Chapter 13: The World of Geniuses You Don't Understand
The Cooper Family Home
"Oh my God!"
Adam blurted it out before he could stop himself, the +5 Wisdom notification still ringing in his head.
Young Sheldon hadn't let him down at all. Juno had given him one point on first contact. Sheldon had just handed him five in a single sitting. Adam could genuinely feel the difference — like someone had adjusted the contrast on everything around him. Problems that had been sitting in the back of his mind with no clear solution suddenly had angles he hadn't seen before.
"Is Adam a believer?" Mary asked, surprised and hopeful.
"No ma'am." Adam smiled awkwardly. "I'm more of a science guy."
Mary's expression fell just slightly. As a deeply committed woman of faith, she always hoped the people around her shared her beliefs. But she'd long accepted that "oh my God" had become something people said the way they said "wow."
"Well," Sheldon said, nodding at Adam with something approaching approval. "At least we have that much in common."
Sheldon himself never used "oh my God" — he considered it sloppy. His preferred expression of surprise was "oh boy," delivered with the gravity of someone filing a formal complaint with the universe.
"So," Mary said, composing herself. "What does your group do besides studying?"
"We have a band," Adam said carefully.
He chose his words with intention. Sheldon would eventually play multiple instruments and clearly had the instinct for music, but he was nine years old right now — and Mary Cooper was a devout Christian woman who might have very specific feelings about her youngest child playing rock music with teenagers.
"Rock music?"
Mary's expression confirmed it immediately.
"Ballad rock, Mrs. Cooper," Adam said quickly. "Nothing heavy. We were actually hoping Sheldon might want to try keyboards."
"But Shelly's never played an instrument," Mary said, frowning. "And he's so young — wouldn't that be—"
"We'd just let him try it out first," Adam said. "No pressure at all. If he doesn't enjoy it, we completely understand."
Mary hesitated. She looked at Sheldon.
She couldn't bring herself to say no outright. Students who came to her front door specifically asking for her son were not a common occurrence. They were, in fact, essentially unprecedented.
"Sheldon," Adam said, pivoting smoothly. "You know that a lot of the greatest scientists in history were also serious musicians. Einstein played violin his whole life. Max Planck was practically a professional pianist."
Young Sheldon's eyes sharpened with immediate interest.
He knew both of those facts already, of course. He knew everything about his scientific heroes. But he'd always filed the music part away as a personal quirk of theirs rather than something worth emulating. Adam's framing reordered it slightly.
"A keyboardist," Sheldon said, tilting his head. "I suppose I could try."
"Why don't we head over to my place right now?" Adam said, pressing forward while the momentum was good. "We've got all the equipment. Sheldon can try it out and see how he feels. Mrs. Cooper?"
Mary looked between Adam and her son — Sheldon already had the focused, considering expression he got when he'd made a decision and was working out the logistics — and made up her mind.
"Alright."
"I want to come!"
Missy appeared from the hallway where she had absolutely been listening the entire time.
"Missy—" Mary started.
Then stopped, remembering she couldn't exactly leave Missy home alone. She looked at Adam.
"That must be Sheldon's sister?" Adam said with an easy smile. "Of course she's welcome."
Missy beamed.
The Duncan House
Mary Cooper took one look at baby Charlie being carried around by Teddy and completely melted.
Missy watched her mother's face and said under her breath, "Nobody ever looks at me like that. I'm starting to think I actually am adopted."
"Missy," Mary said, embarrassed, already aware she'd done exactly what Missy was accusing her of.
But her attention drifted back to Charlie almost immediately.
Missy rolled her eyes and went to introduce herself to Teddy.
Mary, watching the warmth of the Duncan household play out around her, felt the last of her hesitation about the band dissolve. A family like this, this loving, this ordinary and genuine — what possible harm could come from Sheldon spending time here?
Thank you, Lord.
Mary and Missy stayed upstairs with Teddy while Adam brought Sheldon down to the basement, where Emmett was waiting with his arms already crossed.
"Sheldon, this is Emmett Williams — drums and backup vocals for Hard Candy," Adam said. "Emmett, this is Sheldon Cooper. He's going to be our keyboardist."
"Pleased to meet you," Sheldon said, looking straight ahead.
Emmett looked him up and down. "We'll see about that."
Adam gave Emmett a look of pure pity and led Sheldon to the keyboard. He sat down and played through a simple piece — not perfectly, there were a couple of rough patches — then stood and offered Sheldon the seat.
"Give it a try."
"Sure." Sheldon sat. He studied the keys for a moment, tilting his head slightly.
"Just do what I did," Adam said. "Start simple."
"You're setting him up to fail," Emmett said flatly. "He's never touched a keyboard in his life and you want him to just — "
Sheldon started playing.
He was a little unsteady through the first few notes. By the fifth note he was completely fluid. By the end of the piece he had reproduced Adam's performance exactly — rough patches and all, placed in precisely the same spots.
Emmett stared.
"There is no way," he said. "That is not his first time."
"It is," Juno said. She was watching Sheldon with an expression that mixed genuine surprise with something like recognition. "He's a genius, Emmett."
"That's not — you can't just — " Emmett shook his head. "How?"
"Perfect pitch," Adam said. "Photographic memory. Think about what that actually means when it comes to something like a keyboard. It's pattern recognition and mechanical repetition. For Sheldon that's probably the easiest thing in this room."
Emmett stood there quietly for a moment.
The thing was, he already believed it. The evidence was right in front of him. And the detail that clinched it — Sheldon had reproduced Adam's mistakes in the exact same places. If Sheldon had played this piece before, he'd have played it correctly. He'd copied Adam's version, flaws included, because that was what he'd heard.
Emmett looked at Adam. Then at Juno. Then at the nine-year-old sitting at the keyboard looking faintly bored.
He had a sudden, uncomfortable feeling about where all of this was going.
End of Chapter 13
[Power Stone Goal: 500 = +1 Chapter]
[Review Goal: 10 = +1 Chapter]
If you liked it, feel free to leave a review.
20+chapters ahead on P1treon Soulforger