Jungle 3: Revisited

Chapter 14

"Come to teedy, fat man." Ebony said as she reached for Malik.

"Here's his diaper bag, it's full of everything. We have a bunch of them so you can keep this one at your apartment. Here's his car seat and I'll clip his pacifier to his jacket." Mia adjusted his blue jacket after clipping on his pacifier.

"My nephew has a Fendi jacket? I'm so poor." She poked out her bottom lip.

"Thank you so much, Ebony. Call me if anything goes wrong."

"Girl, thank you. I been wanting to watch my baby, but Dee been acting stingy. Now that he out of town I can keep him all to myself for a night. Have fun with your friends."

"Lord knows I need a sip of something." Mia sighed.

"Yeah. Tell ya' mama you in good hands. We gone do some Christmas shopping and have a lot of fun today." She bounced him on her hip.

"Christmas right around the corner, I did all my shopping in October. It's too many people I care about so I couldn't wait till the last minute."

"I mean, I did some shopping a few weeks ago. I got all my nieces and nephews gifts together. But, now I have a boyfriend that I feel like I should buy something for, plus Secret Santa."

"You're right. I got my Secret Santa gift the day after."

"I got Megan and I paid my boss to make her a custom outfit. It was supposed to cost more than one hundred, but she gave me a 'discount'."

"You wasn't supposed to tell me!" Mia laughed.

"Oh. My bad." Ebony shrugged and put Malik in his car seat/stroller.

"It's okay. So what're you getting your boyfriend?"

"He a thoughtful nigga so I wanna get him some thoughtful shit. One of the gifts is some custom ones, I wanted to get some 4's customized but I changed my mind. Then I'm buying him a hoodie with my face on it. He getting more shit too."

"Ohhhh, he getting the works." She smiled.

"Yeah, he treat me really good so I guess he deserve it. If he don't get me nothing then I'm taking whatever I can back. If he get me one gift then I'm cool with that, but nothing is a no no."

"That's the worst."

"You know me, I'll tell him about hisself. Anyway, how you turn this car seat into the stroller? Cause when I'm shopping, he rolling."

"Push this button to pull it out." Mia showed her.

"Oh yeah, take his baby carrier too. Demetrius wears it with him facing outward. I like to wear it with his face towards me."

"Got it. Byeeeee." Ebony waved.

"You not gone give me problems today,
Malik? You gone be a good baby for teedy?" She put him in the back of her Jeep.

Malik made gurgling sounds while smiling, causing Ebony to laugh and tickle him. After strapping him in, she got in the front seat and pulled off. With her nephew, she made sure to drive safe—keeping her hands on the wheel and not looking off like usual.

Before starting her shopping, Ebony picked up Rudy so she could ride with her. As soon as she got in the Jeep, Rudy spoke to the baby who greeted her with a smile and a laugh. Ebony was happy Malik was in a good mood because normally he was a crybaby.

"Where we going first?" Rudy asked.

"Wal-Mart, then the mall. I'm on a schedule cause around four I gotta go up to the church. I'm sure nobody gone be there, but I still need to show my face."