Mary confiscates the coupons. Georgie has lost his first real "business." He sits in the dark garage, realizing he's not the genius his brother is – he's just the one who gets caught.
"So you're sad because an old man on TV made a math mistake?" Sheldon: "It wasn't a mistake, it was a betrayal of empirical truth."
"You know what, Sheldon? You're right. I rushed it. Tell you what – next week's episode is on quantum chromodynamics. You wanna co-write it?"
Georgie (17) is on the phone, speaking in a low voice. He's running a small, illegal "coupon reselling" business. He buys expired coupons from the dumpster of the grocery store, alters the dates with a printer, and sells them to desperate moms.
A long silence. Then, Professor Proton laughs – a warm, genuine laugh.
Sheldon's eyes widen. He smiles – a rare, full smile.
Suddenly, he receives a letter. It's a reply from (his TV show hero) to a letter Sheldon sent weeks ago. Sheldon excitedly reads it aloud to Tam. "Dear Sheldon, your theory on quantum loop gravity is imaginative, but flawed. You forgot to account for neutron degeneration in a vacuum. Keep watching the show. – Dr. Linkletter (aka Professor Proton)." Sheldon freezes. The great Professor Proton is wrong . He forgot the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff limit. Sheldon’s lip quivers.
