Sheldon is hard at work on his laptop when Penny wanders over, lost in thought. She rests her hands on his shoulders, absent mindedly massaging them. "Honey, you know the saying forgive and forget?"
"Yes, it's a well known but annoying platitude as I can do neither"
"well you're going to have to learn to forgive yourself as you're never going to forget all those things in your head." She leans over and hugs him tightly "Things happen, and they can be good or bad, but it's how we choose to react to them that adds the emotional reaction. The Emotional reaction comes from inside you, so you can change it."
"By forgiving yourself your younger actions and reactions you can reduce their emotional impact without forgetting them. it'll push your average further up the graph"
"I saw this on the Mind and Body Yoga channel"
"really?"
"No, I saw it on an motivational poster with a kitten on a branch"
He almost accepts that then pauses and looks questioningly at her "was that sarcasm?"
She nods and says sarcastically. "yes, Sarcasm. well done."
He points at her "Aha! Also Sarcasm!"
Later
Sheldon sits nervously writing a long string of letters and numbers on a piece of paper.
He sits looking at it, getting glummer and glummer.
Penny sits down next to him. It's like getting under a dark cloud, she can feel his gloom spread.
"Sweetie. What's wrong?
He shows her the paper as if that should explain everything. It doesn't.
"Is it wrong to hold a grudge for years? It used to give me a warm special feeling inside but now it just doesn't anymore."
" we know you can't forget but you can learn to forgive. So yes, let the old stuff go. Reduce its current emotional value, don't let it rule you."
He sighs
"Then I guess I should give Leonard this."
"What is it? Some sort of code? "
"Some sort, yes. When you mine a coin you generate a complex chunk of mathematical code, the coin itself. but you also have a wallet program and every transaction is logged on the block chain. Think of the block chain as a shared ledger for the coins, like a car, you have to register change of ownership"
"Is this about the coin you stole and hid on Leonards keychain that he lost? He was pissed about that for ages. "
"Yes. It is. This is the private key to his coin wallet. With it he can prove the coin is his and reclaim it."
She looks shocked.
"You had this in your head all the time? You could have given it to him as soon as you found out he'd lost the Batman pen drive"
"Yes. And yes."
"So why didn't you?"
"He didn't say sorry ."
"SHELDON! " she shouts at him in outrage.
He shrugs "yes, I know, it was childish and petty. But I liked watching them suffer." He shrugs. "I thought it was his fault for not studying the technology properly. after that night I went away and called some people at the IRS about it, we had a nice conversation and they even audited me twice as a favour. That's when I set up my mining server. And he only had a few coins. Current value about $12,000. Between the 3 of them that's only $4000 each."
"Sheldon, that is a lot of money, especially for Leonard. With that he could go visit Priya without borrowing the money off her family, you know he's too embarrassed to do that."
Later, in 4A.
Sheldon hesitantly walks towards Leonard then suddenly turns away. He looks at Penny "He's still not sorry."
She pushes him back into the room "Sheldon honey, do it anyway. I know you can."
He walks up to Leonard and uncomfortably hands him the paper. "here"
"What's this?"
"Your coin wallet code"
Leonard is stunned for a moment then sits down heavily, staring at it aghast. He looks at Sheldon with rising fury "You. You had this all along didn't you? "
"Yes. I'm sorry."
Leonards brow furls, his face twisted with anger. "You left me twisting for seven years because we left you out of something you didn't even want to be involved with in the first place! "
"I know. It was juvenile of me."
He pauses and looks over at Penny again. "It's not working."
"Just give it time. " She turns to Leonard. "Didn't you want to go visit Priya?"
"Yes, but..." He pauses as the proverbial penny drops. Looks at the paper. "Wow."
Penny smiles. "What is that worth now Sheldon?
"$4217 each as of this morning. "
"And flights would cost? "
"Cheapest $355 but averaging $980. Less if you don't take excess luggage or need additional legroom"
Penny smiles at Leonard and hints "I think you've got some Skyping to do?"
Leonard looks puzzled for a moment then jumps up and runs to his room, shouting "I've got some Skyping to do! "
Penny takes Sheldon's arm and leads him to her apartment. "Let's leave him to it. Feels like you've some emotional unpacking to do. "
