Chapter 24: University

On a typical day, we were praying.

Meemaw starts the conversation by asking, "So how was everyone's day?"

Sheldon says, "I'm tired of high school."

Soon George asks, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not learning anything, and I don't want to go anymore," Sheldon says as he puts a piece of meat in his mouth.

Mary, confused, asks Sheldon, "But where do you think you'll go if you drop out of high school?"

Georgie Jr. interrupts and says, "Who cares, let him go."

And Mary rebukes him, "Let me hear what your brother has to say, this doesn't concern you." George Jr. shrugs and goes back to eating.

"I've made arrangements with Dr. John Sturgis at East Texas Tech. He said I can audit his class," Sheldon tells his mother.

"Interesting, if Sheldon's going, then I'm going too," I say as I struggle to bite into a piece of meat.

Meemaw gives me a dead fish look and says to Sheldon, "You're corresponding with a stranger, do you think that's right?"

Sheldon retorts, "He's not a stranger, he's a famous scientist, he dated the carbon from the oldest human roots."

Meemaw then sarcastically replies, "So he's not a stranger."

Mary intervenes in the conversation and says, "Look Shelly, I know you want to see the world and expand your horizons, but how would you get there? This college is an hour away from here, and I work, and so does your father."

Before Mary finishes, George Jr. intervenes again and says, "Again, who cares, let him go," and Missy adds, looking at her mother, "He can hitch a ride."

"See, even Missy agrees with me, it's perfect," and Sheldon says, "It's just once a week, and I hoped Meemaw could take me." When Sheldon said this, everyone simultaneously looked at Meemaw, and she says, "I think I'll start having dinner at my house."

East Texas Tech

Meemaw was leading us to the front of an open room when she stops and says, "Well, I think this is it... good luck."

And Sheldon uncomfortably says upon entering a new environment, "Meemaw, aren't you coming in with me?"

And I quickly intervene, "Sheldon, I'm here. Meemaw doesn't need to accompany you."

And Sheldon turns and says to me, "Are you Meemaw? I don't think so." Then he turns to Meemaw and says, "Are you coming?" I look at Meemaw with a helpless look, wondering if I should strangle him here or not, and she says, "Of course, this way, Majesty," while dramatically gesturing.

And Sheldon raises his head and flares his nostrils with a Draco Malfoy air and enters the room. In the room, there was a huge whiteboard and the teacher's podium and rows of chairs that went from bottom to top.

When we entered the room and sat down, Meemaw said goodbye to Sheldon and went to the corridor.

Sitting in the corridor, engrossed in knitting, Meemaw hears a voice nearby apparently calling her, "Hello," calls the charismatic old man with a funny face, and Meemaw replies, "Hello." The charismatic man asks, "Forgive me, but is that made with a double sixth stitch?" Meemaw looks at the man, then looks at what she's knitting and says, "Maybe? I'm not sure, but I call it Loop Loop Upa lelê."

The two laugh, and the charismatic man says, "Excuse me, Madame, I have a class to teach." Soon Meemaw asks, "Oh, you must be Dr. Sturgis, right? You're corresponding with my grandson."

So the two entered the classroom amid conversation. Meemaw sat next to Sheldon, and Sheldon asks, "Aren't you supposed to stay outside?" and Meemaw replies, "You're right, I was supposed to, but I decided to come in and learn something new."

She says as she stares intently at Dr. Sturgis, who was about to start his lecture.

And Sheldon says, "Smart," and Meemaw replies, "I know." I was next to them and seeing Meemaw's not-so-subtle glances at Dr. Sturgis, I sigh and think to myself, "How do they have so much energy at such an old age?"