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Molly was at her wits end. She had her three eldest seated around the dining room table, trying to get through their lessons while the twins slept. Her eldest, Bill, was focused on his mathematics lesson, thankfully able to work fairly independently. And Percy, her four-year-old, was working diligently on tracing his letters. Molly struggled sometimes to keep challenging Percy, as he picked up concepts very quickly. Her real challenge when it came to teaching, however, was with her second eldest. Charlie was seven years old and currently trying to sound out a short sentence about a cat. Reading had not clicked for him like it had for Bill. And Percy was already passing up his older brother in that area as well. Molly had a chalkboard that she was writing the words on, one at a time, to help Charlie sound them out.
“Charlie, what is this word? You know this one. You got it down yesterday, remember?” Charlie stared at the word, blowing his hair out of his eyes.
“I don’t know.”
“Sweetheart, you do know. You read it yesterday. Here, I’ll give you the first sound.” Charlie put his forehead on the table. “Charlie, head up, please. Here, the first sound is Ssss.”
Charlie picked up his head and looked again at the word. “I don’t know.”
“Sit!” a bright little voice piped up. Molly sighed and looked at Percy.
“Yes, Percy. It says sit. This is Charlie’s lesson, though. Try to focus on your letters.” Molly smiled at the four-year-old who beamed back at her.
“Sit,” Charlie whispered. The look in his eyes told Molly that he was aware that he had just been bested by his little brother. Bill often corrected Charlie or answered for him. But recently, Percy had been doing the same things, and it definitely seemed to be bothering him. Molly could understand why. It’s one thing to be corrected by your older sibling, but of course it would tick him off to be corrected by someone nearly four years younger than he was.
“Great job, Charlie! I knew you could get it! What about the next word?” She pointed to the next word, on.
Charlie didn’t even look. He just slumped down in his chair and slid onto the floor. Molly’s heart was breaking for her sweet boy. Every single day he seemed more and more discouraged. And his little spirit was wilting. She didn’t know how to help him, and that killed her.
“Charlie, sweetheart, please sit back in your chair. After this page you can go play outside. You’ve been working so hard!”
“I don’t know!” he growled. Molly moved on, hoping Charlie would sit back in his chair if she just left him alone for a moment.
She was going over some of the mathematics questions with Bill on the chalk board when the table started to shake. She sighed and leaned down to look under the table.
Charlie was laying on his back, kicking the leg of the table at a steady pace. She could hear him repeating his current favorite phrase of ‘I don’t know.’ She reached down to interrupt his pattern by putting her hand between his foot and the table leg. When Charlie’s foot hit her hand he snapped out of his trance and looked at her.
“It’s time to sit back in your chair now. You had a little break but now you need to finish this sentence.” He shook his head and rolled onto his stomach and crawled to the other end of the table, putting his feet up onto Bill’s chair. Bill pushed his feet off of the chair and Charlie put them right back up.
“Stoppp, Charlie!” Bill whined, shoving Charlie’s feet harder. When Charlie continued this game, Molly’d finally had enough.
“Charlie, leave your brother alone. Go outside and watch for your father, please. And don’t even think about going past the gate.” She knew she’d played right into Charlie’s hand. She knew he got what he wanted, which was to get out of schoolwork and go outside. But at this point she could not dwell on that. She needed to give some attention to his brothers and knew that if she pushed him much harder he’d break down which would spoil the rest of his day, and honestly hers as well. She would just try to work in some lessons for him over the weekend.
Charlie crawled out from under the table and walked out the back door, making sure to bump into both Percy’s and Bill’s chairs on his way out.
Molly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before shaking it off and turning her attention to Bill and Percy.
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With a pop of apparition, Arthur arrived home to find Charlie sitting on the back steps, rocking forwards and backwards. Seven years of knowing his son taught Arthur that the rocking indicated one of two things. Charlie was either happy and excited or frustrated and about to break. As Arthur walked closer he saw that this was unfortunately the latter type of rocking. Charlie was chewing on his fingers and his brow was knitted together.
Once Charlie noticed his father approaching he leapt up and lunged at him, Arthur just barely able to brace himself for the impact. Charlie clung onto Arthur while Arthur waddled forward to place his briefcase on the step Charlie had just vacated.
“I missed you too, Charlie,” Arthur said, laughing. “Where are your brothers?”
Charlie held onto his father’s hand and flung himself backwards, legs wrapped around his waist, long hair brushing the ground. “Table for school.” Charlie reached his arms to the ground before unhooking his legs and tumbling into the grass.
“Ah,” Arthur replied. So Molly had started up their lessons then. That would explain why she had been so exhausted yesterday. Arthur snuck a peek in the open door to see his wife and children sitting at the table. Charlie asked Arthur again to pick him up, and Arthur obliged.
He hefted Charlie up onto his hip and held his hands as Charlie flung himself backwards, dangling upside down. Arthur let go of his hands and held his legs as Charlie crumpled against the grass again, laughing. Arthur then gripped his ankles and lifted him back up, beginning to spin him as quickly as he could without making himself ill. This was one of Charlie’s absolute favorite activities, though he was becoming too big for it. Bill always called it “Charlie-throwing” because the move was similar to gnome-throwing, except for the actual throwing bit. Charlie would probably love that, though.
“All done,” Arthur huffed out after a few minutes, lowering Charlie to the ground tiredly. “Come on, let’s go see what’s for dinner.” Charlie got to his feet and ran inside. Arthur paused for a minute to catch his breath, hands on his hips and smiling at his boy.
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Somehow, Molly had managed to prepare a lovely stew for dinner while also teaching Bill multiplication and Percy to write his name. When Charlie ran into the kitchen, Molly smiled at him.
“Is your father home?” She asked.
“Dad’s home. I’m hungry.”
Arthur strode in behind Charlie a few moments later. “Hello, love.” He kissed Molly on the cheek. He then greeted Bill and Percy, complimenting the schoolwork they were packing up. “You guys have been working hard this afternoon! How are lessons going so far? I didn’t realize you had started them up again.”
Bill launched into an explanation of what he’d been learning, and Percy added in some details. Charlie didn’t contribute anything to the discussion, and while it was normal for him to be quiet, Arthur could tell something was off. The rocking he’d seen when he walked up was gaining some context. He changed the subject from school. He knew that Charlie and schoolwork had never really meshed. Molly had struggled year after year getting him to participate in lessons.
Molly had gone upstairs to wake up the twins. She set them in their high chairs and placed some chunks from the stew on the trays in front of them. They immediately grabbed at them and began eating. When everyone had food in front of them they dug in. Charlie took a bite but spit it back out, shaking his head.
“What’s wrong, dear? Did you burn your mouth?”
“No. Can I have toast?”
“Maybe after you eat some more of your stew. You can’t survive off of toast forever, Charlie. Try some of the beef.”
Charlie picked up his spoon again but put it back down. “I can’t. I don’t like it.”
Looks like they’d be adding beef stew to the list of foods Charlie wouldn’t eat. There were foods Bill and Percy absolutely hated, but for Charlie it was different. He would gag and throw up when faced with those foods, whereas the other boys would just pull dramatic faces. Porridge, beans, and custard were the big foods on the list of things Charlie wouldn’t eat. And stew, apparently.
“Can you please try one bite? Just some of the broth, at least,” Molly asked, really hoping he’d change his mind.
Charlie shook his head harder. “No! I don’t like it!” he yelled. Before Molly could respond, Charlie shoved the bowl away, spilling on himself and the table, as well as a little bit on Percy.
“Hey!” Percy said, glaring at his older brother. “You made a mess. That’s naughty.” Charlie looked at Percy and kicked him under the table.
“Mum, Charlie kicked me!”
“Percy, just scoot over. And don’t boss your brother around. Your mother and I can handle it,” Arthur said. He handed Charlie a rag. “Charlie, clean yourself up. And clean the table.”
Charlie put the rag on the table and started to brush the chunks of stew off of himself. His sleeves were soaked. Just touching the food was making him gag. Arthur helped him finish cleaning up and helped him peel off his shirt.
“Can I have toast?” he asked. Molly closed her eyes.
“Not until this table is clean. Bill, Percy, if you’re finished you can go play outside for a little bit before bedtime.”
Charlie kicked Percy again when he stood up. Percy started to complain but Arthur ushered him out of the room with a quick apology.
Charlie watched his brother leave, looking back at his father. “I want to play.”
“Well, if you throw your food you don’t get to play. Look at this mess, Charlie!” Molly was upset. And Charlie was starting to cry. He bit his lip and wrinkled his nose. “I’m going to put the twins in the living room,” Molly said, picking up the boys and sweeping out of the room.
Arthur stood back and watched Charlie. He was breathing heavily, moving the rag violently across the table. “Son, I think you should apologize to your mother. It’s not okay to throw food. You know that, Charlie.” Arthur wasn’t sure he’d heard him but then Charlie flung the rag at the wall and threw himself onto the floor.
He screamed and kicked the table hard enough to send the other dishes rocking. Arthur quickly magicked the dishes into the sink before looking back at his son. He was laying on his back and banging his fists against his head, continuing to kick the table. “Charlie, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.” Arthur squatted down to grab Charlie’s hands but Charlie flailed and almost knocked Arthur over.
Arthur sighed and sat on the floor beside Charlie, giving him just enough space that he’d still be able to intervene if Charlie was going to seriously hurt himself. They’d been in this spot many times before. It devastated Arthur that he couldn’t do anything to help in these moments. He just hoped his presence was comforting while Charlie worked through it.
A quarter of an hour later, Charlie had quieted and stilled slightly. “Feel a little better?” he asked. Charlie didn’t respond but also didn’t start to escalate again. “Why don’t you and I find you a clean shirt to wear.” He reached for Charlie’s hand. Charlie sat up but didn’t move away from the table. “Come on, son. You need to get off the floor now.” Arthur urged. Charlie finally crawled out from under the table.
Once Charlie was cleaned up and in his pajamas, he wanted to go outside with his brothers but was told no. Things almost spiraled again, but thankfully Bill and Percy chose that moment to come back in from the garden. Molly ordered them to go put their pajamas on and get their teeth brushed. Charlie was always clingy after he lost control like had earlier, so Arthur had to bring him up to bed and sit with him for a little bit.
Once all the kids were in bed, Molly and Arthur sat in the kitchen with their tea. This was their nightly tradition, and they soaked up the peace and quiet.
“What are we going to do about Charlie’s schooling? He’s so far behind. And I don’t know how to help him when he shuts down like that. Today I had to send him outside because he wouldn’t stop bugging Bill and distracting them. He wouldn’t come out from under the table. I don’t know what else to do.”
“He’ll catch up. He just does things at his own speed. Some things are slower, and others he is much faster at. He was climbing trees before Bill, and he completely skipped crawling, remember? Went straight from scooting around on his bum to walking and running.”
“But Arthur, he’s not reading. He’s going to be eight in a few months. Percy is reading better than Charlie. Today, Charlie couldn’t sound out the word sat and Percy got it right away.”
“Charlie is not Percy. Just like Percy is not Bill. We have three very unique boys, and I have no doubt the twins will follow suit, as well as the little one we’ve yet to meet.” Molly placed a hand on her stomach that was growing every day. “It’s not fair for us to expect all of our children to learn things at the same age.”
“If Charlie doesn’t learn to read, how will he be able to do anything else? He’ll be going to Hogwarts in just a few years. Maybe we should send him to the muggle primary school in town rather than teaching him at home. Perhaps they will be able to get through to him better than I can. I’m not a teacher, Arthur. I don’t know how to teach him.”
“Then let me try for a little bit. You’ve been working on it for so long that maybe he just needs a change. I will work with him in the evenings after dinner. That way you can just focus on the other two during the afternoon.”
Before Molly could reply, they heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs. Charlie entered the kitchen, eyes blotchy from crying.
“What’s wrong, sweetheart? Did you have a bad dream?” Molly asked, hoping and praying he hadn’t overheard their conversation about him.
“I’m hungry,” Charlie said, wrapping his arms around his mother.
“Oh, honey, I’m so sorry I forgot to make you something else to eat. Why didn’t you remind me, sweetheart?”
“I’m sorry,” Charlie apologized.
“You don’t need to say sorry about this. I just feel badly that you’ve been hungry, dear.” Molly flicked her wand and two slices of bread popped into the toaster.
Charlie shook his head. “No. I’m sorry I’m bad.”
“You’re not bad, Charlie,” Molly said, taking a few steps towards him. “I will say that today hasn’t been fantastic, but you are not bad. Do you understand me? You are not bad.”
Charlie nodded but didn’t look convinced. Arthur walked over and picked Charlie up, giving him a tight squeeze. “I love you so, so, so much, kiddo.” The toast popped up. “Butter and honey?” Charlie nodded.
Molly set his plate on the table and Arthur placed Charlie back on the ground. Charlie began to eat quietly while Molly and Arthur leaned against the counters watching him. “Did you know that the Chinese Fireball is the most friendly dragon? Well, not to humans. But they can live together without fighting too much?”
Neither Molly nor Arthur were phased by this out of the blue statement. Random dragon facts were par for the course with Charlie. “I’m glad they don’t get lonely. It’s nice to have friends around,” Molly said, taking a sip of tea.
When Charlie finished, he carefully put his plate in the sink and walked towards the stairs.
“Goodnight, Charlie,” Arthur said, smiling. Charlie nodded and headed up to bed.
Eventually Arthur headed to bed. Molly stayed up another hour or so, jotting down ideas for how to make lessons more successful for Charlie. When Arthur had talked about the differences between the boys earlier, it gave her an idea. They are indeed three very different kids, so their curriculum should look different too. What worked for Bill isn’t working for Charlie. And while it may be working for Percy now, who knows if that will continue to be the case.
She went to bed that night feeling eager and hopeful about this than she had in a very long time.
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The next few weeks went smoothly, with less focus being put on Charlie’s schoolwork throughout the day. Molly made sure to keep Charlie’s lessons short and to the point, with lots of outside time in between. While the reprieve was appreciated, Molly felt a nagging in her head that Charlie was getting further and further behind.
One Thursday, this nagging got the best of her and she decided to push Charlie a little bit harder than she had been. She had tried to relate the lessons back to dragons, but Charlie was still having none of it. She had even tried to schedule things so Percy would not be at the table when she and Charlie were working, but Percy hovered anyways.
Just like previous times, Percy struggled to refrain from telling Charlie he was wrong or telling him the answer. And just like previous times, this pushed Charlie over the edge.
Arthur walked in the back door around noon on Thursday. He had begun apparating or using the floo system to stop in at home for lunch as often as he could. He had heard trouble before he spotted it.
He could hear Percy crying, Bill yelling, Ron bawling in the other room, and the unmistakable sound of dishes clattering and breaking.
Charlie had swept everything off of the counter and was in the process of repeating that action with the bureau in the corner. Arthur dropped his briefcase and apparated over to Charlie, grabbing the boy before he could destroy anything else. Charlie screamed and fought to get out of Arthur’s grasp.
“What in Merlin’s name is going on?” Arthur exclaimed, readjusting his grip on Charlie and turning to look at the others. Percy had tears streaming down his face and Bill was holding Fred. Molly was standing at the stove breathing heavily. “Molly, what happened?”
The chaos started to die down, and everyone quieted except for Charlie who continued to writhe and holler. “Bill, put Fred back in his seat and then go upstairs with Percy,” she ordered. Once it was just Arthur, Molly, and Charlie in the kitchen, Molly broke down. “Arthur, I don't know what to do. He won’t stop. I can’t do this anymore.”
Arthur looked down at his second eldest. Charlie had stilled slightly but Arthur didn’t release him yet. He hefted him up higher and held him tightly, pressing his face against Charlie’s neck.
He was at a loss for words. He wanted to continue the conversation with his wife, but didn’t want Charlie to hear it. He thought for a minute. “Molly, would you please pack up a few of Charlie’s toys? And some snacks? It’s a quiet day at the office and Perkins is out. I will bring Charlie back to work with me. He can sit with me while I do some paperwork. It’ll make the office a little less boring.” He rubbed his hand up and down Charlie’s back. “Is that okay, Charlie? Would you like to come to work with me?” Charlie didn’t respond, but gripped Arthur’s robes tightly.
Molly looked relieved and confused, but quickly waved her wand and a few items flew into Arthur’s briefcase. She pulled some crisps and cookies out of the hiding spot and magicked them into the bag as well. They didn’t have much muggle food in the house, but there was something about crisps that Molly loved, so she always kept a stash of them in the house. The kids would often search for them, but thanks to a simple charm they’d never find them.
Arthur reached down and picked up the bag. “I promise we will talk about this tonight, Molly. I love you so much. Try to get some rest. Bill can entertain the kids.” Molly still hadn’t said anything. She nodded shakily and kissed Arthur on the cheek, stroking Charlie’s back when she pulled away.
Arthur grabbed some floo powder and headed back to the office, Charlie still clinging to him as they stepped out of the flames.
Arthur’s arms were getting tired and he gently coaxed Charlie to unlatch and stand on his own two feet. Thankfully, it was not busy in the entry room of the ministry. Arthur did cast a quick quieting charm around himself and Charlie, just to be safe. This particular charm was a life saver, both when the environment got too loud for Charlie or Charlie got too loud for the environment. He nodded politely to a few coworkers and led Charlie through the meandering halls and levels to his quiet little office.
“Alright, Charlie. You can sit at Perkins’ desk because he’s not here today.” Arthur set his briefcase on his desk. Charlie was still standing in the doorway. “Are you hungry? Mum packed some of her special crisps.”
Charlie grabbed some crisps out of Arthur’s hand and brought them to the other desk. Arthur put the other things Molly had packed on the desk beside him. Charlie grabbed the dragon book and opened it. Arthur watched Charlie for a minute before sitting at his own desk.
After about twenty minutes, Arthur was fully focused on the reports in front of him. He was startled when Charlie tapped him on his shoulder. “Sorry, Charlie. I guess I was distracted by these reports. What’s up?”
“Mum’s really mad. And Percy is mad at me. And Bill maybe but I don’t know. Because I was bad. I hit Percy. And threw Bill’s parchment. And broke all the dishes.”
Arthur nodded slowly. “Okay,” he said quietly. “Thank you for telling me what happened. I thought I would have to wait until tonight to find out what happened from mum. It sounds like you were really upset.”
Charlie chewed on his bottom lip. “I don’t want to do lessons anymore. I can’t do it.”
“I thought that might have been part of the problem. I know that lessons can be frustrating.”
“They’re not frustrating, I just can’t do it. I’m stupid and Percy is smarter than me even though he’s just a baby.” Charlie punctuated this statement by kicking the desk. A lamp wobbled but stayed put.
“Charlie, you are not stupid. I don’t want you saying that about yourself. Are you allowed to call your brothers stupid?”
“No.”
“Then why on earth would it be okay for you to call yourself stupid?”
“Sorry.”
Arthur waited a beat. He’d known a conversation like this would be coming. “What was today’s lesson?”
“Reading.”
“Any chance I could start getting more than one word answers?” Charlie quirked his head, so Arthur rephrased what he’d said to make it a little more direct. Charlie had always done best when they were direct with him. “Can you give me more information? What were you reading about?”
“It was a book about a cat. I don’t know what else because I only read the first page.”
“Is that all you did today? Just reading?”
“And practiced writing my numbers because I can’t do it right still.” Arthur nodded. Charlie must still be writing his numbers backwards, an issue that had plagued him since he first picked up a piece of chalk.
“What were you working on before you got so upset?”
“Reading. I didn’t know a word and mum kept asking and then Percy read the word and I got mad at him.”
“So that’s when you hit Percy?” Charlie looked down at his feet, guiltily. He nodded.
Charlie went to sit back at Perkins’ desk, abruptly ending the discussion. He opened up his dragon book again and began to flip through the pages. Arthur couldn’t stand seeing Charlie look so defeated. He stood up and went to stand next to Charlie, looking over his shoulder at the book.
“That one is cool. What is it?” The one sure fire way to cheer up Charlie was to get him talking about dragons.
“It’s a Hungarian horntail, dad. You know that one.”
“I must have forgotten.” Charlie picked up his book and went to sit on the floor where he could spread out his book and model dragons. He glanced over at Arthur expectantly. “Could I sit with you, Charlie?” He nodded excitedly, bouncing a little bit.
Arthur sat against the wall and watched as Charlie arranged his dragons just so. “This is the Hungarian horntail.” He handed his father one of the dragons. “It’s called the horntail because it has a spiky tail. See?” He pointed to the spikes on the tail and Arthur nodded.
“What does the horntail like to eat? I can’t remember.”
Charlie flapped his hands excitedly, bouncing his legs. “The Hungarian horntail likes to eat sheep and goats and cattle and humans. They can shoot fire fifty feet and are really fast flyers.”
“They sound kind of scary.”
Charlie looked up at his dad, a confused look on his face. “They’re not scary, dad.”
They sat there for a while. Charlie was getting more and more animated about his dragons, and was even using the models to act out what he was saying. Arthur didn’t even have to feign interest and was getting very into the discussion. Eventually, though, it was time to head home. Arthur had put off getting back to their earlier conversation. Charlie was so happy and he didn’t want to bring him back down.
“Charlie, can you pause for a bit? I want to hear more, but I actually need to talk a little more about what happened with your brothers and your mother.”
Charlie groaned, slamming his book closed. “I said I was sorry.”
Arthur sighed. “There’s a little more to it than that, kiddo. You explained why you got mad, but I want to explain why everyone else was mad too.”
“Okay,” Charlie said softly. He began to pack up his toys and place them into his bag but Arthur stopped him.
“Why don’t you keep those out. That way you can fidget with them while I do my talking bit,” he said. Charlie looked confused, but wasn’t going to argue with this change. “I like to fidget too,” Arthur said, grabbing a muggle pen off of his desk and clicking it a few times. Charlie definitely got his fidgeting from Arthur. That, and many, many other habits. Arthur settled down on the ground next to Charlie.
“Okay. You were mad because Percy read a word before you could, correct?” Charlie nodded. “And I gather Percy was mad because you hit him,” Arthur said, counting on his fingers. “Bill. Hm. I guess I don’t know why Bill was mad. Can you think of anything?”
Charlie furrowed his brow but nodded. “Because I was distractin’ him from his work, maybe. Or because it was too loud when I yelled and broke things. And Percy’s cryin’ was pretty loud too.”
Arthur looked thoughtful. “I think you’re onto something. It was probably really loud in there. And being distracted can be kind of frustrating.” He pointed to his last finger. “We’ve got Bill and Percy figured out, and yourself. What about mum, why was mum mad? I have some ideas, unless you can think of something.”
Charlie paused longer here. “I think because I broke her things. And yelled at her,” he said softly. “Maybe because she’s mad that I’m s-” he stopped himself, looking at his father. “Because I can’t read.”
Arthur reached over and put his hand on Charlie’s knee. Charlie leaned into his dad’s side. “I love you, Charlie. So does mum. So does Bill. So does Percy. And the twins and the new baby.”
“The new baby doesn’t know me,” Charlie interrupted, looking genuinely perplexed.
“Doesn’t matter. They’re family, and that means they’re gonna love you no matter what. But that’s beside the point. We all love you, and I believe you love us as well.” Charlie nodded. “Good. Glad to hear it. Anyways, it is normal to get frustrated with each other and even to get downright angry. But that doesn’t mean we can act on those feelings in a way that hurts the other person. You can be as angry as you want at Percy. Angry is okay. But you can’t let your anger hurt other people. Or yourself.”
“Okay.”
These types of conversations were always hard with Charlie. It was impossible to know what was sinking in and what was being tuned out.
“Is it okay to be mad?” Arthur asked, hoping to gauge how receptive Charlie had been to the information.
“No, I mean yes. Yes.”
“Right you are. Is it okay to scream at your brother or mother?
“Nope.”
Arthur nodded. “Last thing before we go, I promise,” he said, looking down at Charlie, who rolled his eyes but settled back against his side. “Good man. Now, I was rubbish in divination back in school, but I can divine with certainty that this will happen again. Your brothers will make you mad. Mum will make you mad. I will make you mad. It’s just going to happen. So you need to figure out what you can do instead of exploding.”
“Like my dragon breaths?”
“Exactly like that, Charlie,” Arthur said, smiling. They’d taught him to breathe like a dragon when he’s mad to encourage him to take deep breaths. It worked pretty well, but only if they caught his frustration in time. “What about when you’re already mad? It’s hard sometimes to remember to breathe when we’re feeling really, really mad, right?”
Charlie nodded, biting his lip.
“Where’s somewhere you can go when you are trying not to hit your brothers. Where’s a place that’s safe?”
Charlie’s eyes darted around, as though he were scanning a blueprint of their home. “My bed?”
“Great idea. Or even that red fluffy chair you like so much?”
“Good idea, dad,” Charlie said. Arthur grinned. Conversations with Charlie could be truly delightful. “Can we go home now?”
Arthur chuckled and stood up, grabbing his briefcase. Charlie gathered up his belongings and they headed back the way they came.