I know, I know, it's been a long time. A really long time. But I didn't forget about this story, and I promise you, a lot is already written, so hopefully I'll update next time a lot faster. I'm really terribly sorry again, but my real life is really complicated and busy. I'm sending huge thanks to my faithful readers who waited this long.
2024
Next weekend we're about to go to some science conference to Portland, and we are about to spend there three extra days. These are huge and amazing news because this means no school for me. Luckily, my parent's friends are not coming, only Leonard will drop by but he'll only spend a day there.
I love to travel, but I prefer trains or buses where you can sit beside the window and watch, not planes, but Mom decided to go with a plane. Dad had the same disappointment as me, as he adores trains really much. So no school counselor and no teachers for a little while and after that winter break is coming soon enough. I try to be enthusiastic but at home it's not that good. Mom and Dad are mostly silent with each other lately but I can see it in their eyes how angry they look at each other.
So I still hate my life, but I'm excited about Portland as I've never been there before. I like cities pretty much, actually I'm kind of interested in architecture, which is totally lame and not healthy for my age but I really love tall buildings. I'd really love to go to New York once, but unfortunately we only travel when there is a conference and there was no big enough science conference in New York in the past few years.
The day we leave, in California it is kind of cold and when we arrive in Portland it is even a lot colder and it's raining. So no sightseeing for me which makes me kind of gloomy. Dory is really a handful as she keeps nagging Mom and Dad that she left her toy unicorn home and she won't be able to sleep without a toy animal. Mom and Dad share a worried look as I really can get angry by my sister's hissy, so they decide that for the peace they better go and buy her a toy somewhere. While Mom and Dory go shopping I stay with Dad who will check in at the hotel. They ask me whether I want to go shopping with them or do I need anything, but I just shake my head. I feel extremely tired from the flight and from the bad weather. I stand behind Dad as he is filling out the forms. Next to us stands an old, bald man.
" You're welcome Mr Cooper. " the receptionist hands over the keys.
" Thank you. "
The bald guy turns to Dad.
" Excuse me, but did I hear that right? Is your name Cooper? "
" Yes indeed. Dr Sheldon Cooper. " Dad offers his hand. And let me introduce you my son, Nicholas Cooper. " he says. I shake the bald guys hand.
" Dr Weston Barnet. It's a pleasure to meet you. " he said enthusiastically.
" Thank you. You must be one of the people who are as amused by my research about the dark matter as I am. "
" Oh, actually I was just hoping that since you're here maybe I can meet Amy Farrah Cooper. Are you relatives, aren't you? "
I literally can hear the glass shattering. Dad takes a deep breath.
" We are. "
" Well, maybe I can bump into her sometimes. I wish she would read my article. "
" Good. " Dad says looking away over the bald guy's head, but he didn't seem to get that it's really time to shut up.
" You must be really proud of her. It could be great to have a brilliant sister like her. "
Dad frozes again.
" She is not my sister. She is my wife. "
" Ough. " The man seems disappointed, then he looks at me and now he almost stares.
" Then you're her son? "
" I am. " I answer.
" You look like her a lot. I mean I've never met her, only watched her lectures online. I live in Maine. Other side of our country. But you do really look like her. "
I shrug my shoulders.
" Mr Cooper, it was really nice meeting you two. You son looks like a really intelligent boy, he must have inherited his mothers abilities. You must be really proud of them. "
" Excuse me, but now are you implying that even my eight year old boy is smarter than me just because of her mother? I told you two minutes ago that I'm researching the dark matter, while you insist that the only thing I can ever do in my life is feeling proud of my family. "
" Mr, Cooper, you're misunderstanding me. I was just saying…"
Than in the worst moment ever Mom steps into the hallway with Dory. My sister is holding a giant toy beaver, which is the mascot of Oregon. Oregon was the topic of our last Fun with flags episode. Weston Whomever stops the sentence as he stares at my Mom. Mom happily turns to us.
" Have you two succeeded checking in? "
Dad doesn't even answer but I nod, then Mom realizes the other man standing with us.
" Dr Amy Farrah Cooper. Nice to meet you. I see you've met my husband and my son. "
" It's such a great pleasure to meet you Dr Cooper. I'm amazed by your work. I was hoping I would meet you. I was really happy when you've got the Nobel, you truly deserved it. "
" Thanks. " Mom said with a shy smile than gives a worried look toward Dad.
" I was hoping maybe you could read one of my studies, it would mean a lot… I'm Dr Weston Barnet from University of Maine, my field is biology. "
" Maybe I'll go upstairs with the kids. Room 418. We should start to unpack. " Dad says before Mom could answer.
Mom quietly nods, and we can hear as we are going towards the elevator that Weston is still talking to her.
We have two rooms, one opening from the other, both with one king size bed and only one bathroom. Dory and I get the bedroom inside. As we go in I jump on the bed and stay there lying. I'm pretty tired. Menwhile Dory unpacks her toys, the litte plastic ones and introduce Carl von Linné, the new beaver to them.
Ten minutes pass when Mom finally arrives. Dad closes the door between our rooms, I'M sure he has some comments about Dr Weston Barnet that he doesn't want us to hear. Well too bad, because Dory drops Carl von Linné and she is all over the keyhole. I know that maybe we really shouldn't hear them, but I can't stay on the bed but walk next to Dory and put my ear on the door.
" I hope you had a nice chat with Dr Barnet. Bazinga. Actually I don't. I think this was really stupid and it was embarrassing that you even considered paying attention to a bootlicker like him. " Dad starts.
" Sheldon! This is really rude of you. And yes, actually I did have a nice chat with him. He invited me to have lunch with him tomorrow. He actually invited you and the kids too. "
" Well, I clearly won't go. "
" Fine. Then please watch the kids so we could talk about our fields. "
" Amy can't you see that you're being ridiculous? "
" You shouldn't be jealous. " Mom answers still calmly.
" Jealous? Why do you think I'm jealous? I don't need reassurance from lesser minds, that my work is great. Lesser minds don't even understand my work. And I'm fine with it and I love it and I know it's brilliant even if I don't have fans or prizes. "
Dad was kind of loud, this one we could hear even from the other side of the room.
" Sheldon, I was not assuming that you were being jealous about that. " Mom says and she sounds just disappointed.
" You know, that I remember everything. Clearly I do remember you saying I was jealous two minutes ago. So please don't lie to me. "
" I'm not. And I wasn't thinking that it's my Nobel Prize that bothers you again. I actually thought for a minute that your wife having a lunch with an other man bothers you. You know, I'm not just a scientist, or the mother of your kids. And my life isn't about a prize. Yours is. "
Mom opens our door. She clearly thinks this conversation is over. Me and Dory jump to the bed, but Mom still recognizes us and shakes her head disapproving us. Then she unpacks my stuff and helps us to get ready. We're having dinner in the hotel's restaurant. We barely talk.
The rest of our trip is kind of cold. Cold because the weather and definitely cold in our family. Mom actually has that lunch with that bald guy. Dad takes us to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry instead. They only let me play the activities designed for children, which are really really easy so boring but Dory enjoys a few of them at least.
And otherwise we are sitting in the hotel or at a conference. Dad's lecture is quite amazing, but he hates his audience which kind of ruins everything. I have a few questions to him after that and he is trying to anwer me patiently, but he is really upset.
Mom is nothing better. I feel so bored and locked up with them that I almost miss school. At least I definitely miss my own room, where I can hide and have fun if I want to. And I kind of miss Justin too. So when finally on our last day we pack the bags and leave Oregon as rainy as we arrived I kind of feel relieved.
2022
" Hello, I'm Dr. Sheldon Cooper. Welcome to the Coopers Present: Fun with Flags. " Sheldon was sitting on the couch on his spot smiling to the camera.
" And I'm Nick Cooper. Today we are going to get to know the flags of Native American Tribes. " Six year old Nick was sitting next to Sheldon, looking at his father for approval. Sheldon nodded.
" The first flag we are going to see today is the flag of the Arapaho. " Sheldon continued talking.
" The Arapaho lives in The Wind River Reservation which is located in northwestern Wyoming. Their flag dates back to the 1940s, and it was contructed mainly because Worl War II. " Nick added.
"And now let's see the actual flag. "
Amy walked in holding one corner of a flag. The other corner was in a little girl's arms dressed as Pocahontas.
Sheldon smiled at her little daughter proudly. Nick was only grinning at her.
" So the flag of the Arapaho…" Sheldon started talking but he got interrupted by a phone ringing.
" Amy! I told you to mute it! "
" Sorry. I have to take this. " she said and went to the kitchen to take her call.
Sheldon went to the camera and turned it off, sighing. Then sat back and tapped with his feet impatiently.
Meanwhile Dory started to spin so she wrapped the flag around her. Sheldon couldn't concentrate on Amy talking but rather she unwrapped Dory who was laughing.
Amy put her phone down. She stepped into the living room with a surprised expression.
" Who did call you, Mom? " Nick asked.
Amy didn't answer just shook her head.
" Amy, what is it? Bad news? "
Amy shook her head again. She sat down on the couch next to Nick.
" Is it an adult thing? " Sheldon asked. Now he was curious.
" No. " Amy said and took Dory into her lap who was playing with the flag again. " The Norvegian Nobel Committee called. The thing is… I… I got the Nobel Prize. " she said finally. She was almost shaking.
Everyone became silent, even Dory. Some way, it was no surprise for Sheldon, her wife's latest research was amazing and it was nominated for the Nobel months ago. Some other ways it was more than strange. Her wife as a Nobel Prize winner scientist. He was wondering, how could she win a Nobel as she was barely working for three years in the last six years.
" Mom, then are we going to be wealthy? " Nick asked.
Amy giggled. " Well, no. But we can easily buy a house. "
" Then will I have a room on my own? " Nick sounded enthusiastic.
" Sure. " Amy was still giggling.
Sheldon still stayed silent. He really didn't know what to say. He knew he should say congratulation but didn't know how to react otherwise. Their life will change, that was obvious. They wanted to buy a house for a long time, as their apartment was too small to raise two children. But he loved living here. He's been living here for almost twenty years. And what will their friends say? Now he'll be the man whose wife is a Nobel-winner scientist. How can he live with that? Can he live with that? As thoughts were racing in his mind, he froze.
" I want a pink room. With pink walls. And a horse. Can I have it? " Dory asked.
" The pink room yes. A horse no. " Amy answered.
" Wow, Mom, really congrats to you. " Nick said looking confused to Sheldon.
" Thank you, Little Monkey. " Amy said giving him a kiss on his head. Sheldon didn't even seem to hear that, which otherwise would make him angry.
Amy looked at him suspiciously.
" Nick, would you mind going to your room with your sister, help her getting dressed. We are going to go somewhere to celebrate I guess. " she said to Nick and stood Dory to her own feet ont he ground.
Nick nodded then took Dory's hand and dragged her into their room. Sheldon was watching them. So Amy noticed.
Then she turned to Sheldon.
" Sheldon, is everything okay? "
" It is. Congratulations. " he said and grabbed Amy's hand and shook it.
Amy opened her mouth.
" Sheldon? Was that a handshake? "
" It was. It is socially acceptable when saying congratulations. "
" Sheldon, I'm your wife. "
" I know. " he said. He really didn't know what Amy was expecting from him, but whatever her expectations were, he couldn't live up to them.
" I know this is a lot and it's hard and it brings some changes…" she started.
Sheldon nodded.
" And I know this is hard for you. "
Sheldon didn't say anything.
" Please, Sheldon… "
" I already said congratulations. I don't know what else I'm supposed to say. "
Amy bit her lips. " You know, this is the biggest scientific achievement of my whole life. And I want to feel myself happy about it. At least a little. "
" Then go, feel it. I'm not thwarting you. " he said.
" Maybe I want you to feel happy too. And join us for dinner. " Amy sat closer to her slightly caressing his hand.
Sheldon shook her hand off of him. " Amy, I'm proud of you. And I gladly have dinner with my family anytime. But you can't tell me how to feel. "
Amy was opening her mouth to answer that but Nick and Dory stepped into the room. Sheldon felt relieved that he could drop this conversation. He felt like, maybe he won't ever want to get back to this conversation at all.