Chapter 90: Little Leonard's Gift
New Jersey Airport.
"You again!" As soon as he stepped off the plane, Chuck ran into young Sheldon, who had flown back from Texas after Thanksgiving. Sheldon frowned at the sight of Chuck.
"Me again," Chuck nodded.
"..." Young Sheldon's eye twitched. Although Chuck hadn't said anything offensive to him, it felt like Chuck didn't need to say anything to irritate him. Just the tone and expression, even his mere presence, made Sheldon uncomfortable.
What bothered him most was that he couldn't enjoy reading the Batman Thanksgiving special like before. Chuck's deep voice kept echoing in his ears: "I'm Batman."
His vivid imagination made him visualize the real Gotham City as he looked at the comics. Batman, emerging from the shadows in his sleek batsuit, looked increasingly like Chuck.
He immediately cried out, "You're not Batman!" and threw the comic aside. His twin sister Missy looked at him like he was losing it. His mother Mary dragged him to the comic book store, where she lectured the owner again about comics corrupting young minds.
"What level are you on?" young Sheldon couldn't help but ask as the two walked out together.
"Level 4." Chuck understood he was referring to the mathematics competition.
"I'm on level 4 too!" young Sheldon immediately straightened up and said proudly.
In the past, he might have thought he needed to surpass Chuck to be satisfied, but recently, his mindset had shifted to being just as proud to match Chuck's level.
Chuck didn't respond.
He hadn't paid attention to this competition in days.
"Chuck!" Outside the airport, Beverly was waiting for young Sheldon, as expected. Little Leonard, as always, tagged along, not wanting Sheldon to be the only one to receive his mother's attention. Although it was futile, he kept trying. Seeing Chuck, he immediately waved excitedly.
"Dr. Hofstadter," Chuck nodded to Beverly first.
"Dr. Wolfe," Beverly greeted Chuck with her usual formality.
"Chuck, are you home for Thanksgiving too?" young Leonard was thrilled to see his idol again.
"I don't observe holidays," Chuck shook his head. "I'm here on business."
"A sensible choice," Beverly nodded approvingly. "Holidays serve no purpose other than as subjects for studying their psychological impact on human society."
"And anthropological research," little Leonard couldn't help but add. "That's Dad's field."
"Of course," Beverly adjusted her glasses and replied dismissively, as if to say 'whatever makes you feel better.'
Little Leonard was deflated.
He knew that his mother, a renowned neuroscientist and psychologist, looked down on his anthropologist father, and he thought that wasn't fair. But his opinions clearly carried no weight with his mother.
"I couldn't agree more," young Sheldon chimed in with Beverly. "I despise holidays too. I'd rather spend my time on more productive activities. Unfortunately, my mom insisted I return home."
"You don't like holidays?" Little Leonard suddenly brightened.
"Correct," young Sheldon nodded.
"That's too bad." Little Leonard said with mock sympathy, "I specially prepared a Thanksgiving gift for you."
"Why?" Young Sheldon frowned.
"You don't want it?" Little Leonard suppressed a grin and pretended to look hurt.
"Of course I don't want it." Young Sheldon said bluntly, "The foundation of gift-giving is reciprocity. You're not giving me a gift, you're burdening me with an obligation. Once you give me a gift, I must prepare something of equal value in return. There's a reason suicide rates spike during the holidays."
"Is that so..." After hearing this, little Leonard could no longer contain himself and produced the gift he'd prepared long ago, handing it to young Sheldon. "This is a gift I carefully prepared to thank you for visiting and bringing such joy to my mother."
"..." Young Sheldon was taken aback by little Leonard's eagerness and looked at him suspiciously.
He'd explained his position so thoroughly and clearly—why was little Leonard still giving it to him, and with such enthusiasm?
"Open it and see if you like it?" Little Leonard smirked at Chuck, then turned back to young Sheldon with his irresistible big eyes full of expectation.
"It's customary," Beverly said indifferently, especially after hearing her son explain that he was thanking young Sheldon for participating in her research and bringing her such satisfaction.
"Fine." Young Sheldon said resignedly, "I brought this on myself. Who told me to appear in your life, being so adorable and significant."
"..." Little Leonard looked at young Sheldon, who said this so matter-of-factly, and nearly gagged.
Ugh! How shameless!
He could say such things so casually—no wonder he'd won his mother Beverly's favor.
"What is this?" Young Sheldon opened the gift and immediately frowned.
"It's a mummy replica," Leonard perked up seeing Sheldon unwrap the gift. He forced a smile as he explained, "You know, my dad's been researching mummies lately, specifically a child mummy that's his current favorite. And you're my mom's favorite little boy recently, so I made this mummy model based on you..."
Seeing Sheldon still frowning at the mummy replica, Leonard rolled his eyes. "You can think of this as an action figure. Just like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park—they were all excavated from the ground. Dinosaur fossils got made into movies, and I'm sure the same will happen with mummies eventually. This way, you'll have a collectible figure from a future blockbuster franchise. Pretty cool, right?"
"Alright." Swayed by the prospect of a collectible figure from a famous movie franchise, Sheldon no longer objected to the mummy model based on himself. Then he started worrying.
"You put so much thought into preparing this gift—what should I get you in return?"
"Whatever. You don't have to give me anything," Leonard chuckled.
He'd always had low status in the family. His father, the only one who usually paid him attention, had recently become obsessed with the child mummy he was studying for his archaeological research.
Dad spent all day with his research and had no time for him. He hated that dead kid!
Just like he hated young Sheldon!
Now he'd given young Sheldon such a gift, which not only subtly mocked Sheldon, but also made Sheldon feel conflicted and uncomfortable. It was perfect revenge.
Chuck looked at little Leonard with surprise.
In his memory, Leonard had always been the one who got bullied and endured it silently. He hadn't expected him to have such a mischievous and clever side.
Hmm.
It seemed that little Leonard, who hadn't yet reached puberty and hadn't been through high school where relentless bullying would smooth out his sharp edges, was quite entertaining.
(End of Chapter)
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