Ron rolled the cart through the aisles until they came to the infant section and then proceeded to fill the cart with packages of cloth and disposable diapers, plastic pants, T-shirts, rompers, and assorted baby care goods. One of the largest packages he bought was an infant auto seat. He put it in the bottom shelf of the cart and wheeled her over to the baby furniture. Ron looked over several designs for a crib and amused several mothers when he turned to Deedee and said, “Well? Which one do you like?”
Deedee pointed to one of the cribs and said, “Gaaaaa!”
He nodded and said, “I think so too,” and wrote down the model numbers from the crib and mattress to have them brought to the front. As an afterthought, he wrote down the numbers of a high chair and playpen, adding them to the list. He would have liked to have gotten more, but he was afraid that if he bought anymore, it wouldn’t fit into the car. Then he took the cart to customer service. After a longish wait to be served, he explained that he needed a stockboy to bring some furniture to the front. He gave the stockboy who was assigned to the job the list of numbers and they went back to the infant furnishings department to retrieve the nursery equipment he wanted. They returned to the checkout stand and stood in line until he got to the front and the saleswoman began checking out his purchases. The saleswoman was charmed by Deedee, she made faces and commented how cute she was to Ron. She looked at all the furniture and said, “It looks like Daddy wasn’t ready for his little girl. He’s trying to buy a whole nursery for her.”
Ron chuckled at her remark and lied casually, “Little Deedee is my niece. She and her mother have come to live with us until they get back on their feet again. They lost everything in a fire. Her mother is sick in bed and my wife is taking care of her. They sent me out to do the shopping.”
They saleswoman raised her eyebrows at the news and said jokingly, “Her mother let a MAN do the shopping for her little girl? She must be ill!”
Ron favored her with a smile in appreciation of her joke and paid for his purchases, then with the help of the stockboy, he took them out to the car. Ron opened the trunk and rear doors of his car for the stockboy and took the infant auto seat out of it’s box while standing in the parking lot. Then he placed it on the right side of the front seat and worked the seat belt through the holes in the seat to mount it. When he was done, he took Deedee out of the shopping cart and sat her in the auto seat, pulling the strap up between her legs and over her diaper to fasten to the straps that went over her shoulder. He cinched her in tightly and murmured some instructions about “…being a good girl for Daddy,” as he closed the door on her side of the car and went around to help the stockboy. A few minutes later, they were finished and Ron got into the car to drive to the Safeway supermarket on El Camino and Bernardo.