Meanwhile, back inside the house, Missy watched Sheldon's anxious expression and remembered Mike's earlier advice.
Mike had suggested that Missy reach out to Bobbi, reasoning that two little girls could easily become friends. And once Bobbi and Missy were friends, naturally, the little girl would stop "harassing" Sheldon.
In Mike's view, this was the gentlest and most appropriate way to solve Sheldon's problem.
"Sheldon, do you want to get out of this mess?" Missy asked.
"You have a way?" Sheldon looked skeptically at his sister, who was only a few minutes older than him.
In his opinion, if his own brilliant brain hadn't been able to come up with a solution, it was highly unlikely that Missy would have any good suggestions.
"Of course," Missy smiled confidently. She flexed her small arm into a "strong" pose. "I can help you. I can go handle Bobbi directly..."
Suddenly, Sheldon understood. Missy hadn't thought of a clever strategy; she was going to use brute force to solve the problem.
In Sheldon's mind, Missy, who constantly pranked him, was definitely a "Demon Lord" level existence.
Now, using a Demon Lord to deal with a little demon? It couldn't be more perfect.
Sheldon rationally analyzed the situation: nine-year-old Missy could absolutely defeat six-year-old Bobbi.
His troubles could finally be over.
"That would be wonderful. I leave Bobbi to you," Sheldon's eyes lit up. He had never found Missy to be so useful before.
"Uh-huh," Missy agreed readily.
However, after accepting the mission, she didn't leave immediately. Instead, she looked at Sheldon with a grin.
"Is there something else?" Sheldon felt a bit uneasy under her gaze and asked cautiously.
Missy didn't speak. Keeping her smile, she raised her small hand and rubbed her thumb and fingers together.
"You want payment?" The clever Sheldon understood instantly.
Seeing that he got the message, Missy nodded, her smile becoming even brighter.
Even though making friends with Bobbi was Mike's request, Missy didn't mind skimming a little profit for herself in the process.
"Fine, wait here. I'll go get my allowance," Sheldon said, running toward his room.
If money could solve the problem of Bobbi, Sheldon, who was desperate to end the torture, was more than willing to pay.
A moment later, he returned with a handful of small bills.
Missy took the money. Looking at the total, which amounted to less than five dollars, she shook her head in dissatisfaction. Not enough.
"That's all my allowance..." Sheldon frowned. Then, with a pained look, he added, "How about I give you a toy train, too?"
Missy was only interested in cute, fluffy toys; she had zero interest in toy trains. She shook her head again.
"Then what do we do?" Sheldon's face fell. He couldn't think of anything else he had that would move Missy.
Missy knew Sheldon's situation well. Her eyes darted around the room before finally landing on the television. "The TV. I want control over the TV. How about it? As long as you agree, I'll go solve your problem right now."
Because of Mary's favoritism, control of the Cooper family TV usually fell to Sheldon, allowing him to watch the science and education channels.
"The TV?" Sheldon thought for a moment and understood what she meant.
The science channel was a crucial avenue for Sheldon to acquire knowledge at this stage; it was very important to him.
However, to get rid of the massive headache that was Bobbi, he finally agreed. "Acceptable."
"Then it's a deal," Missy cheered, then high-fived Sheldon. "From now on, you're not allowed to interrupt my cartoons."
With the agreement sealed, Missy left the room.
---
Ten minutes later, Missy walked back in, looking happy.
"How is the situation with Bobbi?" Sheldon asked in a whisper when he saw her return.
"Handled," Missy replied with a smile, flashing an 'OK' sign.
Just as they finished exchanging information, there was another knock on the Cooper family's front door.
"Shelly, go see who it is. Maybe George and the others are back," Mary called out from the dining room.
George and the other two had been gone for a long time. The dinner set out in the dining room was about to go cold.
Mary was getting increasingly worried. She was starting to regret letting her husband go out there.
On the other side, Sheldon, believing his problem had been solved, answered and walked briskly to the door.
"Ahhh!"
As the door opened and Sheldon saw who was standing there, he screamed and started scrambling around the room.
"What's wrong?"
Hearing the commotion, Mary and Meemaw both rushed out of the dining room.
"B-Bobbi! She found me!" Sheldon hid behind his mother and grandmother, speaking in a panic.
At the door, Bobbi was standing there with a cute smile on her face, holding a small box in her hands.
Before Mary could say anything to scare the girl, Meemaw asked gently, "Bobbi, can we help you with something?"
"I'm looking for Missy..." Bobbi answered obediently.
"Bobbi, you came over!" Missy saw the visitor and ran over in surprise.
The two little girls huddled together, holding hands and chatting happily.
"Missy, this is a gift for you. We can draw together later," Bobbi said, holding up the small box.
"They're so pretty..." Missy took the box, delighted to see the colorful crayons inside. Then she said, "I have a lot of stuffed animals. Come on, I'll show you. Oh, and I have a huge pink Barbie doll..."
"Really?" Hearing about the pink Barbie, Bobbi's eyes sparkled.
Then, arm in arm, the two little girls happily went into Missy's room.
It wasn't until Bobbi disappeared from view that Meemaw spoke up. "You know, Bobbi doesn't seem as bad as Shelly said."
Mary nodded in agreement.
Then, the two adults simultaneously turned their heads to look at Sheldon, who was still wearing a terrified expression behind them. They both shook their heads at the same time.
In reality, now that she had a playmate, Bobbi hadn't paid any attention to Sheldon since she walked in the door.
Meanwhile, inside the chicken coop, the four men had finished a small case of beer accompanied by some relaxing music.
Just as the four were preparing to end this strange gathering, Brenda's voice called out from the yard: "Herschel!"
"What is it, Brenda?" Hearing his wife's shout, Herschel quickly turned off the music and responded.
"Bobbi went to the Coopers'. I'm a little worried, go see what's going on," Brenda said anxiously.
"Okay, I got it. You go on back," Herschel replied.
He waited until he heard his wife's footsteps fade away before signaling the other three to leave the chicken coop.
Then, on the walk over to the Cooper house, Herschel and George tacitly put a little distance between themselves. To show that they had just been in a "serious negotiation," both middle-aged men simultaneously adopted solemn, grave expressions.