A/N: Well guys, this is it. The last chapter for "The Corollary Theory: The Celebration Abberation". This feels sad to me as I really enjoyed writing what was running in my head for a along time and more than that - reading what readers think and feel and chatting with them. I do hope this will not be the end of "The Corollary Theory", rather the beginning. As I said this is in essence an exposition story. I have many ideas for these characters in mind and a strong desire to write them down in a story that goes throughout the years. I don't want to make promises though so I'm not saying anything for sure. If I do get to write and decide to post the "main" story it may be around July/August so this will be a 3 months hiatus.
Thank you so much all who read, reviewed, followed and favorited. It was a pleasure to read reviews and chat with reviewers. Reviews are of course still very very welcome, including for previous chapters. Very special thanks to joyteach who did a wonderful job beta-reading.
I do not own The Big Bang Theory, that is Lorre's and Prady's. Heck, I don't even own the car I drive (thanks grandpa!). I do own my 7 OCs and to some extent this story's Halley and Michael. As I previously stated, I may agree for others to borrow them or write a short piece in the Corollary world, PM me.
For the last time for this story, here we go :)
Chapter 10: I wish
[Riley.]
My birthday party was coming to an end, and it was time to blow out the candles. Everybody gathered around and sang to me, my family and my family-of-heart (that would be everybody in "the gang", which has adults and kids, the Wolowitzes, Cooper-Fowlers and Koothrappalis, well except for Aunt Anaya who's in India but had video-called). Oh and Grandmother, Daddy's mother, which was…peculiar, as she doesn't come or call that often.
Being surrounded by family and "family", Mom and Daddy next to me and Sophie and Maxi next to them, like in a warm bubble of ours, was awesome. But I had a task now: making my birthday wish. I don't believe in higher powers but it's kind of a tradition to make a wish before blowing out the candles. Besides, while there is no clear evidence for the existence of higher powers, there's also no clear evidence against it - that is at the core of agnosticism. Taking my wish seriously doesn't hurt and may help, so that's what I do.
But that task is hard. There is so much I could wish for, and wishing for one thing I'd be letting go of another. I looked around me. So many people I love. So many people for whom I could make a wish.
Right in front of me was Aunt Bernie. I know one of the things that matter to her a whole lot is her work. She's a very successful microbiologist at a pharmaceuticals company. No one should mess with her when she's busy with work, I know this because I'm at her house a lot, she's Michael's mom. I thought that maybe I should wish she would do even better at work. Maybe if she does they will let her go to all of Michael's basketball games, she looked sad last time when she got there five minutes after the game was over.
Aunt Amy was next, standing to Aunt Bernie's left. I think Aunt Amy is worried a lot. Mom says she has a lot to handle, she never elaborates on that but I think at least some of it has to do with Tivo. It's not that he's trouble or anything. Tivo loves his mom and all his family, and us too. He really tries to be nice to others and understand them and their habits and ways of communicating and to get along with them. It's just that it's hard for him because he has ASD, that's a neuro-developmental disorder. He is a genius but social behavior is hard for him to learn, and he's also very sensitive to noise and touch, and it's also hard for him to change what he's used to. I think Aunt Amy is worried about him. I wish she could worry less. So I thought, maybe I should wish Tivo would learn more so she'd be less worried and wouldn't have to help him as much, and maybe he could help her more because he loves neurobiology.
That would be a good wish for Tivo too. I know he really wants to understand social behavior and also emotions, because he has problems understanding these as well. Maybe I could teach him more about that, after all we did agree three years ago that I'd be his pseudo-sister. Mom and Daddy didn't let Uncle Sheldon make an official agreement for that, but teaching younger siblings is an integral part of a big sister's job, isn't it? But what if I teach him wrongly? I'm only ten, I'm still learning myself. Maybe I could teach him how to learn? But what if my way of learning is not good enough for him? What if it makes it worse? What if it stresses him?
"Over-thinking there, Cub?" Mom asked, caressing my hair. I don't know how she notices that in times like this, when I don't say a word.
"Riles!" Michael whispered loudly. He signaled me to wish for the new Spiderman game, imitating Spiderman shooting strings and then checking his hand when it stopped and fixing it by shaking it. That was hilarious. Michael always makes me laugh. There is so much I could wish for him, as I know of so many things he'd like. There's the Spiderman game, actually every DC and Marvel game, and making the drone he has at home travel between our houses, and winning all his basketball games, and having thousands of fancy suits (but I'd add to that wish that he doesn't show me all of them because that is awfully boring!), and having a dog, and being old enough to see all the movies our dads see, and having Oreos for breakfast every day, and having a real lightsaber, and going to space like his dad did. There was more but I really had to choose my wish.
Then I thought, maybe I should wish for Michael and Uncle Howard (his dad) to go to space together? But I really hope we could have video-calls every day if they go because trips to space are long! Michael is my best friend, we're not supposed to be apart for that long. Best friends are there for each other all the time.
But then I thought, maybe I should make a wish for Halley? Sometimes the solution to a problem is unpredictable. Me wishing for Halley would certainly be unpredictable, because Halley is...umm…she's not that nice to me. She...she calls me names and laughs at me and jokes about me in front of other kids at school, and she throws foods and drinks at me sometimes. It's kind of like that movie they were talking about one night in this celebrity show. They said in June it will be 25 years since it came out. Mom said she saw it when she was a teenager. Then they showed parts of it and of later TV shows and movies that had "mean girls", and these girls did things Halley does. But we never saw the end of it because Mom suddenly got mad and turned it off. She said these girls were "Stupid, brainless bees who are so lame that they only care about themselves and about getting boys that they don't have a clue about what's going on around them and what they do to others and what the others feel".
But I know Halley's not stupid, at all. And Michael told me she hugged him once when there was a leak of poisonous chemicals in their mom's lab and they didn't know if she were there (she wasn't), and last year she did makeovers for Kotie's friends at Kotie's birthday party, so she does care about others. I don't know what kind of bee my mom was referring to, but she kind of stumbled on that word so maybe she got confused. Sometimes when Uncle Sheldon is being stubborn or weird Daddy says it's because he's broken. So if Halley is not like Mom says, maybe she's broken too. Maybe she needs help. I thought maybe I could wish for her to get that help, even though I don't know what it is. What I do for now is just keeping all of that from the adults because I don't want them to punish her if she's broken, and I also don't want my parents to worry about me.
Then I thought of Uncle Sheldon. He was standing next to Lizzie (his daughter, who's three), who was kneeling on a chair next to Maxi. I know Uncle Sheldon really really wants a Nobel Prize. I also know he wants people to recognize that Tivo and Lizzie are brilliant, and I think he's worried about them too, but more about Tivo. I didn't know what he would like better so I decided to move on and get back to it later.
To Uncle Sheldon's right, between him and Uncle Howard, was Grandmother. That might be harder to than quantum algorithms. Grandmother is very peculiar. She is kind of..detached, like someone sucked most of her emotions out of her. She speaks kinda like the transport lines' announcer. And Daddy is always nervous around her. I think Mom is too but not as much. I don't get it, parents and kids usually love each other and they have fun together and they are happy to be with each other. And when we meet Nana and Papa (Mom's parents) they're very happy to see us and we're all happy to see them. I think something's wrong with Grandmother. But I really don't know what.
Sophie was between Grandmother and me, standing in front and a little left of Daddy, his left arm around her (his right arm was around me). As I turned to look at her she gave me a kiss on the cheek and I gave her one back. I love Sophie so much. I wish she was less shy, she is very shy and many times she freezes or hides or is very quite. That's a shame because Sophie has great ideas and she's kind and when she's being shy people miss out on that. That would be a good wish.
But what about Maxi? He's the youngest in my family so, I thought, maybe I should wish for something for him. But Baby Bro is happy most of the time. Maybe he would like Mom and Daddy to stop calling him Chubby. Or, I thought, maybe something about the unicorns he was drawing earlier? I had no idea what that was about.
I had no idea what Lizzie would like, maybe a new princess costume? Kotie would like that too, maybe a fancy princess dress for her birthday next month. Uncle Raj would sure like that. But both Uncle Raj and Kotie would probably like more that Aunt Anaya would be home already. Aunt Anaya is Uncle Raj's wife and Kotie's mom and she's in India right now. She'd probably want that too, or want India to be in the US, although then maybe it wouldn't be India anymore. It must be so hard having your spouse or daughter or mommy so far away, and for weeks at that!
I looked up at my mom, who was standing to my right, a little behind Maxi. Mom was all over the place today. She usually goes overboard on birthdays, so I wasn't surprised that they got so many decorations. I wasn't surprised either that her eyes got watery when she talked about me being ten and also now when we gathered by the cake, this happens every year. But she was upset for some reason. When I tried asking her about it she tried to distract me, so I left it, but I know she was upset. I wish she'd told me so that I could help her. I almost made up my mind to wish for Mommy to relax and be happy.
Last (but not at all least!) was Daddy. I so wish he would get the vice president position, he deserves it so bad. He's awesome. I wish he'd have more help if he did, so that he wouldn't have to take phone calls and we could spend more time together. You can never have too much time with your hero! I could also wish for him to have it better with his parents. Grandpa is nice and they get along much better than Daddy gets along with Grandmother, but he doesn't call or visit much either, and it's not like Mom and Papa. I don't get it, Daddy is the greatest daddy ever, he deserves to have the greatest parents.
As I looked down, thinking of Grandmother and Grandpa, I suddenly felt Daddy kiss my head. "What do you want, Cub?"
I looked at him, and then at the candles. What do I want? There are many things. But mostly, I want us all to be together and happy. Then it hit me, I had it! I leaned forward and wished for all of us to be always together and care for each other and help each other and be there for each other, always to love each other. That was a good hack. Mom and Daddy say that when you have a lot of love, the rest may fall into place eventually, even if you're very different (Mom said it works even for "the most Whackadoodly of the Wackadoodles"). That's a big theory, and I don't know about any experiments that had been done to prove this theory (or rather indicate the contrary is statistically improbable because you don't really prove such a theory), but they do say love is important and powerful in TV, movies and books, so it could probably be deemed "folk wisdom" (these are not always true but Daddy believes in this one so I'll take it). Happy with my hack, I blew out the candles.
We then had to cut the cake, which was a little saddening because it was such a cool cake. It was lab themed, coated with light blue sugar paste, with furniture made out of chocolate and beakers and lasers made out of candy and a projected pad made out of white chocolate with formulas written in chocolate syrup on it, one of them being the formula for the Powerpuff Girls: Sugar+Spice+Everything nice. That was awesome! Sophie told me Daddy baked it (which was great news, you don't wanna taste my mom's cakes!) and she and Mom made the decorations, with her making the smaller details (there's no one like my Sissy for that job!). At least Mom took a picture of me and the cake before cutting it.
The party was over soon after that. Uncle Raj and Kotie left first, they had to walk their new puppy, Ginger. The Wolowitzes and the Cooper-Fowlers left at about the same time. Michael and I wanted to keep playing pretend Mario cart, which we invented today because there was a power outage (that's when there's no electricity) so we couldn't play the actual game, but it was already past the extra extra last five minutes we were given. We decided we'd keep playing on Monday at school. It was Uncle Sheldon who was last to leave out of them, because he went back to scoop more ice cream.
After the door closed Grandmother rose from her place on a chair at the end of the living area, from which she'd been observing everything silently, kind of like a primatologist. "If you go by conventional party protocol, this would mark the end of the party. Thus, I will now be leaving. That is, unless you go by a modified protocol," she said, looking at Mom and Daddy.
Mom looked at Daddy, who went to open the door. "Goodbye, Mother," he said.
Grandmother nodded, "Very well." She came to stand in front of me, looking down from her tall height. "Happy birthday, Riley. Goodbye," she said in her announcer voice. She then hugged me awkwardly, she always does. She hugs like a robot.
She then did the same with Maxi and Sophie (only she didn't wish them a happy birthday). Strangely, she lingered when she pulled back from Sophie, just looking at her for a few seconds, as if she were trying to send her a message telepathically.
She said goodbye to Mom and shook her hand, as usual, and then walked to the door. She stood next to Daddy, then turned and said, "Well then, I will now be leaving for my room at Hotel Eastin, where I will be staying until Monday at 11:31 AM, at which time I will be leaving for my flight back to New Jersey."
"That is a lot of information about your location for the next day and a half, Beverly," Mom said, looking from Grandmother to Daddy. I knew she was trying to send him a message, but I had no idea what it was.
"I was trying to adjust to your conversational style," Grandmother said.
Mom and Daddy sighed. "Goodbye, Mother," Daddy said again. He seemed tired.
Grandmother turned to him. She'd usually either shake his hand or give him a quick, robotic hug, and it seemed like she didn't know which to choose. She stood there for a moment, with her arms moving very slightly back and forth two or three times. Finally, she gave him a hug, but it was a weird one, even for her. It was tighter than her usual hugs, but it was very very quick, as if she were afraid she would burn if she kept it for too long. She then walked out the door. Grandmother was at her most peculiar today.
Daddy closed the door and sighed again.
"Honey?" Mom called, making Daddy turn around. "Isn't the Eastin about one and a half miles away?"
"Closer to 1.7, why?" he answered.
"Leonard, there are no lines right now, there weren't any when she came here either."
They looked at each other. Maybe they were worried that Grandmother would get lost?
Suddenly, the lights went on. The repair people had probably finished fixing the electricity cables, so cool!
"Looks like we've got a new verse for 'Ironic'," Mom said. That's an old song about ironic things.
Daddy smiled his comforting smile and went to her and they hugged.
"Can we now work on the brushing, Sophie? There's light," Maxi asked.
"Sure!" Sophie said, smiling.
They turned toward the stairs when Daddy asked, "Brushing?"
"Yes," Baby Bro nodded, with his adorable serious face, "Sophie agreed to teach me how to brush her dolls' hairs so I could do it for Lizzie."
Daddy, Mom and I were dumbfounded.
"Why would you need to brush Lizzie's hair, Chubby?" Mom asked.
"I need to learn how to do things for her, that's what Uncle Howard said," he answered, "and I'm not chubby."
"Uncle Howard told you to learn how to do things for Lizzie?" Daddy asked. This was getting more and more puzzling.
"He said that's what one has to do to be good at marriage," Baby Bro answered simply. Sophie was now as puzzled as us.
"Let me get this straight, Chubby, you're learning to brush Lizzie's hair in order to be good at marriage?" Mom asked.
"Yes," he nodded.
"You do know you're three years old, right, Sweetie?"
"Yes," he nodded.
"Chubby, you have many, many years before you get married," Daddy said, now standing next to Mom in front of Maxi.
"Oh I know, marriage is for old people, but it is a big, big deal. Uncle Sheldon said it's mon..mo-nu-mental and he called Aunt Amy to talk to Lizzie after she said we will get married. So I wanted to start practicing now so I will be prepared when it happens."
After a second of silence, we all (except from Maxi) burst out laughing.
"Hey that is not funny!" Baby Bro pouted and crossed his arms.
"No, you're right Chubby, we're sorry," Daddy said, smiling and getting down on one knee to be at Maxi's eye level. He ruffled his hair and said, "We just think it is cute and charming, we can see you are very serious about it. Hey, does that have something to do with those unicorn drawings we found in the trash?"
"Yes, Uncle Raj told me you have to respect your wife's wishes to be good at marriage. Lizzie said she wished she had a unicorn, and at preschool they always tell us to draw what we learn or draw for our parents, so I thought if I'd draw a unicorn she'd know I respect her wish."
Daddy grinned, "Sounds like you did a lot of research."
"I did. I wanted to ask you but I didn't get to you."
Daddy sighed, "Yeah, I'm sorry for that, Chubbs. Look, we think it's great you are taking marriage seriously," he looked at Mom, who nodded, "but you will have plenty of time to prepare for that. Right now you should focus on doing kids' things, like watching cartoons, and building with blocks, and drawing whatever you want to, okay?"
"Okay, Daddy."
"Oh and Chubby," Mom added, "when the moment comes, please, do not ask for your uncles' advice. Just come to Daddy and me, okay?"
"Yes, Mommy," Maxi nodded.
Mom kissed his forehead.
Thinking of the drawings in the trash, I decided I had to archive my drone sketches.
"Something important there, Cub?" Daddy asked when he noticed me working my phone.
I grinned at him, "Michael has a drone at home and we thought of cool ways to use it, Uncle Howard is gonna help. I'm just archiving my sketches, I thought it would be cool to save what Michael and I do every birthday, so when we're old, like 35 and 36, or really really old, like 60 and 61, we could look at all of it and laugh because we'd probably have stuff like teleport machines and personal jets."
"We're going strong on planning ahead today, huh?" Mom said.
"It's not that big of a plan, all we need to do is to remember to archive stuff," I said. That wouldn't be hard at all.
"And spend your next 50 birthdays together," Mom added.
"Mom, that's gonna happen anyway," I explained, she was being seriously weird today, I mean, I had to remind her about the most obvious things! "Michael and I are forever."
She just stared at me blankly for a moment. "Michael and you are forever?" she repeated slowly, looking totally confused. Yep, she was all over the place today.
"Yes, we're BFFs, remember? That's Best, Friends, Forever."
She seemed to understand now. "Oh, right. Well I hope it works out for you, Sweetie," she said, slowly putting a strand of my hair behind my ear. She looked at me for a moment, her eyes turning sad. She then sighed and went down on her knees, "Cub, I am really sorry about your party." She smiled a sad smile, with only the right side of her mouth up.
Now was my turn to be totally confused. I frowned, trying to understand, "Why?"
"Because it all went wrong. Everything we had planned.. Oh baby, we had so much planned," she shook her head, "but all you got was an unfinished science bowl and hours of no electricity," she sighed again. "At least the cake and candle-blowing went fine," now she had the sad smile on the other side.
"But, Mommy, everybody came, and we got to plan how to help the repair people and later how to thank them, which Daddy said we would do, and we played pretend versions of our games, and we thought about cool stuff we could make without electricity, and we made plans for the drone, and we spread the picnic blankets and you and I lay on one and did your guided imagination exercise, and Grandmother came and asked me what I was studying at school and what I was working on, she was weird as always but she did come and wish me happy birthday so that's good, and the cake was really really awesome," I grinned.
Mom seemed surprised, "Really?" She started to smile a real happy smile, which made my grin widen, I was so relieved that she was getting happy again.
"Yeah, it was an awesome party, Mommy! And so were the birthday kiss attack, and our breakfast, and birthday shopping, and Chinese lunch. And my birthday isn't over yet, so maybe after dinner you could show us the things you do for the fund again, like last week only this time with Daddy too, that would be so cool!"
Apparently Mom was still quite a mess, because she shook her head, her eyes getting watery again, cupped my face, gave me a looong kiss on the forehead and then hugged me tight. But that was a good mess, I think. "You're incredible, Cub, I love you, so soooo much," she said.
"I love you too, Mommy," I hugged her back. "Can Daddy and Sophie and Maxi join our hug?" I asked after a few seconds, I didn't want them to feel left out.
Mom chuckled, "They'd better, or they're getting only kale and spinach for dinner!"
They soon joined the hug, I sure would have!
Mom seemed much calmer and happier after that, and so did Daddy. I know they were really upset today, but our family hug was a good medicine for whatever it was.
Super-Mega-Giga dose of love coming at ya'! Yeah, that's a good hack!