"So, what kind of cruise is this you're going on?" "It's called the Born Again Boat Ride." "Christian Quarterly gave it" " Five thorny crowns." "I do wish you'd come with me, Sheldon." "Oh, well, Mom, if I did, it would be conclusive proof that your God can work miracles." "You're missing out." "It's gonna be wall-to-wall fun." "It's all themed." "There's Jonah-and-the-whale watching." "All you can eat Last Supper Buffet." "And my personal favorite, Gunning with God." "What's Gunning with God?" "I'm afraid to ask, heh." "Oh, it is a hoot and a half." "You write your sins on a clay pigeon they fire them up in the air, and you pulverize them with a 12-gauge shotgun full of our Lord's forgiveness." "Frankly, Mom, I'm encouraged to see how advanced your group has become willing to sail out into the ocean without fear of falling off the edge." "For example, if Shelly was aboard, he'd write "smart mouth" on his pigeon." "Bam!" "The Lord giveth and the Lord bloweth away." "Well, Mom, according to my itinerary for our weekend together..." " ...the fun begins with fried chicken." " Sounds delicious." "Good, because I got you everything you need to make it." "You are in for a treat." "My mother's fried chicken is why we had to buy my dad the extra-large coffin." "Sheldon, she just got off the plane." "She doesn't wanna cook." "Of course she does." "Making me food is her way of saying "I love you."" "Making me food when too tired is her way of saying "I really love you."" "I wouldn't mind going out for a bite, Sheldon." "Won't that spoil our appetites for the chicken you're gonna make?" "All right." "We're going out." "You like sushi?" "There's a great place down the street." "I've never had it, but there's no harm in trying something new." "There's a lot of harm in trying something new." "That's why we test out drugs and cosmetics on bunny rabbits." "Sheldon, you're talking like a crazy person." "Actually, I had him tested as a child." "Doctor says he's fine." " Told you." " I do regret not following up with that specialist in Houston." "Stop yelling." "I'm not happy about this." "What's the last thing you were ever happy about?" "The prospect of fried chicken." "This is exciting." "Back home, the diner on Route 4 serves sushi but it's just cut up fish sticks and a side of Uncle Ben's." "They put it on the menu in those kung fu letters, but that don't make it sushi." "Uh, "Kung fu letters" might not be politically correct." "Oh, I thought the one we couldn't say was "ching chong."" "Yeah, yeah, that too." "So, Shelly, what's up with you and your friend Amy if you don't mind a mother prying a bit?" "Well, there's actually big news on the Amy front." "She's been studying the neurobiology of addiction in lower animals." "She's this close to getting a starfish hooked on cocaine." "You have any idea what's going on with those two?" "Hmm." "It's kind of like the Loch Ness monster." "Maybe there's something there, maybe there isn't." "We'll never know." "But sometimes it's fun to creep yourself out thinking about it." "How are you doing on the young lady front?" "I hear you're in some sort of a long-distance situation?" "Uh." "Yeah, it's Raj's sister." "It's kind of tough." "She's in India." "Her parents aren't happy she's dating someone white." "Oh, that's a funny turn, isn't it?" "Because you..." "You never think about it going the other way." "Well, you can't force things." "Figure out if you're in a relationship or if you're just calling it one." "Like they say:" ""A cat can have kittens in the oven, but that don't make them biscuits."" "That reminds me of another saying:" ""You can lead a chicken to Crisco, but you can't make your mother fry it."" "You pester me one more time about chicken I will put you over my knee right here in this restaurant." "Please pester her." "Please, for me." "Mrs. Cooper, what did you think of the sushi?" "Good." "The only thing that would have made it better, if it was cooked." "And if it was beef." "Sheldon, when is your landlord gonna fix the elevator?" "I don't know." "Lately, we've been talking about converting it into a missile silo." "Your son seems to think we need to launch a preemptive strike on Burbank." "Get them before they get us." "Hey, look who decided to show up." "Raj, what are you doing?" "Well, I couldn't find you guys so I bought six new friends." "Three, sadly, are dead." "Mom, you remember Rajesh?" "Rajesh, my mother." "Of course." "Mrs. Cooper." "So nice to see you again." "Well, it's so nice to see you too." "Heh." "I thought it was our Indians that had the occasional alcohol problem." "We don't say that, either." "I'll make you a list." "Oh, that would be mighty white of you." "So, Raj, what pain are you trying to cover up with alcohol?" " Nothing, I'm fine." " Are you?" "No." "That's better." "Now, tell me what's bothering you." "I'm so lonely." "Oh, yes, born alone, die alone." "It's a tragic human condition." "Now, Raj, if you'll excuse my mother she's about to make a pecan pie that'll be so good I'll almost forget how she blew it with the fried chicken." "Sheldon, your friend is hurting." "What do we do when someone's hurting?" "Offer them a hot beverage." "When they're drunk as a skunk, what beverage do we offer?" "Coffee." "And what do we do it with?" "Now, you listen to me." "I know you feel like you can't find someone but there's a lock for every key." "Back home, there's a girl works at the Walmart." "Tall, tall girl." "Woman could hunt geese with a rake." "Thought she'd never find a man, then one day, wouldn't you know Harlem Globetrotters come to town." "Long story short, today that woman travels the world with a semiprofessional basketball player and two beautiful mixed-race babies." "I didn't get a lot of that because of your accent but the general tone was soothing and somehow I feel better." "Ha, ha." "I'm not gonna get my pecan pie, am I?" "You want some Oreos?" " Double Stuf?" " No, it's regular." "Nice." "Kick a man when he's down." "I'm glad we're finally getting to do something together, just the two of us." "Sure." "One thing you really miss when you're on vacation is laundry." "Careful, you're using too much Downy." "You know if my clothes get too soft it makes me sleepy." "Well, this takes me back." "Me doing your laundry, you next to me criticizing." "It is nice, isn't it?" "Mrs. Cooper." " Hi." " Oh, hello, darling." "Sheldon, you didn't tell me your mom was coming." "It was in my weekly e-mail blast." "Right between "Beet season is finally here" and "Uh-oh, red stool from beets leads to cancer scare."" " So how have you been?" " Good, good." "Leonard has a new girlfriend." "How are you doing with all that?" "Oh, fine." "You know, it's, been a while." "I'm getting back out there." "Let me ask you, when you get back out there, are you wearing this?" "Well, it's super cute on." "That top has paid for itself in free drinks, like, 10 times what it cost." "Yes, Penny has a lot of money tied up in promiscuity futures." "Hon, you think maybe the reason why you're having trouble finding a guy is because you're letting them ride the roller coaster without buying a ticket?" "Oh, they don't always get to ride the roller coaster." "Sometimes they only get to spin the teacups." "I'm going out." "Would it be crazy to ask you to look at the outfit I'm gonna wear?" "Oh, not crazy at all." "And don't beat yourself up." "When I was your age, you could have me for a car ride..." " ...and a bottle of strawberry wine." " Ha, ha." "Yeah, that will not be in this week's e-mail blast." "So this spring, I get to go to the International Space Station." "Oh, my word, a trip to the heavens." "If you ever wanna live there eternally, I've got a good book you could read." "I watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special every year so I get the gist." "I bet your mom is really proud of you." "Nope." "She says if I don't back out, she's gonna go on a hunger strike." "Um, it would take years before she'd be in any kind of danger, but still." "I've got a treat for us tomorrow, Mom." "I'm taking you to see Saul Perlmutter give a lecture about his Nobel Prize-winning work in cosmology." "And the best part is, at the Q and A afterward I've worked up a couple of Q's that will stump his sorry A." "I don't know, Shelly." "I thought we could do a little sightseeing." "What sight is better than your little boy embarrassing a Nobel laureate?" "Come on, we'll take your mom to see the Hollywood sign the Wax Museum, the Walk of Fame." "Ooh." "Maybe a little Rodeo Drive." "Well, I can't spend $12,000 on a handbag but it's free to look upon those who do with righteous condemnation." " What do you say?" " What do I say?" "I say you people need to stop ruining my mom's visit with your sushi and your sadness and your slutty shirts." "Stop it." "He's not talking about your shirt." "Your shirt is fine." "These are delicious." "The trick to pancakes is bacon grease." "I cook everything in it." "Everything?" "Aren't you worried about your health?" "Doctors are always changing their mind." "One week bacon grease is bad for you." "Next week we're not getting enough of it." "Good morning, Shelly." "Mom, I want to apologize for my behavior last night." "Apology accepted." "Great." "Now, you're gonna love the Perlmutter lecture." "Look, he will be stating that the universe is older than 6000 years but you could stick your fingers in your ears and hum "Amazing Grace" during those parts." "I am still going out with your friends." "But I apologized." "And that was hard for me because I didn't do anything wrong." "Shelly, I hung out with you in enough dusty lecture halls while you were growing up." "I wanna go sightseeing." "So why don't you have some pancakes, get dressed and come with us." "I'm not going, and you can't make me." "You're right, I can't." "Have a nice day." "Well, I'm going to stand here until you change your mind." "Then you are gonna stand there all day." "I'm just gonna take my bacon grease and slide over there." "I can't believe my own mother is abandoning me." "I am not abandoning you." "Sheldon, abandoning you is leaving you in a basket on a church doorstep." "I am going to Hollywood and thank a wax Ronald Reagan for his service to our country." "We appear to be at a crossroads in our relationship, Mother." " Well, I guess we are." " Sorry." "Syrup." "All right, Mom." "When you're at the Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museum if they have an exhibit about a mother who threw away a chance to spend a day with the world's most wonderful son, believe it, it's true." "I hadn't..." "That lecture was a waste of time." "I made more accurate diagrams of the expansion of the early universe on the nursery wall with the contents of my diaper." "Are you getting sick?" "No, I'm just allergic to people who get Nobel Prizes for no good reason." "Sheldon, is it possible that your foul mood or to use the clinical term, bitchiness is because your mother isn't making you a priority?" "Nuh-uh." "Are you sure?" "The infant-mother pair-bond is the building block of primate psychology." "Oh, there it is." "It always comes back to monkeys with you." "Just monkeys, monkeys, monkeys." "Sheldon, we're all animals." "Granted, there are aspects of you that are extraordinary but when it comes to emotions and relationships, you're like everybody else." "Are you trying to suggest that my emotional problems are no different than those of a stupid person?" "Actually, some research indicates that by not overthinking the less intelligent handle emotions better." "Sure you're not coming down with a cold?" "Oh, yes, the common cold." "Just like everyone else." "You'd love that, wouldn't you?" "Oh, this one's sweet." "You know, for your rosary rattlers." "Mrs. Cooper, we say "Catholics," not "rosary rattlers."" "My goodness, it's a wonder you people in California can talk at all." "This is like the worst Hollywood tour ever." "Now, dude, she wanted to see churches." "Hey, they have wine here, don't they?" "Hey, none of our gods have abs like that." "Yep, that's the last Jew who did sit-ups." "And look where it got him." "Hey, while we're here, why don't we all do some praying?" "Let's put a little church in this church." "Oh, I'm not sure we should..." "It's easy." "I'll show you how." "Lord, Mary Cooper here." "Coming to you from Gomorrah, California." "I want to thank you for the blessing that is my little Shelly." "I also want to thank you for the continued strength not to coldcock him with my Bible." "All right, Penny, your turn." "Okay, um, ahem." "Hey, God." "What's up?" "Um." "I'm good, but it would be a big help to my family if you could get my brother to stop cooking meth." "But no cops." "Be cool." "She also goes a little overboard on the "love thy neighbor."" "Could probably use that chat you had with Mary Magdalene." "Leonard, you're up." "Wasserman, you're on deck." "Okay." "I don't know." "It's probably a little late to ask you to make me taller." "Oh, um..." "If you could help out with my girlfriend." "She's all the way in India." " That would be great." " Hear that?" "Girl trouble." "Turns out we were both wrong on that front." " How about you?" " Uh, me?" "No." "Thanks, I'm good." "I'm really just trying not to burst into flames." "Heh." "Rajesh?" "Uh, he says he's having trouble dropping those last five pounds." "Huh." "I might have gone with the talking-to-girls thing." "No, you only get one wish." "Look at the two of us." "Me, a highly regarded physicist." "The kind of mind that comes along once, maybe twice in a generation." "You, the common man tired from your labors as a stockbroker or vacuum cleaner salesman, or bootblack." "But deep down inside apparently we're just two peas in a pod." "Uh, a regular pea and the kind of pea that comes along once, maybe twice in a generation." "Rain." "Another great equalizer." "Falling on the head of the brilliant and the unremarkable alike." "Smarty-pants." " Oh, Mrs. Cooper, it smells so good." " You take notes, darling." "The real way to get a man is with melted cheese and cream of mushroom soup." "He'll die at 50, but his love will be true." "Brr." "I need a tissue." "This one got wet." " Here." " Thank you." "Yeah, I've learned something today." "You and I, in so many ways other than intelligence and what counts, we're the same." "Sweetheart, are you sick?" "I hope so, because if this is well, life isn't worth living." "Sugar pie, you are burning up." "We've got to get you to bed." " Okay." " Don't worry." "Mama's here to take care of her baby." "And just to be clear, only her baby and not these other people." "Of course." "Can I have tea with honey and toast with the crust cut off?" " You can have whatever you want." " Brr." "Thanks, Mom." "You're the best." "Boy, last time I put VapoRub on you, you didn't have hair on your chest." "I know, it filled in last year." "I didn't get to spend a lot of time with you on this visit." "And whose fault was that?" "Yours." "Shelly, you're not 8 years old anymore." "We have to have a different relationship." "No, we don't." " The one we have works great." " Sweetheart, you are a grown man." "Or maybe I'm part of a new species that lives for years which means I'm still basically a toddler." "Oh, I so should have taken you to Houston." "Does this mean you're not going to sing "Soft Kitty"?" "No, I will always sing you "Soft Kitty."" "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur" " Were we supposed to take that pie out?" " Get out!" "Well, that was rude." "Well, I know, but he means well." "Sing." "Happy kitty, sleepy kitty..." "What are you trying to pull, Mom?" "From the top." "This is what I'm talking about." "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur"