Unlike most of humanity, Sheldon gravely dislikes weekends as they offer “an unwelcome break from education”. This weekend, though, Sheldon gets to do his parents' taxes and is therefore over the moon with excitement. Can any of you imagine anything more enjoyable to do during your days off? Sheldon certainly can’t. However, the tax-fun is cut short when he realizes that there is a copy of a check for 300$ missing. George wants him to put it down for miscellaneous but Sheldon refuses. Never in his life would he ever put down anything for "miscellaneous". When the boy wants to ask his mom about the missing check George does everything in his power the prevent him from going to Mary, making it clear to the audience that he has something BIG to hide. George wants his son to keep the check a secret but, as we all know, Sheldon cannot keep a secret if his life depended on it. He starts to avoid talking to his mom and eventually ends up hiding in the cupboard. Mary notices pretty quickly that something is going on with her precious, little Shelly. She even checks his potty journal (of course, even kid Sheldon has a potty journal), which only reinforces her suspicion that something is wrong. She asks George if he has noticed something different about the boy recently. Obviously, George denies but promises to keep an eye on him.
Soon it gets revealed that the missing check was actually not money George spent himself. He gave it to Meemaw who is dead set on not ever telling her daughter about it. When George wants to come clean to Mary Connie blackmails him: If he tells Mary about the money, she will tell Mary what George did at the church picnic the other day. “We sink or swim together, George”.
In the meantime, Sheldon decides that he cannot be around his mother any longer without spilling the secret. He asks Tam if he could come over and have a sleepover at his house. This convinces Mary even more that something is wrong with Sheldon. He would never go on a sleepover voluntarily. It is a bit of challenge for Sheldon indeed to be at Tam’s house. He is confronted with the Vietnamese culture, with different food and different habits that overwhelm him. In the end, though, he manages to do quite well. He even ends up confessing his secret to Tam which immediately makes Sheldon feel tremendously better.
When George picks him up again the next day Sheldon is angry with his father.
George: Okay, what's going on?
Sheldon: After having my first good night's sleep in a week, I woke up with a fresh perspective.
George: And that is?
Sheldon: It was irresponsible of you to burden me with that secret.
George: Sheldon, we've been through this. It's complicated.
Sheldon: While I may not look up to you from an intellectual standpoint, I've always looked up to you as a role model. I can't do that anymore. And don’t worry we made a deal I’ll continue to keep your secret.
His son’s words hit George hard and make him decide that he has to come clean to Mary about the money. It turns out that Connie needed the money because she got an DUI for driving drunk. Technically though, she did not even drive. It was Georgie behind the wheel. Since he has no driver’s license they switched seats when they were pulled over as Connie did not want her grandson to get into trouble. Therefore, she was penalized for driving while intoxicated. Mary kicks the three of them out of the house. So, George and Georgie are forced to spend the night at Connie’s place. George thanks his mother-in-law for not telling Mary about the church picnic. Whereupon, she immediately calls Mary to tell her exactly what happened at that day: George brought along a few bottles of beer and then urinated into the church’s vegetable garden. Connie is amused, Mary is indignant. Looks like George is gonna have to stay longer at Connie’s place than expected.
