Chapter 8, Mommy is Gone
Chuckie unpauses the video, and returns to telling the story.
Chuckie POV
Ok, so before Phil and Lil were bornded, I told you all about the lastest time my mommy tucked me in at night. Well, sometime later, daddy and I took a trip to the hopcickle. I couldn't quite understand why we were there, since I hadn't been there since I was bornded, but maybe it was something really exciting! Maybe mommy was gonna bring home a little brother or sister for me to play with, so I wouldn't have to be stuck playing with mean old Angelica anymore. When daddy took me into the hopcickle, we passed through many halls, and I heard a lot of noises, some of them were quite scary. Then, we entered a door into what looked like a bedroom with lots of stuff I had never seen before. There was a bed, and my mommy, was lying in the bed.
"We're here sweetheart." Daddy said, as he carried me over to mommy's bed.
My mommy smiled up at me, took my little hand, and squeezed it. Then, my daddy laid me on top of my mommy's tummy. I looked up at my mommy, who smiled, but it didn't look like she was able to smile easily. I hoped nothing was wrong, and that maybe the hopcickle wasn't a place for people to go, when they gotted broked. Then, my mommy stroked my hair, and sang to me.
You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.
You make me happy, when skies are gray.
You'll never know dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take, my sunshine away.
But something sounded different that time when mommy sang it. Her voice was still sweet, but softer, like she was having trouble breathing or something. Then, my mommy's eyes closed.
"Goodbye Chuckie, I love you." Whispered my mommy, as she went to sleep.
Then, this beeping noise I had been hearing since I gotted there, stopped, and my daddy started to cry. He picked me up and hugged me in his arms.
"Your mommy's gone Chuckie." My daddy said in between his sobs.
But I was confused! I looked back over at the bed, to see my mommy, still lying there. She wasn't gone, she was just, asleep. But I was only about one-years-old, and couldn't talk to the grown ups, which I wish I could have at that point, so I could tell my daddy that mommy was going to be ok, she was just asleep, and she'd wake up and everything would be ok.
My daddy and I lefted the room though, and went to another room, where I saw Didi, Betty, and Howard, and two new babies. That had to be those twins I hearded about a while back the firstest time I ate food.
"What's wrong Charles?" Didi asked, as she hugged me and my daddy.
"Melinda's gone Didi." My daddy whispered to Didi.
"Oh Charles, I am so sorry." Said Didi, as she started to cry, giving us another hug.
I still didn't get it, as I looked in the direction of these new twins. A few minutes later, Howard took me from my daddy's arms, and introduced me to the twins.
"Chuckie, this is Phil and Lil." Howard said to me, as he put me down on the bed with Phil and Lil, who proceeded to pull on my hair.
"Ow! Stop that!" I said.
"Hi Chubby." Said Phil.
"Yeah, hi Chubby." Said Lil.
"Uh, guys, it's, Chuckie." I replied.
But Phil and Lil were quite little, and couldn't talk right just yet.
A few days later, we were no longer at the hopcickle, and I was now at Stu and Didi's, with Angelica, Phil and Lil.
"Yucky!" Said Phil and Lil, as they pulled on Angelica's hair and drooled all over her.
"I'm Angelica you icky babies." Angelica snapped.
"Now Angelica, they're littlerer than you and me." I said.
"Quiet Finster." Angelica snapped.
"Ok Angelica." I cried, disappointed that Angelica would never listen to me.
Phil and Lil and I continued to play in the playpen, until their mommy, came to pick us all up.
"Come on kids, time to go to the funeral." Said Betty, as she picked up me, Phil, and Lil, and put us all into strollers.
I didn't know what a funeral was, but I guess I'd soon, be finding out. We gotted there, and it was some big room in a place I didn't recognize. There were lots of flowers around, and people. Some of the people I recognized, like grandma and grandpa, and the mean people that didn't like my daddy cuz he married mommy.
I never mentioned them before, cuz, well, they scareded me, but they were there. But not only were they there, so was my mommy! But wait a second, my mommy was still asleep, and people were kneeling down before her, folding their hands, and walking through a line, coming up to us and crying and stuff. I still didn't understand what was going on, then, it hit me! Mommy was still asleep, and now, everybody was sad she wasn't awake. I had to go wake her up.
"Phil, Lil, I've gots to wake up my mommy and bring her home. I'd have you come with me, but you can't crawl yet, so guess it's gonna be all up to me." I told Phil and Lil with a sigh, as I crawled off towards where my mommy was sleeping.
It wasn't easy, as I had to crawl around lots of grown ups, but I finally made it, to the place where my mommy was sleeping. I climbed in with her, and rested my head on her tummy, just as I had done at the hopcickle a few yesterdays ago. But it was no use, mommy still stayed asleep, so I decided right then, that maybe it was time, for me to take a nappy. So I fell asleep on my mommy, only to be waked up a few minutes later by my grandma.
"No no Chuckie, this isn't a place for you." Said grandma Shirly, as she picked me up from on top of my mommy, who was still sleeping.
I didn't like being taken away from my mommy, nor did I like being waked up before I was ready, so I did the only thing I could do, I cried.
"It's ok little man, I miss her too." Said grandpa Marvin, as he took me from grandma's arms, and gave me a hug.
I didn't understand, but it only got even more confusing, as the day wore on. The nextest place we all went, was a huge room with long benches, and a man wearing robes stood up at the front.
"We are gathered here today, to say goodbye to Melinda Cartright Finster, and as recently found out from one of her doctor's, her unborn child." Said the man in the robes at the frunt of the room.
I couldn't believe it. My mommy was going to get me a little brother or sister, but now, they weren't coming? And where was my mommy? As I didn't see her again after grandma stopped me from taking a nap with her back at the place with all of the prettyful flowers and crying grown ups.
I finally fell asleep, as people talked, music played, and, well, it all got really boring. When I awoke, I was now in my daddy's arms, and we were outside. The wind was blowing, and there was lots of grass and stones around us. Near some of the stones, people had flowers on the ground, but they weren't planted like the flowers in my backyard. They were just, loosely on the ground. I looked around, and saw the man in robes again, and all of the peoples I sawed at the other two places I had been. Bagpipes were playing, and everybody was holding up balloons in their hands.
Then, I saw a huge whole, where they were placing what looked like the thing my mommy was napping in earlier, into the groun, only now, it was closed, and I didn't see mommy no more. Then, some people covered the whole with mud.
"Oooh, mud!" I heard Phil and Lil exclaim several grown ups over, as they too were there, in their mommy's arms.
The nextest thing I knew, we all let go of the balloons we were holding, and the yellow and red balloons, floated up to the sky. Then my daddy, started to cry. I looked around, and couldn't see my mommy anywhere, and so, I started to cry too, and daddy, gave me a hug, as some colorful leaves blew on top of where the people had finished burying that large box.
Several days passed. I didn't see mommy no more, and seems Wahwah, had disappeardid too. I didn't have the heart to ask Angelica to help me look, and Phil and Lil, well, sorry, but they weren't much help at this time. They were only good for tipping themselves over and throwing raddles at my head, or when we were out in the backyard, they'd pick up bugs and worms in the grass, and try to stick them up my nose. No matter, they were my friends, even if they did like to eat worms and I didn't, but they had something I didn't have. They gots a mommy. Then, I overheard the grown ups talking.
End of Chuckie POV
"How are things going?" Charlotte asked, as she had arrived at Stu and Didi's, to pick up Angelica.
"They're ok." Chaz replied with a shrug.
"Hang in there, you'll be better in time. And if you ever need to talk, I'm here. After all, I lost my mom, Cynthia, when I was little too." Said Charlotte, as she put a hand around Chaz's shoulder. Before Chaz could respond, Charlotte's phone rang, and she went off, to speak with her assistant about something work related.
"Hey little guy, ready to go home?" Chaz said, as he picked up Chuckie, and they left Stu and Didi's backyard, where the other adults were talking, and Phil and Lil, continued to stick bugs and grass up one another's noses.
"I just don't get it Stu. Why did Melinda and Kimmy have to die?" Chaz asked.
"She was very sick Chaz, and even if she had been able to make it through the pregnancy of Kimmy, as you've chosen to call it, even though she had only been pregnant for two weeks at the time of her death, there's no telling what might have happened, since she had cancer and was carrying a baby." Explained Stu, as he walked Chaz and Charles around to the driveway where their car was.
"Maybe it was better for her to go sooner than later then, before I had to possibly witness what you and Didi had to go through with…" Chaz said.
Stu, cut him off, as he really didn't want to talk about the subject of his lost child. Didi, was still struggling to get pregnant, and now that practically every friend of her's in the neighborhood had kids, it was getting harder for her to bare being the only woman on the block, without a child.
Chaz then put Chuckie into the car, and they headed for home.
Chuckie POV
After my daddy took me home, we ate dinner together, and he put me to bed. I lay awake for a while, thinking about what had happened over the past several yesterdays. Daddy had to take care of me all by himself now. I didn't have a mommy now, and it suddenly hit me for the firstest time, I would never have a mommy again. And this, caused me to start crying.
My daddy rushed into the room and picked me up out of my crib.
"Chuckie, it's ok. Daddy's here, and he's going to be the best daddy he can be." Said my daddy, as he carried me back to his room, where we curled up together in his bed.
Before I fell asleep, I looked out the window, to see the moon shining in at me, but that's not the bestest part. After I saw the moon, I closed my eyes, knowing I was safe, with my daddy next to me. Upon falling asleep, I had a dream. In the dream, I saw a nice lady wearing a blue dress, who had orange hair, similar to what my mommy use to have before it disappearedid and she went to sleep at that strange indoor place with the flowers all around, that Phil and Lil's mommy called a funeral. We were in a big field, and there were flowers and lots of grass around us. Then a butterfly flew in front of me.
"It's ok Chuckie, don't be scared." Said the nice lady, as she held me, and the butterfly, landed on my nose.
It was after that I waked up, and for the firstest time, I realized, who that lady had to be. She was my mommy! Yeah, mommy must just, be a dream. So maybe I don't gots a mommy, and maybe I'll never understand why I don't gots one, but maybe having one in my dreams, would have to do for now.
End of Chuckie POV
At this point, Chuckie paused the video, and was now crying. Tommy walked up to him.
"Here Chuckie, use my shirt as a hanky." Tommy said.
"Thanks Tommy." Chuckie said in between sniffles, as he blew his nose on Tommy's shirt.
"Hey, that's what bestest friends are for. After all, you let me use your shirt back when Spike forgotted all about me, and ran away from home." Said Tommy.
"You mean right before Fifi had puppies?" Chuckie asked, smiling a little, trying to shrug off the awful memories he had to just witness during this video trip down memory lane.
Tommy nodded and gave him a hug.
"And don't forget Chuckie, you've gots me and a mommy now." Said Kimi with a smile, as she came down, and joined in the hug.
"She's right Chuckie." Said Zack, as he too came and joined in the group hug.
"So, what else happened?" Jesse asked.
"We'll continue in a minute Jesse, can't we have a moment?" Chuckie asked, a bit annoyed at Jesse, for making him rush through his emotional moment, that the current portion of the video, had left on him.
And this, ends chapter 8. What will happen in chapter 9? Well you'll just have to wait, and find out, next time.
Author's Note: So, a lot revealed in that chapter. Angelica's grandmother died when her mommy Charlotte was a child, and, Charlotte's mom shared the same name as Angelica's Cynthia doll. And interesting how Melinda was just barely pregnant at the time of her death. Once again, two OC's that were either already dead, or died in our story. And yes, I decided to call the unborn child Kimmy, but as you can see, it's spelled differently for obvious reasons. And Melinda, I wasn't sure of her madon name, so I decided to use Cartright, as I recall somebody named Nancy Cartright, playing the voice of Chuckie on Rugrats and AGU. And finally, I hope you enjoyed my attempt to tell the story of Melinda's death, from Chuckie's POV, and in the view that a one-year-old child, who has never experienced death before, might view the situation. Let me know what you thought of this chapter, and, I'll be back, sometime soon.