Chapter 52 Mary's favor

As soon as the door was opened, surprisingly, a mature woman with beautiful blue eyes wearing a floral dress appeared. Feeling a bit surprised, Connor spoke first:

"Hi Mary, I didn't expect you to come so quickly," I said to Mary, who had George right behind her in a large, sturdy car waving in our direction.

"We're heading to Texas to pick up our things for the new house. Would you like to come with us?" Mary asked Connor, who was looking at George and then replied:

"No, thank you. I'll stay here and still plan to visit Princeton. Could you do me a favor? Bring Mike here. He's a good boy, and if he stays with Georgie, I don't know what might happen," I said with concern for my companion. If Mike stayed with Georgie in Texas, he might go hungry. Either way, I'm not willing to risk it.

"Alright. Oh, I almost forgot. Here are the keys. I left the car in front of the house. It's a bit low, so I couldn't get in. It's an expensive car, and I was afraid of scratching it," Mary said as she handed me the keys to the McLaren.

"Okay, Mary. It's really a concern. Thank you very much. But are you sure Mike and Sheldon can share the same room?" I asked, intrigued. Sheldon doesn't like dogs much, although his tolerance has improved from living with Mike for so many years. Since Mike spends most of his time outside or in the garage, the time they spend together is minimal.

"So, I wanted to ask you a favor. I won't be taking Missy or Sheldon to Texas. Could you look after them?" Mary asked, concerned about her two children.

The concern was justified because Missy and Sheldon are still children, although Missy is a bit more mature than in the original series. Facts are facts, no matter what happens. Being the oldest around and not depending much on anyone, I ended up being a good option to take care of both for Mary.

"Of course, Mary. I'd be happy to do that," I replied. How could I refuse? For a family that has welcomed me for so many years, I consider myself a son.

"Thank you very much. Here are the keys to our new house, along with the address paper. I'll be back in a week with our things," Mary said.

After exchanging a few more words, I went back inside and found Leonard complaining to Paige about how he was bullied at school, etc.

As soon as I entered, Paige looked at me. I could see in her eyes that she was silently asking for help dealing with Leonard's ramblings.

"Paige, it was Mary. She asked us to take care of Missy and the boy," I told Paige, deliberately omitting Sheldon's name since Leonard's presence would play a key role in Sheldon's character development in the future. I didn't want them to meet at this moment and potentially cause an unpleasant butterfly effect, such as Leonard knowing how Sheldon behaves and therefore refusing to live with him when Sheldon moves to Pasadena.

It might not happen, but I'm not willing to risk it. "So, Paige, could you take care of them in the meantime, for a week? I have to focus on Leonard's training and taking care of Andromeda and Tonks."

Paige gave me a suspicious look at that moment, probably wondering if I just wanted to keep her away for a while. But that thought quickly dissipated from her mind.

"Alright, if it's just for a week," she said with excitement in her voice, which made me suspect she missed her only friend, Missy.

"Can you catch a taxi, right?" I asked her, and she gave me a dissatisfied look.

"I can't wait until you can drive. What's the point of having a cool car if you can't drive it?" Paige said before getting up and heading to her room to get ready.

"Cool car? What is she talking about? You're only 13. How did you get a car?" Leonard asked, confused, and I replied immediately.

"Well, I bought a car because I believe in its rarity, even though I can't drive yet. I believe that by the time I reach the driving age, the car may be out of production and become a rarity," I replied to him and continued.

"I think the car is an innovation in the automotive industry and will likely be part of the beginning of the automotive revolution, just like the Ferrari F40 and the Lamborghini Diablo, as it was for the Lamborghini Miura."

"Wow, can I take a look?" Leonard asked, adjusting his glasses with apparent curiosity.

After thinking for a moment, I nodded. Remembering in the original story that the characters didn't drive such nice cars, the nicest car shown in the story was in the episode where Howard parked the car in Sheldon's spot.

So, there's no reason why I shouldn't show something cool to young Leonard, who hasn't seen much of the world yet.

And then we walked outside the house onto the street. It was quite a walk; we live on a hill, so going to the street is a 15-minute walk. As we stepped out of the iron gate of the house, I spotted my car in the distance.

"So, where's your car?" Leonard asked, scanning through all the parked cars on the street, and we walked a bit further down the street before I stopped in front of my car and said, "Hey, what do you think? Cool, right?" I said proudly to Leonard, who at that moment was practically drooling with his mouth wide open.

"I-is this your car? It's so cool! I want to have one. How much did it cost?" Leonard asked, shouting with enthusiasm.

"1 million and some change," I replied with a playful smile on my face, and as expected, Leonard gulped at the mentioned value.

"W-wow, so expensive. But wait, how did you get so much money to buy this car?" Leonard asked.

"Well, it's a secret. But how do you think I bought that house or the car?" I asked, waiting to see how Leonard would try to come up with an answer.

"Is your family rich?" he asked, unsure of his response.

"No, with my own abilities. But you don't need to know these things right now."

Nodding at my response, Leonard asked, "Can we go for a ride?" It seems he forgot about my age and that it's not legal to drive when you're underage.

Slap'

Giving Leonard a tap on the head and answering his question, I said, "Are you dumb or pretending to be? Look at my age. I can't drive until at least next year, as you yourself pointed out."

"Hehehe," Leonard chuckled embarrassedly upon realizing that he had indeed forgotten about that.

"Let's go. We should head back. Paige must be waiting for me," I said to Leonard, who nodded in agreement.

 -End the Chapter-