 Why doesn't Charlie want to go with Laura and Mickey?
For it was June in this year of 1995, and we were the graduating class of the U. S. Academy of Interplanetary Flight. Just one, which I'd sent to Charlie Taggart. I remembered how, as a kid, I'd pestered him in the Long Island Spaceport, tagging after him like a puppy, and how he'd grown to like me until he became father, mother, and buddy all in one to me. Usually Mickey was the same whether in a furnace-hot engine room or a garden party, smiling, accepting whatever the world offered. Charlie gulped helplessly, and Mickey said: "Still going to spend the weekend with us, aren't you, Ben?"
 Charlie is dying and Ben is the only family he has. He wants to spend his last moments with Ben.
 Charlie is not really a people person. He likes Ben, but that's about it.  Charlie is very self-conscious about his scars. He is uncomfortable around other people.  Charlie is uncomfortable with Laura and Mickey's wealth. He feels a bit shabby because his coat is missing a button.  Charlie is dying and Ben is the only family he has. He wants to spend his last moments with Ben.