A/N: This was a random thought of mine when I had to read Oedipus for my course in Greek Literature. Ignore the short and obnoxious prologue, it's really only a transition piece.
To readers of "Mistakes Were Made" who are being notified of this through author alert: My apologies for the lack of updates recently, I received a poor review and was forced to take another look at the plot. That's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. You'll have another update shortly.
Grown don't mean nothing to a mother.
A child is a child.
They get bigger, older, but grown?
What's that suppose to mean?
In my heart it don't mean a thing.
Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1987
The Oedipal Complex: Prologue
Mary Ann Cooper wanted only the best for her eldest son, Sheldon. She hoped that he would be able to settle down, get married and start a family before the age of 25 like she and her husband did.
He wasn't making it easy.
His twin sister, Missy, was quick to follow in her mother's footsteps, finding a good Christian boy from their church and settling down with him. She even managed to make some extra money hostessing at Fuddrucker's.
His younger brother, Charlie, was a hot commodity among girls his age. Nineteen and fresh out of high school ("He's just not as quick on his feet as the other kids"), he had three dates to senior prom. On three different occasions.
But Sheldon was different – special.
In many ways he was just like every other man Mary had ever encountered – stubborn and always playing the devil's advocate, despite her advice. But it was a known fact around their small subarb off of Houston that he was not like every other man. He graduated from high school at 10, and college by 12. He had two doctorates in theoretical physics by age 20.
He was special, but Mary wasn't going to have him childless.
So when she stumbled upon someone vaguely familiar in K-Mart, she devised the perfect plan.
Estelle Marin wasn't the smartest girl in town – she was ditzy at best. But she had street smarts and knew how to castrate a bull in two minutes flat. She also had a body that could stop a clock.
She reminded Mary of herself at that age.
And there she had it. Operation: Grandchildren.