"Mrs. Cooper's Ways"
"So you know I'm leavin' tomorrow, right? Do you want me to call your, you know, that Amy gal?"
She looks at her son with his eyes closed from a distance. She is almost at the door and about to go to his friends. The ones he is jealous of, because she doesn't spend all her time caring for him anymore. Well, even a brilliant mind, or whatever he is, has to grow up. But she knows he'll give Leonard hell if no woman is around and she can't miss her cruise. Not for her grown son who merely has a simple cold.
"No, I want Penny." He half mumbles. He is in that state between sleep and alertness; a curious balance. She can push him either side. So Mary Cooper's eyebrows shoot up, fascinated and surprised, at what her son has just admitted to her.
"Leonard's Penny? The one that gets on your nerves all the time?" If she can believe his cryptic e-mails. Then again he talks about Penny way more often than that Amy. Mary Cooper has only met her once. Certainly a girl similar to Sheldon's mind, but Mary Cooper knows what men need. And her little Shelly is just a man no matter what his brain dictates him. He wants to be fed well and taken care of. She can't help but smile.
"Penny knows how to sing "Soft Kitty". Amy considers such songs immature and not appropriate for our kind of relationship. I want Penny. She even knows how to make the right kind of soup. Tell her I want soup."
"I will tell her. I love you, Shelly."
"Love you, too, mom."
When Mary Cooper closes the door, she feels God's presence strongly in her heart. She nods at it as if they'd just had a conversation. There is a woman who can take care of her son now. Someone he deems appropriate enough. Mary Cooper thanks the deity that blessed her with her Sheldon (and her two normal children) and for the woman that apparently knew how to handle his crazy.
She steps into the living room and sure enough when Penny turns to her, a question of concern in her eyes, Mary Cooper is certain that she can see something. Oh, she knows that look. Suddenly she knows why Penny wanted her to comment on her wardrobe. How to find the way to a man's heart - Mary Cooper knows. Especially when it comes to this man's heart. She sits down with Sheldon's friends and just eats. She will tell Penny everything later. There is still time.