, "My mom's proud of me for something I didn't even do!"
"Don't worry, Chas. It's the hug that counts."
"But she said she was gonna show my dad! That means she's gonna want to see me tie my shoes!"
"Well, they're already tied, right? So, all you gotta do is make sure they don't come untied."
"Well, if you say so…"
Needless to say, this was easier said than done. No sooner had Chas begun to walk around than he tripped onto the floor, and his shoelace went undone.
Chas screamed, "It's untied!"
Upstairs, in Lou and Trixie's bedroom, Drew had tied everything in sight—not only shoes, but also curtains, bedsheets, and even the lamp string.
"Wow!" he cried. "I never knew there wath tho much that needed tying!"
It was then when Stu and Chas approached Drew.
"Hey, Drew," said Stu. "Could you tie something for us?"
Drew replied, "What'th in it for me?"
Chas answered, "Um, a warm, fuzzy feeling for helping a friend in need?"
"No, I need thomething to eat before I get to work…" Drew looked outside the window to see that Shirley and Trixie had baked a blueberry pie. "Like that pie!"
"I should have known this wasn't gonna be easy," sighed Chas.
It certainly wouldn't be easy for five-year-olds, but Stu had just turned four years old, and he was better able to enter the yard, grab the blueberry pie, and escape undetected.
As Drew was eating the pie, Chas said, "Okay, Drew. You got the pie you wanted. Now, hurry! You gotta tie my shoes before my mom and dad get here!"
"Hey! I'm eatin' here! Hold your hortheth!" said Drew.
Presently, Marvin and Shirley entered with Lou and Trixie.
"Charles," said Shirley. "Everyone came to see you tie your shoes."
"E-e-e-everyone?" stammered Chas. And he screamed as he hid under the couch.
"Shirley, are you sure he already knows how to tie his shoes?" asked Marvin.
Shirley replied, "Wait 'till you see." Then she said to Chas, "Come on out, Charles."
"Uh-uh," groaned Chas.
"Just think, Marvin," said Shirley. "If he knows how to tie his shoes at a third-grade level, he could be doing algebra by the time he's in fourth grade!"
"Wow!" gasped Marvin.
"Do you think he could go into TV?" asked Lou. "The producers love adorably precocious children."
"TV?" asked Chas nervously.
"TV?" Drew asked himself. "Hey, I wanna be on TV!"
AS Chas got up from the couch, he tried to explain himself, "Look, guys. I know where you're going, but the truth is…"
"WAIT!" cried Drew. "It'th me! It'th me! I was the one who tied Finthter'th shoeth!"
Marvin and Shirley were confused, so Lou and Trixie had to explain it to them. "It's true," said Trixie. "Drew is the one who knows how to tie his own shoes."
"He's been tying everything in sight!" added Lou.
"So, I guess I'm not going on TV after all," sighed Chas.
"Nope!" cried Drew. "I am!"
"Well, then," said Lou as he untied Drew's shoelaces. "Why don't you tie your shoelaces in front of us right now?"
Drew looked around. Now, he himself got so nervous that he kept messing up at tying his shoes.
As for Chas, he was very sad, and he said to Shirley, "Oh, mom! I want to know how to tie my shoes!"
Shirley smiled and said, "Don't worry, Charles. There's lots of other things you're good at. You've got lots of time to learn how to tie your shoes, and I'll still love you, because I'm your mommy, even if you never learn how to tie your shoes."
Eventually, though, Charles Finster would learn to tie his own shoes, the last kid in his first-grade class to do so.