 Tina s mother is visiting from Sioux City. She believes in spiritualism and mysticism and possesses many charms and crystals, their magical powers in which she believes. Rational Tom isn t superstitious, but Mrs. Rickles wants to prove to Eddie that her beliefs are not bunk as Tom would have him believe. As such, she gives Eddie a special charm that she says will grant Eddie s deepest wishes. Tom is angry as he would rather have Eddie work at achieving his wishes rather than place faith in a magic charm. Eddie gets his wish - an A in his spelling test - and believes in the power of the charm. To prove to Tom the power of the charm, Eddie asks for his biggest wish: a mother. Just then, Miss Huffman, an unmarried new substitute teacher comes by, who to Eddie looks to be a potential mother type. When Eddie finds out she s engaged, he thinks he didn t wish properly. Finally, Tom directly but kindly tells Mrs. Rickles that he wished that she didn t impose her beliefs on Eddie. She is apologetic, but through a further gift to Eddie and an accomplishment of Tom s, she makes Tom realize that wishes are not magic but rather a combination of imagery plus will.